Te pakeke hei ākonga: Māori adult learners

Publication Details

This report explores success in literacy and language learning for Māori adults. It captures the perspectives and voices of learners, tutors and providers in foundation learning programmes. It describes how Māori tutors reinforce and strengthen their Māori learners’ identities through ensuring that Māori tikanga and values pervade the teaching and learning environment.

Author(s): Colleen McMurchy-Pilkington, University of Auckland

Date Published: August 2009

4. Tutors’ perspectives

4.1 Who are the tutors?

The tutors, who were all Māori, came from varied backgrounds. A number had trained as primary school teachers, and others had come from office work or teacher aiding. One tutor had been a student on a foundation programme and had graduated to tutor. All of them had learnt many of their skills on the job, which included the training they had attended for foundation programme tutors. All of the tutors we met and interviewed appeared strongly committed and passionate about their work and cared about their students. Most tutors were hired not just for their qualification (or despite not having the necessary qualifications) but because they worked well with young adults.

I advertised specific needs…and yeah he walked in the door and he didn’t have the qualifications like you have to…but he’s highly focused and taking the time to achieve those [necessary qualifications]. He’d worked with kids, he’d worked in a hostel type situation where he and his wife were caregivers for a boarding school. So I thought he’d be great working with young people and he was mature and he had a trade behind him so he’s always been around a teaching environment and he had quals that suited the position and he could add to the programme. (CEO, small-town PTE)

Another tutor had been hired because, as well as being a trained teacher, he had qualifications in music. The CEO “went and watched him out in the public”. She went to “specifically watch how he interacted with the people that were there and whether or not that would work with kids”. The CEO was impressed and she had “this gut feeling that he could possibly suit the job so I offered it to him”.

One of the traditional provider’s two tutors had not been engaged in training for foundation level learners. These two tutors did have a bachelor’s degree, and both were still studying; one was enrolled at doctoral level but foundation teaching was not his main area of teaching.

4.2 Professional development

All institutions supported their tutors in their ongoing professional development. All had been involved in the Literacy Aotearoa or Learning for Living programmes, except for the tutors from one of the traditional providers.

The professional development is definitely offered to us and if we see a programme we’d like to do we come forward and talk to [CEO] about it…she encourages us. (Tutor, PTE)

Our tutors attend the Bridging Conferences and Accelerated Learning conference. They also attend workshops by Workbase. (CEO, iwi provider)

It’s online and [CEO] lets us go to the wānanga. They hold them every two months or so. (Tutor, PTE)

We’re very much on professional development;, it’s happening all the time, continuously. (Tutor, PTE)

Yes we get support in our professional development. Our fees are paid if we study here. But I haven’t done any foundation course stuff. (Tutor, traditional provider)

Professional development took a number of forms, from bringing experts in, and attending courses, to providing professional development for each other.

Yeah the Learning for Living last year from July to December and then it started up again this year…strategies for reading. It’s been fantastic and the diagnostic tool was really interesting to look into too. (Tutor, PTE)

The resources that came out of it were great and we’re implementing the strategies right through the whole centre so it’s been hugely beneficial. This year I’ve started a National Certificate in Adult Literacy Education. (Tutor, PTE)

Next week we’ve got professional development. [MoE tutor] is coming in to do some workshops, peer observations so it’s been great. (Tutor, PTE)

A CEO who had spent many years teaching at all levels of the compulsory sector and at foundation levels commented:

I train the teachers (tutors) because we find actually it’s really hard to get people. It’s really a specialised job and so we bring people in with the right attitudes and you can teach them a skill. You can’t teach them to have a heart. (CEO, PTE)

The tutors at this PTE were also involved in studying for national diplomas in adult education or literacy.

Another CEO who supported the staff professional development expressed concern about new initiatives – in particular, the Foundation Learning Quality Assurance (FLQA).

But I do have an issue particularly with the new FLQA coming in as well because…you know the funding from the government. We’re going to have to involve our tutors in a lot more professional development and it’s very costly in terms of time. … I’d like to be able to afford to be developing people ongoing but just there’s more and more requirements put on us.

