MindLab Practice Blog

Been having a hard time trying to get my head around Kaupapa Maori Research and how it "fits" into my research question and literature review.  This has been my spin on how to engage with it as Pakeha in a meaningful way and not merely as some adjunct to the literature review.  This is my interpretation and just bear in mind that I am relating this to the research question of: "How can teachers navigate the murky waters of digital collaboration and collusion in high stakes student academic writing?" Researching within the Kaupapa Maori paradigm presents a challenging paradox as Pakeha.  Jones (2012, p.101) notes that a Kaupapa Maori research approach, “provides a set of rules … strategically formed by Maori, for Maori purposes … and Pakeha are necessarily outside its development”. While one understands the context for such an observation, the question arises, as to how Pakeha engage with Kaupapa Maori research from the outside?  The potential solution lies

I have to say it has been quite a process trying to formulate a research question from which to base my literature review. I have invested a lot of time and energy this year into my Scholarship Physical Education students and their portfolios.  It is an interesting setup.  Students have a year to produce a piece of academic writing on something within the field of Physical Education.  I actively encourage them to choose an issue of socio-cultural and biophysical significance and, most importantly, on an issue that they have a personal connection with.  For some this is around body image and obsession, for others it may be dropping out of sport, gender identity in sport etc.   Central to this thinking was  Azzarito & Ennis (2003) who note in the field of Physical Education that, “pedagogical approaches that allow students to connect to each other, their teachers, and the real world, and also to make connections between their prior knowledge and new knowledge are central to s