This book helps non-Pacific educators inform their work with Pacific learners and their families. There are differences in understandings of the values important to many Pacific people between Pacific and non-Pacific heritage educators. Pacific values of Belonging, Family, Love, Service, Spirituality, Reciprocal Relationships, Respect, Leadership,…

Improving educational outcomes for Pasifika learners is a national priority in New Zealand. Long-standing mathematics achievement differences between Pasifika and non-Pasifika indicate that looking beyond usual pedagogies may be essential for enhancing Pasifika student learning. Culturally sustaining pedagogy, drawing from the cultural experiences…

Service is a fundamental value for the teaching of Pacific-heritage learners. This article describes educators' perspectives of the value of service, one of the values foundational to Tapasa. Findings from interviews, talanoa, and teaching observations show that service is demonstrated and nurtured differently by Pacific and non-Pacific educators,…

Teaching Pasifika learners effectively to improve their educational outcomes is an education priority in New Zealand. New ways to maximise learning are needed. This article shows how dance, a cultural experience of many Pasifika learners, offers strong opportunities for enhancing learning across the curriculum while impacting positively on…

"Respect" is a value that underpins Pasifika ways of being, Pasifika learner success and wellbeing, and strong home-school partnerships with Pasifika families and communities. When teachers acknowledge and respond appropriately to students' Pasifika values, such as respect, learning is enhanced and cultural identity nourished. To inform…

Case studies exploring how educational policies can help teachers serve learners disadvantaged through cultural marginalization are urgently needed to inform education systems internationally. The study reported here explored perceptions of Pacific cultural values at the heart of education policy in New Zealand that were intended to improve…

This article presents findings from a study focusing on ako in mathematics teaching in one English-medium secondary school classroom. The participants were a Year 9 class (22 akonga with varying ethnicities and mathematics achievement levels) and their non-Maori kaiako, the researcher. Data were generated through surveys, discussions between…

Noted Maori scholar Russell Bishop identified three impediments to developing Indigenous principles and practices in schools within colonized countries. These include confusion about the culture of Indigenous children, uneven programme implementation and issues with measuring student achievement. In this article, we present results from a mixed…

Much evidence exists that culturally responsive and equitable teaching practices are challenging to develop. Evidence exists that in-the-moment coaching of "rehearsals" of practice can help foster mathematics teaching strategies, but how such coaching can assist the development of culturally responsive practice is less clear. Drawn from…

Factors that contribute to strong teacher-student relationships are vital to understand because of the influence these relationships have on achievement and motivation, particularly for minority group students. This article draws from a substantial quantity of empirical data, grounded in a wide theoretical and cultural base, regarding aspects of…