So that’s one day required for all of us to study together so that’s three replacement tutors needed to pay for, for the day…for small organisations like ourselves it’s challenging. (CEO, PTE)

In addition, this CEO shared that their students did not always like having replacement tutors as they were not used to having changes and the “tutors don’t always like that [leaving their classes] do they?”

4.3 Setting the environment

The tutors placed great importance on setting a safe, comfortable learning environment for the students, which includes a whānau atmosphere. All of the students reported that they felt comfortable, that their tutors were approachable and that they felt valued and cared for. This did not preclude the tutors from being firm and setting boundaries for the students, as reported earlier.

Yeah it’s [the tutor] being able to relate to a Māori student because we’ve got to feel comfortable in our learning environment. If we don’t there’s no way in hell we’re going to learn because if we’re not comfortable, of couse we’re not going to show up to class. You’ve got to be comfortable especially with Māori. We’re quite picky.

I have a whānau board and I encourage students to put their photo up. Their art work is on the walls; they can see their work on the wall. They stamp their own mark on the room. It’s their whānau class.(Tutor, traditional environment)

We have this aunty and uncle relationship happening. Even [Pākehā MoE facilitator] she gets called aunty [when she visits the class to give feedback on the tutors] and she’s not related or anything and she’s an aunty but that’s how we work with the kids. (Tutor, small-town PTE)

Students appreciated that they were allowed some freedom and choice especially when it came to being allowed to have breaks and to smoke during class breaks. This made the environment comfortable for them. One tutor noted that:

…allowing them to make decisions for their own future, it’s about making up your own minds, being able to decide to go out for a cigarette without wondering who’s going to come around the corner and catch them. (Tutor, PTE)

4.4 Multi-tasking roles

Although the foundation programmes are designed to teach language, literacy and numeracy skills, most of the tutors considered they that had a role “to help them [students] grow and understand about themselves and develop really what is a lot of latent potential” (Tutor, PTE).

Some of the tutors talked about the work they did after teaching hours for the students.

They know that we’re always there for them so I think that’s the difference [between a Māori and non-Māori provider]. It’s not just a tutoring role, there’s more to it. Pastoral care. (Tutor, PTE)

The dedication and time commitment were evident in the story from a tutor who recounted that one of the trainees was waiting for her ride when the tutor finished at 4.30 pm. She asked the young girl, “What’s happening?” The tutor persisted in trying to get a response.

…and it turns out she’s staying in a caravan in [Name] Road and she doesn’t want to go there by herself. The whole story unfolds but unless you take the time you’re never going to get to the bottom of the story and she’s not going to be a learner. She’s very intelligent; she passed her first assessment in mathematics but she’s ground to a halt in the last three weeks because this has been going on in the back. (Tutor, PTE)

Availability of tutors outside class hours was a common theme identified by the staff and students.

One of the other ways [of supporting learning] is that he makes himself available on an individual basis outside of school hours after class for us to go and talk to him. During lunch breaks, we can ask him questions. We can present him with some stuff that we’re doing and ask him if he’ll help us with it so he makes himself available outside of the normal classroom hours. That’s one of the things I like too.

One of the students talked about getting a letter from Work and Income, going down to make an appointment, which could take could about an hour, and having to go back to the appointment subsequently, which could be two weeks away. Some of the providers had a liaison person who knew the right person to contact and could phone on the student’s behalf. They used their contacts for the students, “just knowing the system basically to try and help them” (Tutor, PTE). Sometimes this role was carried out by the tutor if there was no liaison person.

I think because all of these people are WINZ beneficiaries, the major need is that support around interaction with government agencies. You know they get into so much problems and have so much stress because they don’t know what they don’t know. (Tutor, PTE)

It’s necessarily a holistic education that we have to give them because…if they’ve got problems going on in their lives, they’re not going to be able to concentrate on learning so you actually have to address all of it. (Tutor, PTE)

4.5 Pedagogic strategies

Resources

Tutors used a variety of resources and techniques to engage their students in their learning. All the classes, except in one of the traditional providers, were small – under 20 students, and more often around 10-12 students. Tutors talked about working one on one, in pairs, in small groups, and with the whole class. Because of the small numbers it was fairly easy for the tutors to have time to engage with the students individually.

