He aha te mea nui o te ao
What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people
This Maori proverb emphasises that people are the most important thing in the world: a concept we will explore in this session serving as a reminder of the importance of tailoring engagement towards your audience’s needs. We will present findings from research commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, which looked at reaching young people from low socio-economic backgrounds, alongside research commissioned by the British Science Association exploring how to include under-represented audiences in National Science and Engineering Week. Comparisons with other cultures will be presented by the University of the West of England, with a case study of engagement with Maori in a New Zealand science festival.
Speakers: Mat Hickman (Wellcome Trust), Hema Teji (British Science Association), Laura Fogg Rogers (University of the West of England), Chair: Karen Folkes (BIS)
Data delivery from the US-EPA Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposur...
SCC 2014 - The People, the People, the People: Engaging under-served audiences
1. The People, the People, the People
Engaging under-served audiences
Mat Hickman - @mathickman
Hema Teji
Laura Fogg-Rogers - @laurafoggrogers
Chair: Karen Folkes - @Karen_Afolk
#SciComm14 #SciComm14
3. 2014
•Event estimate, 2,363
•Attendees estimate,
620,000
•Resource downloads,
78,342
•Home website page
views , 104,000
www.britishscienceassociation.org
National Science & Engineering
Week
2013 Kick Start Grants
• 103,370 pupils and students were
involved in NSEW activities
•48% high proportion of pupils
eligible for school meals
•34% high proportion of pupils
from BAME backgrounds
•18% were in remote and rural
locations
4. Audience development
1. Literature review
2. Focus groups
3. Case studies of
best practice
4. Fieldwork sampling
www.britishscienceassociation.org
5. • People enduring socio-economic
hardship regardless of age, gender or
ethnicity
• Specific ethnic groups – Pakistani,
Bangladeshi, Black British
• Women and Girls
www.britishscienceassociation.org
Literature review
6. www.britishscienceassociation.org
Fieldwork sampling
Categories Groups
Affluent Achievers
Lavish Lifestyles
Executive Wealth
Mature Money
Rising Prosperity
City Sophisticates
Career Climbers
Comfortable Communities
Countryside Communities
Successful Suburbs
Steady Neighbourhoods
Comfortable Seniors
Starting Out
Financially Stretched
Student Life
Modest Means
Striving Families
Poorer Pensioners
Urban Adversity
Young Hardship
Struggling Estates
Difficult Circumstances
Each ACORN Category is sub-divided
into a number of Groups and
subsequent Types which provide even
greater detail and granularity. To find
detailed descriptions of ACORN
Categories, Groups and Types, please
visit http://acorn.caci.co.uk/ and
follow the link ‘ACORN User Guide’.
ACORN Categories were assigned
based on respondents’ postcode data
7. www.britishscienceassociation.org
Fieldwork sampling: headline findings
On average, 68% of respondents
were attending in families with children,
in particular with 5-11 year olds.
On average, 36%were motivated to
attend by children’s education.
14% were brought by others and a
significant proportion were ‘just passing’.
Respondents were most commonly aged
35-44(28%), or
25-34(22%).
Urban Prosperity and Financially Stretched
respondents were more likely than the
other segments to be in the 16-24 age
range. (14%-15%)
The Urban Adversity and Financially
Stretched segments were more likely than
other segments to be attending with friends
(16%)
8%of the Urban Adversity segment was
from non-white ethnic groups (slightly
higher than the proportion amongst other
segments)
Hands on activitiesare of prime
interest to Urban Adversity, followed by
Festivals/ Family Days and
Exhibitions / Displays
Open Days / Toursare also a
key driver of Urban Adversity attendance
Word of mouthwas the most
influential promotional channel for all
segments, followed by NSEW
leaflet/poster and passing by the
venue
On average, 73% of respondents (66% of
the Urban Adversity segment) were first-
time attendees at National Science &
Engineering Week
9. www.britishscienceassociation.org
Fieldwork sampling: ethnicity
NSEW 2014 Survey Respondents’ Ethnicity
White Mixed
Asian /
Asian
British
Black /
Black
British Chinese Other
Affluent Achievers 97.1% 1.7% 0.6% NO DATA NO DATA 0.6%
Rising Prosperity 95.0% 2.5% NO DATA NO DATA 2.5% NO DATA
Comfortable Communities 96.8% NO DATA 3.2% NO DATA NO DATA NO DATA
Financially Stretched 93.8% 2.3% 1.5% 0.8% 0.8% 0.8%
Urban Adversity 92.0% 3.2% 3.2% 1.6% NO DATA NO DATA
ALL 95.5% 1.7% 1.7% 0.4% 0.4% 0.4%
11. Who do you think are your under-
served audiences?
