Notes from the Va’a: Navigating cultural currents on my journey towards embedding culturally responsive play-based pedagogies in a Sāmoan pre-school.
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper examines the complexities of working as a Western educator in a post-colonial setting. I have adopted an autoethnographic method to analyse my lived experiences and document the challenges faced while embedding play-based pedagogies in a Sāmoan pre-school. I employ a reflective narrative to explore concepts of colonial reproduction, early childhood agency and the decolonisation of education in Sāmoa. Using a critical lens, I locate myself as a site of colonial reproduction and use critical pedagogy to analyse my role.
Article Details
References
Andreotti, V. (2011). (Towards) decoloniality and diversality in global citizenship education. Globalisation, Societies And Education, 9(3-4), 381-397. doi: 10.1080/14767724.2011.605323
Andreotti, V (2006) 'Soft versus critical global citizenship education', Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, Vol. 3, Autumn, pp. 40-51.
Andrew, Y., & Fane, J. (2019). The Sociology of Early Childhood: Young Children's Lives and Worlds (1st ed.). 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 RN: Routledge.
hooks, bell. (1994) Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom New York : Routledge.
Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments (2009). Belonging, being and becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia. Retrieved from https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_bec oming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf
Fleer, M. (2016). Technologies for children. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Fleer, M. (2003). Early Childhood Education as an Evolving ‘Community of Practice’ or as Lived ‘Social Reproduction’: Researching the ‘taken-for-granted.’ Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 4(1), 64–79. doi: 10.2304/ciec.2003.4.1.7
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.
Leaupepe, M. (2019). Pasifika perspectives of play: challenges and responsibilities | Hekupu. Retrieved 15 October 2019, from https://www.hekupu.ac.nz/article/pasifika-perspectives-play-challenges-and-responsibilities
Leaupepe, M. (2010). “Play…a waste of time”? Samoan and Tongan student teachers’ views of play. Mai Review, 1, 1-12.
Ministry of Education. (2017). Te whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Early-Childhood/Te-Whariki-Early-Childhood-Curriculum-ENG-Web.pdf
Spivak, G (1990) The Post-colonial Critic: Interviews, Strategies, Dialogues, New York and London: Routledge.
Thomson, P. (2002). Schooling the rustbelt kids. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.
Van Hoorn et al (2011). Play at the Centre of the Curriculum, 5th edition, Boston: Pearson Education Inc. (Allyn & Bacon).