Due: 19th September
Nau te rourou, naku te rourou, ka ora te manuhiri.
With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.
Culturally responsive leadership is an integral aspect of effective educational leadership in New Zealand. This module explores the fundamental concepts of culturally responsive leadership and its significance within the unique cultural context of New Zealand schools.
We are aware that there is a continuum of experiences and expertise among our delegates so please explore the area(s) most relevant to you below.
Defining Culturally Responsive Leadership
Culturally responsive leadership refers to a leadership approach that recognises, respects, and integrates the diverse cultural backgrounds and identities of students, staff, and the community within the educational environment. This approach prioritises inclusivity, equity, and culturally sensitive practices.
Key Components of Culturally Responsive Leadership:
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Cultural Competence: Culturally responsive leaders demonstrate cultural competence by developing a deep understanding of their own cultural biases and beliefs. They actively seek to learn about the cultures represented in their school community.
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Inclusive Leadership: Inclusive leaders foster an environment where all students and staff feel valued and included, regardless of their cultural background. They promote an atmosphere of respect and acceptance.
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Cultural Awareness: Culturally responsive leaders are attuned to the cultural needs and preferences of their students and staff. They adapt their leadership style to accommodate these differences, making the educational experience more relevant and engaging.
Culture Matters!
Culture significantly shapes our thinking, perception, actions, and communication. Learning is intricately linked to culture, meaning that even when the classroom’s teaching methods, resources, curriculum, and relationships remain the same, students’ experiences may differ due to their cultural perspectives and prior knowledge. Problems arise when educators are unaware of the diverse knowledge and experiences diverse students bring to learning. Even if a teacher shares the same culture as their students, understanding their backgrounds isn’t guaranteed as cultural understandings and behaviours vary within cultural groups, and teachers may miss cultural cues. It’s vital not to ignore these differences or treat all students uniformly, but instead, move from cultural blindness to cultural responsiveness.
Bias, Unconscious Bias and Racism:
Biases in educational leadership can manifest in various ways, often stemming from deep-seated societal prejudices. These biases may result in unequal opportunities, resource allocation, and disciplinary practices for students of different backgrounds. Educational leaders, whether consciously or unconsciously, may favour certain groups while unintentionally disadvantaging others. These biases can hinder the creation of inclusive, equitable learning environments, perpetuating disparities in academic achievement and student well-being. Addressing biases in educational leadership is crucial for fostering fairness and ensuring that every student has an equal opportunity to succeed academically and personally. It requires self-awareness, ongoing education, and a commitment to dismantling discriminatory practices to create a more just and equitable educational system.
In leadership and teaching positions we need to be aware of unconscious biases and how these might affect the way in which we operate in a school setting; towards children, colleagues and whanaū. An unconscious bias is more difficult to overcome and can be defined as such:
“Refers to a bias that we are unaware of and which happens outside of our control. It is a bias that happens automatically and is triggered by our brain making quick judgements and assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, cultural environment and personal experiences.” – Equality Challenge Unit UK: Unconscious Bias in Higher Education Review 2013.
In New Zealand schools students can also experience outright racism, as explored in this article on Mana College – https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/racism-in-schools-calls-for-cultural-competency-in-the-classroom/JNSGWAYUUQI5RH65F3535A7YII/
Our Responsibility as School Leaders in Aotearoa:
School leaders clearly have a responsibility to ensure schools are safe and equitable places for learners and their whanau. We know that culturally responsive pedagogies have the potential to narrow the disparities in our school communities, concurrently elevating the overall levels of achievement. Extensive research indicates that these culturally responsive pedagogical approaches boost student performance across diverse cultural groups, ensuring every student is motivated and has the assistance required to unlock their educational potential, irrespective of their social, economic, cultural background, or individual requirements.
In this video, Professor Mere Berryman explains the need and the opportunity to use evidence to make a difference in education in Aotearoa, and why a Tiriti o Waitangi partnership approach – Mana Ōrite – is foundational to success for diverse Māori learners and for all learners in English-medium education.
