Template PME28


Journal of Urban Mathematics Education 

December 2012, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 157–181   

©JUME. http://education.gsu.edu/JUME 

 

 

 

ROBIN AVERILL is a senior lecturer of mathematics education in the School of Edu-

cation Policy and Implementation at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; email: 

robin.averill@vuw.ac.nz. Her research interests include culturally responsive education and 
leadership, teacher-student relationships, resource development, and initial teacher education. 

Reflecting Heritage Cultures in  

Mathematics Learning:  

The Views of Teachers and Students 

 
Robin Averill 

Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 

Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui 

 
In this article, the author explores the views of six teachers and 136 indigenous 

(Māori), Pacific Nations, and New Zealand European students on reflecting the 

heritage cultures of Māori and Pacific peoples in mathematics learning. 

Findings show that teachers responded to students’ cultures through their 

classroom interactions but not through contexts used in mathematical 

tasks—participants largely viewed Māori and Pacific Nations cultures and 

mathematics learning as distinct. Findings indicate that substantive incorpo-

ration of heritage cultures in mathematics instruction requires changes in 

teacher and student beliefs regarding the place of heritage cultures within 

mathematics learning and sector and school-based support for teachers to 

develop their cultural knowledge and understanding of how to utilize such 

knowledge in their teaching.  

 

KEYWORDS: culturally responsive teaching, diversity, indigenous populations, 

mathematics teaching and learning, student voice 
 

nternational research literature evidences increased attention on addressing 

the impact of discontinuities between minoritized cultural groups and dom-

inant school cultures on student affect, engagement, and achievement (e.g., 

Gay, 2010; Kidman, Yen, & Abrams, 2012; Nieto & Bode, 2008; Presmeg, 

2007; Sleeter, 2011; Tyler et al., 2008). Education is a complex system. 

Schools—and teachers’ work within them—exist within broader societal con-

texts in which systemic power imbalances in relation to colonialism, deci-

sion-making, resource distribution, and school sector policy and structures 

(often intrinsically linked to the ideologies of dominant cultures) all affect how 

issues of diversity in education can be addressed in classrooms (Brayboy, 2005; 

Samu, 2011). Within these contexts, culturally relevant or culturally responsive 

pedagogies, which acknowledge, draw from, and strongly link with students as 

culturally located individuals, are advocated as pathways toward enhancing 

student outcomes by reducing discontinuities between students’ homes and 

schools where they exist (Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Wlodkowski & 

Ginsberg, 1995). These pedagogies employ strong ties between learning con-

texts and the cultural backgrounds of students which, along with effective 

teacher-student relationships and student-centred practices, help create class-

I 



 

 

 
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room programmes that are inclusive of the culturally located behaviours, ways 

of learning, expertise, knowledge, interests, and experiences that students bring 

to their learning (e.g., Averill et al., 2009; Fletcher, Parkhill, Fa’afoi, Taleni, & 

O’Regan, 2009; Kanu, 2011; Tyler et al., 2008).  

Similarly, Bishop (2008) emphasizes the importance of teachers provid-

ing opportunities for indigenous and minoritized students to learn within and 

through contexts consistent with and linked to their ancestral cultures, referred 

to in this article as their heritage cultures. Students are part of many cultural 

groups, each with their own set of behaviours, practices, ways of interacting, 

and values (Banks, 2004). For example, students may belong to church groups, 

sports clubs, school-based groups, social groups, and family groups. In this 

article, heritage culture is used to refer to the languages, practices, knowledge, 

ways of being, and behaviours linked to the heritage ethnicities of students as 

nurtured within them by their family and others in their extended heritage cul-

tural group. Also included within the term are current and historical issues, 

events, and other information (e.g., legends, celebrations, customs) clearly re-

lated to a heritage culture.  

Differences between students’ and teachers’ cultural backgrounds and 

teachers’ limited knowledge of the students’ cultures present challenges for 

teachers to plan and teach in ways that capitalise on their students’ background 

experiences (Villegas & Lucas, 2002; Zumwalt & Craig, 2008). Here, I de-

scribe a recent study designed to examine the potential for links to be made 

between students’ heritage cultures and mathematics instruction in New Zea-

land. In the study, I investigated the perceptions of mathematics teachers and 

students of teachers’ knowledge of the students’ Māori and Pacific Nations 

heritage cultures, mathematics learning linked to Māori and Pacific Nations 

heritage cultures, and beliefs about the role of the students’ heritage cultures in 

their mathematics learning. Due to the fundamental importance of effective 

teacher-student relationships for the learning of Māori and Pacific Nations 

students (Bishop, Berryman, Tiakiwai, & Richardson, 2003; Fletcher et al., 

2009; Hill & Hawk, 2000), the perspectives of teachers and students of these 

relationships in their own mathematics classroom were included in the inves-

tigation. I begin by describing the national and international context and theo-

retical background, and then outline the study and present teachers’ and stu-

dents’ views on teacher-student relationships and incorporation of cultural 

heritages within mathematics learning. Finally, I discuss the study findings and 

their implications for educators, policy makers, and future research.  

 
The New Zealand Context 

 

There are approximately 760,000 New Zealand school students of New 

Zealand European, Māori, and Pacific Nations heritages (with approximately 

59%, 22%, and 9% in each group, respectively). The proportions of Māori and 

Pacific Nations students are increasing relative to their New Zealand European 

counterparts. The ethnicities of New Zealand’s Māori and Pacific Nations 



 

 

 
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secondary school students and those of their teachers are often poorly matched, 

particularly in mathematics. New Zealand Māori, Pacific Nations, and Euro-

pean students’ cultural heritages vary greatly across and within ethnicities. 

These limited ethnic classifications do not convey the marked diversity that 

exists within and across groups in relation to the depth of individuals’ en-

gagement with their heritage culture/s, the combinations of individuals’ herit-

age cultures, and the number of generations in their family who have lived in 

New Zealand. Mathematics achievement also varies within and across ethnic 

groups; New Zealand European students tending to perform better on tradi-

tional achievement measures than their Māori and Pacific Nations peers 

(Crooks, Smith, & Flockton, 2010). Most New Zealand European students are 

in the ethnic majority in their classes and schools; however, those represented in 

this study are not. 

