The promise of Appreciative Inquiry as a tool to developing home–school relationships for secondary Pacific students

Abstract

Crucial to the success of Pacific learners is the engagement of schools with the learners’ families and their communities. This article reports on a small-scale study which focussed on home–school relationships for Pacific secondary learners in Aotearoa New Zealand. It explored good practice and further considered how schools might develop their home–school practices to better support Pacific students. An Appreciative Inquiry (AI) lens supported this strength-based approach. AI promotes positive change through the inclusion of multiple voices. This article argues that AI is a tool which schools could use to review and develop their home–school relationships with Pacific families and, in so doing, bring about structural changes that promote successful learning experiences for Pacific students.