Provocation:
Research tells us that there are some key aspects of culturally responsive pedagogy:
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Reflect on your cultural knowledge and teaching assumptions related to culture
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Learn about your students
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Use students’ cultural knowledge, perspectives and skills as a resource for teaching
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Create a safe and supportive environment and build strong relationships
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Encourage a discursive curriculum and enable student self-determination
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Connect with families
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Connect with communities
Select one or two aspects from the list above and reflect on what your school does well in this regard and what next steps you would take to further develop your school’s cultural responsiveness.
Comment on a fellow delegate’s response, remembering that every school is at a different place in this journey. You might offer support if there is a next step you can help with, reassurance if you have been on a similar journey, help with a resource you have found useful etc.
Optional Resources:
Explore the resources most relevant to you.
Working effectively with iwi and hapū, Melanie Taite-Pitama: https://vimeo.com/242861287
Puketeraki Kāhui Ako: Culturally responsive practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQusPg98GcQ
A website with many useful resources and links: https://elearning.tki.org.nz/Leadership/Culturally-responsive-leadership#js-tabcontainer-1-tab-5
Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (BES): https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2515/5959
“The real conspiracy is that education is for the rich” L. O’Connell Rapira – https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/24-08-2020/the-real-conspiracy-is-that-education-is-for-the-rich
“They didn’t care about normal kids like me”: Restructuring a school to fit the kids” A. Milne – https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/6234
“Colouring in the White Spaces: Reclaiming Cultural Identity in Whitestream Schools” A. Milne – https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/7868
25 Responses
Something that we are very big on a t our school is our staff and student wellbeing. This has been an issue in the past, and about 5-6 years ago we decided that we needed to do something to change the narrative at our school around how we approach wellbeing and how we build relationships with our tamariki. We implemented programmes, such as Zones of Regulation, Relationships First, and now have a student wellbeing team. We have also just started implementing PB4L at our kura, but this is very much just started and we intend to continue this in the coming years. We have procedures at our kura that connect us staff with our tamariki, as well as building connections between the tamariki. Some of these have included Student Wellbeing Week, Student wellbeing Wagons, and the students have also built a Buddy Bench for students who need a friend to play with at break times. All of these initiatives are ongoing, but there are also many others that are building the connections with tamariki.
Something that we have noticed in the past few years is the growing population of Indian students at our kura. We have a few sub-divisions that are opening up, and these are mostly being built on by Indian families moving in to the area. Not only is this putting pressure on our classrooms, but it is also putting some strain on our ESOL groups, which are starting to grow much larger than they have been in the past. While most of the students come to our kura able to speak fluent English, this is not always the case, and typically they will struggle to read and write English well. This will continue to be an area for focus for us as we move forward.
At Mamaku School learning about our students is integral to sustaining relationships and not just something that occurs in the first term but is added too throughout the year and then further years as they move around the school. Our akonga are naturally inquisitive and this is reflected both in school and in the community. Knowing what they hold in their heart helps build a bridge where learning can flow more easily back and forth. I find that this kind of relationship is reciprocal too as they are also inquisitive about who their teachers and what our likes and interests are. This all then segway’s into relationships with whanau and community. Within our community when relationships between kaiako and student are authentic, whanau naturally relax in their approach to school and we do get walls at times! Our whanau and community relationships are still a work in progress though and something that we have never quite recovered from since covid and we are slowly working on strengthening this area. Some of the ways we are trying is by becoming more visible on Social Media with student content and getting out into the community by helping with projects.
Our school is deeply committed to the concept of dual heritage, shared future. It is evident in everything we do and how we operate as a school.
Our localised curriculum reflects the shared vision of what our whānau, school and iwi value most. All our teachers and staff are committed to reflecting our commitment to Te Aitanga a Hauiti or Ngāti Porou iwi in our learning. We all have different levels of expertise in this area, and we work as a team to support and upskill each other. When I was leading the school last year, as one of only a few pakeha staff members, this was a real challenge for me. However I had incredible support from my staff (in particular Shanan Gray!) to navigate anything I was unsure of, with people I could trust.
One way we work to connect with students and whanau is through our student agency/student conferences (learning maps). Students all write learning maps twice a year, and share them with their whanau. This brings whanau into school, and emphasizes the importance of home/school relationships. Students also write a student comment in their reports. We have found this to share a rich insight into students own ideas about their learning.
