Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

Activity 9: Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

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Science may provide insight and new understanding about our world but it may not always have the solution for everything. But fortunately, indigenous knowledge built over thousands and thousands of years could.

Vygotsky’s social development theory recognises that learning occurs through one’s interaction with their environment, where learning and development occurs within a sociohistorical and sociocultural context (Bochner, Duchesne, Krause & McMaugh, 2010).

‘The true direction of the development of thinking is not from the individual to the social, but from the social to the individual’ (Vygotsky, 1986, p. 3)

For example, a person who has worked on a dairy farm for their whole life may hold more knowledge and understanding about the structures and systems than someone who has just graduated with a Bachelor in Agriculture.

There has been a growing recognition in governance structures and industrialization of the world having negative effects on indigenous knowledge and the environment. This is resulting in western scientists turning their attention to indigenous knowledge for solutions, proving that seeking help from local experts is just as valuable and constructive.

So how is education being responsive to the various indigenous knowledge of its community? How are schools being culturally responsiveness to its community?

Culture is not exclusive to race and/or ethnicity. It refers also to the unique features of a community- its demographic makeup, including location, age, gender, language/s spoken, local history, Industry and economics.

Willow Park School is culturally responsive in many areas. But only two areas will be addressed in this post: communication method and school-wide activities.

Committed and responsive to the large Chinese community, the school holds a termly meeting for Mandarin speaking parents as another form of communication for this community of parents. Korean and Japanese parents are also welcomed to come. The parents decide what they would like to be covered in the meeting and is passed on to the Principal. For example, one meeting was about ‘inquiry’ and another was explaining the school’s decision to change to ‘multiage classrooms’. Throughout the meeting, parents are able to translate to each other as the Principal addresses the topic at the front.

In another example, a community health survey revealed that the local people, including parents, wanted more sports opportunities and more involvement as a school. As a result, the Board of Trustees have decided to resource a Sports Administrator person, which is not common to find in a primary school. I can testify through my experience at Willow Park that the school is greatly involved in sports, providing students with lots of opportunities. This, as a response to the community’s desire, is an example of how Willow Park School is culturally responsive in the area of school-wide activities. There is also a separate sports page on the school website, with a further link to a separate website just for sports. This can be found at (www.sportsground.co.nz/willowpark/11002/).

A culturally responsive approach makes a community stronger.

Reference:

• Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., Krause, K., McMaugh, A. (2010). Educational Psychology for learning & teaching (3^rd ed.). South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Cengage
• Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. (A. Kozulin, trans.) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Original work published 1934.)