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    Rapua te mea ngaro : exploring the access of Māori to veterinary education in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Jillings, Eloise Katherine Puia
    Currently there is no research literature regarding the ethnicity of veterinary applicants, veterinary students, or the veterinary workforce in New Zealand. Recent unpublished data indicates only 2% of veterinarians identify as Māori, despite Māori comprising 16.5% of the New Zealand population. This PhD is the first step in addressing this gap and bringing to light the important issues of Māori representation and inclusion in veterinary education and subsequently the veterinary profession in New Zealand. The thesis has two overarching goals. The first is to explore how the access of Māori to veterinary education, and therefore the veterinary workforce, is influenced by sociodemographic factors under three separate admission processes. The second is to explore the impact of sociodemographic factors and academic achievement prior to admission on the academic success of Māori once selected into the program. The studies in this thesis were conducted with Kaupapa Māori research positioning. The thesis presents a quantitative analysis of veterinary applicant and selected student data from 2003 to 2019. Descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regression are utilised to explore the representation of Māori in the veterinary applicant and selected student cohorts, the association of sociodemographic variables and selection assessments, and academic outcomes of Māori and non-Māori once selected. From this thesis it has been shown that Māori were underrepresented in the veterinary applicant pool and experienced more educational barriers than non-Māori. Māori are also underrepresented in the selected student cohort, and had 0.37 times the odds of selection than non-Māori prior to introduction of an equity process for Māori student selection. Scores on five of the six selection assessments were associated with ethnicity, with Māori receiving lower scores. However, once selected into the veterinary programme, there was no difference in the academic outcomes of Māori and non-Māori. Introduction of the equity process for Māori was not associated with a decrease in academic outcomes post-selection, and introduction of non-academic criteria into the selection process was associated with an improvement in academic outcomes. The veterinary profession is not representative of New Zealand. Māori underrepresentation is also seen in the veterinary applicant and selected student cohorts. This needs to be addressed for reasons of Indigenous rights, social justice, social mobility, and to ensure the veterinary profession benefits from Māori worldviews and therefore is relevant to a growing Māori population. Enacting initiatives aimed to widen access to the veterinary programme, with the eventual goal of improving representation of Māori in the veterinary workforce, needs to be a priority for Massey University, the sole provider of veterinary education in Aotearoa, and the wider profession.
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    An investigation into the preparedness for and experiences in working with Māori nursing students among New Zealand tertiary institutes, schools and nurse educators : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education, Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Roberts, Jennifer
    Nursing education in Aotearoa New Zealand is situated in a unique bicultural context. Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand have overall, poorer outcomes in health and education compared to non-Māori, which relate to the colonial legacy of the nation. One strategy to address Māori health outcomes is to increase the Māori nursing workforce. Despite a range of strategies in tertiary education and in nursing, the number of Māori nurses remains relatively static, and overall Māori nursing students do not have equity of educational outcomes in nursing. With a critical lens informed by Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, this explanatory sequential mixed method study uses a questionnaire followed by interviews to understand the experiences and preparedness of nurse educators in working with Māori nursing students. The findings of the questionnaire demonstrate that throughout New Zealand, nursing schools and the educational institutes in which they are situated are informed by a range of strategies aimed at supporting Māori learners. Overall, nurse educators felt prepared to work with Māori, but the questionnaire also revealed resistance to Māori as priority learners. This finding was followed up in the interviews. Interview findings demonstrated that environments encompassing te ao Māori (the Māori world) and staff practises that aligned with this were enabling for Māori nursing students. Despite this, a counter-narrative described many barriers to this becoming fully realised in nursing education practice. Ongoing colonising practices in education, racism, varied understandings and practices of Cultural Safety and dissatisfaction with current Cultural Safety regulatory guidelines were found to be hindering a nursing culture that is responsive to Māori. The research posits that the nursing profession needs to develop a shared critical consciousness and refocus efforts to position Cultural Safety as a critical concept in nursing education and practice. One method proposed to achieve this is in returning to the original intent of Kawa Whakaruruhau/ Cultural Safety and begin to apply it as a decolonising model for nursing education and practice.