New Zealand education policy encourages culturally responsive teaching 

to improve the academic success of Māori and Pacific Nations students, reduce 

disparities in achievement, acknowledge and strengthen students’ cultural 

identities, and strengthen the understandings of all students of the cultural di-

versity of New Zealand society (Ministry of Education, 2007a, 2011). Ac-

cording to these policies, it is essential for teachers to acknowledge, reflect, and 

value student identity and culture in their practice for Māori students to achieve 

“as Māori” (Ministry of Education, 2008, p. 4). Teachers are encouraged to 

ensure Māori learners can see themselves in their education, realize their 

“cultural distinctiveness and potential” (p. 18), and participate in and contribute 

to te ao Māori (the Māori world). Similar policy goals exist regarding Pacific 

Nations students (Ministry of Education, 2006). However, teaching that reflects 

such goals has yet to reach widespread classroom implementation. For exam-

ple, despite observing 100 secondary mathematics lessons, many of which ex-

hibited examples of culturally responsive practices such as student-centred 

classroom discourse, I found few examples in which the teacher acknowledged 

the heritage cultures of their students, and none of the observed instructional 

activities reflected links with students’ Māori and Pacific Nations heritage 

cultures (Averill, 2012). 

Traditional Māori pedagogies include experiential learning; con-

text-based and integrated learning; tuakana-teina (learning from more experi-

enced peers); learning through stories, metaphor, and song; and strategies that 

develop shared ownership of and responsibility for learning (Hemara, 2000). 

Schools successful with Māori students encourage parental and community 

involvement and incorporate “substantial elements of traditional and contem-

porary Māori language, culture and knowledge into the curriculum” (Education 

Review Office, 2002, p. 1). Strong mathematics achievement gains by Māori 

students have been linked to school-wide commitments to culturally responsive 

teaching such as by incorporating taonga (Māori treasures), Māori language 

and protocols, and tikanga Māori (Māori practices) such as making personal 

connections and sharing responsibility, into classroom practice (Te Maro, 

Higgins, & Averill, 2008). For Pacific Nations students, relevant teaching 



 

 

 
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strategies include using humor to encourage engagement, using Pacific sources 

as curriculum materials (Ministry of Education, 2007b), and telling stories to 

explain concepts and locate information within the lives and experiences of 

students.  

A recurrent theme in the literature regarding the learning of both Māori 

and Pacific Nations students is the potential for growth in teacher recognition of 

the students’ experiences, background knowledge, needs, and skills of how to 

capitalize on these in their teaching (e.g., Amituanai-Toloa, McNaughton, Kuin 

Lai, & Airini, 2009; Bishop & Berryman, 2006; Ministry of Education, 2007b; 

Tuuta, Bradnam, Hynds, Higgins, & Broughton, 2004). To develop their un-

derstanding of the diversity of Māori and Pacific Nation peoples, New Zealand 

teachers are encouraged to learn about linguistic, cultural, and culturally linked 

pedagogical differences across groups, and between these groups and teachers’ 

own cultures (Fletcher et al., 2009; Hill & Hawk, 2000; Macfarlane, 2004). 

However, many teachers in Loorparg, Tait, Yates, and Meyer’s (2006) New 

Zealand study felt that adopting culturally responsive practices is challenging in 

part because it is left for individual teachers to manage, and they called for a 

range of supports such as increased access to suitable resources to help them 

respond to cultural diversity in their teaching. Similarly, in a study which in-

cluded interviewing 32 Māori Year 5 and 6 students in one urban Māori lan-

guage immersion school, Kidman, Yen, and Abrams’ (2012) found that ele-

mentary science teachers also face challenges related to positioning indigenous 

culture and knowledge in the curriculum. They contend that the resulting pe-

ripheral inclusion of Māori culture and knowledge in school science conveys 

tacit and hidden messages for students about the nature of science education and 

the place of indigenous culture and knowledge within it, contributing to in-

digenous student disengagement with science learning.  

The crucial importance of positive teacher-student relation-

ships—students having a feeling of connectedness with the teacher and teachers 

incorporating the perspectives students have about their learning in their 

teaching decisions—for students’ engagement, motivation, and learning has 

been identified and discussed by many in national and international contexts 

(see, e.g., Anthony & Walshaw, 2007; Eccles, 2004). Strong academic rela-

tionships are considered essential for Māori and Pacific Nations student learn-

ing in particular because they enable students to feel comfortable and safe in the 

classroom and to know that the teacher understands and is focussed on their 

learning and best interests (Bishop et al., 2003; Fletcher et al., 2009; Hill & 

Hawk, 2000; Ministry of Education, 2007b, 2008). New Zealand teachers are 

encouraged to establish and maintain effective teacher-student relationships by 

knowing, respecting, and valuing their students and by building new learning 

on the experiences, knowledge, and ways of being that students bring to the 

classroom.  

 

 



 

 

 
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The Cultural Capital of Students and Mathematics Learning 
 

Two recent New Zealand studies highlight the potential for linking 

mathematics instruction to the cultural capital (forms of knowledge, attitudes, 

skills, and advantages in relation to society in general) that students who are 

typically underserved acquire through their upbringing (Bourdieu, 1986). 

Hunter and Anthony (2011) explored teaching practices aligned with Pacific 

Nations’ cultural practices within inquiry-based mathematical instruction. In 

their case study of a Pacific Nations teacher working with Pacific Nations 

students, the teacher referenced core cultural beliefs of reciprocity, collectiv-

ism, and communalism as the basis for classroom grouping arrangements and 

expected behaviours. Teaching styles affected students’ mathematical agency 

and their accountability for their own and others’ mathematical learning, 

demonstrating a relationship between positive student outcomes and the use of 

instructional methods reflecting group participation values from students’ her-

itage cultures.  

In a recent study (Averill, 2012), I reported the extent to which dimen-

sions of teacher care could be referenced to cultural perspectives of indigenous 

Māori and Pacific peoples through analysing teaching practices observed in 

multi-ethnic secondary mathematics classrooms using Durie’s (1998) indige-

nous model of health and well-being. Durie’s (1998) whare tapa wha (the 

four-sided house) model uses the house as a metaphor for showing the inter-

dependence of four dimensions of personal health and wellbeing: physical, 

social, spiritual, and cognitive and emotional dimensions. The model has 

proven useful for examining and developing culturally responsive mathematics 

teaching practice (Averill, 2012; Tertiary Education Commission, 2010). For 

example, my study linked caring mathematics teacher practices (such as using 

inclusive language, providing encouragement, being explicit about teaching 

decisions) with Durie’s cognitive and emotional, social, spiritual, and physical 

dimensions of health and well-being, indicating the holistic nature of teacher 

care for students of the target ethnicities. The two studies highlighted (i.e., 

Averill [2012] and Hunter & Anthony [2011]) indicate the potential of drawing 

from the cultural capital of indigenous and other marginalised groups for en-

hancing equity of access to mathematics achievement.  

