Research gold inspires kaiako

From research topics as varied as trauma-informed care to sustainable cement production there was a topic to interest everyone at the annual Hui Kōrerorero Rangahau event held at WITT Te Pūkenga last month (November).

“The hui provides an opportunity for kaimahi to share their research findings and importantly it fosters greater cross-school collaboration,” says WITT Te Pūkenga Academic Director Nita Hutchinson.

An example of this was Ellie Khaghanikavkani and Parul Tiwari’s presentation: ‘Empowering mathematics through interest’ which struck a chord with other tutors at the event and won the people’s choice award.

“The findings of Ellie and Parul’s research about what motivates ākonga had application across all subjects and teaching areas and was a clear favourite because of this,” says Nita.

Health and Wellbeing Tutor Melle Hargreaves, who presented her Master’s degree research on ‘Inclusion policy and human rights’, says she found the event very worthwhile and enjoyable.

“It was really cool getting to know people from other teams that you don’t get time to spend with and hear research from outside of our school and my area of interest,’ she says.

As a first-time presenter, Melle said she felt welcomed and supported.

Keynote speaker Dr Diana Fergusson, Te Whatu Ora Director of Nursing Interim, spoke about the ‘Work Readiness of new graduates nurses in New Zealand.’  In total, there were nine presentations from 11 kaimahi. Other presentation topics included ‘Aged care placements in undergraduate nursing programmes’, ‘Stress, resilience and student nurses’, ‘Walking with Tohu – exploring the conditions, influences and ritual practices that lead towards art making’, Learning from Singapore’s BIM journey for NZ’s ACE industry’ and ‘Infant sleep practices’.

“While there is an expectation that tutors on degree and higher-level programmes are research active, we have a great culture of learning at WITT and consistently have a high percentage of kaimahi, in teaching and non-teaching roles, actively engaged in further education and research,” says Nita.