"this is not maori/indigenous education, it is education."
Place-based education (PBE) refers to pedagogy rooted in that which is (physically) local. PBE emerges from the concern that by focusing on a student’s developing global competence we neglect the actual communities in which people live (Lane-Zucker, Sobel, 2004).
The quote at the top of this page comes from Wally Penetito, a retired public servant and current professor of Māori education at Victoria University of Wellington. In the words of more than one person I spoke with in Aotearoa: "You're doing place-based education? You've gotta read Wally."
In Penetito's view, place-based educational practices don't just open doors for students who identify as Māori. They enable all students to apply their classroom learnings within a real-world context.
The quote at the top of this page comes from Wally Penetito, a retired public servant and current professor of Māori education at Victoria University of Wellington. In the words of more than one person I spoke with in Aotearoa: "You're doing place-based education? You've gotta read Wally."
In Penetito's view, place-based educational practices don't just open doors for students who identify as Māori. They enable all students to apply their classroom learnings within a real-world context.
wally penetito and place-based learning for maori
According to Penetito, an effective place-based learning curriculum must consider each of the following:
Place-based learning, Penetito says, is "an excuse to begin where my feet are, where you're standing, to get to know this place first, and then spread out into the world." Students learn about their local context - the space and place with which they are familiar - and apply that learning to the wider world.
Penetito's work became part of the creation of a parallel version of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) written specifically for students who identify as Māori, with the stated goal of enabling them to demonstrate their academic success as Māori.
You can see video of Penetito discussing his work here, and a discussion of the Māori achieving success as Māori framework here.
- knowledge from students' physical and cultural context;
- the local tikanga (customs or correct procedures); and
- how a student's education can help them challenge the status quo.
Place-based learning, Penetito says, is "an excuse to begin where my feet are, where you're standing, to get to know this place first, and then spread out into the world." Students learn about their local context - the space and place with which they are familiar - and apply that learning to the wider world.
Penetito's work became part of the creation of a parallel version of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) written specifically for students who identify as Māori, with the stated goal of enabling them to demonstrate their academic success as Māori.
You can see video of Penetito discussing his work here, and a discussion of the Māori achieving success as Māori framework here.
David Greenwood and bridging the science to social science gap
While Penetito focuses on using a place-based pedagogy to build authentic learning experiences for students within a familiar context, David Greenwood (who originally wrote as Gruenewald) uses "place" as a common ground where different academic disciplines can interact. Greenwood specifically hopes to create a link "between environmental educators and those who direct their attention to matters of social justice and equity" (Greenwood 2014).
In an article entitled Grounding Culturally-Responsive Teaching in Geographic Diversity, Greenwood argues that loaded terms like place-based education and culturally-relevant pedagogy need to be contextualized to avoid the type of abstraction that emerges from overuse in academic circles - one of the ultimate goals of this site. The worry is that terms lose their meaning when they are overused by academics and administrators.
Greenwood believes that place-based education at its core is a fundamental challenge to global capitalism. Capitalism, in his view, relies on standardization. Places by their very nature defy homogeneity - an earthquake prone region rarely becomes quake-proof, for example. Every place is unique in and of itself, and the people who live in a place possess integral knowledge that allows them to survive and thrive there.
No one, Greenwood appears to say, lives in the "world in general." We live in the "world specific." By breaking the idea of place-based education down to its fundamental principles, Greenwood hopes to bring people together for a common purpose: making each place better for those who inhabit it.
In an article entitled Grounding Culturally-Responsive Teaching in Geographic Diversity, Greenwood argues that loaded terms like place-based education and culturally-relevant pedagogy need to be contextualized to avoid the type of abstraction that emerges from overuse in academic circles - one of the ultimate goals of this site. The worry is that terms lose their meaning when they are overused by academics and administrators.
Greenwood believes that place-based education at its core is a fundamental challenge to global capitalism. Capitalism, in his view, relies on standardization. Places by their very nature defy homogeneity - an earthquake prone region rarely becomes quake-proof, for example. Every place is unique in and of itself, and the people who live in a place possess integral knowledge that allows them to survive and thrive there.
No one, Greenwood appears to say, lives in the "world in general." We live in the "world specific." By breaking the idea of place-based education down to its fundamental principles, Greenwood hopes to bring people together for a common purpose: making each place better for those who inhabit it.