Enabling Education: A space for enabling non-Indigenous educators to engage in Indigenous pedagogies

Abstract

The benefits of enabling education programmes have been recognised by students and research for decades, yet understanding how enabling education creates space for educator professional development is less well-known, particularly regarding understanding and implementing Indigenous pedagogies. The unique characteristics of enabling education, which often include lower staff to student ratios, higher contact hours and time allocated for pastoral care, arguably facilitate more holistic approaches to student engagement, retention, and success. These characteristics ensure educators have more time to spend with students, enabling them to learn who their students are, and how to encourage their participation, and enhance their learning and self-efficacy. This environment also provides real opportunities for educators to critically self-reflect on their positioning with respect to teaching, learning, and engagement. Many students enrolled in Aotearoa New Zealand’s enabling foundation and bridging programmes come from strategically undervalued groups, including Māori students and Pacific students who may not have thrived in the predominantly western settler-colonial educational contexts.  These programmes aim to increase and provide broader access to higher education for marginalised groups, an important focus for us. In this article, we critically reflect on our experiences as non-Indigenous educators in foundation and bridging education. Using critical auto-ethnography, and interview data from our doctoral research, we share stories of our pedagogical shifts to encompass and reflect Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing. Our narratives illustrate a diverse repertoire of possibilities for other educators to draw upon when considering enabling practice and pedagogy that ultimately enhance engagement and success of all students.