Using digital technologies to support Pacific learners

Successful learning for Pacific students

Successful learning for our Pacific students is founded on their languages, cultures, and values. It builds on what we know to be effective curriculum and pedagogy in the different cultural contexts that our learners from the Pacific Islands identify.

The Action Plan for Pacific Education explains the importance of connecting and responding to the identities, languages, and cultures of each community of Pacific learners in schools. Values such as respect, service, leadership, family, belonging, and relationships are important within Pacific cultures.

Tapasā: Cultural Competencies Framework for Teachers of Pacific Learners

Tapasā is a resource for all teachers of Pacific learners. It is designed to support teachers to become more culturally aware, confident and competent when engaging with Pacific learners and their parents, families and communities. It aims to contextualise quality teaching and learning within a Pacific learner setting by providing a Pacific lens to the Standards for the Teaching Profession and the Code of Professional Responsibility.

Tapasā

The Tapasā website provides resources, tools, and support for teachers of Pacific learners.

Tapasā: cultural competency framework for teachers of Pacific learners

The resource section on the Teaching Council website contains a suite of professional learning resources to give life to Tapasā including:

• Tapasā framework – download
• Quality Practice Template: cross sector examples for a QPT using a Tapasā lens
• Tapasā poster for your school, kura or centre  – download
• Online resource bank  
• Videos  – Each video has conversation starters and helpful links

Plan to include all Pacific learners

Plan to include all Pacific learners by:

• knowing your Pacific students
• integrating their language and culture into the classroom environment
• providing opportunities for students to personalise learning and create successful learning pathways
• establishing relationships with parents and families to support learning.

"An effective pedagogy that is culturally responsive to Pasifika ensures that the school’s curriculum provides relevant contexts that can engage learners from different cultures.....ensures Pacific learners can draw on their own knowledge of the world and to enable success through building on activities and experiences, with which they are familiar or confident.”

Improving education outcomes for Pacific learners ERO Report, 2012

Use digital technologies to support Pacific learners

Technologies can make it easier to provide relevant and meaningful connections to students’ communities and aiga, and provide learning experiences that are designed around culture, identified needs, strengths, and interests.

Digital technologies enable teachers to:

• engage with families and communities in ways that meet student needs by drawing on culture and language
• help build relationships
• personalise learning for students
• record, review, share, and clarify progress towards learning outcomes
• show families that you care about their childrens' progress and can design learning that meets needs and builds on strengths.

Key resources

Pasifika Education community

This space on Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) provides links to student-focused information and resources to support effective teaching for Pasifika students.

Supporting Pacific students

This guide provides inclusive teaching and learning strategies that can be used in the classroom to create a more effective learning environment for all Pasifika students.

Where to start?

When designing effective learning to engage Pasifika learners, start with students’ culturally-located needs and strengths. Involve aiga and fanau in learning-focused discussions.

Including Pasifika languages into the classroom

Celebrate the languages of students in your classroom. Use the Pasifika languages resources to develop engaging learning activities where your Pasifika students see their language and culture being valued.

Pacific language weeks

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples works closely with Pacific communities to maintain and promote heritage languages. Languages magnify the value of a community, providing a vital link between our place in Aotearoa and our heritage as people of the vast blue Pacific continent. 

Find more about Pacific language weeks.

Lalaosalafai Tu’ua teaches at Southern Cross Campus in Mangere. He describes his experience of using video conferencing to teach Samoan at NCEA Level 3 and the opportunities this technology provides for students who would otherwise be unable to access this learning.

Create opportunities for students to plan learning that supports their long term goals. Southern Cross Campus student Shona Unasa takes economics via video conference. She shares her learning experience using this medium.

Supporting and including learners with English as a second language

Kimi Ora Community School teacher, Bridget Harrison talks about using digital stories to support students with English as a second language.

Pacific STEAM

Five short videos and downloadable posters illustrating how Pacific peoples were always scientists, technologists, engineers, artists, and mathematicians.

Use the resource to encourage students to study STEAM subjects and carry their ancestors' legacy into the future.

Develop your teaching practice

Use a teaching as inquiry framework to examine your classroom practice and identify strategies and approaches that make a difference for Pasifika students.

NZC Update 27: Using inquiry to engage Pasifika students
Read these case studies about two highly effective teachers with classes of predominantly Pasifika students and their inquiries into their practice. They focused on:

• Making meaningful connections using a language experience
• Supporting language and agency for Pasifika students

Teachers as learners: Improving outcomes for Māori and Pasifika students through inquiry
These learning materials illustrate how teachers have used an inquiry approach to teaching to become more culturally responsive and to improve outcomes for their Māori and Pasifika students.

Effective teaching for Pasifika learners
This video collection explores ways to create student-centred learning environments.

Parents supporting student learning

Some Pasifika parents have English as a second language. This can be a barrier to them engaging with and supporting their child's learning. You can support communication with Pasifika parents, aiga and communities by, providing multiple translations of important information so communities can access it. Having these available online to be printed out, sent electronically, or accessed online via your class blog or school website reduces barriers and helps parents to connect with their child's learning.