Why do you think you should engage
with them?
www.britishscienceassociation.org
hema.teji@britishscienceassociation.org
Activity
12. Experiments in Engagement
Engaging with young people from
disadvantaged backgrounds
Mat Hickman | Wellcome Trust
m.hickman@wellcome.ac.uk
@WTeducation
[newsletter link]
14. Practical outcomes
•A better understanding of the
scope of informal learning:
• understanding
• behaviour
• attitudes
•Better understanding of how
to evaluate the impact of
informal science learning
•Best practice in reaching
deprived learners schools
and families
•Best practice in linking
informal and formal learning.
15. Underserved groups
• Under 5s
• Adults
• Lower socio-
economic groups
• Commissioned
follow-up research
with young people to
explore what they
would most engage
with or value
16. Methodology
Interviews with:
•young people aged 9
to 19 in schools or
youth organisations
•teachers/youth
workers responsible
for the young people
•parents
• Interviews in
• London
• Birmingham
• Yorkshire and
• Glasgow
• Total of
• 93 young people
• 16 teachers/youth
workers and
• 16 parents
19. Diversity
There is a large diversity present within low SES
families, ranging from those highly engaged, active and
aspirational to those very disengaged.
But there are a number of emergent themes:
•Ethnicity
•Family make-up
•Level of parental support
•Influence of community and school environment
20. Attitudes to Science
“[Science] makes me
feel bubbly, I don’t
know why!”
“I wrote ‘half and half’.
It depends what you
are doing.”
I don’t really like
science to be
honest, but I love
experiments
I like doing practicals, I
don’t like writing a lot but
I like doing practicals.
Doing it yourself rather
than watching.
The future does depend on science
“It’s dull, proper dull.”
“I don’t like it because I don’t
know the words they use.”
“I want to be a doctor but I
don’t like science,
that’s so weird!”
21. Attitudes to Science
“[Science] makes me
feel bubbly, I don’t
know why!”
“I wrote ‘half and half’.
It depends what you
are doing.”
I don’t really like
science to be
honest, but I love
experiments
I like doing practicals, I
don’t like writing a lot but
I like doing practicals.
Doing it yourself rather
than watching.
The future does depend on science
“It’s dull, proper dull.”
“I don’t like it because I don’t
know the words they use.”
“I want to be a doctor but I
don’t like science,
that’s so weird!”
22. Attitudes to Science
“[Science] makes me
feel bubbly, I don’t
know why!”
“I wrote ‘half and half’.
It depends what you
are doing.”
I don’t really like
science to be
honest, but I love
experiments
I like doing practicals, I
don’t like writing a lot but
I like doing practicals.
Doing it yourself rather
than watching.
The future does depend on science
“It’s dull, proper dull.”
“I don’t like it because I don’t
know the words they use.”
“I want to be a doctor but I
don’t like science,
that’s so weird!”
23. Attitudes to Science
“[Science] makes me
feel bubbly, I don’t
know why!”
“I wrote ‘half and half’.
It depends what you
are doing.”
I don’t really like
science to be
honest, but I love
experiments
I like doing practicals, I
don’t like writing a lot but
I like doing practicals.
Doing it yourself rather
than watching.
The future does depend on science
“It’s dull, proper dull.”
“I don’t like it because I don’t
know the words they use.”