Nasir, Hand, and Taylor (2008) and Bartell (2011) are among many who 

have advocated that teachers develop cultural competence to enable them to 

build on the existing cultural capital of their students. Bartell examined the 

literature regarding theories of care and culturally relevant and responsive 

pedagogy and provided the following description of a caring teacher: 

 
Teachers that care with awareness know their students well mathematically, ra-

cially, culturally, and politically. They work to understand and make connections 

with students’ cultures and communities; help students develop positive racial, 

cultural, and political identities; reflect critically on their own assumptions and 

practices about students’ cultures and communities, including rejecting and con-



 

 

 
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fronting deficit and colorblind perspectives; and labor to neutralize status dif-

ferences within and beyond the classroom walls. (p. 65)  

 

To teach in ways consistent with Bartell’s definition, teachers need to know and 

understand their students as individuals and to care strongly about many aspects 

of their students’ lives. They must recognize students’ cultural capital and be 

able to link learning content and pedagogical practices to it. Strong teach-

er-student relationships are known to be vital for creating learning environ-

ments necessary for students to be comfortable with being known so well by 

their teachers and with culturally linked classroom activities being used in their 

learning (Bishop et al., 2003; Gay, 2010; Hattie, 2009).  

In their professional development research project, McCulloch and 

Marshall (2011) focused on teachers’ orientation towards, and competence 

with, connecting the out-of-school experiences of students to in-school 

mathematics learning. Across their year of involvement in the professional 

development, teachers participated in eight full days of interactive activities that 

explored the mathematical content knowledge of teachers and their under-

standing of how students learn mathematics, and considered the influences of 

cultural factors on teaching and learning. The researchers found that despite an 

increase in the number of out-of-school/in-school connections made by teachers 

in their teaching, these efforts remained infrequent and superficial, and few 

were “mathematically meaningful” (p. 60). The impact of the professional de-

velopment included increased teacher use of students’ informal mathematics 

and language. In addition, there was an increase in teacher awareness of at-

tending to possible effects of cultural difference, for example, through teachers 

clarifying contexts that students may have found unfamiliar. Teachers’ lack of 

mathematical knowledge and the “simplistic connections [teachers] drew be-

tween race and culture” (p. 62) were thought to be factors that limited their 

ability to further reflect students’ out-of-school experiences in their practice. 

Enhancing teachers’ cultural competence is also the focus of an extensive 

New Zealand professional development project, Te Kotahitanga (Berryman, 

2011; Lawrence, 2011). The project, which involved classroom-based profes-

sional development for Year 9 and 10 classroom teachers in using an “effective 

teaching profile” (Bishop et al., 2003, pp. 95–116), has resulted in enhanced 

teacher-student relationships, improved mathematics outcomes for Māori stu-

dents, and shifts in the understanding of teachers of their role and of incorpo-

rating Māori culture into classroom teaching across curriculum areas (Bishop, 

Berryman, Wearmouth, Peter, & Clapham, 2012; Hynds et al., 2011). Teachers 

and students reported deepened teacher understanding of Māori educational 

concepts and their relevance to the classroom and sensitivity to the perspectives 

of students (Savage et al., 2011). Māori students were positive about changes in 

their learning through the project and specific examples of Te Kotahitanga 

teachers using learning tasks drawn from the Māori culture have been reported 

in some curriculum areas (e.g., Savage et al., 2011). Although many mathe-

matics lessons were found to feature Māori cultural knowledge or language and 



 

 

 
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opportunities for student co-construction, no specific examples of mathematics 

learning tasks drawn from the Māori culture have yet been reported from the 

project. Mathematics was also the curriculum area with the highest proportion 

of observed lessons that did not exhibit these elements. 

Many studies have shown ways that the cultural competence of mathe-

matics teachers can be developed and discontinuities between the heritage 

cultures of students and their mathematics learning reduced. Examples include 

teachers working alongside educators with strong cultural knowledge (e.g., 

Celedon-Pattichis, 2004; Howard, Perry, & Butcher, 2006), drawing from 

community knowledges to build mathematics learning opportunities (e.g., 

Civil, 2007; Civil & Andrade, 2002), teaching mathematics for social justice 

(e.g., Gutstein, 2003), teachers getting to know individual students and their 

families to develop their classroom practice (e.g., Foote, 2010), and curriculum 

development such as that carried out with the indigenous Yup’ik people (e.g., 

Lipka et al., 2005).  

The views of teachers are important to understand in order to inform 

policy and teacher education. Two recent studies exemplify that student voice is 

also vital for informing mathematics teaching practice to reduce culturally 

linked differences in educational opportunities. The stories of Latina/o students 

in Gutiérrez, Willey, and Khisty’s (2011) study indicated a prevalence of ide-

ologies of the dominant cultural group in their instruction, schools’ neglect of 

the culturally linked learning tools and resources of students, and student re-

sistance to particular schooling practices. In Siope’s (2011) New Zealand study, 

secondary school Pacific Nations students described how effective teach-

er-student relationships enhanced their learning and how they coped with 

school and home demands by keeping their school and home lives separate. 

In summary, researchers and policymakers have called for classroom 

teaching in general and mathematics teaching in particular to acknowledge and 

strongly link with the cultural backgrounds of students, and many projects have 

made valuable contributions towards understanding ways of doing so and of the 

associated supports and challenges for teachers. The views of teachers and 

students of such teaching have been less frequently explored but are vital for 

informing teacher practice and curriculum and policy development. These 

views were the focus of this study. 

 
Examining the Views of Teachers and Students: The Study 

 

The sites for this research study—part of a larger research project (Aver-

ill, 2009)—included three urban, state co-educational, mid-low socio-economic 

schools, each with roughly equal numbers of Māori, Pacific Nations, and New 

Zealand European students to ensure data could be collected from students of 

the three target ethnic groups. None of the study schools were involved in the 

Te Kotahitanga professional development project (Bishop et al., 2003). The 

study participants were 136 Year 10 students from the classes of six teachers, 

with roughly equal numbers of students of the target ethnicities, according to 



 

 

 
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official data. This article does not discuss differences in the responses of stu-

dents by ethnicity because students’ self-reported ethnicities indicated much 

greater complexity exists than is shown by the official data (e.g., 42% of stu-

dents claimed more than one ethnicity).  

The three heads of department volunteered to participate and each nom-

inated one other teacher. Four of the teachers (three New Zealand European: 

Mr. A, Ms. B, and Mr. C; and one Māori/New Zealand European: Ms. D) were 

very experienced in teaching students of the target ethnicities. Two teachers 

(both first generation New Zealanders: Mr. E and Mr. F) were in their second 

year of teaching. (Full ethical approval was gained for the study.) 

