The Role of Critical Theory Education at Te Akau ki Papamoa

I chose the news article “Local Focus: How this Māori principal turned a failing school into one of the top
schools in the country”, written for the New Zealand Herald by video-journalist Shilo Kino (2019). In looking at
this article I will explore what the principal of this school is telling us, and analyse these ideas with a critical
insight. I will also look further into the critical tradition in education, and consider the benefits and drawbacks
of this education philosophy.

In the news article, Bruce Jepsen (principal of Te Akau ki Papamoa school) shares some of his successes in
transforming this school over the last twelve years, transforming it from a low performing school into “one of
the top achieving primary schools in the country” (Kino, 2019). As a proud Māori, Jepsen saw the opportunity
to take some ownership of the situation, and by strengthening connections with local iwi and community, the
result has been a massive rise in the achievements and success of the students. Te Akau ki Papamoa’s key
focus on Māori identity, culture and te reo has seen Māori students buck the previous trend, and become
some of the highest achievers at the school. Considering the word māori actually means normal, or natural (sa,
2019, para. 4), identifying with Māori cultural outlooks and practices would naturally be the best way to
achieve success for Māori students. This adoption and normalisation of Māori culture has contributed to the
growth in students of other cultures and ethnicities too, as the overall culture of the school is one of high
expectations of all students.

So What is Critical Theory?

Critical theory, or critical pedagogy, is an educational philosophy that endeavours to produce students who
can investigate and challenge the status quo, who can look further than the surface features, who will seek to
separate opinion from fact, and who will question oppressive and dominating practices and ideologies
(K12Academics, 2019). Tatebe (2017) writes that the critical tradition grew out of the philosophies of a group
of German scholars known as the Frankfurt School, who were heavily influenced by the work of Karl Marx,
with the ultimate goal being “to generate transformative social change” (pg. 105). Critical pedagogy consists of
very socially constructed learning, which somewhat mirrors the historical and social hierarchy and power
dynamics of the society they live in (Tatebe, 2017). This philosophy looks to all the aspects of power and
justice (or injustice), economic situations, cultural practices and dynamics, ethnicity, class and gender, and
how they all interact to contribute to the empowerment or oppression of the people. Social issues and
tensions are explored through inquiry methods (Tatebe, 2017), which encourage children to develop skilful
questioning techniques, and the desire to seek out more information, rather than just passively accept
everything on face value. The critical tradition in education is based around five key elements; power, politics,
enlightenment, empowerment, and emancipation (Tatebe, 2017).
The role of power in critical theory relates to the unequal distribution of power and influence amongst the
members of society, whether that be as individuals, small groups, or large groups. This characteristic
acknowledges there are various roles people play in society that eventuate in dominant and subordinate
members. Santamaría and Santamaría (2012) suggest that critical pedagogy gives the student the awareness
and critical skills to help shift this power to a more balanced state. Through activities centred around power
distribution, such as class councils and the formation of class charters, students can explore different ways
that they might experience oppression or counter-oppression (the re-balancing of power distribution).
The political aspect of critical theory is concerned with the various ways decisions are made among different
areas of society, from the formal government stage down through to the informal settings of communities,
private groups and families (Tatebe, 2017). Tatebe (2017) states that even the seemingly small act of greeting
someone can carry political tones, as in New Zealand “culturally relevant greeting practices guide the way
individuals and groups are introduced and welcomed in private and social settings” (pg. 105). Therefore
including these bicultural practices in schools contributes to guiding the collective decision making in both
schools and society (Tatebe, 2017).
The enlightenment that this tradition helps to bring about is underpinned by the main idea that society faces
great struggle due to the contested and competing ideas of the world around us. Only through questioning
and investigation can the marginalised and oppressed develop a “greater awareness and understanding”
(Tatebe, 2017, pg. 107) that will potentially lead to greater equality. Although similar to the ideas of
enlightenment through liberal philosophy, the main difference with the critical approach is to eventually
achieve equality and justice on a societal level rather than an individual level.
Tatebe (2017) suggests that empowerment is the natural extension of enlightenment, and that through
empowerment students gain the skills and knowledge to become more involved in the democracy of a
classroom, and take a larger part in making decisions that will positively impact on them. The philosophy also
extends the children’s ability to take their skills and knowledge beyond the classroom, and into their whānau
and communities. Then those whānau and communities will extend this out to larger and larger communities,
like a ripple effect, thus helping to create a more balanced and equal society.
All of these aspects lead to the emancipation, or freedom from oppression, that will allow for the closing of
the gap between the dominant and subordinate members of society. Tatebe (2017) asserts that the close link
between empowerment and emancipation affords an individual the control of their own circumstance
through examination of the social, political and economic factors that contribute to their ability to make
meaningful decisions.
Critical theory looks at the social aspects of education that, through a process of empowerment, gives the
student choice that can lead to their emancipation and liberation from social and political oppression
(Santamaría and Santamaría, 2012). A cultural philosophy that sits well amongst critical theory is Kaupapa
Māori, or Māori principles and ideology, which greatly values the complimentary role of the community in the
growth and development of tamariki (children). This holistic approach provides teachers with a better
understanding of their students, and helps to equip them with the “knowledge of the origins, challenges, and
outcomes of the wider societal inequities that create educational inequities” (Tatebe, 2017, pg. 104).

