CN: Rachel could you tell me what it is that you’re doing up at the university?

I am doing my Bachelor of Education in Honours papers and the paper that I was doing with Elizabeth Rata is Culture Identity in Education.

CN: How is it going? Are you enjoying doing this?

I found Elizabeth’s paper hard, very hard to be honest because it wasn’t something that I’d focused on before. I’ve come from a teaching background where it’s more curriculum focused and not so much looking at culture. If we looked at culture it was more in terms of New Zealand and biculturalism not multiculturalism so that’s what I found quite tricky to get into: what culture was and to extend it to the whole historical aspect of the world basically.

CN: So how has it changed your outlook then?

It has given me a greater understanding of, well the terms for one.

CN: Terms such as?

Post modernism, all those different terms that are out there that you read about and I think that’s what it means but not sure and then you think that’s just too hard to look into but its actually not really when you start looking into it and you actually understand it.

CN: So the course broadened your outlook in terms of your work here at NZTC?

Yes.

CN: In what way has it helped you with your NZTC work?

Just understanding that the students know a little bit more in terms of where they’ve come from. One of our focuses in class was views of authority and how different cultures view education in terms of male/female, age or the emphasis placed on different subjects. We have an issue with plagiarism and things like that and I sort of can understand now a little bit more why it happens because you start to realise in some cultures they’re told not to question and what’s written down is basically right. They will think who are they to change or question writing and that’s what I started to understand a little bit more and I want to get into more of that.

CN: You want to get more into different cultures and different cultural perspectives that people bring when they start embarking on their work here? What difference does it make in terms of your response then to students who you might at first sight think are plagiarising material.

I ask myself is there a reason behind this? Is it just straight out plagiarism or is it owing to where the students have come from?

CN: So you’re looking at the students in a broader light according to their own cultural background or where they’re coming from?

Yes and I don’t think it’s probably a good thing to do.

CN: Are you also thinking about aspects of their practice as well in terms of their teaching practice? How do you think their cultural background might impact on a students’ approach to teaching practice?

In a lot of cultures play is not viewed as education, as learning. So a lot of students find that quite tricky when they come to New Zealand because we have such a holistic curriculum where free play is emphasised and the focus is on play. A lot of students find that quite difficult to get their heads around so I sort of want to look at their practice in terms of how they cope with messy play and free play.

CN: How are you going to start to gather data or investigate that?

I think it will be quite anecdotal at the beginning and it may develop into something that I might carry on with later. I’ll look at comparing Te Whariki to other curriculum documents from around the world and having a look at different cultures in terms of development and children’s learning.

CN: And in terms of practice itself with students, are you thinking about doing any empirical research there, any questionnaires, surveys or any qualitative study?

Maybe one day.

CN: So for this work within the honours papers you’re asked to complete some essays and that’s the extent of it.

Yes this is just one paper that I’m going to be focusing on but if I can down the track I might try to see where I can go further with this focus.

CN: If I was to ask you to chose one particular text that you may have read while you’ve been doing this course, which one would, do you think would mean most to you at the present time or has given you more insight than any other?

There was one book I read that really stood out to me because it was all about how in New Zealand there is a, shall we call it an understanding, that what is happening to the Maori people today is because of what happened in the past and a lot of people still use that to blame others today. This article pointed out that some of the statistics have actually been doctored for their own purposes and so reading all about that was quite interesting. Growing up in New Zealand, going to school, getting the education that we had in regards to what happened in the past in New Zealand, it has been quite one sided. To read someone who’s come from a completely different viewpoint can be viewed as quite contentious.

CN: What do you intend to do once you’ve got the honours papers out of the way, what do you want to do then?

Carry on and do my Masters.

CN: And any particular direction at the moment where you might go beyond this work in culture or do you think you’ll stay with that for the time being?

It will probably either be culture or curriculum or maybe both because curriculum has always been my focus so maybe curriculum in terms of culture. It depends what’s out there, my interest might change.