Empowering Culturally Diverse Education in New Zealand: Fostering Inclusive Pedagogies - Introduction

Culturally responsive practices in the educational context of Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on two main aspects: the development of curricula and the professional practices of teachers. It emphasises the growing global diversity in education, particularly in schools located in Auckland, which house a rich mix of ethnicities and languages. The Education Review Office (ERO) reports and the OECD highlight the increasing cultural diversity, projecting that a significant proportion of students in Auckland will identify as Asian by 2023. The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) of 2007 is specifically outlined as reflecting the cultural diversity of the nation and valuing the traditions of all people. The discussion involves a critical evaluation of cultural and linguistic barriers and how culturally responsive pedagogy aligns with both global and national perspectives. Various terms associated with culturally responsive practices such as culturally responsive teaching, culturally responsive pedagogy, and culturally sustaining pedagogy, adopting the updated notion of sustaining pedagogies could support learners in maintaining their cultural and linguistic competence while also providing access to dominant cultural competencies (Paris, 2012).