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A Maori Perspective Culture and Learning: Theory into PracticeDr Angus H Macfarlane, Sonja Bateman. This paper proposes that teachers’ knowledge of students’ culture has been identified as important for building a supportive social climate. This approach contends that knowledge of cultural factors also contributes to task interest, academic engagement, and student understanding. To maximise learning, teachers need to understand each individual in the classroom as well as possible, and be sensitive to the cultural, community and family values that can have an impact on a student’s educational experiences
Presenters Dr Angus H Macfarlane
(New Zealand)
Senior lecturer in special education Department of human development and counseling University of Waikato Dr Angus Macfarlane affiliates to the Te Arawa confederation of tribes of the central Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. He is an experienced educator and practitioner. As a teacher he has held senior positions in secondary schools. He has been an advisor for Special Education Services (now Group Special Education) and for the Ministry of Education. Angus is a senior lecturer at the University of Waikato where he coordinates teaching and research in the Master of Special Education programme. In 2003 Dr Macfarlane was awarded the inaugural Research Fellowship (Maori and Bicultural) by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research
Sonja Bateman
(New Zealand)
Ministry of Education Sonja Bateman has affiliations to the Ngai Tahu iwi of the South Island and is an experienced special educator and practitioner. Her passion for improving educational outcomes for at-risk students has seen her move from classroom teacher, to Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), to her present position of Special Education Advisor, Group Special Education - a service group within the Ministry of Education. She also holds the management position of District Maori Adviser for Group Special Education, Waikato.
Keywords
(30 min. Conference Paper,
English)
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