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A Pasifika teacher outlines the process of how he uses the cultural identifiers for giftedness and applies these identifiers to students that he teaches. The Pasifika teacher also shared his presentation of the process and an explanation of gifted and talented Pasifika students.

Duration: 03:40

Giftedness explained

A Pasifika student who is able to articulate how his cultural identifiers for giftedness contribute to his world as a learner and how his gifts can be used to help others who rely on him as a role model.

Duration: 02:56

Giftedness

The Gifted and Talented Coordinator shares her story about how her involvement with the Pasifika Achievement Coordinator in the Digi Advisor project. The Digi Advisor project helped affirm what Pasifika initiatives the school already had in place to support their Pasifika learners.

Duration: 02:18

Resilience

An Auckland Girls Grammar School Samoan language teacher and a non-Pasifika music teacher collaborated on a consensus approach to see which cultural identifiers applied to Pasifika students they taught mutually. The Samoan language teacher acknowledges the value of having a process to identify gifted and talented Pasifika students, providing another avenue or lens to view how Pasifika learners can translate their particular strengths into classroom learning and achievement.

Duration: 02:33

Lineage and birthright / representation

An Epsom Girls Grammar School student discusses two specific cultural identifiers: lineage and birthright that pertain to her upbringing from her family. Notions of cultural identifiers for giftedness are found in the home, and this Tongan student articulates how family and cultural values are used as a foundation to accelerate her learning and achievement at school.

Duration: 03:29

Assessment and e-Learning

An Auckland Girls Grammar School Samoan language teacher explains how she combines e-Learning tools in her assessments to allow her students to achieve to their potential through the use of YouTube channels to film oral language assessments. This means that students are able to film their assessments without the time pressure or time constraints of timetabled classes as an example of ubiquitous learning.

Duration: 04:22

Digi advisors and the Virtual Learning Network (VLN)

A Pasifika teacher shares his story about the benefits of being involved in the Digi Advisor project and being involved in online communities of practice on the Virtual Learning Network.

Duration: 03:03

Pasifika Education Plan (PEP) and teachers

A Pasifika teacher shares his opinion and interpretation of the PEP, how teachers can use the policy document as a way to provide a strategic focus on Pasifika learners, parents, families and communities.

Duration: 01:30

Pasifika student success

Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Assistant Vice Chancellor (Pasifika) Victoria University, discusses why it is important to New Zealand as a nation that Pasifika students are successful in education.

Duration: 03:27

Effective teaching relationships

Research shows that the teacher's interest, respect and care for the student is an important factor in student achievement in school.

Duration: 01:44

Language domains

Bilingual people are able to use their different languages in different places, with different people and for different purposes.

Duration: 01:34

Parents and bilingual learning

Parents are pleased with new approaches to bilingual learning. They see the advantages that children get from using both their languages.

Duration: 02:43

Secondary curriculum and vocabulary

Academic language, and particularly academic vocabulary, is a high priority for bilingual students, across all curriculum areas.

Duration: 04:03

Being bilingual

Research shows that there are clear educational advantages in bilingual learning, but using a Pasifika language has sometimes been considered a liability.

Duration: 01:27

Strengthening relationships

By integrating culture, caring, challenge and support into their pedagogies, teachers strengthen relationships and build communities of learners who succeed socially and academically.

Duration: 6:21

Transitions

School leaders have a role in establishing practices that support the continuity of their Pasifika students’ learning as they move from and into different learning environments.

Duration: 2:48

The gifts students bring

Inclusive pedagogies, where teachers deliberately and positively draw on their Pasifika students’ resources, value the diversity of student experience and help to lift Pasifika student achievement.

Duration: 2:06

High expectations

High expectations, together with the vision of Pasifika students as successful learners, improve relationships, pedagogy and academic outcomes.

Duration: 6:17

Behaviour management

Safe and supportive environments, with coherent, clear and consistently enforced codes of behaviour and restorative discipline practices, contribute to learning gains for Pasifika students.

Duration: 4:30

Relationships – Getting to know the students

Collecting relevant and sufficient data on Pasifika students’ achievement helps schools to track the progress of their Pasifika learners, make informed changes to their pedagogy, programmes and practices and be affirmed when their data reveals learning gains.