To capture the desires of teachers and students for mathematics learning 

at the beginning of the school year as well as their later experiences of math-

ematics teaching and learning, data were gathered over 9 months including 

early, mid, and late in the academic year using three cycles of questionnaires 

and semi-structured interviews. All student questionnaires were available in 

English, the Māori language, and in Samoan, the language of the largest Pacific 

Nations participant group to enable students to respond in their heritage lan-

guage. Questionnaires included both open questions to capture the range of 

participant opinions and Likert scales to enable measurement of the strength of 

views.  

I assumed a sociocultural epistemological stance for the study and used 

both qualitative and quantitative methods. Māori and Pacific Nations cultural 

advisors were consulted on multiple occasions in order that their advice would 

inform every stage of the study design, implementation, and data analysis. 

Strategies to maximise data validity included extensive development and trial-

ling processes for creating the data gathering tools, using a sole researcher to 

gather all data, data triangulation (three research sites and collecting data mul-

tiple times at each site), methodological triangulation (more than one method of 

collecting data), and peer examination feedback from cultural and other advi-

sors collected across the duration of the study (Averill, 2009). The dataset in-

cluded 18 teacher questionnaires and 96, 107, and 136 student questionnaires 

respectively for the first, second, and third data gathering rounds. Both a sample 

of students of the target ethnicities and all teachers were interviewed in each 

data gathering round to follow up responses and themes arising from the ques-

tionnaires (138 student interviews and 18 teacher interviews in total). Students 

had the option of being interviewed alone or with a peer for their comfort and to 

maximise the quality of the dataset.  

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was the statistical 

analysis tool used for quantitative questionnaire data. In analysing the qualita-

tive data, statements were deemed to indicate links with the Māori or Pacific 

cultural heritages of students if they included any direct reference to the lan-

guages, practices, or accepted behaviours of Māori or Pacific Nations heritage 

cultures or to current or historical issues, knowledge, events, or other infor-

mation clearly related to Māori or Pacific Nations peoples. In the section that 

follows, I discuss study results in relation to teacher-student relationships and 



 

 

 
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students’ heritage cultures, beginning with teacher perspectives followed by 

those of students.  

 

The Voices of Teachers: “It’s more than just the maths.” 
 

Teacher-Student Relationships  
 

All of the teachers believed it important to develop a positive relationship 

with each student and all but one prioritized learning students’ names. All study 

teachers believed that both knowing their students as people and making some 

things about themselves open for students to know were important. For exam-

ple, one said: 

 
[Knowing about the students] is useful for interacting with them, and also for 

getting them to know little bits and pieces about us as individuals. These kids are 

very inquisitive in that sense. Some staff think of that as being rude or nosy but the 

kids often want to know about the people around them: where you come from, 

who your wife is, what kids you’ve got, and that sort of stuff. And for them, they 

are always pleased when we show an interest in something that they’re doing. 

Knowing about each other just helps. At times it can help you through an awk-

ward situation in teaching. (Mr. A) 

 

All teachers believed it important to incorporate aspects relevant to stu-

dents’ in-school and out-of-school lives in their teaching to help show relevance 

of the mathematics to students and enhance student motivation. Teachers liked 

knowing about their students including being aware of their “successes” (all 

teachers), “sports” (5 teachers), “personalities” (5), “families” (4), “family 

commitments” (4), “cultural activities” (4), and “progress in other subjects” (3). 

Teachers used formal and informal ways of getting to know their students. Two 

teachers asked their students to write letters about themselves at the start of the 

year, one telling the students about herself before setting the task: 

 
I always tell them something about myself, how long I’ve been teaching, my 

children, that kind of thing, and if they want to ask me anything, that’s the time. 

Always on the first night for homework I get them to write me a letter to tell me 

everything that they think I should know. I have particular themes: how their last 

year went in maths; what they want to do this year; their family; and anything 

[they think] I need to know. (Ms. D) 

 

Aside from this letter-writing task, there was no evidence of systematic ways of 

learning information about students. The informal methods teachers used to get 

to know their students as people included having conversations with students 

over time (3 teachers) and with families (1 teacher). 

Strategies teachers reported using to get to know their students as learners 

included diagnostic testing, working one-to-one with students, “interacting with 

as many students as possible each lesson,” and “brainstorming” when intro-

ducing new learning. Teachers described a range of ways that they believed 

helped their students know them as a teacher, including “establishing a 



 

 

 
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worthwhile programme,” “encouraging students,” “having patience and lis-

tening,” “having an organised [classroom] environment,” and “setting clear 

boundaries, routines, and expectations.”  

Teachers reported personal and pedagogical strategies for establishing 

and maintaining teacher-student rapport: “knowing students’ names,” “using 

correct Māori and Pacific Nations pronunciation,” “creating a friendly envi-

ronment,” “using a sense of humour,” “being patient,” “giving students choic-

es,” talking with, and listening to, students about their life, their progress, 

out-of-school activities, and problems, and “helping students in subjects other 

than mathematics.” Four teachers believed that mathematics teachers faced 

greater challenges than teachers of other subjects in developing teacher-student 

rapport and knowledge of one another, arguing that it can be difficult to interest 

students in mathematics content and that missed lessons are more problematic 

in mathematics than in other subjects due to new learning often building on 

previous work. National assessment methods (“reducing students’ interest in 

mathematics”) and students’ negative experiences of, and feelings towards, 

learning mathematics were also identified: 

 
Often [mathematics teachers] have to work harder [at developing rapport]. Kids’ 

relationships with you are affected by their view of the subject and if they don’t 

feel switched on by the subject it’s probably going to be difficult to get a good 

relationship with them. So somehow we’ve got to get them to come in and feel 

comfortable, so being successful in maths to start with is important. That means 

on the first test [I make sure] everyone gets more than eighty percent, so they feel 

good about it. (Mr. A) 

 

Students’ Heritage Cultures  
 

No teachers mentioned the heritage cultures of students in questionnaire 

responses regarding how they get to know and develop rapport with their stu-

dents. Apart from the focus on pronunciation, teachers did not state any delib-

erate links between their pedagogical choices and students’ heritage cultures. 

However, when specifically asked about students’ heritage cultures, four of the 

six teachers believed that it was important for students’ mathematics learning 

that they as teachers knew and cared about aspects of the cultural heritages of 

their students. Views varied regarding the relative importance of showing care 

for students’ heritage cultures and other factors for students’ learning: “Caring 

about students’ cultures shows students that you value their background; it is all 

part of sharing an interest in each other so that the learning environment is one 

that all cultures can work in.” (Mr. C) 

Mr. A, who used his knowledge of students’ heritage cultures to create 

connections with them, believed that students’ learning was more strongly in-

fluenced by factors other than showing care for students’ heritage cultures: 

 
Teacher A:  I’ve worked in the Pacific for 12 years. What we’ve brought back 

here is knowledge that helps. You look at their faces and look at 

their names. I said to one of the kids a couple of years ago, 



 

 

 
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“you’re a Cook Islander” and she said “how do you know?” And I 

told her the story about a student that I had in the Cook Islands 

that had the same surname and I said this girl came from Man-

gaia, one of the outer islands and so does she, so it’s from those 

kinds of clues that you can establish some personal link… it is 

about caring for kids and showing a bit of interest in them. It’s 

more than just the maths.  

