Weaving a collective future: Insights from Hawaiʻi and Aotearoa on decolonising and indigenising mainstream teacher education

Abstract

The Indigenous education movements in Hawaiʻi and Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) have demonstrated decades of advancement and success, yet we are still confronted with a predominantly Western-centric teaching and learning context that resists recognising Indigenous education as an essential foundation for all educators (Hutchings & Lee-Morgan, 2016; Wilson-Hokowhitu & Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua, 2019). This article draws from a larger PhD research study, Decolonizing the colonizer: Indigenous education as the foundation of teacher education in Hawaiʻi and Aotearoa, offering specific guidance to transform mainstream teacher education. The research grounds in Hawaiʻi and Aotearoa as their Indigenous peoples have shared colonial experiences and their Indigenous resurgence movements have evolved together and strengthened one another (Asensio, 2019; Walker, 2004; Wilson & Kamanā, 2001). They hold a strong connection stemming not only from their geographic proximity but also shared histories reflected in their cosmogony, ancestors, language, and cultural practices. These connections ignited an Indigenous education movement that has grown and evolved over the past 50 years, leading to the revitalisation of Hawaiian and Māori languages and cultural practices, and the creation of a robust Indigenous education pipeline. The study applies oral storytelling and semi-structured interview methods to gather moʻolelo/pūrākau (stories, narratives, history), ʻike/mātauranga (knowledge, wisdom), and manaʻo/whakaaro (thoughts, opinions, ideas) from 20 Hawaiian and Māori Indigenous education leaders who have dedicated their personal and professional lives to their respective Cultural Renaissances. The leaders offered guidance for mainstream teacher education on how to ground in Indigenous knowledge systems and practices. Through the study, the metaphor of a three-whiri wahakura (flax bassinet with three foundational braids) emerged, depicting that for transformative and restorative shifts in teacher education to occur, there must be change at the system, programmatic, and individual level. This article will focus on the programmatic level by proposing a framework for decolonising and indigenising teacher education based on eight themes detailing how Indigenous Pacific epistemologies, pedagogies, and philosophies can be employed in university teaching and learning practices.