Maranga Mai! Education - what needs to change?

ABSTRACT

Culturally safe clinical placements, support for out-of-town learners, mentoring and earning while studying are key to retaining Maori and Pasifika nursing students, says third-year NorthTec bachelor of nursing (BN) student Anna Clarke, (Te Aupöuri, Te Rarawa and the Tongan village of Vaini). * Accommodation The temporary closure of NorthTec's marae due to COVID was identified by Maori and Pasifika students as the biggest challenge for out-of-town tauira. * Mentoring and peer support Nursing lecturer Pipi Barton Grants, earn-as-you learn, an indigenised nursing curriculum and flexiblity for transient students are key to recruiting more Maori into nursing, says NorthTec nursing lecturer and PhD student Pipi Barton, (Ngāti Hikairo ki Kawhia). * Grants "The number one issue is economic hardship particularly for Māori and Pasifika ... we need to alleviate hardship immediately by giving grants to Māori and Pacific students, introduce earn-as-you-learn, first for Māori and Pacific, then for everybody." * Indigenised curricula "The curriculum is very Euro-centric - polytechs enrol Māori but don't retain Māori . . . nursing programmes are going to become more indigenised, with Te Pukenga". * A unified curricula across schools "A unified curriculum so no matter where you are, if you move around, it's not going to impact on you negatively or have any additional costs" - Barton is involved with writing the unified nursing curricula for Te Pukenga Pacific nursing educator Tania Mullane "Curriculum can be transformational." "If you want to increase the workforce, then you have to provide some kind of support for students in health care, when they're in clinical practice." Whitireia's head of Pacific nursing Tania Mullane says the BN Pacific enjoys higher than average graduation rates - almost 80 to 90 per cent compared to around two-thirds nationally - to which Mullane attributes a "wraparound" approach.