E Tū Kahikatea: An Evaluation of the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship at the University of Otago

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship at the University of Otago. The Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship is a recruitment intervention that assists Māori secondary school leavers who may be socio-economically and, or educationally disadvantaged to enter into and through the Foundation Year Health Sciences course at the University of Otago Language Centre and Foundation Year. Tū Kahika aims to increase academic preparedness of Māori secondary school leavers for future tertiary health sciences study and a career in Māori health. Tū Kahika has reached its 10 year anniversary and it is timely to undertake a detailed evaluation that will investigate the effectiveness of Tū Kahika in relation to academic pathways, and its impact on recipients. This thesis has four main research questions: (1) What is the socio-demographic and education profile of the recipients of the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship? (2) What is the impact of Tū Kahika on the recipients of the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship? (3) What are the recommendations for quality-improvement of the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship? (4) To what extent is the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship transferrable to other educational settings? This evaluation used a two-phase, mixed-methods quantitative and qualitative design steeped in Kaupapa Māori Evaluation methodology. An online survey to all Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship recipients (2010-2019), followed by ten kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face to face) semi-structured qualitative interviews were used. Findings suggest that the socio-demographic and education profile of recipients of the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship is diverse and positively contributing towards increasing the Māori student population at the University of Otago. Results suggest that the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship is positively impacting recipients academically, financially and through increasing sense of belonging at university. This research identified four critical success factors of Tū Kahika including whakawhanaungatanga (fostering a sense of family and community amongst Māori students working together to achieve goals and having a wide peer support network), mana motuhake (empowering students to have a positive university experience), manaakitanga (providing holistic, wrap-around support) and tino rangatiratanga (prioritising Māori student success at university). This research also identified resource-dependent and non-resource dependent suggestions for improvement. Resource-dependent suggestions include more financial, academic, pastoral and hauora hinengaro (mental health) support, as well as more opportunities for whakawhanaungatanga (process of establishing relationships, relating well to others), tuākana-tēina (older sibling – younger sibling relationship) engagement, Kaupapa Māori and te reo Māori. Non-resource dependent suggestions include encouragement to keep extra-curricular activities, part-time jobs etc. and encouragement to expand social circles beyond fellow Tū Kahika scholarship recipients. In conclusion, this research highlights that the Tū Kahika Foundation Year Scholarship is impacting recipients positively through the identified critical success factors. These critical success factors are transferable to other educational settings delivering foundation-level learning for Māori secondary school leavers.