Using stories to strengthen classroom connections

"Sitting in one of the fale on Papatoetoe North School’s campus was Reapi Smith (a Fijian mother) with her children, 7-year-old Nancy and 4-year-old Ethelyn. Also with them was a class teacher, Kavita Anjali and Meg Jacobs, a facilitator from the research team. Slowly, the mother unfolded a specially woven mat found only in Fiji, collectively made by a group of women over two years. Overlapping with the Fijian mat was a gorgeous patched classroom quilt shared by the teacher that displayed contributions from the children’s families.

The talanoa (conversation) started with the mother reminiscing about the origin and uniqueness of the Fijian mat, followed by the children pointing to the coconut print on the classroom quilt and recalling their happiest moments in Fiji. The oldest child pointed to the coconut drawn by her mother and said, “I really wish we could go to Fiji and climb the tree and get the coconut so we can stop buying them”. The talanoa created a comfortable space for these moments in which the mother and her children declared pride in their Fijian heritage.

In this listening space, the mother expressed her ardent desire for her culture to be valued by her children and spread across the school and community. At one point during the session, the children proudly recited familiar Bible verses and sang their favourite hymn, which they had learned from their father during “family devotions” held in their home every evening. The talanoa brought “home” to school."

A space for connecting

This excerpt illustrates storied conversations - a sharing of everyday experiences in a natural flow of dialogue. Papatoetoe North School is experiencing increased student engagement, strengthened whānau relationships and stronger connections between teachers and children as the storied conversations add to the path envisioned by the school. The fale were envisioned by the principal, Stan Tiatia, as a way to invite parents to stay awhile and chat together. 

The Understand Me project is led by a research team, including Professor Janet Gaffney, Dr Meg Jacobs, Dr Jacoba Matapo, and Ms Alison Li, whose research engages with children and families, cultural and relational literacies, pedagogies and philosophies.

Jan highlights that on the premise of relational pedagogy, the project aims to bring kaiako/teachers, tamariki/children and whānau/families together in a safe space to share stories of lived experiences to strengthen understandings and connections that bridge personal and cultural distances.

“We wondered how sharing of lived-experience stories would create openings for understanding that transform relational praxis of learning and teaching”, said Janet.

As reflected in the vignette, every whānau has family and cultural knowledges and ways of being that are passed from older to younger generations, and then welcomed from home into school. When these knowledges are shared by the children and valued by teachers and peers, they become precious resources of the school curriculum. At Papatoetoe North School the vigour of inviting home learning into the school curriculum permeates each classroom.

A voice from the partnering school

The project, which started in 2019 with seed funds from the Auckland Airport Community Trust, was awarded a major grant from the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative. Papatoetoe North School has been the primary partner school since the launch of Understand Me. The number of teachers participating has more than tripled over the three years, growing from only five teachers in the pilot. The impact expands as families’ cultures and knowledges are intentionally included in the classroom curriculum and transform the learning of children and teachers.

The deputy principal, Marieta Morgan said the project is not a programme they're following as such, but more of a project they are involved in where children share about themselves alongside parents and teachers and vice versa. 

“We are continually working out, as we go the most organic and natural ways of having these storied conversations”.

Marieta emphasised that the project goes alongside the school’s goal “know our learners”, deepening what the teachers were already doing, with research attached to it.

The teachers engage in a series of co-design talanoa and initiate storied conversations with a child in their classroom and their whānau prompted by a noticing moment in the stream of everyday learning and teaching. Teachers are partners in this research in which they lead the focus and choose how to embody the project aligned with the school’s values. The co-designed talanoa are a safe and space for telling and sharing stories. In this space, teachers can slow down, listen, reflect, and present themselves in these lived moments drawn on the children’s valuable resources to extend children’s learning.

Storied conversations pivot on everyday being, listening, and telling of children, families, and teachers. Marieta says the benefits are immense.

“For families that were involved in the project, the level of conversation was definitely a deeper level. It wasn’t just talking outside the door in the morning or after school.”

“It is empowering for the children because their learning is going to start from a place where they know a lot and they will build on it from there. Children arrive to class; they feel safe and understood [and] they feel good to be in class.”

“There is a noticing and awareness that teachers have that perhaps they didn’t have before.”

Marieta says it also helped the school’s teachers gain a deeper understanding of the varying cultural backgrounds of children, which the Understand Me project has continued to grow. Marieta summed up the impacts in one word - belonging.

“When you feel like you belong, then you feel okay. It’s like, I’m okay to be here as I am. It sounds really simple but it actually has this huge impact on the children’s wellbeing.”

Stronger reverberations in the school community

Impact occurs at multiple levels of a school system, says Janet.

"The research team is glad to witness that the impact of Understand Me has been continuously spreading within and across classes, the cadre of teachers and to the whole school."

A teacher participating in the programme said the project creates a snowball effect. The understanding started from a core relationship of child-whānau-teacher. The power of noticing and knowing children’s stories is becoming more of an everyday practice as the culture of understanding grows stronger and wider, echoing through the school’s ethos.

Concentrating on children and families is not new to Papatoetoe North School. Understand Me is a natural extension to their Knowing the Learner project, where the teachers aimed to engage parents in learning through conversational fono or hui. 

 “With the stories comes listening, appreciating, and growing awareness, which then influences the way teachers design and plan learning in the classroom. It’s a very powerful path… It is a journey, it’s not one of those things that you do for six weeks then you’re done," said Marieta.

• TLRI Research