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- Title
Transitioning from Māori-medium to Englishmedium education: The experiences and perspectives of three students.
- Authors
WEIR, HAMISH
- Abstract
This paper reports on significant academic, social and cultural challenges faced by Māori students who transition to mainstream education. The data represent the perspectives and experiences of three students who transitioned from Māori immersion programmes into mainstream schools. The methodological approach taken is Kaupapa Māori, which necessarily requires a framework related to whānaungatanga (kinship), collaborative storytelling and self-determination (Smith, 2003). The resulting narratives highlight disparities in the philosophical approaches to education of Māori and mainstream institutions. These differences conspire to further disadvantage learners, who are often asked to ‘shed’ their indigenous ‘skin’, as it were, and assume an alternative identity which is more in line with the aspirations of mainstream, dominant culture. The data suggest that transitioning students are required to move from one end of a linguistic continuum to the other as well as to negotiate difficult socio-cultural terrain. They are expected to speak only Māori at their immersion schools and then only English once they transition to mainstream education. Rather than being fluid and circular, the journey along the language continuum appears to be rigid and unidirectional, with detrimental results on the academic success of transitioning students. This paper considers the findings in view of educational policy and practice and makes recommendations for how these can more firmly support the revitalization of Māori language and culture and at the same time equip students for their academic and working life.
- Subjects
IMMERSION method (Language teaching); LANGUAGE revival; BILINGUAL students; SOCIOLINGUISTICS; STORYTELLING
- Publication
University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 2012, Vol 7, p51
- ISSN
1834-3198
- Publication type
Article