Next steps: We will continue to work on our localised curriculum, and how that fits with stronger government mandates – to ensure our culture is not lost. We have so much shared knowledge as a staff – how can we best use it for our students.
This was nice to read Kirstin. I am glad that you met your challenges. Unpacking localised Curriculum is such an important task and it can be quite challenging trying to navigate what is important to include as everyone and rightfully so have their own ideas on this.
Staff – ongoing PLD relating to Te Reo and Tikanga Māori, working with the local iwi – we now use a version of karakia (Te Aronga), staff sing waiata in pohiri and school sing them in assembly. Developing a better understanding and appreciation of Māori culture and language.
Related to this is Restorative Practices and Taikako which emphasize the importance of relationships within dealing with Māori students and whanau.
Local Histories – Nga Ara Tipuna (local iwi) working with faculties on developing localised curriculum within faculties. They are endeavouring to leave resources that will be imbedded into the school teaching e.g. school play being developed about Ruataniwha, Lake Whatuma history and resources being developed to use in junior school.
Use of outside providers – targeting Māori at risk and developing methods to improved attendance and achievement – the term MOE use is Māori enjoying success as Māori. Gathering feedback on this programme which will help guide future planning. Te taiwhenua Tamatea and Te taiwhenua Hertaunga are also involved in the school as partners and our BOT has a Iwi representative. I would like to see more staff also involved in these programs working along side ākonga in this journey.
Providing opportunities to celebrate success – sports, academic and cultural events. Pukekaihou and kapa haka events are the most obvious. Out student Conferences is another example of face to face – helping the relationships with teachers/school and whanau.
At Taumarunui High School, we integrate students’ cultural knowledge, perspectives, and skills through our Big Picture Learning philosophy, particularly in exhibitions of learning. This approach emphasises student-driven projects that reflect their cultural identities and personal experiences, allowing their unique knowledge to become a vital resource for teaching and learning. These exhibitions create opportunities for tauira to express their connections to their whakapapa and local hapū, presenting their learning in ways that are meaningful to their whānau and iwi.
By nurturing educationally powerful connections between home and school, we ensure that both whānau and educators share the responsibility of teaching, allowing students to experience a continuous cultural and educational journey. This shared process, ako, fosters shared learning between students, teachers, and whānau, which is essential to our philosophy. The regular inclusion of whānau in learning exhibitions strengthens these connections, allowing students to showcase their growth and achievements in a culturally resonant environment. We also prioritise building strong relationships with local iwi and hapū, following the insights of Melanie Taite-Pitama, who emphasises that these connections should be nurtured like friendships—with respect, care, and open dialogue.
This provocation deeply resonates with us as a school. We are a close-knit community that thrives on our interconnectedness with iwi and whānau. As a small rural school, many of our families are deeply committed, with most of our students staying from Year 1 through to Year 13. While we have some transient families, they often have whakapapa to Te Aitanga a Hauiti or Ngāti Porou iwi, which makes transitions seamless, we always find a connection, and that is one of our school’s strengths.
Our localised curriculum reflects the shared vision of what our whānau, school, iwi, and community want for their children. The phrase “Dual heritage, shared future” is commonly used within our school, iwi, and community, and is embedded in both our staff and students, reminding us to continue the legacies of our tūpuna. “Ka tipu te whaihanga e hika ki Ūawa” (May the arts in Ūawa flourish) is another phrase we use to inspire our staff, students, and whānau to keep the stories of our ancestors alive.
We learn, recite, sing, and perform haka to tell the histories of our tūpuna, embedding these key learnings in our students from Year 1 to Year 13, fostering cultural identity and connectedness. Our task moving forward is, how do encourage our whānau to be confident with our Hauiti reo or Nati reo?
Next steps: How can we, as teachers and future educators, evolve our thinking to cater for future generations and uphold these legacies? We teach and encourage the use of social media platforms to create content with purpose. How can we inspire our whānau to keep our reo, tikanga, and pūrākau alive? We encourage them to attend reo and kapa haka wānanga, marae gatherings, or participate in learning spaces that allow them to thrive in these teachings.
Create a safe and supportive environment and build strong relationships
Our school has been on a long and continued journey to create a safe and supportive environment in which strong relationships are built and thrive. To reflect on this, I’ve written some bullet points.
