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Maintaining a Cultural Identity While Constructing a Mathematical Disposition as a Pāsifika Learner

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Book cover Handbook of Indigenous Education

Abstract

Many Pāsifika students enter New Zealand schools fluent in their own language and with a rich background of knowledge and experiences. But, within a short period of schooling they join the disproportionately high numbers of Pāsifika students who are failing subjects such as mathematics within our current education system. The reasons are diverse but many can be attributed directly to the structural inequities they encounter which cause a disconnect (and dismissal) of their Indigenous cultural values, understandings, and experiences.

In this chapter, we examine and explore the different practices which have marginalized Pāsifika students in our schools and more specifically in mathematics classrooms. We explain how some of the “taken-as-granted” practices in mathematics classrooms match the cultural capital of the dominant middle-class students but position Pāsifika students in ways which cause them cultural dissonance. What we clearly show is that the teaching and learning of mathematics cannot ignore the student’s culture despite the beliefs held by many that mathematics is “culture-free.” In contrast, we illustrate that the teaching and learning of mathematics is wholly cultural and is closely tied to the cultural identity of the learner. We provide many examples over 15 years that illustrate that when teachers use pedagogy situated within the known world of their Pāsifika students and which premise student choice over their spoken language their sense of belonging within schools is affirmed. We draw on the voices of the Pāsifika students to show how Pāsifika-focused culturally responsive teaching has the potential to address issues of equity and social justice which supports them retaining their cultural identity while constructing a positive mathematical disposition.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

    Roberta Hunter & Jodie Hunter

Authors
  1. Roberta Hunter
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  2. Jodie Hunter
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Correspondence to Roberta Hunter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Elizabeth Ann McKinley

  2. Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

    Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Section Editor information

  1. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Margie Hohepa

  2. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Carl Mika

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Hunter, R., Hunter, J. (2019). Maintaining a Cultural Identity While Constructing a Mathematical Disposition as a Pāsifika Learner. In: McKinley, E., Smith, L. (eds) Handbook of Indigenous Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3899-0_14

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