“Please bring a plate”: A metaphor for learning advisor practice based on Pacific values

Abstract

Metaphors are powerful devices for guiding the practice of learning advisors and are often used implicitly. However, personal metaphors can also mis-guide or constrain thinking about practice by encouraging a monocultural perspective. A paper by Golding et al. (2015) evaluated a variety of metaphors for their usefulness in guiding the practice of learning advisors. These evaluated metaphors have their origins in a Palagi or Western cultural worldview, dominant in Aotearoa New Zealand as a result of colonisation. This paper reports on a personal philosophical enquiry process, where I attempt to develop a metaphor that would help me, as a Palagi learner advisor, appreciate the Pacific worldview and potentially work with Pacific students in a more culturally responsive way. The developed metaphor is based on helping someone bake for a 'bring a plate' function, a social event where everyone invited provides food to share. It is based on my experiences, while also seeking to incorporate values embedded in Pacific cultures. This metaphor is offered as a contribution to philosophical discussions of learning advising: it is my 'plate' to help feed our academic community. Metaphors for culturally responsive pedagogy Learning Advisors often use metaphor (implicitly or explicitly) to understand their practice and help them judge what to do … Yet Learning Advisors seldom evaluate whether their metaphors clarify or obscure their practice. (Golding et al., 2015, p. 1) Having defined the problem in the quote above, Golding et al. (2015) proceed to evaluate the coherence of a range of metaphors with the pedagogy of one-on-one learning advising (for example, the learning advisor as a fixer, doctor, or guide). The authors' pedagogical approach