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    Guiding the way : how ESOL teachers can support refugee-background students transitioning to mainstream tertiary studies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Fraser-Smith, Amber
    Many refugee-background students from a variety of pathways enter mainstream tertiary studies in their countries of resettlement. Yet, despite having an English level sufficient to enter these courses, a growing body of research suggests these students face a number of challenges that make succeeding in tertiary studies difficult. Through the transformative paradigm and a critical perspective, this thesis explores my experiences as an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher and those of five Middle Eastern refugee-background students about to start the next stage of their learning journey. By using two focus groups and an action research project, we work together to investigate ways that ESOL teachers can best support this cohort of students in their transition into mainstream studies. This thesis concludes with The COMPASS Model, designed as a result of this study to assist in guiding ESOL teachers to support refugee-background students through the use of Collaboration, Orientation, Multiple literacies, Personalised learning, Advocacy, Strategising and Self-care. Suggestions are also given on how to adapt the curriculum to better suit these learners and on how institutes and governments can live up to their ethical responsibilities and provide equal opportunities for refugee-background students.
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    Exploring Māori experiences at university : impact on retention and wellbeing : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2006) Coombes, Holly Rianna
    The effects of the self-beliefs, social support, and perceptions of the university environment on academic nonpersistence decisions and psychological wellbeing were investigated among a non-random sample of 95 Māori university students studying at Massey University. Self-beliefs, social support, and perceptions of the university environment were explored in terms of direct effects on academic nonpersistence. In contrast, self-beliefs and social support were hypothesized to act as mediators or moderators in the relationship between perceptions of the university environment and psychological wellbeing. Major findings are that (a) self-beliefs, social support, and perceptions of the university environment had significant effects on academic nonpersistence decisions, with social support having the largest effect; (b) social support was an effective buffer between perceptions of the university environment and psychological wellbeing, however further exploration of this complex relationship is needed; (c) self-efficacy was a mediator and self-esteem was a moderator of the relationship between perceptions of the university environment and psychological wellbeing. Despite limitations, these findings have important implications for Māori university students, tertiary education providers in general, and those involved in the development and implementation of tertiary education policy. The findings also highlight the need for further research aiming to optimize positive academic and psychological outcomes for Māori students who attend university.
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    Impact of student-teacher relationships on Bangladeshi students in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Wellington Campus, New Zealand /
    (Massey University, 2005) Chowdhury, Nazneen Afsana
    This study explores the impact of overseas students' relationships with their teachers on them. Nowadays the universities worldwide, especially the universities in the western world are increasingly having large numbers of overseas students in their tertiary education sectors. When students go abroad for higher study purpose they confront manifold problems and strains in their academic endeavours as well as in their personal and emotional lives, through facing different academic systems, different language and teachers and peers of different cultures. One major concern directly related to their academic success and overall wellbeing is their interactions and relationships with their teachers who, obviously, are from diverse cultures. Although the literature and various research reports have already focused on the problems faced by overseas students and their teachers in teaching-learning activities, there is little research available on how overseas students perceive their relationships with their teachers and impact of these on them. For this research eight Bangladeshi people with tertiary study experience in New Zealand were interviewed about their study experiences including their views regarding their relationships with their teachers, their feelings and realizations about the impacts of those relationships on them and about the overall importance of this relationship for an overseas student. The findings of this research emphasize that an overseas student's relationship with teacher carries great significance in reducing her/his troubles and stress and offering mental and emotional support to enhance academic efforts and achievement. This study recommends good understanding and sincere effort by both an overseas student and her/his teacher to know each other and increase cultural sharing to form a promising relationship.
