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Wellbeing and Schooling pp 121–133Cite as

Laying the Foundation for Wellbeing in Youth in New Zealand: Developing Socio-Emotional Understandings in Students, Families, and Teachers Through a Co-constructed Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Framework

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Part of the Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research book series (TPER,volume 4)

Abstract

In this chapter, we consider how a collaborative research project between a university and two schools is contributing to global dialogue around socio-emotional wellbeing in schools, through the development of a coconstructed culturally and linguistically sustaining socio-emotional learning framework that is responsive to the New Zealand context. This research acknowledges the centrality of te reo Māori (Māori language), and the status of Māori as tāngata whenua (indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand). The use of te reo Māori within the project, and our descriptions of our work, aligns with te Tiriti o Waitangi (Māori version of the Treaty of Waitangi) and is an expected, and accepted discourse practice within educational contexts in New Zealand. At times, we forefront te reo Māori to acknowledge knowledge generated by, for, and with a Māori worldview to reflect this positionality. In this chapter we describe how we engaged with teachers and extended family groups to gather their culturally grounded views on social emotional wellbeing. We examine how this collaborative relationship has enabled teachers to draw upon these co-constructed understandings to develop pedagogical practices to promote the social emotional wellbeing of students. We conclude with reflections that can inform other international contexts.

Keywords

  • Socio-emotional wellbeing
  • Cultural and linguistic responsiveness
  • Pedagogical actions
  • Children
  • Indigenous cultures

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Fig. 8.1
Fig. 8.2
Fig. 8.3

Notes

  1. 1.

    In upholding the principles of our research, local indigenous iwi (tribal groups) and hapū (sub-tribal groups) were also included in the research process.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to the students who participated in this project. We are also very thankful to teachers, who collaborated with us on this project, principals, and other community leaders, who supported this project. The research would not have been possible without the support, openness, and dedication of all involved. This project was funded by the Teaching & Learning Research Initiative (Grant Number 9186).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Amanda Denston, Letitia Hochstrasser Fickel & Veronica O’Toole

  2. College of Education, Health and Human Development, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Amanda Denston, Letitia Hochstrasser Fickel & Veronica O’Toole

  3. College of Education, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Rachel Martin

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  1. Amanda Denston
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  2. Letitia Hochstrasser Fickel
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  3. Rachel Martin
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  4. Veronica O’Toole
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Correspondence to Amanda Denston .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Ros McLellan

  2. Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Carole Faucher

  3. Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Venka Simovska

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Denston, A., Fickel, L.H., Martin, R., O’Toole, V. (2022). Laying the Foundation for Wellbeing in Youth in New Zealand: Developing Socio-Emotional Understandings in Students, Families, and Teachers Through a Co-constructed Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Framework. In: McLellan, R., Faucher, C., Simovska, V. (eds) Wellbeing and Schooling. Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Educational Research, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95205-1_8

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