“I want to be a doctor but I
don’t like science,
that’s so weird!”
24. Attitudes to Science
“[Science] makes me
feel bubbly, I don’t
know why!”
“I wrote ‘half and half’.
It depends what you
are doing.”
I don’t really like
science to be
honest, but I love
experiments
I like doing practicals, I
don’t like writing a lot but
I like doing practicals.
Doing it yourself rather
than watching.
The future does depend on science
“It’s dull, proper dull.”
“I don’t like it because I don’t
know the words they use.”
“I want to be a doctor but I
don’t like science,
that’s so weird!”
25. Influencers on attitudes to science
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Age
• School environment
• Role of the science
teacher
• Parental attitudes to
science
• Religion
When I was in years 7
and 8 we dissected so
many things but in year
10 its just boring. It’s just
work, work, work, work.
Tests, books, you revise
that, you do a test, books
again. Even the
practicals lead to a test!
26. Engagement with activities
• Wide range
• Fewer structured leisure time activities
• After school clubs
• Sport
• Unlikely to visit museums and galleries, heritage sites
and public libraries
• Few young people, particularly in secondary schools,
visited museums etc., even at weekends or holidays
• The number of free or low cost activities outside of
school was low, or unattractive to young people
27. Engagement with science
• Most did not mention science-related activities
• Television is the main source of in-home informal
science experiences
• Visits to, e.g. science centres, typically arranged by
schools
• Visits tended to be for younger children
• Tended to be one-off
• Repeat visits rare, except for younger siblings
“If you do it for one you have to
do it for the others, and we
can’t afford that.” (Parent)
28. Influencers on activities they do
• Friendship
• Enjoyment
• Being in control
• Increased self esteem
• Incentives to participate
• Parental support/family involvement
If my friends didn’t go to the
YMCA then I wouldn’t go on my
own, don’t want to be billy no
mates
Success breeds success, they keep coming because
they are doing well. If they fail then they don’t want to
come back. These kids have enough knocks in life to
deal with.
29. Recommendations
1. Know your audience and objectives
2. Engage a champion and be mindful of family
influence
• Not celebrities
1. Ensure the activity is young person-led
• Not too academic
1. Ensure the activity is relevant and pitched at the right
level
2. Invest in long-term relationships for maximum impact
30. Recommendations
6. Make it practical and interactive
7. Facilitate socialising with friends
8. Be financially and geographically accessible
• In the community, not just giving ‘access’ to
your activity
6. Celebrate and reward success
7. Communicate carefully and through trusted channels
• Not science! Not celebrities
31. Recommendations
2. A desire for an
online central
resource system
for sharing informal
science knowledge
and tools was
expressed
1. Funding processes
need to be
developed in a way
that allows
activities to be led
by young people
33. Activity 1. Know your audience and
objectives
2. Engage a champion and be
mindful of family influence
3. Ensure the activity is young
person-led
4. Ensure the activity is relevant and
pitched at the right level
5. Invest in long-term relationships
for maximum impact
6. Make it practical and interactive
7. Facilitate socialising with friends
8. Be financially and geographically
accessible
9. Celebrate and reward success
10.Communicate carefully and
through trusted channels
How will you
engage with your
underserved
audiences?
m.hickman@wellcome.ac.uk
34. Teenagers as Agents of Change:
Engaging Māori in Brain Awareness Week
Laura Fogg Rogers
laura.foggrogers@uwe.ac.uk
38. Rangahau Māori
Positivism: Science is Truth
The truth is out there
Tangata whenua
People of the land knowledgeVS
Social constructionism: we co-construct the truth
39. Brain Day
• Science festival format
• 3000 attendees
• 80% rate lectures as very
appealing and most useful
40. Co-construction of the brain
Māori make up 2% of the audience,
but 17% of the NZ population
WHY?
