Browsing by Author "Hunter R"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Bringing the home into school: learning and connecting through mathematics education during the time of a pandemic
    (Springer Nature B.V, 2022-05-25) Hunter J; Hunter R; Tupouniua J; Leach G
    The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a new way of being in a changed and uncertain world. Aotearoa/New Zealand took a well-being approach and in turn, we share the positive outcomes which resulted for some low socio-economic schools and communities in relation to teacher learning and relationships with families. In this article, we report on how teachers and schools connected with diverse students and their families during the period of remote learning. We draw on the responses from 20 teachers and school leaders who participated in interviews. Following the wider government focus, schools took a well-being first approach which led to increased connections and positive home/school relationships. The results highlight how a disruptive event such as COVID-19 can also be a time to focus on strengths of diverse communities and gain insights. We demonstrate that while focusing on mathematics, teachers and school leaders gained insights related to their students’ funds of knowledge and saw opportunities for learning for students, parents, and the teachers themselves.
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    Collaboration in mathematics: Taking a sociocultural perspective
    (Spanish Society for Research in Mathematics Education (SEIEM), 2021-08-03) Hunter R; Civil M
    The importance of learners collaborating to construct deep mathematical understandings has been increasingly recognized in research and practice in recent times. In this paper we draw on a sociocultural perspective to show how a situative strength-based approach can be usefully applied to highlight the different ways in which learners from backgrounds within collectivist traditions participate constructively in mathematical interactions. As a key equity issue, learners from backgrounds in collectivist traditions should have the opportunity to expand their repertoires of practice so that they can flexibly adapt to any learning context. The two cases presented, from two geographic regions, both illustrate the central role the concept of family has for these learners -‘familia’ or ‘whānau’- as a collective concept of individuals working together not as individuals but rather as one unit.
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    Implementing localised curriculum drawing on a funds of knowledge perspective
    (New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 2021-07-01) Hunter J; Hunter R; Tupouniua J; Fitzgerald L
    In recent years in New Zealand, there has been a policy shift towards schools ‘localising’ the national curriculum to align with the context, aspirations, and knowledge of the local community and student population. In relation to mathematics education, this requires educators to understand and value the mathematical connections between diverse students’ funds of knowledge and use these to develop mathematical tasks. This article draws on interview responses from a case study of eight teachers from one low socio-economic, culturally diverse school to investigate their initial perceptions and actions to develop an appropriate localised mathematics curriculum drawing on diverse students’ funds of knowledge. The findings indicate that teachers viewed it as important to use real and relevant contexts in mathematics teaching. Interview responses indicated that both students and their families were seen as important sources of information. However, there were challenges for teachers to recognise students’ funds of knowledge related to mathematics beyond schooling or generic experiences.
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    Practicing Democracy from Childhood: Democratic Praxis in Te Ao Māori
    (Berghahn Books, 1/12/2021) Smyth K; Napan K; Perkins R; Hunter R
    Democracy manifests itself in a range of ways and is an imperfect, dynamic struggle for collective decision-making. This article discusses the multifaceted processes of deliberative democratic praxis found in traditional Māori society. Central to decision-making in te ao Māori, hui provide formal and informal structures for deliberative democracy, precedent setting, learning, and transformation through consensus making, inclusive debate, and discussion across all levels of society. Rather than coercion and voting, rangatira relied on a complex mix of customary values and accomplished oratory skills to explore issues in family and community meetings and in public assemblies. Decisions made through inclusive deliberative processes practiced in hui established evident reasoning and responsibility for all community members to uphold the reached consensus. This article claims that practicing deliberative democracy as a fundamental way of life, learned through ongoing active and meaningful participation throughout childhood, improves the integrity of democratic decision-making.
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    Weaving together the threads of Indigenous knowledge and mathematics
    (Springer Nature B.V., 2023-09-14) Hunter J; Hunter R
    As in many countries, for decades in Aotearoa (New Zealand), we have heard the story of the Pacific and Māori achievement gap in mathematics. This has become a widely accepted part of beliefs constructed across multiple communities about students and schools and who can do and learn mathematics successfully. A common response by policy makers and educators alike is to fix the problem of those deemed academically bleak by putting in place a range of interventions. In this article, we challenge the positioning of Pacific students as a problem to be fixed and instead focus on how we can address the practices inherent in historical forms of institutionalised racism related to colonisation. We use an Indigenous research model—Tivaevae—to develop an exemplary case study of the teachers and students from one low socio-economic urban school as they were involved in conscientisation and the reconstitution of educational practices to privilege indigenous knowledge systems. The findings highlight one model of how teachers and students can change institutionalised Western world practices in the mathematics classroom. We argue that the shift to honouring indigenous knowledge systems and a strength-based approach provided opportunities for Pacific students to learn mathematics in ways that supported them to build strong mathematical dispositions, and rather than being assimilated, retain their cultural identity.