How is this theory being successfully demonstrated?

Despite the widely recognised value of kaupapa Māori in New Zealand education, Lee-Penehira (2017) states
that “the inclusion of Māori philosophers and broader Indigenous politics in teacher education remains
minimal.” (pg. 119). Luckily for at least one school in the Bay of Plenty, that is not the case with all educators.
Te Akau ki Papamoa is one school that has achieved great success through utilising critical theory and kaupapa
Māori. Since becoming principal in 2007, Bruce Jepsen has taken this school from the brink of closure, and
transformed it into one of New Zealand’s top achieving primary schools. At the time that Jepsen became
principal the school had a high failure rate among many students, but especially so in the Māori population at
the school. With 40% of the students identifying as Māori (Clements, 2017), and 90% of them not being able to
read and write or do math’s at the expected level (Kino, 2019), that meant over a third of the school was well
below expected standards. As a Māori himself, Jepsen saw the fact that so many Māori children were failing as
something that he had to take some ownership of, and in a bid to enlighten and empower his students
embraced kaupapa Māori and implemented many traditional Māori ideals and philosophies. The school forged
significantly deeper connections with local iwi and the community, which strengthened the identities and
cultures of the children and staff alike. Embracing te reo Māori, and normalising Māori cultural outlooks
allowed the students to become their best selves, and achievement levels have sky-rocketed as a result.

A key factor in this normalising of te reo was the implementation of a school radio station that broadcasts
almost entirely in te reo Māori, which encourages and allows “all students to learn and interact with the
language” (Kino, 2019). This innovation extended into a comprehensive digital learning environment, which
later saw the school become registered as an Apple Distinguished School (ADS), making it a school that inspires
“student creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking, and leadership” (Clements, 2017, para. 3). Boyle (2015)
likens this approach to the piecing together of a “holistic education jigsaw” (para. 4), and quotes Jepsen as
saying when students “feel their identity is held in high regard and they know they’re more than just an
attendee of an institution, confidence, pride and self-belief lead to aspiration and in time, to achievement”
(para. 7). Rather than expecting the children to struggle to achieve in an oppressive setting, that many did not
completely identify with, Jepsen changed the setting to meet the needs of the children. He changed the
setting to empower and enlighten the children, to give them the tools to achieve.

Along with the normalisation of te reo Māori, the complex nature of relationships throughout kaupapa Māori
offers many opportunities for children to develop their learning through ‘tuakana-teina’, a system where the
more expert tuakana (often a brother, sister or cousin) helps and guides the less expert teina (the younger,
less knowledgeable brother or sister) (Lee-Penehira, 2019). And because these roles can be reversed at any
time, and in any situations, the students are more empowered in their knowledge and success, and in their
own role in society, both within school and without. The students at Te Akau ki Papamoa now have a voice,
and they are using it to tell the world that they have become powerful, they have become enlightened, and
that they are emancipated.

Is this in fact the ideal educational philosophy?

On the surface it would seem that critical pedagogy has all the answers to creating a better world, a world of
equality and peace, of prosperity and balance. After-all, students are learning how to question the dominant
authority, and not just accept that the “powers that be” are always correct or acting in the best interests of
the people. Children are learning to investigate and consider multiple perspectives when trying to differentiate
fact from opinion. Children are no longer expected to be seen and not heard, they are becoming empowered
and enlightened. Iosefo (2017) credits critical literacy as a “vehicle for ... students to explore the voices that
had been silenced” (pg. 100). Critical pedagogy gives our children a voice. A voice they can use to point out the
wrongs that are continuing to marginalise and oppress a large portion of society, based on ethnicity or class,
gender or religious beliefs. A voice they can use to cry out for equality and for balance.
There are however, those that have issue with this approach to teaching. K12 Academics (2019) suggests that
there is a possible danger in critical theory of inadvertently biasing the students, through unintentionally
steering their students “towards an anti-status quo position instead of allowing them to decide if they agree or
disagree with the situation at hand” (para.1). Other criticisms include; the danger of the student becoming ‘too
intellectual’ in their critical look at society, leading to them seeing themselves as separate from that very
society, too much emphasis on creativity and exploration at the expense of traditional hierarchies (e.g. parent-
child relationships), a potentially imbalanced view of which icons or traditions to interrogate, or teachers
unintentionally interchanging a cultural bias with their own (K12Academics, 2019). Even as a self professed
follower of critical pedagogy, one author and educator confesses to reservations when he shares his view “the
social justice discourses that are central to critical pedagogy have become mainstreamed and have often been
appropriated by some teachers and administrators for reasons at considerable distance from their original
intention” (Tinning, 2002, pg. 225). Tinning (2002) also infers that schools are caught in a tension between
following a critical pathway and embracing the curriculum’s principles, while simultaneously acting
competitively in a marketplace to appease Boards of Trustees and attract enrolments. So maybe now is the
time to take a good hard look at teaching pedagogies and embrace a more tempered approach, or as Tinning
called it “Modest Pedagogy” (2002).