For Māori, the brain is tapu (sacred)
as the seat of the soul
Scientific research is done by
Westerners with a Western ideology
of scientific detachment
Research is viewed as done ON
Māori, not WITH or BY them
41. Health literacy
Engagement is essential to:
raise aspirations in science
increase involvement in
research
reduce health inequalities
Māori are one of NZ’s most
deprived social groups
disproportionately affected
by cardiovascular disease
and diabetes
43. Students as Researchers
Māori Advisory Board
Whaea advisor
Six schools, 44 students
11 scientist mentors
100 family members
44. Feedback in an oral culture
Consider
alternative
methods of
evaluation to
fit audience
needs - video
messages
suited our
storytelling
cultures
45. Engaging with under-served audiences
Issues
Different ways of viewing
the world
Historical mistrust of
science and scientists
Power imbalances
Health inequalities
Learning points
Respect other cultures
Find gatekeepers or bridges
into the community
Co-construct your meaning
together
Find a topic that motivates
you both and work towards
changing it together
46. Teenagers as Agents of Change:
Engaging Māori in Brain Awareness Week
Laura Fogg Rogers
laura.foggrogers@uwe.ac.uk
My presentation and work came out my frustrations when I attended an event similar to this topic at last year’s conference. I hoped I would come away with some concrete ideas on how to target under represented audiences but actually left with more questions than anything else.
I hope there will be no frustrations today and through my work I hope to impart my experience in targeting underrepresented audiences and to also hopefully to inspire you to think about your audience, and the relevance of targeted audience development planning
small disclaimer this is work in progress and the research is still going on and some of finding will probably change depending on what we find out
Undertook this audience development work via BSA NSEW
National Science & Engineering Week (NSEW) has been in existence for 21 years. and is the UK’s largest initiative that spearheads a national campaign to inspire and engage people from all walks of life directly with STEM.
We do this by providing a platform and support for organisations and individuals to organise events across the country.
Key stats for you
In 2014
We estimate that our organisers put on 2363 events
Attended by 620,000.
To give you an idea of participation, The collective downloads for marketing resources, activity packs, quizzes is 78,342
our home website page views number around 104,000 excluding other NSEW pages
Kick start
We are very successful in targeting underrepresented groups through our Kick Start grant scheme
In NSEW 2013 we distributed £100,000 to 500 schools who fulfilled our criteria of high free school, BAME backgrounds, remote rural locations
Approximately 103,370 pupils and students were involved in NSEW activities,
48% of schools funded by Kick Start had a high proportion of pupils eligible for school meals
34% had a high proportion of pupils from BAME backgrounds,
18% were in remote and rural locations.
Although we are making some headway towards involving underrepresented audiences our emphasis lies with pupils and students.
BIS offered us the opportunity to find out how we can further engage with underrepresented audiences.
hence in 2013-2014 we embarked on an ambitious approach in targeting new audiences through our audience development work, I’d like to talk you though this process
You may be doing the same programme for years but have you ever wanted to get under the skin of who you are doing it for?
Audience development is a way to get started.
The impact/results of this work is Multi-fold and can review or change on how you attract new audience, keep/develop your current audiences, improve your activities, resources, services, brand awareness and develop your position in the market .
Having worked for nearly 10 years in an outreach capacity targeting under represented audiences within the museum sector - I can say from experience that undertaking audience development work is a systematic and credible way to target underrepresented audiences.
The basic premise with audience development is understand who your current audiences are and then you will understand who your non audiences are. This approach is quite standard in museums, visitor centres etc. but for the Association this was quite a radical approach and I think would be for most of our peers in the public engagement community.
We recruited &Co, cultural marketing company to help us undertake our journey into audience development for NSEW and have completed or are on the way to complete these 4 stages of the research.
literature review
focus groups
case studies of best practice
Fieldwork sampling
because of time constraints I can’t talk about everything but my discussion today will primarily focus on the findings of 1 and 4.
A literature review is the not usual approach (when putting together audience development research ) but was included as there has been extensive literature on the issue under representation of STEM engagement.