 

Interviewer:  Do you think it makes a difference to those students in terms of 

their learning? 

 

Teacher A:  It can do. There are other things that affect their learning more, 

but it’s just that they’re more likely to talk to you more…it just 

helps that [teacher-student] relationship. 
 

Teachers stated that they showed that the heritage cultures of their stu-

dents are important to them by developing their own cultural knowledge and 

skills (e.g., by learning some Māori, Samoan, or Fijian language or knowing 

how to interpret the body language of different groups), by “talking with stu-

dents about similarities and differences between our cultures” (Mr. C) and by 

“giving students opportunities to work in the Māori language” (Mr. A). Most 

teachers were positive about developing their cultural knowledge; “anything 

that helps with rapport, which is culturally important, I will try to learn about” 

(Mr E). However, teachers mostly did not identify specific pedagogical prac-

tices that they intentionally used in order to teach in culturally responsive ways: 

“If students of different cultures feel comfortable coming into my classroom, I 

think in ways I am addressing the differences of the cultures in the room” (Mr. 

F). 

One teacher stated that many of her students want to keep parts of their 

home and school worlds separate, but she tries to reduce the separation: 

 
Many [students] go to great lengths to keep their lives in compartments, for ex-

ample lots have “school” names [in English] because they believe teachers will 

not be able to pronounce their real names. I hear other students using their Sa-

moan names so I try to know their real names. (Ms. B) 

 

Although five of the six teachers showed some interest in knowing about 

Māori and Pacific cultures, they were largely neutral or negative about using 

mathematics examples linked to using such knowledge in their teaching: “I’m 

not good at this, that’s for sure. Overall I don’t make a difference between New 

Zealand European or Māori or something. It’s the same, it is in our school. I 

can’t see a difference between them” (Mr. F). 

Two teachers felt that they should be reflecting heritage cultures in their 

teaching, for example the teacher with Māori heritage said: “I know that in my 

classroom I really should have Māori words up or the kowhaiwhai patterns 

(Māori rafter patterns)…and I haven’t got those…. I should be doing more to 

promote biculturalism in mathematics” (Ms. D). 



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                168 

All teachers reported finding it difficult to include Māori and Pacific 

Nations contexts in their teaching due to lack of resources (3 teachers; “text-

books only pay lip service to [incorporating Māori and Pacific Nations cul-

tures]” [Mr. A]) and lack of personal knowledge (3 teachers; “I’m not sure how 

I can help somebody who’s from another culture to learn maths better” [Mr. F], 

“I don’t know enough about other cultures and how they use maths” [Mr. C], 

“identifying realistic situations to use is difficult” [Mr. A], “to link the culture to 

the maths you have to have a really good understanding of the culture, and I 

don‘t think I have” [Mr. E]). Teachers’ practice in relation to reflecting the 

Māori and Pacific Nations heritage cultures of their students in mathematics 

learning seemed also to be limited by their beliefs about the nature of the per-

sonal engagement of their students with their heritage cultures (e.g., “most of 

these students don’t have strong connections with their heritage culture” [Mr. 

A], “most of the [Pacific Nations] students are New Zealand born and urban so 

their contexts are different to those born outside of New Zealand and/or rural” 

[Mr. A]) and concerns about possible student discomfort (e.g., “students might 

take it the wrong way and not like it” [Mr. E]).  

 
The Voices of Students: “I see them as different, there’s your 

culture and there’s maths” 
 

Teacher-Student Relationships 
 

Teachers and students being able to be themselves in the mathematics 

classroom was important to the students in this study because it enabled them to 

get to know the teacher, feel the teacher was interpreting their interactions ap-

propriately, and engage with the learning: 

 
Interviewer:  What makes a good maths teacher? 

Student:  Personality and that he works [well] with people. 

Interviewer:  How does that help your maths learning?  

Student:  It makes you get more into it. 
 

Many students felt it important that they and the teacher knew one 

another for effective communication, mutual trust, teacher-student rap-

port, and for their learning. Comments from two of Mr. C’s students help 

illustrate students’ thinking: “Teachers need to know the [students], so if 

you’re not getting something, they can use examples from things you 

like…so they are using something you are interested in.” 

 
Because it kind of breaks down the wall, they can relate to you as a person. You 

normally think it’s going to be a scary thing talking to your teacher but if you 

know a bit about them and they know about you, you feel confident in talking with 

them. If they get to know you, you know you can trust that teacher and you know 

you’re going to get a good lesson, but if they just write something on the board 

and get you to copy it, you’re not really learning anything.  

 



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                169 

Overall, students valued knowing some things about their teacher and 

their teacher knowing about them. They held differing preferences regarding 

what they wanted to know about their teacher, what they wanted their teachers 

to know about them, and how they wanted their teachers to find those things 

out. The first set of questionnaire responses showed that “my successes,” “my 

personality,” and “how well I learn in other subjects” were what students most 

wanted their teachers to know about them, with over 40% of students in each 

heritage culture group selecting each of these. Almost one fifth of students 

wanted their teacher to know something about their “family,” “sports,” and 

“cultural activities.” Four of the 136 students indicated that they did not want 

their teacher to know anything about them.  

Most students who had been asked to write letters to their teachers were in 

favour of that way of sharing information about themselves: “Because if you 

were too shy to speak about it in class, or didn’t want to tell anyone, you just 

write down in the letter and she’d just read it.”; “[Writing the letter] was a really 

good idea because it gave us a chance to explain about ourselves. It’s giving us 

a chance to write what we want.” However, one student stated that she would 

not be comfortable sharing information about herself with her teacher until later 

in the year when she would know her teacher better. Students who had not been 

asked to write letters about themselves liked their teachers to get to know them 

through teacher-student interactions over time, completing a questionnaire, or 

by talking with their previous teachers. Some felt comfortable telling the 

teacher what they would like the teacher to know but stated that it was harder to 

do in mathematics than in other subjects because fewer spontaneous opportu-

nities for this existed: 

 
Student A:  I’d just tell them straight up and then they’ll understand.  

Student B:  I reckon that’s pretty hard in maths though, ‘cause, you just work 

with numbers, you don’t have conversations about reading a 

book and then you can’t talk about applying it to your personal 

life or something. 

