Preschool Experiences Rooted in Hawaiian Culture

Partner Organizations PIDF, KOKA and INPEACE use ʻike Hawaiʻi to enhance early childhood education for keiki and their families

In her Kailua-Kona home, Leilani Fukushima listens carefully as her 3-year-old daughter sings in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and dances down the hallways to a mele about the mahina that she learned in class that week.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Leilani and her two keiki trot into their Tūtū and Me classroom, a Hawaiian culture-based educational program offered by Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF) and designed to support both preschool-aged keiki and their caregivers.

But Leilani’s daughter is not the only one who brings her lessons back home.

“It’s good for me too, to learn,” said Fukushima. “I’m about a quarter Hawaiian and I really don’t know a lot of the language.”

For the Fukushima ʻohana, Tūtū and Me is more than just a school. It’s a place to get connected and grounded in community, culture and self. The PIDF program is just one of several Hawaiian culture-based education programs in an effort across Hawaiʻi to holistically activate the potential of keiki and caregivers to sustain thriving communities.

Meeting the Needs of Hawaiʻi’s ʻOhana

About 30 years ago, three community-based organizations rooted in traditional Hawaiian values and teachings, were independently founded to help bridge the gap for Hawaiʻi’s ʻohana to access quality, free (or affordable), and culturally informed early childhood education for keiki from birth to 5 years old.

Partner organizations Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture (INPEACE), Keiki o ka ʻĀina (KOKA), and PIDF, emerged around the same time with a common purpose to nurture the health and educational readiness of Hawaiʻi’s parents and keiki.

Hawaiʻi’s public school system offers limited early childhood education options for families. And for households in remote or rural communities, finding a preschool that is not only accessible but affordable is a challenge.

The most recent data released by the State of Hawaiʻi’s Executive Office on Early Learning, finds that nearly 40% of Hawaiʻi’s preschool-aged keiki are not enrolled in a preschool program.

What’s more, studies show that 90% of brain development occurs before the age of 5, and is shaped by positive interactions between keiki and caregiver, and access to early learning experiences, good nutrition, and regular healthcare.

That’s why organizations like INPEACE, KOKA and PIDF offer comprehensive programs and services that extend beyond the classroom setting. These organizations recognize that the health of the community begins with the health of the ʻohana unit.

Each organization offers unique and complementary wrap-around services designed with the whole ʻohana in mind.

Keiki to kūpuna can participate and benefit from a menu of often interconnected focus areas including ʻāina-based learning, health and wellness, food security (i.e., access to affordable, healthy, local produce), financial literacy, and workforce development – to name a few.

The Key Ingredient to a Child’s Success: Parents

During a keiki’s early development, “their parents are their first and best teachers,” said Ann Sullivan, Program Manager at KOKA.

Sullivan got her start in early childhood education programs 15 years ago when she enrolled her own daughter in a program known as Poli’s Place, KOKA’s first parent participation preschool designed for ʻohana with keiki who have special needs and unique abilities.

That’s when she began to understand the value of family-child interaction learning (FCIL), a model for early childhood education that emphasizes both child development and family strengthening.

The “family-child” concept is inclusive of the diverse and multi- generational caregivers for keiki in Hawaiʻi, whether that caregiver is a parent, grandparent, aunty or uncle.

Today, KOKA offers FCIL programs like the Parent Participation Preschool, a program modeled after Kamehameha Schools’ traveling preschool program which operated from 1981 until 1996 when the program transitioned to KOKA.

Twice a week, KOKA’s preschool teachers set up a “pop-up” preschool at different communities like Waimānalo or Nānākuli, where caregivers and keiki join, participate, interact, and engage in culturally integrated learning.

In Hawaiʻi, there are approximately 154,000 keiki under the age of eight. Equipping Hawaiʻi’s families with the tools and resources needed to nurture the growth of a keiki’s education yields longterm, positive outcomes. The impact of early education cannot be overstated. Studies show that children who attend high-quality preschools are more likely to finish high school and attend college.

KOKA’s FCIL programs are all about setting the foundation for what early learning looks like. For keiki who have never been in a classroom before, that may look like getting used to a routine with protocol and piko, practicing social skills by sitting down together ʻohana style to share snacks and kūkākūkā (talk story), or building independence during quiet time activities like playing games or reading.