Te Ao Māori Culturally Responsive Practices:
Daily Whakatauki in classrooms; whole school Whakatauki on Mondays.
Regular use of te reo Māori school-wide, with staff expected to participate in te reo courses every two years.
Strong connections with whānau and iwi through termly whānau hui, events, and collaboration with Ngāti Rēhia for the Histories curriculum.
Ko wai au unit to start the year, celebrating student identity and uniqueness.
Te Whakatupuranga bilingual unit, with whānau committed to active participation.
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L):
School-wide shared behaviour expectations with KORU values at the core.
Regular reinforcement of expectations and use of restorative practices.
Sensory rooms and ‘Think and be me’ program to support emotional regulation.
Relationships First:
Commitment to Russell Bishop’s Teaching to the North-East principles, with professional development via Cognition Education.
School curriculum review to ensure Relationships First principles are embedded.
Fostering Positive and Respectful Relationships:
Peer mediators and student leaders run school initiatives.
Vertical roopu days promote whanaungatanga and tuakana/teina partnerships.
School council provides a platform for student voice.
Promoting Well-being and Hauora:
Use of Whare Tapa Whā model to explore well-being.
Circle time and movement breaks incorporated into class routines.
Next Steps:
Focus on staff well-being and trauma-informed practice.
Incorporate Te Whakatupuranga kaupapa school-wide.
Strengthen staff induction to embed the school’s kaupapa.
Our school community is changing – we need to consider how we are celebrating the cultural diversity of all our students
Im really interested in knowing more about the truama-informed practice. Is this a journey you are on already or something you are going to be starting?
At my school, we are very strong in creating a strong and safe environment for our tamariki. Our school motto is Hurupaki Cares, and we talk about this with our akongā daily. It is written on our school uniform instead of our school name, and it is also written throughout the school on walls and in art works. Caring is also one of our three school values and we spend much of our time talking about and actioning this with our tamariki. We take an active role in combatting negative behaviour in our kura, and we always take a restorative approach when these happen.
We have recently begun to use the Whare Tapawhā model to address the wellbeing of both our tamariki and our kaiako, and we are starting to notice the flow-on effects of this now.
We also use Pause, Breathe, Smile in our classes to help our tamariki to feel more in touch with themselves and better connected to others. This has also helped to foster and grow their connection to the environment. An important piece of this is our school wetlands which all teachers are expected to make use of throughout the school year.
A new initiative has been our Impact Teams, one of which has been our Wellbeing team. This small team has made a variety of initiatives, including the student and staff wellbeing weeks, staff shout outs, and the student wellbeing team. They have also started Student Wellbeing Wagons which contain a lot of calming, soothing activities for children to do when they need some time out. There are two of these – a junior one and a senior one – and they are put out at lunchtimes by two of the student wellbeing team members. These have proven to be very popular and are often frequented by similar children, and it is these children who have meet and created new friendships.
Next steps: We have a strong Māori culture at our school, and we have a thriving Kapa Haka group which is going to perform at our regional championships early in Term 4. We have new subdivisions being built around our school recently, and we are noticing a lot of the families that are coming into our kura from these news homes are Indian. This is especially true for the junior school. I feel that as a school, this would be an area for us to explore – getting to know our Indian families better and becoming more knowledgable and experienced in Indian culture.
I love your initiative with the wellbeing team – it shows how both staff and student well being is a priority for the school. The wagons sound like a great idea. I’d like to hear more about the activities you have included in these and what they look like.
Thanks Jenna. We have found that the Wellbeing Wagons have been a big hit so far. I will take some photos for you when they are out today and I will let you see them. They have a few of what you might expect – colouring and the like – but also a few others things as well.
I really like what you guys are doing at your school as well – you look like you are pretty busy! I like that your next steps are looking into new staff induction, which is something that we are looking at as well. I forgot to put this into my comment, but after visiting other schools earlier in the year, we can see the areas that we need to improve on, and know what we need to do. It just needs the time to get it done.
