Using digital technologies to support Pacific learners, and connect with families and communities 

Planning your school’s approach

The New Zealand Curriculum is focused on helping schools to be future focused, confident, connected, lifelong learners. In addition, the curriculum aims to create students who are digitally adept and globally connected. 

The e-Learning Planning Framework helps schools and teachers reflect on, and evaluate, their e-learning capability and plan to incorporate digital technologies to support teaching, learning, and communication. Pacific culture, and the e-Learning Planning Framework, emphasise collaboration, creation, and sharing. Using digital technologies in the classroom allows Pacific voices to be heard and shared in any language. 

How can digital technologies make a difference for Pacific learners? 

Successful learning for Pacific learners is founded on their languages, cultures, and values. It builds on what teachers know to be effective curriculum and pedagogy in the different cultural contexts with which learners from the Pacific heritages identify. 

Planned use of technologies helps you to provide relevant and meaningful connections to Pacific students’ family and their communities. Design learning experiences that are inclusive of culture, identified needs, strengths, and interests. 

For Pacific learners, digital technologies can offer ways to: 

• engage with families and communities 
• build relationships between teachers and students  
• capture and integrate the communities of learners  
• draw on culture and language to personalise learning 
• design rich learning experiences that build on strengths and meet needs  
• record, review, share, and clarify progress towards learning outcomes. 

Reflective questions 

Once you have engaged with the information in this resource you can use these questions to discuss or reflect on your practice or to develop your own inquiry. 

• In what ways does your digital pedagogy increase the chance of Pacific learners' success? 
• How do you ensure that a student’s cultural identity is integrated into their digital world? 
• How are the digital technologies used in your school creating meaningful connections: 
  • for students and their learning? 
  • between students and the global world? 
  • with the school community? 

Supporting family engagement 

Using digital technologies, you can make powerful connections with Pacific learners, their families, and communities.  

Facilitate a deeper engagement with families – especially those who are not able to come into school – by connecting regularly through:  

• e-portfolios to share learning progress 
• online newsletters and other digital media to share and encourage engagement in what is happening and coming events in your school. 

Using digital technologies to connect with families may need some practical adjustments. 

Support parent communication 

Some Pacific parents have English as a second language. This can be a barrier to them engaging with and supporting their child's learning. You can support communication with Pacific parents and communities by providing multiple translations of important information so communities can access it. Having these available online to be printed out, sent electronically, or accessed online via your class blog or school website reduces barriers and helps parents to connect with their child's learning.  

Support parents understanding of the technologies 

Support parents' understanding of the technologies their children are using and how to engage with your communication software.

Holy Cross School is very multicultural community. Principal, Kathy Moy-Low explains how they have consulted with and engaged the parent community in e-learning. One of their initiatives is after school parent technology sessions, which are run once a month. In this video clip, parents explain why they go to the classes – the benefits for their own learning with technology, and how they can engage more with their children's learning.  

Parents from Holy Cross School explain how they are able to connect easily with the school, using mobile devices and different forms of electronic media such as the school website, Facebook, email, text, and Google docs. This anytime anywhere connection enables them to engage with and support their students learning. 

Learning in the classroom 

These videos are examples of different ways schools are using digital technology with a Pacific lens to support their Pacific learners. 

Mangere College students describe e-posters they designed as part of their visual arts NCEA assessments to reflect their identity and culture. 

Lalaosalafai Tu’ua, who teaches at Southern Cross Campus in Mangere, describes his experience of using video conferencing to teach Samoan at NCEA level 3. He discusses the opportunities this technology provides for students who would otherwise be unable to access this learning.

Southern Cross Campus student, Shona Unasa, takes economics via video conference. She shares her learning experience using this medium. 

Talanoa Ako   

Talanoa Ako is an education programme for Pacific parents. The Talanoa Ako app and Talanoa Ako radio programme support Pacific parents with distance learning. The radio programme air on the Pacific Media Network (PMN) station.  

• Talanoa Ako for Pacific Communities – find your region and radio frequency, access previous recordings, and download the Talanoa app.  

The Talanoa Ako app is free to download for Apple and Android phones and tablets.  

• Download the Talanoa Ako app – App Store  
• Download the Talanoa Ako app – Google Play Store  

Supporting and including learners with English as a second language  

Bridget Harrison's class at Kimi Ora Community School is made up of 100 percent Māori and Pacific students. In this clip she shares how they are using digital stories to scaffold the writing process. The success of this approach is reflected in their asTTle writing data.

Irongate School teacher, Marion Croad, describes the improvements in her New Entrant students' written and oral language as a result of using Photostory. The majority of the students are Māori and Pacific learners with English as a second language. Using a tuakana-teina approach students worked alongside a Year 5/6 buddy who supported them with their learning. She found the students' oral language improved - both enunciation and sentence structure. Using the storyboard to plan their story sequence led to a development in the number of sentences written. 

Research 

Critical success factors for effective use of e-learning by Pacific learners (2006) 
ITPNZ contracted a team of Pacific researchers to identify the critical success factors and pedagogy for increasing Pacific students’ access to, participation in, and achievement through e-learning. 

Education Counts | Pacific 
Research papers supporting school and teachers to improve their practice and understand the needs of Pacific learners.