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    Kātaki ē mamá moe hopohopokia : perceptions and experiences of Tongan male learners in higher education in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Albany Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Tānaki, 'Olikoni
    Tongans are known as one of the greatest seafaring people, constantly and fearlessly venturing beyond the sunrise in search of new lands and new grounds to conquer and seeking better opportunities away from home. However, settlement and the adjustment and transition into a new life in the new destinations invariably come with sets of unfamiliar challenges and obstacles that demand often rather painful and difficult socio-economic acculturation. Such is the story of the Tongan Aotearoa diaspora. Tongan migrants in Aotearoa New Zealand (A/NZ) have faced quite stringent challenges resulting in their having been largely distracted and diverted from their “New Zealand-the promised-land” dream. The Tongan experience in, and encounters with, the New Zealand education system is a standout example of the most serious of these challenges as evidenced predominantly by the lack of numeracy and literacy skills. As direct result of this gap Tongans along with, and similar to, their fellow Pasifika students are quite conspicuous amongst those seen as failures in the education system in A/NZ. Literature shows a widening gap between policies and practises and the need to address the issue urgently. Responding to concerns about these increasing barriers, this study specifically provides ethnic gender specificity by exploring the experiences of Tongan males at higher education in A/NZ. In my research, and as presented in this thesis, I use the Tongan methodologies of talanoa, tālanga, and tālave with the Kakala framework to provide comfortable space and time where the experiences, perceptions, and voices of Tongan male learners at higher education were unravelled. Makatūkia and makatuʻu were identified and discussed, and various overarching institutions such as kāinga, lotu, self and cosmos were identified to play dual roles in the failures and successes of Tongan male learners. This research also develops and presents a new conceptual framework; Kalia-Langimālie which is grounded on the theoretical orientations of tā-vā kāinga, fashioned by the understanding that vā is mutual, interpersonal, and reciprocal with tā to represent movements, beat, and rhythms. The result of this undertaking empirically concurs that when policies and practises are grounded within, and built on, meaningful values that understand Tongans’ tā-vā through their worlds of self, kāinga, lotu and cosmos, success is attainable.
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    Exporting New Zealand education services : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1993) Hanna, Nita
    The entry of New Zealand state education into the export market provided an unique opportunity for the researcher to combine interests in education, exporting, marketing and finance. The challenge was to investigate an entirely new export industry which was growing at a very rapid rate. In the absence of other studies relating to the New Zealand situation, information was obtained from relevant documents, interviews with people associated with aspects of the industry and questionnaires to students in selected institutions and to a spokesperson for overseas students within each of the institutions. The intended benefits and possible pitfalls perceived by people associated with forming the legislation were identified. In addition to the expected financial gains a number of non-financial benefits based on past experience with government assisted students were revealed. They related to trade and internationalisation. Some were of a very long-term nature. Anticipated problems were largely associated with traditional attitudes about the role of state education in New Zealand. The study revealed: There were wide differences of opinion on the role of legislation and on the policies which should be adopted. Students, unlike respondents from New Zealand institutions, did not consider the high standard of New Zealand education qualifications their main reason for choosing New Zealand as an educational destination. Although students tended to compare aspects of New Zealand with those of their home country, there was overall agreement about liking the cultural experience, the way of life, the people, and the New Zealand countryside. Students adapted to most differences in teaching institutions between New Zealand and their home country within one year, except mastery of the English language. Spokespeople for institution did not indicate language was such a persistent problem. Aspects of New Zealand students would most like to change included costs (especially rising costs) and the attitudes of some New Zealanders to foreigners. Respondents from institutions believed there was a very large market for New Zealand education, but the rate of growth was dependent on the acceptability of numbers of overseas students by New Zealanders. There was very little difference between fee-paying and government funded students' responses. Lack of funding has restricted some generic activities including a co-ordinated approach to catering for student's needs once they are in New Zealand.
