The purpose of this sabbatical was to investigate what Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy  (CSP) looks like in practice when teaching literacy to ākonga Māori in English medium schools using a structured literacy (or Science of Reading (SOR)) and Science of learning approaches. What is the impact on achievement for this group of students when these approaches are used and how can they more effectively demonstrate cultural responsiveness? 

This sabbatical will build on 2024 work of our RTLB cluster. I am an RTLB Practice leader (PL) in a large RTLB Cluster in the Wellington Region, (109 schools), currently leading a Literacy PLD Project that follows the Science of Reading (SOR) approaches. (2024)

We work with a number of schools who have high percentages of Pasifika and Māori students but whose instruction is in English. Some are currently fully involved in the literacy project. 

Some schools and RTLB had questions:  “Does this SOR approach work for our students? Does it align with our Māori world views of learning differences and education? Does it value their first language and ultimately does it make a difference to their academic achievement?” 

As Māori are more likely to be exposed to risk factors; to have experienced resource barriers; and offered services that do not align (with their kaupapa), I wished to investigate how best to support in a way that honours Te Titiri principles whilst also following the research around best practice for teaching and learning. 

The work of Django Paris (2012) first coined the phrase CSP. Paris, D. (2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93–97. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x12441244  (Downloaded copy in Drive 

He maintains that we must sustain a student's (diverse) culture while also giving access to the dominant culture's knowledge and skills.  He also maintains that culture is ever-evolving, and that young people engage in culture in ways that may be quite different to their parents.

"The term culturally sustaining requires that our pedagogies be more than responsive or relevant to the cultural experiences and practices of young people—it requires that they support young people in sustaining the cultural and linguistic competence of their communities while simultaneously offering access to dominant cultural competence. Culturally sustaining pedagogy, then, has as its explicit goal supporting multilingualism and multiculturalism in practice and perspective for students and teachers. That is, culturally sustaining pedagogy seeks to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling. (Underlining and in bold mine) 

I am not exploring all the nuances of CSP in classroom practice, such as those that may be found more readily in immersion settings, rather I am focusing on English medium settings that support the a majority of diverse language learners and where English is explicitly taught with a structured literacy approach as now present in the New Zealand Curriculum, Te Mātaiaho. 

Rather than being thought of as needing intervention, or remediation, or "fixing", CSP takes a strengths based approach. CSP recognises that cultural and linguistic identities are valuable resources for learning. The kete seeks to capture practical ways teachers and schools can use these when teaching English.