Yes, the less trainees the easier it is. I think the ones that are struggling, it needs to be a smaller group. One on one?

Yeah and I think they like doing it in pairs. Because they are quite close the trainees get on really well. (Tutor, PTE)

Some of the tutors used “a lot of whiteboards and huge pads and get it as interactive as much as possible”, while another tutor reported, “We don’t use the board that much.”

Real-life contexts

Tutors put a lot of thought into integrating the teaching of skills into contexts that were relevant to students’ lives so they could make connections between the skill being taught and the activity.

A context that’s real-life so that they can use or see the skills that they’re gaining in a real-life situation. Today we were doing data entry so we made up a whole lot of freight data and pretended we were on a data entry. You’ve just got to put it into real-life situations.(Tutor, PTE)

That’s where I think the real-life context, actually you know it’s more useful. Like if somebody is going to go flatting, they’ll be interested. (Tutor, PTE)

Looking at a tenancy agreement, like we were talking about reading text. That sort of text would be useful to them… They work out their budget. (Tutor, PTE)

If she can see us stressing or having trouble she’ll come over and help us, or she’ll pull out a game of scrabble and that will help our literacy and our spelling.

Other real-life contexts mentioned by the tutors included going on a visit somewhere as a valuable opportunity to teach literacy and numeracy skills in context.

We could actually integrate literacy and mathematics into a lot of activities. It might even be if you’re going on a bus somewhere, you know you can work out the kilometres to where you’re going, look at the signs on the way as well.(Tutor, PTE)

We’ve been to Woolworths budgeting, we’ve been to Big Save and looked at how much it costs over time and done a budget and we’ve been to shops and looked at 30 percent and how much that would mean in an actual sale. So there are a lot of outings or things that you can do… you don’t have to ask for money for buses.(Colleague tutor)

One of the PTEs had a recording studio as they also taught a music course. This studio was used for the foundation students: “We’re using that tool to help the learners learn more.” Music as a learning context was discussed in a previous section.

4.6 What they’re giving students

Independence

Because it is easy to build a dependency between them and their students, the tutors introduced the students to outside agencies so they would know where to go when they left their current institution.

Today we were doing service providers, community service providers, social services, so we went to visit [name] health provider, WINZ, the law centre and actually went into places and got brochures and discussed why you would come here and what hours it’s open and things like that. So those are meeting needs directly because they may have a situation that comes up they want down the track and they’re going to remember… (Tutor, PTE)

The tutors have built relationships with these agencies and they are invited in to do workshops with the trainees and “the trainees recognise the people that come in…so it just places the connection for them” (Tutor, PTE).

Valuing people

Tutors felt that the programme met its goals because it valued people. The focus was on the people rather than the programme (unlike secondary school which tends to focus on the curriculum and teaching to exams or assessment). The programmes were built around the learners’ needs rather than the tutors telling the learners what they should be doing.

Our basic goal is really the uplifting and enhancing of each person. (Tutor, PTE)

We put our heart and soul into the programme. It’s still exciting to me after 14 years. Others say to me you’re excited about your work. You have passion. (Tutor, traditional environment)

Sense of responsibility

One of the aims of the tutors was bring the students to a point where they could reason themselves and understand their actions and choices they made in taking their actions.

Look where we are now, and is that our fault? We can’t say entirely, we can’t blame it all on the teachers [from school] because at the end of the day it’s our choices for what we do but you know you look at those examples [of teachers yelling at them].

Most of the tutors told their learners:

It’s really over to yourself. This is the opportunity we’re going to give you; from here on you go on your way, always knowing that you can come back and get support from us. (Tutor, PTE)

Attendance, especially in comparison to secondary school days, was generally much higher. “There’s very few of our ones [students] that actually drop out and if they drop out it’s because of personal circumstances” (CEO, PTE). This comment is in line with research that suggests students are less likely to withdraw from their course if the environment is welcoming and safe, students have a sense of belonging, there is no prejudice and a range of activities is offered (Rivers, 2005).