& Co reviewed over forty documents that address a range of issues that relate to Public Engagement with Science (PES). The key findings from the review was that the underrepresented groups are:
People enduring socio-economic hardship regardless of age, gender or ethnicity
Specific ethnic groups – Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black British
Women and Girls
The review also went into further analysis of key issues that relate to attracting and sustaining these audiences which include
barriers of participation, importance of family capital, science literacy, effect on cultural practices and perceptions of STEM
Another stage of our research was fieldwork
Fieldwork was targeted at National Science & Engineering Week 2014 events (30 events in total across the UK). The events were:
Open to the public (not school events)
Broad in appeal
Located in areas with multiple events taking place to enable crossover analysis
Located in areas with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged groups - i.e. with a high percentage of the ACORN segment ‘Urban Adversity’ (ACORN - A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods)
The total sample was 603 and respondents all answered a questionnaire which they either filled in online or with a fieldwork rep at an event.
The analysis of our audiences (based on the postcodes given) was referenced using the categories from ACORN. which is a profiling system which segments the population into groups and categories with similar demographic and lifestyle traits.
It segments households, postcodes and neighbourhoods into 5 categories, 18 groups and 62 types.
By analysing significant social factors and population behaviour, it provides precise information and an in-depth understanding of the different types of people
Slide shows the key categories and groups – find out more look at website
So what did we find out? I have some key findings (not all as its too much to cover) at the next slides
****
Extra info inc ase they ask me about ACRORN
A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods
ACORN = socio-demographic segmentation. A standard model used by arts organisations and many other commercial business sectors.
Built from Govt data (30% Census) + consumer research (8m records).
Acorn classifies each postcode in the country into one of 62 types that give a distinctive picture of the kinds of people who live in an area, their attitudes and how they behave.
Acorn is a powerful targeting tool that combines geography with demographics and lifestyle information, and the places where people live with their underlying characteristics and behaviour, to create a tool for understanding the different types of people in different areas throughout the country.
It enables users to understand the kind of people living in their area, buying their goods, or using their services.
Acorn classifies postcodes into 6 categories, 18 groups and 62 types. Types are further subdivided into around 300 micro-segments that can be used to add an extra level of precision to the segmentation for specialist analyses particularly in metropolitan areas.
So I think you can see the key findings
Of particular interest to us was
On average, 68% of respondents were attending in families with children, in particular with 5-11 year olds.
8% of the Urban Adversity segment were from non-white ethnic groups (slightly higher than the proportion amongst other segments
Hands on activities are of prime interest to Urban Adversity respondents, followed by Festivals/ Family Days and Exhibitions / Displays
The most common motivation to attend a National Science & Engineering Week 2014 event was ‘I thought it would be good for my children’s education’ (40% of each of the two poorest ACORN segments and 36% on average).
Interestingly very few of the Urban Adversity visits were motivated by a broad interest in science and engineering.
The Affluent Achievers and Rising Prosperity segments were more likely than the other segments to be motivated by a broad interest in science / engineering (17% and 15% respectively, compared to 3% of Urban Adversity respondents.)
The finding also drilled down into specifics for example we can see that
Affluent Achievers are significantly over-represented compared to the base population,
and the Urban Adversity, Rising Prosperity and Comfortable Communities Categories under-represented.
Representation of the Financially Stretched category is broadly in line with the population of Great Britain
another example I’ve decided to show you the ethnicity findings
Overall 95.5% of survey respondents described themselves as White, this compares to the UK figure of 87.1%.
(The over-representation of individuals who describe themselves as White reflects not only the ethnicity bias within the STEM sector but also more broadly the ethnic make-up of people who actively partake in leisure and cultural pursuits. Sources: 2011 Census: KS201UK Ethnic group, local authorities in the United Kingdom, Accessed 24 April 2014)
other ethnicities are under-represented in relation to the overall composition of the national population
this is particularly true of the Asian / Asian British group (UK figure: 6.9%) under-represented by a factor of 4 and Black / Black British (UK figure: 3.0%) under-represented by a factor of 7.5
Where it says NO DATA. It should not be assumed that the different ACORN Categories are not present in each of these ethnic groups, rather the sampling framework was not large enough to capture the very small percentages of these different combinations that were present within the NSEW 2014 audience.
