Learning relationships (professional or personal) with young children in relation to the concept of AKO and children as co-constructors in communities of learning

Learning relationships (professional or personal) with young children in relation to the concept of AKO and children as co-constructors in communities of learning

Introduction

The concept of AKO in Maori educational field basically revolves around two factors, that is, to teach and to learn both. The articulation of the concept was evolved in 1984, after a three year research project carried out by the anthropologist Joan Metge. The purpose of this paper is to present my own reflection regarding the history of learning relationships with the young children in terms of the concept of AKO (Tamati, 2005).

Discussion

The study based on AKO, which is depicted by “Whakatauti” termed as traditional Maori proverb. The meaning of the proverb is “through your basket (contribution) and my basket (contribution) we can feed our people”. Throughout my life I worked on this proverb because it bestows an energetic role of contribution in the edifice of new thinking and learning. The proverb gives me strength to promote the educational values and it gives me the opportunity to enhance my educational skills because in the field of education there is no big or small. However, the literature suggest that patterning and consistency are the two main concepts that lead the young students towards the handling of stress and developing interpersonal skills with progression in thinking and meaningful continuities. Therefore, to develop the link between co-construction and AKO, I came across numerous questions, which I thought that might help me and the readers to better understand the concept.

Is that AKO demonstrated in children's learning?

Are there any parallels ways among the AKO and the co-construction?

Highlight the implication for learning and teaching?

To get answers of these questions I reviewed a study that was based on 25 children. Through the literature I observed that the concept of shared learning holds an integral part of AKO. The importance of shared learning is not limited to sharing the ideas or prior learning but the roots of the concepts goes far more till the outcomes and understanding among the group members as a common entity (Gibbs, 2002). The shared understanding always holds great worth because it links the group goals with the individual goals, therefore, any member who works hard to achieve its own goal, eventually moving towards achieving the organizational goals as well.

Whanaungatanga

Similarly, another concept that I learned through the observation was the role of Whanaungatanga, which means the nurture the essence of whanau that it may flourish. Through the literature and my own experience I learned that Whanaungatanga based on the fundamental importance of affiliation and it effect on the roles and duties that fall between those affiliations/relationships. The relation of affiliation with children is that normally children take only those roles in which they feel that they will be highly comfortable and which can also be accepted by their fellow mates. Therefore, I realized that the learning that ...