Duration: 05:50

Data – how it is used

Pasifika students find it motivating when teachers keep them informed about their levels of achievement, share the learning intentions with them and adjust their teaching to scaffold their learning pathways so that they know exactly what to do next.

Duration: 04:38

Strategies at work

Teachers use many different strategies to engage their Pasifika learners and help them to achieve. Their strategies work best when they are grounded in responsive and caring relationships with their Pasifika students and the focus on their learning is clear.

Duration: 05:03

Learning intentions

When teachers and Pasifika students negotiate the learning intentions, and share clear expectations and knowledge of the outcomes to be achieved, Pasifika students engage more confidently and more purposefully in their learning.

Duration: 04:16

Collaborative learning

Pasifika students benefit from working in collaborative ways with their peers in the classroom.

Duration: 02:31

Language

Knowing a Pasifika language is not a barrier to being successful in English-medium schooling. Teachers who value and share the languages that Pasifika students bring with them into the classroom and deliberately build their English language skills help their Pasifika students to succeed.

Duration: 02:43

Professional learning and development at Māngere Bridge School

Collaboration, inquiry learning and knowledge-sharing underpin the professional development and learning focus of the teachers at Māngere Bridge school. The learning and actions that result impact positively on their Pasifika students’ achievement and well-being.

Duration: 04:14

Professional learning and development at McAuley High School

McAuley High School has an unrelenting focus on raising the achievement of their Pasifika students. School-based teacher professional learning and development enables teachers to collectively inquire into and identify what works well for their Pasifika students.

Duration: 03:39

Leadership

School leaders who initiate and sustain an intensive focus on the teaching-learning relationship and promote collective responsibility and accountability for Pasifika students’ achievement and well-being can make a difference to the outcomes their Pasifika students achieve.

Duration: 01:01

Students as leaders

Negative stereotyping and a culture of mocking can be positively transformed by providing opportunities for Pasifika students to learn and grow their leadership potential, take ownership of their own development and be celebrated as achievers.

Duration: 03:02

Connecting Polyfest with academic performance

Pasifika students discuss the importance and relevance that the ASB Polyfest has played in their classroom learning, which in effect improved their academic achievement. Key points in this story also include the senior students mentoring younger students - tuakana/teina model, the opportunity to celebrate their culture by engaging with their traditional performing arts and being able to connect their cultural identifiers to Pasifika giftedness.

Duration: 05:33

Student advice for teachers

Senior Pasifika students provide advice for teachers of Pasifika students, highlighting the need for teachers to focus on the level of language that they use in classrooms to communicate with Pasifika learners.

Duration: 02:24

How the Correspondence School can support Pasifika students.

Glen Tuala - Pasifika Advisory Officer, Correspondence School. explains the flexibility that the Correspondence School can offer in developing a more personalised learning programme for Pasifika students.

Duration: 05:17

Know your students

Jim Halafihi, ICT teacher Papatoetoe High School, explains how establishing a positive rapport with your Pasifika students can provide a good starting point to knowing your students. When a teacher knows their students they are in a better position to respond more appropriately to their needs.

Duration: 06:01

Understanding Pasifika culture

Maggie Flavell, explains the the perspective of a non Pasifika person working with Pasifika students. She talks about the importance of learning about the Pasifika culture to enable her to better engage with Pasifika students and their families. She also talks about the value of having a good support network to support her own professional development.

Duration: 06:31

Providing authentic learning contexts for Pasifika students

Imeleta Faumuina, HoD English Tangaroa College, discusses the importance of providing authentic learning contexts to support meaningful student engagement.

Duration: 10:27

Strong student connections

Melaine Sagala - TIC Samoan Language, Avondale College, discusses the benefits of strong student connections for their learning. She also discusses a model for connection that has worked for her in the past.

Duration: 06:39

Each student is unique

David Faavae explains that with in the changing Tongan culture that Tongan boys can be very different, each requiring a different approach when working with them as teachers.

Duration: 04:05

Targeted support

Pennie Otto, Lecturer at MIT Tertiary Secondary School, discusses how she has developed a programme based on the Niue language and culture that has lifted Pasifika student achievement at her school.

