Connection and Collaboration:
“Knowledge full” learners, and the potential of counter hegemonies to Western individualism from within a
Pacific perspective and world view
Craig Tunnicliffe and Jason Hallie
Samoan Proverb
• E pala le ma'a a e le pala le tala
• Even stones decay but words
endure
Presentation
Contents
Today's talanoa
Talking about ourselves and our relationship to the subject
Craig
Palagi- grew up in working
class south Auckland
10 years as a social work
educator
Educational approach Anti-
oppressive education Lecturing first
year akonga
Jason
Raised anga faka-Tonga from the
age of 5
Over 20 years as a
social worker
4 years at Unitec Lecturing
first year akonga
Pacific Champion
The context of change
Unitec Social practice degree vs. new unified curriculum
• Bachelor of social practice
• Responded to the challenge to decolonize education
• Work achieved (Unitec award)
• Also been developing Pacific success strategies
• Te Pukenga and unified curriculum
• New institution, new curriculum
• Challenges in getting Pacific content included
• As at Semester One 2022 almost half of all enrolled students identified as Pacific
Walking with caution The practice context
• A field of practice: social work
• Multiple challenges to the theoretical foundations of social work education and practice
• Acknowledging the hegemonic structures in social work
education
• The domination of a western epistemology and claims to knowledge.
• “Social work and social work education trace their roots to Western cultures and
paradigms. Born primarily in the context of industrialised countries including Britain and the USA, the expansion of
formalised social work was largely influenced by British and American
imperialism” ( McNabb, 2019)
Autagavaia (2001) and Southwick (2001) argue that social work theories and practices are deeply rooted in Western, Palagi and Anglo-
American values.
Cech et al (2016), argue that Western epistemologies and their monopoly on truth claims can foster disadvantages for students with
alternative epistemologies
The practice context (some further
cautions)
• Explicit curriculum vs. Implicit curriculum
• Scholars have identified the ‘implicit curriculum’ as ‘the educational
environment in which the explicit
curriculum is presented’ (Bogo & Wayne, 2013, p. 3).
• Implicit curriculum is said to reflect and perpetuate the histories and privileges of dominant groups.
This produces a "‘hidden curriculum of hegemony’ deliberately or inadvertently socialising students and others ‘to adhere to the
interests of dominant groups, reinforcing social inequalities" (Bhuyan, Bejan, & Jeyapal cited in
Hosken,2018).
Strategies to disrupt dominant
pedagogies
• Counter hegemonic work needs to include a focus on both the explicit curriculum and an examination of the hidden
hegemony of pedogeological practice.
• Ikiua (2018) speaks to awakening of a Pacific perspective, knowledge, and wisdom that have been devalued or
suppressed.
• Pacific Islands social work theories and models of practice are based on Pasifika cultural values of collectivity, kinship,
spirituality and interdependence through balance and harmony in relationships (cited in Passells, 2006).
• Allies are integral (Kiddle et.al., 2020), … to identify how and where it [colonisation] operates, and who is targeted or
affected.
How do we generate and maintain change.
• Getting the basics right
• Getting a supportive structure
• Looking at teaching philosophy
• Listening to the student voice.
Getting the basics right
Student:
• Identity
• Culture
• Values
• Language
• Tradition
• Motivation
• Responsibilities and obligations
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.
Then the structure
Parity sought for Priority Groups Pacific Success Strategy:
Goal 1: Increase Pacific student success, completion and participation rates (Unitec, 2021) .
Provided the foundational support (attention and resourcing)
• Pacific Academics and staff
• Creation of appropriate 'spaces' and events such as Fono and Aiga Night
• Role models
In a nutshell
• Maxwell (2007 p 116) states "...people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care"
• Success is more about the quality of the relationships developed than the quality of the material taught (Chu, Abella & Purini, 2013)
Teaching Philosophy
• The Tongan concept of Fekau’aki used to connect and build relationships between staff and students (Mafile’o, 2014)
• Places students and their narratives at the centre of their learning recognising that they are the experts in their own lives
• Social Practice staff show an interest in the background, beliefs, stories and aspirations of the attendees.
The Student Voice
• Balancing of the Tuiga
• Piri’anga
• Vaevae Manava
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.
Vaevae Manava
• Vaevae’ means to give or share and
‘manava’ the heart, centre, womb or breath (Efi, 2003).
• Navigating the Pacific Ocean on a vaka coming together sharing rations,
resources knowledge before untying and continuing on with the journey
Looking to the horizon
Holding on to strategies that work for Pacific learners
Continuing to advocate for Pacific
approaches to social work and social work education.
To resist the hegemony of single narrative pedagogy and epistemology
Continue to care!
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.
References
• Bogo, M., & Wayne, J. (2013). The implicit curriculum in social work education: The culture of human interchange. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 33(1), 2–14.
• Cech, E. A., Metz, A., Smith, J. L., & deVries, K. (2016). Epistemological Hegemony and Inequality in Science, Engineering and Health. Conference Papers -- American
Sociological Association, 1–36.
• Churchward, C. M. (1959). Tongan Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press
• Hosken, N. (2018). Practices of exclusion and injustices within social work education.
Social Work Education, 37(7), 825–837. https://doi-
org.libproxy.unitec.ac.nz/10.1080/02615479.2018.1456519
• Ikiua, J. H. (2018). Pasifika pedagogies in an indigenous tertiary environment. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work Review, 30(4), 28–39.
• Kiddle, Elkington, R., Jackson, B., Ripeka Mercier, M., Ross, O., Smeaton, M., Thomas, J., Elkington, Bianca, Jackson, Moana, Ross, Mike, Smeaton, Jennie, & Thomas, Amanda. (2020). Imagining decolonisation. Bridget Williams Books Ltd.
• Mafile'o, T. (2004). Exploring Tongan social work: Fekau'aki (connecting) and fakatokilalo (humility). Qualitative Social Work, 3(3), 239-257.
• Ministry of Education. (2018). TapasāCultural competencies framework for teachers of Pacific learners. Matauranga House
• Unitec. (2021). Unitec Fono Faufautua. https://www.unitec.ac.nz/pacific/who-we- are/fono