Maintaining a Cultural Identity While Constructing a Mathematical Disposition as a Pāsifika Learner

Abstract

Many P{\={a}}sifika students enter New Zealand schools fluent in their own language and with a rich background of knowledge and experiences. But, within a short period of schooling they join the disproportionately high numbers of P{\={a}}sifika students who are failing subjects such as mathematics within our current education system. The reasons are diverse but many can be attributed directly to the structural inequities they encounter which cause a disconnect (and dismissal) of their Indigenous cultural values, understandings, and experiences.