Enhancing Health Education Māori

Media release
9 February 2009

Enhancing Health Education Māori

University of Auckland research projects which aim to advance the learning of Māori students and improve the quality of Māori health teaching in medical education have been funded to the tune of $265,000.

The grants were made by Ako Aotearoa (National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence) as part of its $1.3 million support for projects that improve tertiary teaching and learning.

“Tātou Tātou/Success for all: Improving Māori student success in health professional degree-level programmes”, a project led by Dr Elana Curtis from Te Kupenga Hauora Māori (Department of Māori Health) in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, received $125,000.

“Assessing Hauora Māori in medical students in clinical settings”, led by Dr Rhys Jones (also from Te Kupenga Hauora Māori), was granted $140,000.

The “Tātou Tātou/Success for all” project will explore the experiences of Maori studying in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, says Dr Curtis.

Its focus is on how non-lecture learning, such as teaching in clinical settings, helps or hinders Māori students. The researchers hope to identify teaching and learning practices to better support Māori success in degree-level study and best prepare Māori students for work in the health professions.

“It places learners at the centre of the research. It will measure effective teaching not in terms of what has been done by the teacher but by the outcomes for the learner,” says Dr Curtis.

About 140 Māori students are enrolled across Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine and Health Sciences at The University of Auckland.

The project will also involve expertise from the Faculty of Education. Dr Airini, Head of the Department of Critical Studies in Education, led a recent two-year study into the learning needs of Māori and Pasifika students on a selection of bridging and degree-level programmes in the University.

The “Assessing Hauora Māori in medical students in clinical settings” project seeks to strengthen the assessment of Hauora Māori (Māori health) in the medical curriculum.

“The values, attitudes and qualities which the students develop are important learning outcomes,” says Dr Jones. “Future doctors need to reflect critically on their professional role in order to improve Māori health and reduce inequalities. This requires them to free themselves from ingrained assumptions about the world, others anῤ themselves.

Clinical teachers are often more comfortable assessing skills and knowledge than professional attitudes and values, says Dr Jones. “They need the tools to assess the cultural competence of students and their ability to enhance Māori health. The research aims to provide these tools.”

ENDS

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