It is important to note that while the percentage figures for each of the ACORN Categories is relatively small for each of the non-White ethnic groups, when we look specifically at the Mixed, Asian/Asian British and Black/Black British groups in all cases Urban Adversity contains the largest or equal largest percentage figure for each.
This reflects the disproportionately high proportion of ethnic minorities that inhabit the lowest geo-demographic segment.
*****
This is just a snapshot of the findings from the audience survey we also retrieved further information on
SES (socio economic status) gender, age, life style, influence of education, STEM interest, why they went to events , type of event they preferred, marketing, audience motivations and channels of communication etc. etc.
So now we have also this information what next?
Now I’m armed with knowledge about our audiences and their preferences I can deliver an audience led campaign
which means changing the focus of our , PR activity, marketing, key message for the public, refining activity and resources - to ensure that NSEW is accessible and relevant to everyone in the UK.
However before I do that I need to write an audience development plan to incorporate in my strategy - which could look like this, as suggested by & CO.
I’m unable to go into detail with this but if you are interested to learn more then either catch me at the end of drop me an email
I hope you have enjoyed my presentation and also given you food for thought
Not finished yet as I’d like to run through an activity with you
Post-its #1:
in their horseshoes, delegates will discuss who their under-served audiences are
and why they feel they should better engage with these audiences.
Delegates will identify the ‘who’ on one set of post-its and the ‘why’ on another set.
They will stick the post-its on to a pre-prepared piece of flipchart paper that’s divided into three sections: who, why and how.
When they stick the post-its on the flipchart paper, they should identify the common themes, i.e., common audiences and common rationales.
5 min discussion
5 min feedback in your groups and identify the common themes
Workshops with young people were in groups of around 6. Lasted 90 mins ish
Ethnicity – young people and parents from white British ethnic backgrounds were often describes as the hardest to engage, and they tended to have a distrust of figures of authority including teachers
Teachers and youth workers reported that young people from minority ethnic backgrounds, particularly Asain, appeared to have higher aspirations. Sometimes however this puts a lot of pressure on the young people.
Family make-up eg “Many of the children don’t have a father figure at hime, this can be really difficult for the boys. I think that’s why they look to us for support.’ – primary school teacher
Level of parental support – “We have to offer a prize draw of £20 Asda vouchers to encourage parents to attend parents evenings. It works and we tripled attendance!’ – primary school teacher. Plus some families don’t have their own transport or are reluctant to use it to venture too far – cases of families never venturing further than 1 or 2 miles from home.
Influence of community and school environment – the young people with positive attitudes tended to be involved with youth groups or clubs, had more parental support and a good experience of/realationships with teachers.
Also religion found to play a role. For example Muslim families had traditional views in terms of the roles of men/women – girls were expected to help lots with household chores and so were less able to take part in activities after school or at weekends. Boys had more freedom but were expected to regularly visit the mosque.
-
The word science is thought of negatively. However experiments are loved. And lots of things which we might class as science are also liked – “I love space”
Science not described as glamorous or associated with celebrities. Awareness of Brian Cox was mixed – young people in Glasgow reacted negatively as they didn’t like his accent.
The word science is thought of negatively. However experiments are loved. And lots of things which we might class as science are also liked – “I love space”
Science not described as glamorous or associated with celebrities. Awareness of Brian Cox was mixed – young people in Glasgow reacted negatively as they didn’t like his accent.
The word science is thought of negatively. However experiments are loved. And lots of things which we might class as science are also liked – “I love space”
Science not described as glamorous or associated with celebrities. Awareness of Brian Cox was mixed – young people in Glasgow reacted negatively as they didn’t like his accent.
The word science is thought of negatively. However experiments are loved. And lots of things which we might class as science are also liked – “I love space”
Science not described as glamorous or associated with celebrities. Awareness of Brian Cox was mixed – young people in Glasgow reacted negatively as they didn’t like his accent.
