Finding the key to success for Pacific students

Finding the key to success for Pacific students

Committed to teaching in a part of Auckland that often makes the headlines for negative reasons, Melini Fasavalu’s focus is all on the positive.
The deputy principal of Wiri Central Primary School in South Auckland, she has just been awarded the University of Auckland’s Fowlds Memorial Prize for the most distinguished masters thesis of 2015 in the University’s Faculty of Education and Social Work.

Melini’s thesis looks at the educational success of nine Samoan high school graduates aged between 18 and 22.
For the purposes of her study, she defined success as graduating from secondary school with NCEA Level Three and enough credits to enter university, which some have done and others haven’t.

“Not all students want to go to university but they should have that choice,” says Melini.

Having heard so much about the ‘the tail of educational underachievement’ in relation to Maori and Pacific students, she was more interested in finding out what kind of teaching is working for those who succeed.

“My thesis is titled Tales from Above the Tail; I wanted to know what these teachers did right, looking through a lens of ‘cultural responsiveness’, that is, looking at whether effective teachers recognise that each student brings valuable cultural knowledge to the classroom.”

She found that universally, the teachers these successful students deemed to be effective had valued them as people, had responded appropriately to their academic and cultural identities and hadn’t operated in a “one size fits all” sort of way.

“It’s all about knowing your learner within what we call in Samoan, the ‘Va Tapu-ia’ or sacred space or relationship. Within the va tapu-ia the teacher/student relationship is one of reciprocity. The teacher enables the student to grow as a person, not just as a learner, and the teacher also learns from the wealth of knowledge the student brings.”

However, she says just having a good relationship with a student isn’t enough.

“You also have to be an effective teacher, otherwise that relationship breaks down. It’s a dual thing with two pillars of influence involving teachers’ belief about students - who they are - and the way they learn best.”
She also found that teachers who believed they could make a notable difference to their students’ achievements did exactly that.

Of Samoan descent and recently a grandmother, Melini’s goal is to spread her findings as widely as possible so when her young granddaughter reaches school, she and many other Pacific students will reap the benefits of the shared knowledge.

“I don’t know why, when we know that a culturally responsive way of teaching works, that we’re not seeing this put into practice more widely. I want to change that. Hearing the voices of students who’ve succeeded is a very powerful way of sharing what works for them.”

A decile one school, Wiri Primary is 40% Samoan, 40% Maori and 20% ethnicities other than Pakeha.
Melini Fasavulu was one of a study group of fellow Pacific academic colleagues based at the University of Auckland’s Manukau campus to receive degrees in education at masters level this month.

She graduated with a Master of Educational Leadership, with first class honours.

To support each other’s efforts, the group, initiated by Professional Teaching Fellow at Manukau, Fetaui Iosefo, got together once a week to discuss their work and offer each other feedback, do some quiet reading and writing and to share food, laughter and companionship.

Melini believes the support of the group contributed significantly to its members’ success.

ENDS

© Scoop Media