What sets FCIL programs apart is their focus on enhancing high- quality early childhood education to prepare young keiki for school success, and providing culturally relevant caregiver education to equip caregivers to support their keiki’s education and model these leadership values within their families. Their programs serve approximately 2,300 keiki every year.

“The most important thing is that we’re going to provide a safe, nurturing, loving environment for our keiki,” said Sullivan. That allows ʻohana to build on what they learn at KOKA and continue nurturing and growing that within their homes.

While the heart of these programs are intended to support ʻohana, in the aʻo aku, aʻo mai (giving and receiving) of knowledge perspective, the staff are learners, too. For the KOKA Family Learning Centers, reciprocity in teaching and learning is fundamental.

“Families come with so much ʻike of their own and we want an exchange of knowledge, we want to see them building relationships, creating a sense of ʻohana amongst each other, it’s a kākou thing” said Sullivan.

Hawaiian Culture-Based Education

Caregivers are a child’s first and most important teachers so preschool kumu focus their instruction on lessons that help both keiki and caregiver to thrive.

Ka Lama Education Academy is INPEACE’s flagship program with a grow-your-own-teacher model developed to loop their early childhood education program in a full-circle approach with kumu who come from the same or similar communities as the keiki and caregivers they serve, and then tailor the curriculum to connect the preschool to the community.

“We know that teachers who are from the community, who are raised in the community can communicate, can relate, can build pilina (relationship) with the students that they are teaching,” said Sanoe Marfil, CEO of INPEACE.

Teachers who go through Ka Lama Education Academy graduate with degrees in education through the University of Hawaiʻi system or other institutions. They choose their own pathway, oftentimes alongside a cohort of other students, and are supported with mentorship and professional training throughout their college career.

When caregivers and keiki can identify with and see themselves in their kumu, they feel safe and are able to trust in them to guide their educational journey. It creates a non-intimidating space to learn, especially for first-time caregivers.

At INPEACE’s preschool Keiki Steps program, every day starts with keiki, caregivers and kumu joining together in protocol. They start with kaunoʻo (learning centers), embedded in Hawaiian culture-based education. For example, a lesson on “transportation” might require keiki to kilo (observe) and think about what different kinds of transportation look like.

In a Western classroom, you would likely hear about buses and airplanes. But at Keiki Steps, they think about what transportation looks like in Hawaiʻi. That could be a waʻa (canoe), a manu (bird) or even the Kaiāulu wind in Waiʻanae. It’s about shifting perspectives to incorporate a Hawaiian worldview and perpetuate that ʻike and those practices as a people.

ʻEleu: Activating and Advocating for Early Childhood Education

Together, INPEACE, KOKA and PIDF make up the ʻEleu consortium, a collective of early childhood education partners that operate both Hawaiian culture-based education and family-child interaction learning programs.

By advocating together, ʻEleu partners deliver high-quality education to communities that often face specific challenges and barriers including lower-incomes, houselessness, lack of transportation and other special needs.

Most FCIL programs in Hawaiʻi are accredited. For example, the early childhood education programs of both INPEACE and KOKA are accredited by the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium, and PIDF is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

For more than 15 years, ʻEleu has organized an annual Native Hawaiian Early Childhood Education Consortium Conference. It’s an opportunity for each organization to report on successes and advancements in their respective programs, share new information, learn from one another, and build pilina with other early childhood educators – as well as to advocate for community initiatives and government policies that support early childhood learning.

The first five years of a child’s life are the most important, with 90% of brain development occurring by the time a child starts kindergarten. These are formative years that are crucial for healthy socio-emotional development and for language learning.

That’s why caregivers – as their child’s first teacher and the one they spend most of their time with – are encouraged to create the most optimal learning environment possible at their own homes; one that intentionally integrates quality education into daily activities.

At INPEACE, KOKA and PIDF, caregivers are also introduced to curriculum developed to build upon a multi-generational education model deeply rooted in Hawaiian values and practices.

There’s a reason why ʻohana like the Fukushimas, a multi-generational household, keep returning to Tūtū and Me: the kumu and friends really make it feel like “family.”

“It takes special people to actually want to work with the kids and they really show that they want to be there,” said Fukushima. “They’re all so sweet and so kindhearted and they’re very understanding. My kids love them, we love them.”