Open AccessThe teaching of Māori social work practice and theory to a predominantly Pākehā audience
Author(s) -
Shayne Walker
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
aotearoa new zealand social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2463-4131
pISSN - 1178-5527
DOI - 10.11157/anzswj-vol24iss3-4id125
Subject(s) - aotearoa , treaty of waitangi , indigenous , sociology , social work , pacific islanders , pedagogy , biculturalism , cultural diversity , diversity (politics) , traditional knowledge , project commissioning , publishing , psychology , gender studies , ethnic group , political science , law , anthropology , ecology , neuroscience , neuroscience of multilingualism , biology
This article will explore the practices of teaching social work students in Aotearoa New Zealand to equip them for bicultural practice. This includes te reo Māori (the Māori language) and tikanga (culture) papers as well as specific teaching on the Treaty of Waitangi provisions. It will discuss some of the results, which suggest students know about Treaty provisions but are less able to translate this knowledge into practices, which are bicultural. It then suggests some strategies for moving this teaching forward so that students start to feel accustomed to and confident in practices which are suited to a bicultural setting. In this, it is suggested that it might be necessary to take a cross-cultural position and take aspects from diversity or cross-cultural training to enhance students’ understanding and ability in working with Māori in the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. One of the difficulties with taking this approach is that most of these models emerge from a western rather than an indigenous framework of understanding and practice. In using this work, it is attempted to integrate indigenous methods and worldviews.