Talanoa Ako

Parents and families have such an important role in their children’s education. Talanoa Ako is a Pacific parent education programme that aims to help parents, families and communities with the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to champion their children’s education.

Learning advisor/coordinator, Ariana Williams explains the importance of connecting with parents to support student learning. She explains, why Sylvia Park School have translated resources like comprehension cue cards for parents to use with their children at home. This enables parents to have the prompts in their native tongue that will help them to be able to support the child at home. More information about the Mutukaroa project is in the Beyond the Classroom section of Enabling e-Learning.

Holy Cross School is very multicultural community. Principal, Kathy Moy-Low explains how they have consulted with and engaged the parent community in e-learning. One of their initiatives is after school parent technology sessions, which are run once a month. In this video clip, parents explain why they go to the classes – the benefits for their own learning with technology, and how they can engage more with their children's learning.

Finlayson Park School invite parents into the school computer lab and employ a teacher's aide employed to support parents with using computers and the Internet.

More information

• Engaging with the community

School stories

Using ICT to enhance Samoan language

In this EDtalk, May Crichton discusses their process for making digital stories to create Samoan language learning resources to support and extend children’s confidence with their language. This has actively encouraged both children and their families to speak Samoan at home.

Effective teaching for Pasifika learners

This video collection on the Pasifika Education website explores ways to create student-centred learning environments.

Filter by: Primary Secondary

Mutukaroa – Connecting with whānau

Project coordinator Ariana Williams explains how and why Mutukaroa works, why it’s so important for parents to understand assessments, and the benefit for them of knowing how to support their child better at home.

Parent technology sessions

Holy Cross School principal, Kathy Moy-Low explains how they consulted with and engaged the parent community in e-learning. Parents explain why they attend the after school parent technology sessions. 

Polyfest as a learning context – English: Create a visual text

Mangere College students describe e-posters they designed as part of their visual arts NCEA assessments to reflect their identity and culture.

Polyfest as a learning context – The Arts: Dance

Mangere College students value Polyfest as an authentic context for NCEA achievement in dance.

Polyfest as a learning context – Art: Creating the Polyfest backdrop

Students at Mangere College, Zahra and Chris, talk about how they contributed to the Samoan Polyfest as part of Art.

Improving oral language and writing with Photostory

Irongate School teacher, Marion Croad, describes the improvements in her New Entrant students' written and oral language as a result of using Photostory.

Using video conferencing to expand learning options

Southern Cross Campus student Shona Unasa takes economics via video conference.

Teaching Samoan via video conference

Lalaosalafai Tu’ua describes his experience of using video conferencing to teach Samoan at NCEA Level 3 at Southern Cross Campus in Mangere.

Improving student writing with digital stories

Bridget Harrison at Kimi Ora Community School shares how her students are using digital stories to scaffold the writing process.

Bilingual digital stories

Primary school teacher, Bridget Harrison talks about using digital stories to support students with English as a second language.

Pathways for young Māori and Pacific women in technology

Aorere College student, Nikki shares her passion for more Māori and Pacific females undertake study and careers in the digital technology field.

Developing a year 9 Digital Technology course

At Aorere College, all year nine students take a whole year’s course called Digital Innovation and Design as a core subject. The course was developed to appeal to girls, Māori, and Pacific students.

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Classroom teaching resources

Pasifika dual language books

The Pasifika dual language resources are designed to support the early language and literacy learning of Pasifika new entrant students in English-medium classrooms. Teacher and parent support material accompanies these resources. Many of the dual language books are available as PDFs and all the books are available as MP3 audio files. Print copies of the texts are available from Down the Back of the Chair.

Pasifika poetry
A celebration of the poetry of tagata o te moana nui, the peoples of the Pacific on the New Zealand electronic poetry centre website.

Pacific language weeks

Find dates for the current year at the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

Gagana Samoa resources

Teaching and learning gagana Sāmoa
This resource from the Teaching and Learning Pacific Languages collection provides teachers with support for the teaching and learning of gagana Samoa through storybooks, teacher support materials, and the Poto series of books for supporting teachers to work in partnership with families and Pacific communities.

Samoan Language Week on Tāhūrangi
This page offers suggested activities and curated website links to help you and your learners explore and celebrate the language of Sāmoa.

Gagana Sāmoa website
This website lists common phrases and provides audio to help with pronunciation.

Cook Islands Māori resources

Facebook: Official Cook Islands language week
Celebrating Cook Islands Language Week.

There are five languages spoken in the Cook Islands. English and Cook Islands Māori are the official languages (except on Palmerston where only English is official).

The other languages are:

• Pukapukan – from the island of Pukapuka, which is geographically and linguistically closer to Samoa
• Rakahanga/Manihiki – spoken on the islands of the same name
• Tongarevan – spoken on the island of Penrhyn.