Duration: 04:23

Pasifika students bring a wealth of knowledge

Teokotai Tarai, HOD Languages, Teacher of Cook Island Maori Language, explains how Pasifika students come to the classroom with a wealth of knowledge and experiences. This can provide a platform for better student engagement and success.

Duration: 06:14

What it's all about

It’s about creating environments with students at the centre, where Pasifika students have the focus and learning support they need to lift their academic achievement patterns.

Duration: 4:21

Building relationships

Mutually respectful, caring and open relationships, which motivate and engage Pasifika students, form the heart of effective teaching.

Duration: 5:11

Diversity and identity

This clip, from the Connections and Conversations DVD, considers the diversity within our groups of Pasifika students and their communities in terms of their identities, languages, experiences, and aspirations.
The DVD and accompanying booklet can be ordered via email from orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz or phone 0800 226 440. Quote Item number 11061.

Duration: 9:44

Different worlds, different experiences

This clip, from the Connections and Conversations DVD, highlights a variety of viewpoints on the range of different contexts and worlds that Pasifika students inhabit.These different contexts can provide challenges for some students. At the same time, they also can provide a basis for learning.
The DVD and accompanying booklet can be ordered via email from orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz or phone 0800 226 440. Quote Item number 11061.

Duration: 5:43

Relevancy and expectations

This clip, from the Connections and Conversations DVD, considers the potentially differing expectations of teachers and parents towards Pasifika students and their learning. The DVD and accompanying booklet can be ordered via email from orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz or phone 0800 226 440. Quote Item number 11061.

Duration: 4:14

Involvement and engagement

This clip, from the Connections and Conversations DVD, explores a variety of viewpoints from students, teachers and parents on the involvement and engagement of Pasifika parents and communities in the processes of schooling.
The DVD and accompanying booklet can be ordered via email from orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz or phone 0800 226 440. Quote Item number 11061.

Duration: 11:26

Parents matter

Many schools already involve Pasifika parents in supporting cultural events and activities. However, it should not stop there. Home-school partnerships that have a clear focus on Pasifika students’ learning with everyone able to make a positive and active contribution directly benefit Pasifika learners.

Duration: 04:16

Sharing information

Partnerships that share and align school and home practices and enable parents to actively support their children's in-school learning have shown some of the strongest impacts on student outcomes.

Duration: 03:29

Welcoming parents

Coming to school for special events is rewarding for Pasifika parents if the school makes them feel welcome and the focus is on their children’s achievement and strategies to extend their learning.

Duration: 01:46

Learning conversations

Sustained higher achievement is possible when teachers use pedagogical approaches and share strategies that enable Pasifika students to take charge of their own learning.

Duration: 05:56

Sylvia Park's parent centre

Sylvia Park school has set up a centre to be ‘the parents’ place’ within the school. The centre’s leader has a proactive focus on involving Pasifika parents through mutual learning conversations based on their child’s assessment data and their next-steps learning needs.

Duration: 03:56

Professor Emeritus Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop CNZM

Professor Emeritus Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop comments on the current state of education. She shares her thoughts about reducing and bridging the gap, understanding and engaging in systems, negotiating time, and the benefits of learning the basics.

Duration: 13:18

Rev. Tevita Finau QSM

Reverend Tevita Finau calls for an education system that recognises a range of student gifts and provides opportunities for learners to discover, explore, and build off their strengths. He touches on the importance of family, identity, culture, and keeping the language alive.

Duration: 11:00

Leaupepe Rachael Karalus MNZM

Rachel Karalus has a number of concerns for Pacific learners, including racism within the education system, the system's lack of cultural responsiveness, and the need to focus on enabling Pacific parents' engagement. She sees success as Pacific learners as "being who they are 100% of the time" and calls for Pacific learners to have the same educational opportunities as those with "sounder financial backgrounds".

Duration: 9:38

The Reverend. Professor Dr Uili Feleterika Nokise

Reverend Professor Dr Uili Fele Nokise explores spirituality – a value that binds together all other values – and its significance to Samoans. He explains the importance of relationships, with both people and the environment. He calls for efforts to bring a common understanding of things, such as how the home and school environments can complement each other and how we express care for each other.

Duration: 10:25

STEAM – Engineering

Way before the creation of an electric drill, Tokelauans invented the vilivili – a hand-operated pump drilling device. Pacific ancestors have always been construction innovators.