The word science is thought of negatively. However experiments are loved. And lots of things which we might class as science are also liked – “I love space”
Science not described as glamorous or associated with celebrities. Awareness of Brian Cox was mixed – young people in Glasgow reacted negatively as they didn’t like his accent.
Girl, aged 14
Gender – ‘for boys’
Age – often preferred at primary school
Days out tended to be to theme parks, leisure complexes or the seaside. Trips to science centres or museums tended to be organised by the school, if organised by the family it was generally for primary aged children only. When gone on trips to science centres with school, the young people found the hands-on exhibts the most exciting.
Days out tended to be to theme parks, leisure complexes or the seaside. Trips to science centres or museums tended to be organised by the school, if organised by the family it was generally for primary aged children only. When gone on trips to science centres with school, the young people found the hands-on exhibts the most exciting.
16 year old boy
Primary school teacher
Incentives eg badges, or a promise of a trip somewhere, chocolate bars
BARRIERS to engagement – inertia/boredom ; lack of confidence; lack of support; peer pressure; lack of time; cost; availability in the local area; safety
Kia Ora
I am a Research Fellow at UWE, working in science communication and public engagement. I was previously based at the Centre for Brain Research at The University of Auckland in New Zealand, where I lived and worked for five years.
I’m going to talk to you about my case study – which is where the title of this workshop came from. He tangata is a Maori proverb, known as a Whakataukī. Proverbs play a large role within Maori culture, merging historical events, and providing holistic perspectives with underlying messages which are extremely influential in Maori society. Why is this relevent to us?
Well it roughly translates as Know Your Audience! Something which Kate had to do on her recent trip to New Zealand!
The proverb emphasises how people are the most important thing in the world – meaning that all businesses, all trades, all education is about people, and all people are different.
What might be normal for us, might be very different for others, but it doesn’t mean that either is wrong. I mean I would never meet Royalty with an exposed bottom, but it’s quite the norm in Maori culture!
Well it roughly translates as Know Your Audience! Something which Kate had to do on her recent trip to New Zealand!
The proverb emphasises how people are the most important thing in the world – meaning that all businesses, all trades, all education is about people, and all people are different.
What might be normal for us, might be very different for others, but it doesn’t mean that either is wrong. I mean I would never meet Royalty with an exposed bottom, but it’s quite the norm in Maori culture!
Has anyone been following the debate on Psci-com about ‘Science is Truth’? It’s been an interesting academic argument! It has been really interesting for me, as this is the central problem science communicators have with engaging with Maori in New Zealand.
If you go in there, with an attitude of superiority and ultimate knowledge, you won’t get anywhere. That’s because Maori believe THEY have the ultimate knowledge – they are the ‘people of the land’, with a spiritual sense of what is known, and what is best for the land and the people, through having lived there long before Westerners arrived. And neither of us is wrong, as we both think we are right.
So that is what Rangahau Maori is about. It’s a term to describe scientific research conducted using Maori principles of knowing – of spirituality and engagement. Essentially it is about social constructionism – a term meaning that ‘the truth’, or meaning, is co-constructed by experience – therefore by the experiences of the various people viewing it.
So I can never understand how you view the world, nor can you understand my viewpoint as it is influenced by our background, our culture, our education. But we can come to an agreement of how we both see it, and therefore decide what is known.
This viewpoint was especially important for us to remember with Brain Awareness Week. BAW is an international awareness week, aimed at raising awareness of brain diseases and brain research. Events are held all around the world, and in my previous role at the Centre for Brain Research in Auckland, we held a science festival-type event called Brain Day. It featured a series of lectures, discussions, science experiments and community expo stalls, and it was really popular – attracting over 3000 people – that’s really good in a population of 4 million!
We had excellent ratings in our evaluations as well, with people returning year on year, and really high ratings for the format of the event.
BUT, only 2% of people attending were Maori, and the population average is 17%. So that’s not great is it? Why is this? Well it’s basically down to differences in viewpoints about the brain, and also conceptions about how and who science is done by.