Culture all stems from strong built relationships with staff, students, parents/caregivers and whanau. Knowing your learners within the classroom and school environment. Students need a safe space where they can feel supported and feel like they belong. For the first 2 weeks at the start of each school year I do a unit – Get to know each other. Thus incorporates students finding out about each other, sharing about their holidays and or adventures they did, artwork that consists of hobbies, interests, family, likes and dislikes, while incorporating this during statistics – Maths. Students love seeing their artwork and learning up on the walls and can see what they have in common with others within the class that they would not normally engage with. This helps me as their teacher to learn about them as individuals and share a bit about me to them. This is something I will change and adapt depending on my students’ needs and abilities.
End of each term we send home Taonga Books (pieces of students work throughout the term for parents to see and comment on. This is one way the students share their work with their parents/caregivers (until we move to Hero that will take the place of the Taonga Books). We have parent teacher conferences and meet the teacher too throughout the year. I found this was great being new to the school and community this year to meet parents, caregivers and community members, along with other school events.
My students know that if they have issues they can come and talk to me, as they know that I take the time to listen, collect the evidence, and discuss with others to find a resolution and or consequence. This has made teacher-student relationships stronger, especially as my first year here in my new school. Other students will come and talk to me, knowing that I don’t brush things underneath the rug and will sort things out; which previously wasn’t happening or consequences are not happening due to teachers giving too many chances to particular students. Therefore I always feel like I am the “Bad Cop” all the time. This is something that myself and the DP discuss as she feels the same way. So we need to ensure teachers are doing the behavior plan and sticking to the rules that are set (always reminding them at the Monday morning meeting), but if this continues to happen then having a difficult conversation regarding it will be next on the plan.
What do we do well?
Learn about your students – we spend time at the start of each year, getting to know the students in our classes and others across the school. We set aside time for this to happen in a deep and meaningful way, and then use this as a step to connect with their whānau to learn about their aspirations and goals for their child/ren during the year
Create a safe and supportive environment and build strong relationships – this follows on from learning about our students, connecting with them and building a strong and supportive environment where they feel trusted and safe. We encouraged our ākonga to talk to us if there is anything they need support with or are worried about, be it for themselves, a sibling or someone else in their lives.
Our small school size means these relationships are forged with ākonga across the school as well as with the students in our classes.
In future, we would like to foster deeper connections with our whānau and the wider community. This would encourage a stronger connection with our local hapu and marae, and be a way to bring our community closer together.
Learn about your students and creating a safe and supportive environment and build strong relationships
We know our students well, understanding not only their backgrounds but also their unique learning styles, which provides a strong foundation for creating a culturally responsive and supportive environment. With our small school size, it’s easier for us to build meaningful relationships with both students and their whānau. Here are some things we do well:
Regularly offering students opportunities to share their ideas about learning and school life.
Continuously adapting lessons to reflect the diverse backgrounds and interests of our learners.
Strengthening the connection between school and community by inviting whānau to share their knowledge and experiences in the classroom.
Utilizing a tuakana/teina mentoring system where older students support younger ones, both academically and socially.
Holding regular class meetings or circle time, allowing students to share their experiences and feelings, fostering a sense of community.
Whānau evenings/day where families are invited to participate in learning experiences alongside their children, such as storytelling, cultural
celebrations, or classroom projects.
Establishing open communication channels with families through newsletters, Facebook, Hero to keep them informed and involved in school
activities.
Our next steps will be focusing on holding more cultural festivals or language weeks where our students can celebrate their heritage and learn about others in a fun, inclusive way. Create a shared calendar of culturally significant events to ensure that celebrations, holidays, and traditions from all cultures are acknowledged and valued within our school.
Fabulous Eden, A cultural festival, language week is a great idea.
We too would like to look at how we can celebrate all the cultures that are represented in our school. I like your idea of creating a shared calendar and think we might look at doing the same. It would be great to be able to share with one another our ideas to be inclusive of all cultures within our schools.
Learn about your students
Select one or two aspects from the list above and reflect on what your school does well in this regard and what next steps you would take to further develop your school’s cultural responsiveness.
We have had some behavioural issues with mostly some senior boys of late. We are finding that dealing with these students and being able to have conversations with them about their issues and what is going on for them is a bit easier because of our teachers learning and knowledge about these students. Learning about them, their culture, their family, what they like doing in the weekend helps with these tough conversations. To further develop our school culture we need to be engaged more in the community and have them on board more to help foster this learning partnership and to develop our schools cultural responsiveness. This is a whole school and community partnership to ensure that there is buy in from everyone.