Duration: 00:46

STEAM – Science

Pacific ancestors who were scientific innovators knew about the benefits of coconut oil long before it was trendy and profitable.

Duration: 00:55

STEAM – Technology

Pacific ancestors have been navigational innovators since long ago. They created, studied, and memorised navigation charts made of sticks.

Duration: 00:47

STEAM – Arts

Traditional tatau (tattooing) has been handed down from generation to generation. Pacific ancestors have been cultural artistic innovators from way back.

Duration: 00:59

STEAM – Maths

Pacific ancestors have long been financial innovators. They used tafuliae, shell money made up of different coloured shells that represented different monetary worth.

Duration: 00:50

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Key content

Teachers find ways to value the languages that their Pasifika students bring with them into the classroom, integrating them into their own knowledge and classroom teaching. In turn, they teach their Pasifika students the kinds of English language that they need to help them progress their learning. Uneven patterns of achievement in the early years of schooling may occur for those students with a Pasifika language or both a Pasifika and English language background, yet recent research evidence indicates that being bilingual is not a barrier to the academic achievement of Pasifika learners. Newly arrived students benefit from explicit induction and support so that they can develop the knowledge and skills that schooling in New Zealand requires.

“But from the middle and upper primary and into the secondary years the sense is that bilingualism may (under important conditions not tested here, such as level of bilingualism) lead to similar outcomes (as having a strong English-only status), and in a wider sense confer other advantages”.
Ua Aoina le Manogi o le Lolo: Pasifika Schooling Improvement Research – Final Report, page ix

Acknowledgment:

Thanks to the principals, staff and students of Aorere College, McAuley High School, Mangere Bridge School, Sylvia Park School, Mary MacKillop School and Wymondley Road Primary School for their contribution.

Things to think about

Do you expect your Pasifika students to use suitable academic language in English? What do you do to support their learning? How do you reward them for their efforts?
What support does your school offer to Pasifika students who are more comfortable with using their Pasifika language in class? How does this support help their learning?
What is your school’s attitude towards Pasifika students using their home languages in class? Are you supportive of this? If so, why? If not, why not? What would you prefer to see happen?
What specific strategies do you use to develop in your Pasifika students the English language skills that they need for them to progress their learning? Are they effective? How do you know?
What steps have you taken to engage with the languages and cultures of your Pasifika learners? How would your Pasifika students know that you have taken an interest in these?

Transcript

Merita Amani-Heisifa
I try to use our first language, and then they make that connection with the English. Especially in math, because the numbers in Samoan is how you say it, but in English it's different. The non-Samoan or Tongan speaking teachers would get another child to interpret for the other one – they buddy up. So that 's another good way of helping that other child with the language. Children who do come in with their first language have a lot to offer – it's just making that connection with the English language.

Merita with students

Don Biltcliffe
I celebrate the children in my class who are bilingual. That gives them a little bit of mana, that gives them a little bit of self-esteem, they feel quite proud of themselves. I ask them to teach me words and phrases, and we use them in our assemblies when my class present, we use them in our classroom everyday.

Jacqueline Yates
I have a young teacher aide, Donna. She's Samoan and she is fluent in speaking Samoan. I have children who come into my class who don’t speak English, mainly Samoan children. I feel as though the best way to teach children English is to start with their own language first. So Donna is constantly speaking to them in Samoan, translating what I’ve just said. And I also speak a little bit of Samoan. I’ve got my own Samoan little kiddie booklet that I try, I’m trying to learn it as well. But Donna’s there. They love her. They go to her, they trust her. As soon as she speaks something in Samoan you can see something clicks in their head. They understand.

Moyeen McCoy
Some of the most important things that I have to remember when I'm teaching our Pasifika students, maybe the first thing that I would think of naturally would be the matter of vocabulary. Today I'll be teaching how to answer an exam question, which is a pretty scary thing. So the first thing I will do is I will look at vocabulary and I'll look at a way into the question, because I have to demystify a lot of the language and phrasing that is used in the formal situation of the examination which students have to deal with. Vocabulary is very very important for our students. They really stumble over a lot of quite common words that you would expect that they would know.

Moyeen with students

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