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    Itinerant migrants : a case study of the characteristics and adjustment of Malaysian students in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1973) Leo, Ann Mean
    The world today is witnessing a rapid breakdown of cultural barriers as more people migrate, either temporarily or permanently, from one society to another. The study of this phenomenon is of special interest to social scientists. For geographers the study of the process of migration and immigrant communities has long been a major branch of inquiry. Relatively little however, has been done on temporary forms of migration. This thesis is concerned with one group of itinerant migrants in New Zealand - Malaysian university students. An attempt was made to examine the characteristics of the selection process, the cultural, sociological and personal background of the student migrants, and their distribution and other characteristics in New Zealand. These characteristics were compared with those of other groups of migrants, foreign students, local students and people in the society of origin and the society of study. The study also examined the adjustment of the students in New Zealand and the relationship between the characteristics of the students and their adjustment. The main tool of investigation was a postal questionnaire developed specially for this study. It was supplemented by personal observations and experience as an overseas student in New Zealand. The questionnaire was administered to a random sample comprising 30 percent of the total Malaysian student population in New Zealand universities in 1973. Out of 415 questionnaires posted, 285 were returned. Four were not completed and one rejected, leaving 280 respondents in the final analysis. A number of hypotheses were made on the characteristics and the relationship between the characteristics and the adjustment of the students, based on personal observations, migration studies and previous researches on overseas students, in New Zealand and overseas. The hypotheses on the characteristics include an expectation of the predominance of young, male and single student migrants who are privately financed and come from urban areas and middle socio-economic class backgrounds. The results indicated that the characteristics were as predicted and were therefore similar to other migrants in general though there were several differences which were expected due to the very specific nature of the migration, viz. for educational purposes. Prodictions on the relationship between the characteristics and adjustment cover characteristics such as religious background, rural-urban origin and socio-economic class. It was predicted that those with backgrounds closest to the New Zealand norm are best adjusted, for example on religion Christians were expected to be best adjusted, followed by those with no religion and non-Christians being least adjusted. For situational characteristics such as type of accommodation, duration of stay ana friendship with New Zealanders it was predicted that the more exposed the students were to the New Zealand society the better would be the adjustment made. Most of the predictions emerged as expected. The study is exploratory and the findings tentative. It is only one approach to a complex research area. Its significance if any, lies in its illustration of the potential of research in this field.
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    Back to school : first year university experiences of mature Māori women : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Educational Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Fitzpatrick, Megan Lee
    This thesis is an exploration of the first year experiences of five Maori women who attended a tertiary institution in Aotearoa as mature students. Situated in the context of higher education and student life, their first year experiences includes challenges related to childhood school experiences, language and culture clashes. The importance of collectivist Maori values as a form of Maori identification supports them through their academic journeys. Interviews with five mature Maori women revealed the conflict and cultural dissonance between western University values and Maori cultural values that impacted on their first years of study. It was also clear that Maori values such as whanau and whanaungatanga were critical to providing cultural support for these women. Findings also show that for these Maori women the practice of Maori values contributes to their identity as Maori women and also to the wellbeing of their whanau, hapu and iwi. These stories explore how the mature Maori women in this study, overcame the very powerful influence of negative experience as children within the state education systems, to begin tertiary study later in life.
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    IT as a social and learning tool for international students : a case study in ICT education : a thesis presented in a partial fulfilment of the requirements for Masters of Information Science (IT) at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, in 2015
    (Massey University, 2015) Christian, Shelly
    Internationalisation of education industry has increased the international student intake amongst private and public funded education providers in western countries. However, international students face many challenges in different educational and societal settings of the host country. This study examines a case (PlayIT) which is a non-university education provider involved in the information and communication technology (ICT) education sector in Auckland, New Zealand. In the first stage, study has identified some of the learning and social issues faced by international students. Learning issues relate to understanding of the host country’s education framework structure and to application of subject related concepts to real world practice. Social issues relate to linguistic difficulties and cultural diversity in foreign countries. The first stage proposes to enhance the student’ socio-learning experience by using a game based learning (GBL) strategy aligned with the ICT course structure, to encourage student interactions by having more learning and social exchanges. In the second stage, GBL has been used alongside traditional teaching methods to engage students and to bring about active learning for a subject module in an introductory ICT course. A GBL approach has been applied to international students enrolled in an ICT course at PlayIT. The study has utilised a GBL approach to engage students in learning and enhance their programming skills sets. The study gives a detailed narrative of how an educational game were first mapped with the curriculum of a programming course, and then examines the socio-learning experience of two separate student cohorts pursuing an introductory ICT course who participated in this classroom game-based learning intervention. One student cohort had not yet started study of the programming module, while the second student cohort had recently completed the introductory module on programming. Effectiveness of GBL has been analysed through students' feedback and results of outcomes achieved in the final assessment of programming module. Findings reveal that educational games add to the fun element in learning, with students rating the game as an effective way to learn programming. The study contributes to ongoing development of innovative pedagogies in teaching and learning with use of gaming elements in ICT education.