You are so right Nikkole, relationships and connection are key for trust to get to the why. Awesome that your staff are so supportive to work out the underlying issues. Some of our tamariki have such complicated lives. It really does take a village.
We are always working towards ways to have greater connection with our whanau / community too. We are in the planning stages with Community Connect https://www.communityconnect.nz/. They run innovations in school time and after school/early evening with kai and partner with other community organisations to build those connections early. I am not sure if they are in your area?
Learn about your students and Connect with families/communities
At the beginning of the year, during the first few lessons with our students, we do get to know you games and activities. This is done both in individual classes and year level cohorts. As a dean it is important to form positive relationships with the students you are looking after and the best way we have found to do this is getting to know them and asking them about their lives from their perspective and what kind of support they want from their dean. Each week the students have Academic Coaching with whanau teachers, where the students write about hobbies, goals, what they want to achieve throughout high school. This is reviewed each term, allowing us to keep up to date with changes in our student’s lives.
We encourage our whanau teachers connect with parents at the beginning of term introducing themselves and their role over the year as they become them main contact if home contact is needed. This continues throughout the year to keep whanau up to date on progress. We have a regular newsletter, as well as a Facebook page, that informs whanau and community of school events and exciting things that have happened throughout the term. Throughout the year we hold Hui Whanau/Hui Ako days (parent/whanau teacher interviews).
We made changes to our Hui Whanau/Hui Ako days this term for parents to be able to book in with all subject teachers as well, allowing for more connections with whanau about student progress.
Next steps: We are looking at our reports throughout the year to better show student’s progress, making it easier for both student and whanau to understand. Also, I think we need to reflect on our own cultural knowledge and teaching assumptions related to culture.
Connecting with families/ whānau
Building and sustaining high trust relationships is a strength within our kura and with our whānau. Our school engages respectfully with others with empathy and humility. We nurture a caring environment where people and ideas are valued. We involve whānau in the identification of our kura’s vision and goals. We operate from a strengths based inclusive approach to ensure that learners and their whanau belong though many initiatives, for example- whanaungatanga led cohort induction, regular community events, teacher -whānau- student hui for goal setting, and through a range of regular communication.
A next step for us is exploring a new approach to end of year reporting to encapsulate how students have challenged themselves and grown as a learner. Along with our school values and curriculum achievement, we are currently working collaboratively with staff and students on the first few iterations of “Stories of Learning”. The report is to work in tandem with an end of year whānau hui to celebrate success. For us, we are in the very early beginning stages, with the aim to grow, refine and improve this process together as a community.
This sounds really good Grace. Best of luck with your next steps.
I’ve posted here as well as I am not sure which thread to post to.
Connecting with Families
My school has implemented the following strategies to connect with families:
Regular communication: We have consistent communication channels, like newsletters, weekly emails from class teachers, and parent-teacher conferences which help keep families informed about their child’s progress and school events.
Family involvement: My school encourages family participation in activities like volunteering, field trips, and after-school programs.
Cultural celebrations: At my school, we celebrate diverse cultures through cultural events, language weeks and lessons that help create a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Parent evenings: We have parent evenings on topics like internet safety, health topics that we are teaching and on educational resources that can empower families to support their children’s learning.
While these practices are valuable, I believe that my school can further enhance their cultural responsiveness by:
Having a culturally relevant curriculum: By this I mean that we can incorporate diverse perspectives and experiences into the curriculum to ensure all students see themselves reflected in the learning materials.
Building staff cultural competency: I believe that we need to provide professional development opportunities for staff to increase their understanding of different cultures and how to effectively interact with diverse students and families.
Building community partnerships: It is important for schools to foster relationships with community organizations and cultural leaders to provide additional resources and support for students and families.
Having inclusive practices: We need to ensure that all school policies and practices are equitable and accessible to students from all backgrounds.
By implementing these strategies, I believe that my school can create a more inclusive and supportive environment for all students and families, fostering a sense of belonging and academic success.
Sounds like your school is doing some amazing things Kalpana!!
Such great ways to connect with the community