 

Students’ Heritage Cultures  
 

Many students believed their mathematics learning and their heritage 

culture were not linked (“culture doesn’t really have anything to do with 

maths”) and although some students (22%) believed that mathematics teachers 

being responsive to their heritage culture may positively affect their learning 

opportunities, most either stated they did not know (between 47% and 60% of 

each group) or that it would not be important for their learning (24%). Pacific 

Nations students were more likely than Māori or Europeans to believe their 

culture was both relevant at school (59% compared with 37% and 28% re-

spectively) and to their mathematics learning (25% compared with 11% and 

12% respectively). The recurring theme of students believing that mathematics 

learning and their heritage cultures are two separate things suggests they had 



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                170 

experienced or noticed few or no links between them in their current or previous 

mathematics learning: 

 
Interviewer:  You’ve been learning maths from year one all the way through 

to now, so is that something that you’re used to happening in 

maths, teachers bringing in examples from different cultures? 

Student:  No, just one usually, European, which is all right ‘cause I kind 

of understand it better.  

Student:  It would just be the same as normal maths if they added on a bit 

of culture. 

Interviewer:  But do you think it would help you with learning maths?  

Student:  I think it would be better if they keep it how it was.  
 

Moreover, students often showed surprise at the inclusion of questions 

regarding their heritage cultures, further evidence that they did not expect such 

links to be made. However, one interview indicated that despite initially 

viewing mathematics and heritage cultures separately, students could quickly 

think up an example linked to their heritage nation: 

 
Student C:  I see them as different, there’s your culture and there’s maths, so 

maths is with all these numbers and the teacher, and the culture is 

with your parents and family, so it’s quite different.  

Interviewer:  So you see them as two separate things?  

Student D:  I reckon you could use culture for, like statistics, like how many 

people live in Samoa and things like that, or how many children 

were born there in certain years.  

Interviewer:  And you’d like examples like that to be used?  

Student C:  Yeah, like to have true statements that were taken from the 

[Samoan] census would be good.  
 

Some students felt uncomfortable about mathematics learning being 

linked to their heritage culture, being concerned for themselves (such as 

avoiding feeling shame in relation to their own lack of knowledge of their 

culture or language), or for others: 

 
Interviewer:  Do you see your heritage culture as something that is separate 

to your mathematics learning or something that is important in 

your mathematics learning?  

Student:  I kind of want it to be separate.  

Interviewer:  Can you explain why? 

Student:  Well, I really don’t know my own culture, or how to speak it.  

Student:  If you have examples and they’re all to do with, like Pacific 

type questions, and then people would think, “Oh, why is she 

just doing that culture? Why not anything else?” But if you do a 

range of them then that would be all right, but kind of different.  
 

Responses gathered in the second and third questionnaires showed that 

most students did not know whether or not their mathematics teacher knew 

about their heritage culture (more than 35% for all groups, and 61% of Māori 

students). Pacific Nations students were more likely than other groups to be-



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                171 

lieve their teacher knew about their heritage culture (51% compared with 28% 

and 38% for Māori and European respectively). Higher proportions of Māori 

and Pacific Nations students wanted their teacher to know about the Māori and 

Pacific worlds (20% and 45% respectively) than to use examples that drew from 

this knowledge in their mathematics lessons (9% and 28% respectively). Later 

questionnaire data showed that despite learning for many months with the same 

mathematics teacher, most students did not know whether or not their teachers 

knew about the Māori and Pacific worlds (over 64% and over 59% across all 

groups respectively), suggesting either that the teacher had not shown such 

knowledge or used learning examples linked to Māori or Pacific Nations cul-

tures, or that if they had, it had not been noticed by their students. Some 

comments suggested students thought their teacher needed only limited 

knowledge about their heritage cultures: 

 
I think it’s good for [teachers] to know what your cultural identity is and what one 

you belong to but for them to fully understand it, that’s not really necessary ‘cause 

as long as they know who you are, they don’t need to know everything about you.  

 

Some students believed that subject areas such as English, art, languages, 

and social science were more suitable than mathematics for connecting learning 

with their heritage culture: “We’re there for maths and not for discussion about 

cultural things, that’s for a different classroom”; “Focus on the maths and leave 

other things to other teachers.” 

While many students did not believe teachers needed to know much about 

their heritage cultures, they did believe it very important that teachers showed 

respect for them:  

 
It just depends on how they use my culture…if they’re going to use an example in 

the language they may as well speak it properly because if they’re going to de-

scribe something in maths, they should get it right.  

 

According to students, teachers showed the importance they placed on 

students’ heritage cultures by showing “respect” for them, “giving help,” trying 

to learn words in the students’ heritage languages, and treating students of 

different cultures in the “same” way or in different ways. This apparent con-

tradiction was explored further in the interviews. Students believed both to be 

important with the way in which it was shown dependent on the context. For 

example, students felt teachers should treat everyone the same in relation to 

respecting everyone’s cultures equally, while believing that teachers should 

treat students differently by responding appropriately to cultural difference:  

 
Student:  Teachers need to respect our cultures. 

Interviewer:  Should they treat everybody the same or treat everybody dif-

ferently? 

Student:  The same but respect everyone’s culture. Yeah, the teacher 

might say something that would offend someone from a dif-



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                172 

ferent culture, so if she knew that was their culture she wouldn’t 

say it. 
 

Students’ expressed that their teachers’ concern for their heritage culture 

was important for their mathematics learning. Reasons for this belief included 

themes of inclusion, fairness, workload, and suitability of linking heritage 

culture and mathematics learning: 

 
Important: so that the teacher would be inclusive, so they could reflect class 

cultures in maths activities, to enhance students’ feelings of cultural identity, 

because we might learn in different ways.  

 

Not important: teachers should treat everyone the same, teachers are already too 

busy without having to learn about students’ cultures, culture and maths are two 

separate things, our cultures do not affect our learning, it is none of the teacher’s 

business. (paraphrased from student questionnaire responses) 

 

One Pacific Nations student suggested “teachers could have a good ethnic 

buddy,” a practical suggestion consistent with Celedon-Pattichis’s (2004) and 

Howard and colleagues’ (2006) research which includes incorporating cultural 

experts as partners to enhance teachers’ cultural knowledge and expertise. Such 

practice has the potential to develop teachers’ knowledge of, and sensitivity 

towards, students’ heritage cultures and their pedagogical approaches to re-

flecting these in their mathematics teaching. 