Empowerment

Tutors endeavoured to build confidence in their learners so they were empowered to do more for themselves and to go on and continue to grow their skills.

If we change the mindset of the adults, that’s why I’m so keen on adult education because you have such an impact not just on their lives but on the whole family and on the whānau. They have skills they can take out into the community; that’s really exciting for us. (Tutor, PTE)

An example given by one of the PTEs was of a 55-year-old Samoan woman who had attended the ESOL class. From there she went to a foundation programme at a polytechnic, and then on to a college of education to study for an early childhood qualification so she could set up her own Samoan early childhood centre. Another example was a student who had become a teacher’s aide with the PTE and had begun studying for her Bachelor of Education at a university.

As well as using a tenancy agreement as a context for literacy, students can be taught about social responsibilities and rights.

We can empower our people to know their rights and to be confident enough to stick up for their rights. (Tutor, PTE)

Empowering students includes having high expectations of them and communicating this through actions and words.

I think our tutor has very high expectations of us and he makes us work. Like he expects us to have our assignments in on time and stuff like that. Actually he is a kind of a slave driver really, in a good way! (Mature student, iwi provider)

He helps me to help myself.

Changing the learning environment is also empowering for the learners, giving them some choice.

In our learning environment as a Māori, they took away the clinical sort of teaching and that’s what I am finding here. They’ve taken away the clinical, you have to do this, you have to do that, you know, it’s more the learning. Yeah this is what you need to learn. Do you want to learn this? It’s not you have to do this, you have to do that.

Respect and self-respect

Students learn to respect others when they are respected.

They’re not like teachers and yell; they respect us and everything.

We respect our tutors because they respect us.

Self-esteem [is the big pressing need for students] – It is a real issue because that’s the whole guts of it and to be honest, once you’re self-confident in yourself you can do anything and it’s just trying to show them that they can achieve certain things as far as it goes.(Tutor, PTE)

Students come back

A number of the tutors reported that their ex-students often came back to see their tutors and report on how they have been getting on after they have finished their course.

Lots of people come back to us and say that you know this is my goal and now I’ve achieved it. Another came back and she’s doing a diploma.(Tutor, PTE)

4.7 Barriers to students’ learning

Students’ home and social problems were seen as a barrier to their learning. These appeared more obvious in the small centres than the larger cities but this may just have been because the tutors were geographically and socially closer to the students so there was more awareness of what was going on in the students’ lives.

Sometimes family is a barrier, because if they’re not attending it could be because they have to look after other siblings or weren’t able to get in because mum was drunk. (Tutor, PTE)

…keeping tabs on them when work is coming up as far as fruit picking, the harvesting and things like that are concerned because for a lot of them it’s financial because they’re not only working for themselves; for example, they’re working for the family.(CEO, small-town PTE)

Childcare is a barrier for some. I say to them you need to be home if your baby is sick. They need to know their children are their priority but sometimes they have no support services available to them.(Tutor, traditional environment)

I have had an 18 year old, a 45 year old, and a 60 year old turn up at different times with a black eye. They come to my class but they don’t go to their others [classes]. The rest of our class support them until it [black eye] goes. (Tutor, traditional environment)

I would say for our kids it’s about getting up and getting here on time and the choice between either learning and getting some form of qualification or going to work. (Tutor, PTE)

Issues, homelessness, no food, mum got beaten up last night. It’s just so hard. (Tutor, small-town PTE)

Don’t get me wrong but we have a lot of issues – WINZ, police, courts, drugs, alcohol. Trying to get people to take responsibility for their fines, community. Taking responsibility really. (CEO, small-town PTE)

Money is a barrier for our young people. Last year we had one trainee didn’t want to come on this trip. The reason was he had no shoes. Families are a barrier.(Tutor, small-town PTE)

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