For Maori, the brain is sacred, it is the seat of the soul, and it needs to be respected as such. So science which reduces the brain to facts, to cells, simply reinforces the historical power imbalance of white Westerners with persecuted Maori. In order to engage with Maori, we therefore needed to co-construct the science WITH Maori.
Before I go into how we did that, why is it important to engage Maori, or other underserved audiences? Well as we’ve been hearing it’s an issue of social justice.
Māori and Pacific Peoples are one of New Zealand’s most deprived social groups and are disproportionately affected by health issues such as cardiovascular disorders and diabetes, resulting in lowered life expectancy. There is a pressing need to engage with these communities in order to raise aspirations in science, increase involvement in research and reduce health inequalities.
So, what did we do? Well we turned to a schools programme, The Liggins Education Network for Science (LENScience), a science education and translation group in New Zealand.
Working with audiences different to yourself means you often need a bridge between your worlds – a gatekeeper who can help you in.
For us this was teenagers – a link between the education world and the traditional Maori community. They were our agents of change to influence their parents and families.
Placing teenagers in positions of trust within the science community opened channels of communication and engagement, leading to greater participation by the students and their families in community-facing science engagement events.
The Students as Researchers Programme engages Māori and Pacific teenagers in authentic scientific research, linked to the work of scientists from the host science community.
CBR had a Maori Advisory Board, and a Whaea, a trusted elder aunty
Led by science educators, a framework of learning experiences scaffolds the process of capability acquisition required to complete the research. The learning environment created is collaborative and supports a social-constructivist pedagogy. The programme enables students to engage in the culture of science, its people, places and conventions. Equally it enables scientists to engage in the school communities and explore how their research is viewed within the community of the school (students, teachers and families).
The case-study, presented from the perspective of the CBR communications manager, explores the opportunities for communication that emerged from this model utilising engagement pedagogies associated with shared experiences and narratives. The presentation argues for greater collaboration between ‘involvement’, ‘engagement’ and ‘education’ practices in order to increase public participation, scientific literacy and trust in science.
Accordingly, co-creation of a schools education programme empowered teenagers to develop their own research projects - investigating psychological research questions with the general public at a public open day. Placing teenagers in positions of trust opened channels of communication and engagement with under-represented families and communities, leading to greater participation in science communication interventions. Practices from Public Patient Involvement therefore helped Public Engagement practitioners to raise awareness and knowledge of health and disease issues. Further plans are being developed to use culturally appropriate mediums and forums to increase dialogue. Although traditionally seen as separate fields, this presentation argues for greater collaboration between ‘involvement’, ‘engagement’ and ‘education’ practices. As this case study demonstrates, these research communities may ultimately learn from each other in order to increase public participation, literacy and trust in science for under-represented groups.
Interestingly, it was also really important to think about evaluation and feedback methods which are relevant to your audience. We had questionnaires at the event for feedback, and then introduced a video message board as well. Our population rate in the questionnaire from Maori and Pacific Peoples was just 2%.. Yet in the video message booth it was 15%. Both of these groups are oral cultures – they traditionally use storytelling as their way of passing on knowledge. So for them, the video booth was a much more culturally appropriate way to pass on their viewpoints.
So what can we learn from this case study. Okay some of our underserved audiences in the UK are not as culturally different from us as the example here. And yet you still have some of the same issues – different ways of viewing the world, historical mistrust of science, power imbalances and social justice issues around education and health.
So for me, my key learning points are:
co-construct your truth – partnership is critical
Work with community leaders or changers – gatekeepers who can get you into the community, and influence the community
Find something you both want to change, and can understand and work towards together
Kia Ora
I am a Research Fellow at UWE, working in science communication and public engagement. I was previously based at the Centre for Brain Research at The University of Auckland in New Zealand, where I lived and worked for five years.
I’m going to talk to you about my case study – which is where the title of this workshop came from. He tangata is a Maori proverb, known as a Whakataukī. Proverbs play a large role within Maori culture, merging historical events, and providing holistic perspectives with underlying messages which are extremely influential in Maori society. Why is this relevent to us?