 
Discussion and Conclusion 

 

Teacher-Student Relationships 
 

Overall, the study results are consistent with those of previous studies and 

the literature on teacher-student relationships (e.g., Bishop et al., 2003; Eccles, 

2004; Fletcher et al., 2009; Hill & Hawk, 2000) in that both students and 

teachers believed in the fundamental value for effective learning of positive 

teacher-student relationships and knowing about one another. This study adds 

to the literature by providing evidence of the connection between effective 

teacher-student relationships and teachers knowing students well as individuals, 

including identifying what students may want their teacher to know, and how 

teachers can sensitively learn these things without detracting from curriculum 

delivery time. The findings indicate the value of enabling student choice about 

what and when to share, as demonstrated by the range of students’ preferences 

regarding what they would like their teachers to know about them and how and 

when they would feel comfortable for the information to be gathered.  

The findings indicate that Bartell’s (2011) ideal of “teachers who care 

with awareness” (p. 65) is likely to be difficult for mathematics teachers to 

achieve. To teach in ways consistent with Bartell’s definition teachers need to 

know, understand, and strongly care about many aspects of their students’ lives. 

Teachers who work exclusively with one group of students (such as many el-



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                173 

ementary school teachers) from one or a small number of different cultural 

backgrounds (as in Hunter & Anthony’s [2011] study) must be better positioned 

to demonstrate cultural competence and achieve elements of Bartell’s descrip-

tion of caring teacher practice than teachers who work across many class groups 

with students of a wide range of cultural backgrounds. This study shows that 

some students may not want to be known by their mathematics teacher as well 

as would be required for all aspects of the definition to be adopted. Further-

more, this study indicates that teachers and students may need convincing that 

knowledge of heritage cultures will assist mathematics learning and can be used 

with sufficient respect and sensitivity.  

A teacher’s knowledge about their students’ heritage cultures was not 

amongst the main factors directly reported by teachers and students as fostering 

or maintaining effective teacher-student relationships or rapport. However, 

participants’ responses regarding the importance of teachers respecting stu-

dents’ cultures and responding to students in culturally appropriate ways indi-

cate that participants believe teachers’ knowledge of students’ heritage cultures 

is essential in relation to interpersonal interactions. This study indicates that 

teachers were teaching in culturally responsive ways in some respects (e.g., 

placing importance on knowing their learners as individuals, acknowledging 

cultural differences, developing positive teacher-student relationships, and 

managing student-centred classrooms), but had few systematic ways of know-

ing they were being culturally responsive in their teaching or of developing 

their culturally responsive practice. For example, the study teachers were in-

terested to know about some aspects of their students’ lives but such knowledge 

was mostly gathered informally through ad hoc individual interactions with 

some students during class lessons.  

 

Students’ Heritage Cultures 
 

The study findings provide further evidence of discontinuities between 

schools and students’ cultural heritages and contribute to understandings of 

how and why such discontinuities occur and how they can be reduced. In con-

trast to participants in the Te Kotahitanga project (Berryman, 2011), neither the 

study teachers nor the students readily identified how students’ heritage cul-

tures were linked with mathematics learning. No evidence emerged in the study 

of schools, teachers, or students drawing from the heritage cultural knowledge 

of parents, whānau (family groups), or the wider school community to inform 

mathematics teaching and learning. The study results could indicate that 

teachers and students may not have strong personal cultural identity or if they 

do, they may see it as something they prefer to keep apart from the classroom. 

No school- or discipline-based discussions focused on responding to cultural 

diversity in learning programmes were mentioned by participants, suggesting 

either such conversations and development are not taking place in the study 

schools, or if they are, mathematics teachers do not see them as relevant, im-

portant, or easily implementable. The student voices outlined the dichotomy 



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                174 

many students encounter in identifying with their own cultural heritage while 

being part of the other cultural groups in their lives; for example, their class, 

school, sports, and social groups and the mainstream cultures within which 

these sit. In addition, the students in this study were in their adolescent years, a 

time when many can desire or feel compelled to minimise differences between 

themselves and others (Meece & Daniels, 2008). It may be that the opinions and 

practices of teachers are a deliberate or subconscious response to their sense of 

the complexities of students’ beliefs, perceptions, and prior learning experi-

ences in relation to culturally responsive mathematics teaching and variation in 

the cultural identity of individual students. 

Both the teacher and student voices in the study indicate that many con-

flicts and challenges exist for teachers in developing and using culturally linked 

mathematics learning tasks. Consistent with the findings of Amituanai-Toloa 

and colleagues (2009), Loorparg’s (2006) team, and others, and claims of re-

searchers such as Villegas and Lucas (2002), the teacher voices collected in this 

study illustrate that development of teachers’ knowledge of students’ heritage 

cultures, how to reflect these in their mathematics teaching, and why this is 

important to achieve are necessary and urgent. Whilst many New Zealand 

mathematics textbooks do not yet incorporate Māori and Pacific Nations cul-

tural contexts in a substantial way, a few suitable resources have been available 

(e.g., Averill, Phillips, & French, 2003; Heays, Copson, & Mahon, 1994). The 

absence of mathematics tasks linked to contexts drawn from Māori or Pacific 

Nations cultures in study students’ current and previous mathematics learning 

was strongly apparent, despite the teachers’ access to mathematical tasks with 

links to Māori and Pacific Nations cultures, and study schools being situated 

within multiethnic communities. Given this finding, responses to questions 

regarding integration of aspects of cultural heritages within mathematics 

learning must have been based largely on participants’ beliefs of what such 

practice might be like, rather than from experience.  

 

Culturally Responsive Teaching 
 

The study included six mathematics teachers and their students from one 

year group across three urban schools in the same city and caution should be 

used in interpreting the findings more widely. Limitations notwithstanding, this 

study adds to what is known about culturally responsive teaching in several 

ways. First, students may not recognize some elements of teachers’ respon-

siveness to students’ heritage cultures. Teachers’ knowledge of cultures and 

cultural difference informs their classroom behaviours and decisions, how they 

conduct one-to-one teacher-student interactions, and their body language, any 

of which may be deemed by their students as suitable, comfortable, and caring. 

The absence of such culturally responsive behaviours, however, is perhaps 

more likely to be noticed by students than their presence (Banks, 2004). For 

example, although culturally responsive methods were the teacher’s intention 

and practice in Hunter and Anthony’s (2011) study, it is unlikely that the stu-



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                175 

dents recognised that the ways in which their learning was being managed were 

consistent with practices used in their heritage cultures, unless this was ex-

plained. Findings from Hunter and Anthony’s (2011) and Averill’s (2012) 

studies suggest that mathematics learning is enhanced when classroom prac-

tices are compatible with important aspects of students’ heritage cultures. 

However, unless the nature of those practices that are intentionally or uninten-

tionally linked to classroom practice is discussed with students, it is unlikely 

that they will also contribute to policy and research goals of strengthening 

students’ cultural identities. 