Teaching and Learning Cook Islands Māori
This resource from the Teaching and Learning Pacific Languages collection provides teachers with support for the teaching and learning of Cook Islands Māori

What's on – Cook Islands Language Week – Te ‘Epetoma o Te Reo Kūki ‘Āirani
Listen to Cook Islands Māori words and greetings and read Cook Islands Māori online storybooks.

Simple Cook Islands words and phrases
A downloadable PDF from the Human Rights Commission website.

Cook Islands Māori language week on Tāhūrangi
This page contains suggested activities and curated website links to help you and your learners learn about and celebrate the languages of the Cook Islands.

Faka Tonga resources

Teaching and learning lea faka-Tonga
This resource from the Teaching and Learning Pacific Languages collection provides teachers with support for the teaching and learning of lea faka Tonga through storybooks, teacher support materials, and the Poto series of books (supporting teachers to work in partnership with families and Pacific communities).

Lea Faka-Tonga  NZQA quality assured assessment resources to support internally assessed Level 1,2, and 3 registered achievement standards for Lea Faka-Tonga aligned with The New Zealand Curriculum.

Digital dialects – Tongan
Online games to help with building vocabulary and learning the Tongan language.

Tongan for beginners
A series of seven lessons for beginners learning the Tongan language.

Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga - Tonga Language Week on Tāhūrangi
This page contains suggested activities and curated website links to help you and your learners learn about and celebrate indigenous Tonga language and culture.

Fiji resources

Macawa ni Vosa Vakaviti - Fijian Language Week on Tāhūrangi
This page contains suggested activities and curated website links to help you and your learners learn about and celebrate the Fijian language.

Learn to speak the Fijian language with Fijian online tutors, books and puzzles
A blog with simple words and phrases for everyday conversations, a Fijian dictionary, and sign-up for free lessons. Access the Fijian Phrasebook App from iTunes or Android.

Learn Fijian words
A video to help students learn the correct pronunciation of words and phrases.

Let’s Meke!
Learn about the meke, an indigenous Fijian song/dance that is performed by both men and women from the TePapa website.

Fijian language celebrated in New Zealand
In this episode from TVNZ’s Tangata Pasifika, students of Fijian descent connect with their language and cultural roots.

Resources to support teaching practice

Key resources

Action Plan for Pacific Education
The Action Plan maps the Government’s commitment to transforming outcomes for Pacific learners and families and signals how early learning services, schools, and tertiary providers can achieve change for Pacific learners and their families. The Action Plan has resources and guidance including planning templates.

Tapasā – Cultural competencies framework for teachers of Pacific learners
A tool that can be used to increase the capability of all teachers of Pacific learners.

Tāhūrangi - New Zealand Curriculum
Online hub for teaching resources. Use "Tapasā" as your search term.

Tapasā resources
The Tapasā resources section of the Teachers Council website has Tapasā video resources. Each video has conversation starters, supplementary resources, and subtitles to build teachers' confidence in using Tapasā to engage with Pacific learners.

Quality Practice Template – Cross Sector Examples for a QPT using a Tapasā lens
Direct links to the Teacher Standards with supporting descriptions of quality practices and evidence you can gather to demonstrates these practices.

Supporting Pacific learners
Inclusive teaching and learning strategies you can use in the classroom to create a more effective learning environment for all Pasifika students.

digitalpasifik.org

This site is part of the Pacific Virtual Museum project. It aims to empower people in and of the Pacific Islands, enabling them to explore, discover and view thousands of items held in museums, libraries, galleries, and collections around the world and to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures of the Pacific. It includes images, objects, video, audio, text, and maps.

Success as Pacific on Tāhūrangi
This section links to information and resources about learning contexts and approaches, that support Pacific students. 

Pasifika language in education

This report provides a snapshot of Pasifika language in education in New Zealand Schools as at 1 July, 2012. It describes two levels of Pasifika language learning – Pasifika medium education and Pasifika language in English medium education, from Education Counts.

An analysis of recent Pasifika education research literature to inform and improve outcomes for Pasifika learners (July 2013)

This literature review highlights and clarifies key evidence towards improved learning and achievement outcomes for Pasifika learners and identifies priorities for future research in Pasifika education.

Improving education outcomes for pacific learners (May 2012)

The ERO report explains that, research consistently shows that the more time students spend involved in learning activities, the more they learn and the greater their achievement. The more opportunities learners have to respond to a particular content or practise a skill, the better their understanding of the material or skill.

Making a difference to Pasifika student achievement in literacy (November 2012)

This research report from Auckland UniServices Limited explores classroom and school-related factors associated with improvements in the literacy achievement and progress of Pasifika students beyond expected levels in schools participating in the Literacy Professional Development Project (LPDP). It also identifies the nature of the professional development support that facilitated these outcomes.

Critical success factors for effective use of e-learning by Pacific learners (2006)

ITPNZ contracted a team of Pacific researchers to identify the critical success factors and pedagogy for increasing Pacific students’ access to, participation in, and achievement through e-learning.