Exploring the place of narratives and discourse in teacher positioning in relation to Maori Students

1. Reporoa College
May 2014
The Narratives of Experience

2. The Narratives of Experience
Interviews-as-chat (2001) in five secondary schools
with:
• Non-engaged Māori students
• Engaged Māori students
• Their whānau
• Some of their teachers
• Their principals

3. Three discourse positions
(Outside the
school)
Māori students
& communities
(Within the
classroom)
Relationships
(Within the
school; outside
the classroom)
Structures
Analysis of unit ideas in the narratives identified that
these teachers held three major discourse positions to
explain Māori students’ educational achievement.

4. Where the discourses were positioned
Discourses explaining Māori achievement: Students,
Whānau, Principals and Teachers
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Child Structure Relationship
9%
80%
11%
18%
63%
19%
22%
49%
29%
61%
20%
19%
Percentage
Student Whänau
Principal Teachers

5. Some new language
• Discourse
• Discursive positioning
• Deficit theorising
• Agentic positioning / agency

6. A definition of discourse
… a set of meanings, metaphors,
representations, images, stories, statements
that in some way together produce a
particular version of events, a particular
picture that is painted of an event, or a person
or a group of people
(Adapted from Burr, V. 1995. An introduction to social constructionism).

7. Discourses
First white
people to
arrive in
Australia
Settlers
Pommys
Traders
Colonisers
Convicts
White
ghosts

8. What was our discourse around
smoking in the 1960s?

9. … in the 1970s?

10. … in the 1980s?

11. … and the 1990s?

12. An example of discursive
repositioning
60s and 70s
• Sophisticated
• Socially acceptable
80s and 90s
• Developing an awareness of health risks
Currently
• Socially unacceptable. Explicit evidence of negative effects of
life expectancy

13. THINK, PAIR, SHARE
There may be a variety of different discourses surrounding a
particular event, person or group of people. Our thoughts, actions
and our behaviour, including how we relate to, define, and interact
with others are determined by our discursive positioning (the
discourse within which we are metaphorically positioned).
Consider the rate of attendance of Maori
families at Parents Evenings.
What discourses can you identify around
this event?

14. Deficit theorising
• Explanations that locate the problem in terms
of deficits
• Pathologising practices – ‘other’
• Allocate blame
• Abrogate responsibility to act

15. Agentic positioning and agency
In considering Academic Counselling
• Agency – agent of change
• Agentic positioning – metaphorically
positioned within a discourse of agency
• Accepting responsibility - ‘knowing and
understanding how to bring about change and
being professionally committed to doing so’
(The Effective Teaching Profile – We will look at this during
Term 2).

16. “...we are all able to reposition ourselves from one discourse to
another because while we are partly the product of discourse,
we have agency that allows us to change the way we see and
make sense of the world by drawing from other discourses.
We are free agents and we have agency; what is crucial to
understand is that some of the discourses we draw from limit
our power to activate our agency.”
Burr as cited in Bishop, R. (2008, p. 56) ”GPILSEO : A Model for Sustainable Educational Reform,” New
Zealand Journal of Education Studies, Vol.43, No. 2
Discursive repositioning

17. (Outside the
school)
Māori students
& communities
(Within the
school; outside
the classroom)
Relationships
(Within the
classroom)
Structures
Discourses to explain Māori
students’ educational achievement
Non agentic
Deficit theorising
AgenticNon agentic
Deficit theorising

18. Māori
students &
communities
Structures Relationships
Reject deficit
thinking/theorising &
recognise their own agency
to effect change
“I am able to effect change.
I could …”
Many teachers were
discursively positioned here …
Many look for the solutions
here
… and here is where real
change can take place
See Māori students and
their communities in
deficit terms
“I can’t because the
problem is …”
See school structures and
systems in deficit terms
“I can’t because the
problem is …”
Discourses to explain Māori students’
educational achievement

19. Reflecting on deficit theorising and
agentic positioning
What do you now understand
about:
–discursive positioning?
–deficit theorising?
–agency and agentic positioning?

20. Reflecting on deficit theorising and
agentic positioning
Thinking about Māori students and engaging
with Māori whanau what might be the
implications for you:
– as an individual?
– as a member of staff at Reporoa College?
– in your role as a Support Staff Member or Dean or
Form Teacher?

21. Just for a minute reflect on some
Māori student narratives

22. When you play up you get withdrawn from class. Yeah, you get sent out.
Sometimes it’s not your fault, but you don’t get a chance to tell your side until
you get to the deputy principal. So you tell your story and you are allowed
back, but you’re shamed out. It’s stink.
Some teachers pick on us Māori. Some teachers and kids are racist.
Being Māori. They say bad things about us. We’re thick. We smell. Our
uniforms are paru. They shame us in class. Put us down.
Don’t even try to say our names properly. Say things about our whānau.
They blame us for stealing when things go missing. Just ’cause we’re Māori.
Discourses to do with being Māori

23. Discourses to do with engaging Māori students
Don’t yell at kids. Don’t start thinking about what you are going to
teach us when we walk in the room. Get prepared.
Have a smile on your face. Look pleased to see us. Treat us
respectfully. Look like you want to be here. Say hi to us as we
come in. Have a joke with us. Don’t bawl us out. If you don’t like
something we’re doing, tell us quietly.
Just ‘cause we’re a C class don’t expect us to be dumb. We might
be there because we were naughty at Intermediate.
Don’t have us writing all the time and being quiet. Let us talk
quietly to each other about what we’re doing. We know we have
to be quiet sometimes – like tests.

24. I think they need to try and understand us and the way that we
learn.
Treat them equally. Treat them the same as the other students.
They never even actually make an effort to understand our
culture. They don’t try to understand where we are coming from.
Make it easier for us to learn. Slow down sometimes ‘cause you
don’t learn much when you go too fast.
Cut down copying. We’d rather collaborate about the notes. You
know, do them together so we can all understand.

25. This afternoon
What makes a difference for Māori students’
participation and educational achievement?
We have begun to look at this.
Our focus in our Professional Learning Morning
and afterschool workshops will continue this
work through Terms 2 & 3