Secondly, many students viewed mathematics and culture as separate 

and, in spite of multiple opportunities to consider the place of heritage cultures 

in relation to mathematics learning over the study, most did not readily identify 

benefits from integrating cultural knowledge and mathematics instruction. The 

students’ varied and often vague responses and their surprise at the inclusion of 

questions linking cultural heritage and mathematics learning may also indicate 

that some had not previously considered the place of deliberate acknowl-

edgement of students’ heritage cultures in their learning or that they do not 

prioritise such practice. While teachers did not seem as surprised as their stu-

dents to be asked questions linking heritage cultures and mathematics learning, 

they generally appeared not to have developed a firm philosophical stance nor 

to have deeply considered how they would or could incorporate students’ her-

itage cultures into their mathematics teaching. This is particularly surprising 

given four of the teachers had extensive experience teaching Māori and Pacific 

Nations students and held departmental leadership positions. Despite the rea-

sons for their practice, as found by Kidman and colleagues (2012) and cau-

tioned by Sleeter (2011), teachers not linking mathematics learning to their 

students’ heritage cultures is likely to portray to their students that such links 

are not able to be made or are not desirable. There is growing evidence that 

teachers need substantial assistance to enable such practice. 

Finally, the findings indicate that practices consistent with educational 

research and policy regarding reducing discontinuities between students’ 

homes and schools in relation to cultural heritage are not yet in place across 

mathematics classrooms, indicating likely limitations in relation to the learning 

and career opportunities of students not of the dominant culture (Gay, 2010; 

Kidman et al., 2012). These results, from multiethnic schools educating in-

digenous students in a multiethnic community and country, are of concern. The 

findings support those of others (e.g., Fletcher et al., 2009; Macfarlane, 2004) in 

indicating that increased teacher knowledge of students’ cultural heritages, of te 

ao Māori, and Pacific Nations is urgently needed. It is hard to see how teach-

er-student connectedness can be maximised and teaching be truly culturally 

responsive while a mismatch between teachers’ and students’ ethnicities re-

mains, teachers’ cultural knowledge base is either limited or invisible to stu-

dents, and students’ understandings of links between heritage culture and 

learning are tenuous. 

  



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                176 

Implications 
 

There are implications from this study for school communities, profes-

sional development and teacher education, and policy development and im-

plementation. This study’s findings, alongside those of others (e.g., Bishop et 

al., 2003; Gorinski, Ferguson, Samu, & Mara, 2008; Siope, 2011), indicate the 

challenges for New Zealand mathematics teachers to substantially reflect Māori 

and Pacific Nations cultures in their work are so great that substantial resources, 

professional development, and community involvement are required for the 

Ministry of Education’s (2006, 2008) goals, and calls from the literature, to be 

fully realised. Teachers are but one part of the education system and of wider 

society. Historical and current societal contexts within which schools sit am-

plify the challenges teachers face in developing culturally responsive practice 

because the ideologies of dominant cultures are often not only entrenched, but 

they and their effects can be invisible to teachers, parents, and students 

(Brayboy, 2005; Samu, 2011). Issues of power and influence within education 

as a whole, what counts as knowledge and achievement, and whose cultural 

heritages and languages are valued in schools and in society are vital to attend to 

in order to establish the conditions necessary for inequalities in relation to di-

versity in education to be addressed in classrooms. All share responsibility for 

addressing these issues. For example, school communities are needed as part-

ners in working together to support policy implementation by voicing high 

expectations of cultural responsiveness within schools, teaching, and learning, 

and sharing their cultural knowledge, understanding, and expertise, and how 

they believe this should be reflected in the learning of their students. 

Evidence suggests that school-wide projects in which teachers develop 

close links with individuals of different cultural groups and their families (as in 

Foote’s [2010] project), the use of accessible cultural models on which to base 

classroom practices (as in Hunter & Anthony’s [2011] study), and mathematics 

teachers having easy, frequent, and ideally, classroom-based access to educa-

tional cultural advisors (as in Howard et al.’s [2006] project) offer positive 

ways to develop culturally responsive mathematics teaching practice. This 

study provides a glimpse into the beliefs and understandings of teachers and 

students regarding culturally responsive practices that could inform such de-

velopments. The extent to which school communities are involved in profes-

sional development, mathematics teacher behaviours and the contexts used in 

mathematical tasks are visibly and sensitively linked to students’ heritage cul-

tures, and teacher and student beliefs regarding the relevance of heritage culture 

to mathematics learning are altered, could provide useful measures of the suc-

cess of such professional development in advancing culturally responsive 

teaching and providing environments that can enhance students’ cultural iden-

tities. 

In response to the challenges identified for teachers above and education 

policy requirements, initial teacher education programs must also prepare stu-

dents well to understand and implement, and even to be leaders in, culturally 



 

 

 
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Journal of Urban Mathematics Education Vol. 5, No. 2                177 

responsive practices. Aspiring teachers without knowledge of the heritage 

cultures of New Zealand students have much knowledge and cultural under-

standing to acquire through their initial teacher education and will need guid-

ance, support, practice, and critical reflection on their practice that school-based 

associate teachers may not be able to provide. Such development must be ex-

pected and supported by initial teacher education providers and qualifications. 

The development and implementation of education policy are complex 

processes affected by many factors. It is reasonable to argue that to enable so-

cial change, education policy must be idealistic, inspirational, and aspirational. 

However, it must also be grounded by indications research provides regarding 

what is possible to achieve within societal constraints (Marshall, Coxon, Jen-

kins, & Jones, 2000). Furthermore, policy must be supported by in-depth pro-

cesses and resources to maximise its implementation and the impact it will have 

within schools, teaching, and students. International contexts will vary. This 

study indicates the value of uncovering teacher and student beliefs towards 

understanding the challenges for teachers and education systems and society in 

ensuring culturally responsive practices are the norm rather than the exception. 

Students being able to draw from, and link to, their heritage cultures through 

their mathematics learning is a vital and challenging goal to pursue towards 

enhancing students’ cultural identities, continuity between homes and schools, 

inter-cultural knowledge and understanding, and equity of access to mathe-

matics achievement. Teachers’ and students’ perspectives are essential to con-

sider in developing practice. Internationally, this study offers glimpses of the 

complexities that can exist in relation to incorporating pedagogies and learning 

experiences linked to heritage cultures in mathematics instruction that can help 

to inform teacher education, curriculum and resource development, school 

practice, and policy implementation. 

 
Acknowledgements 

 

The author sincerely thanks Megan Clark, Fuapepe Rimoni, and Herewini Easton for their 

careful and wise advice through the study, the New Zealand Institute of Mathematics and its 

Applications (NZIMA) for funding which contributed to the completion of this study, and the 

study participants for their very thoughtful contributions and very valuable time. 

 
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