Key Findings

The research identified four key factors perceived by the participants at NZCC that may contribute to an optimal learning environment for diverse groups of learners:

• Tutor-Student Relationships: on-going individual academic and pastoral support provided by lecturers.
• The Learning Environment: small classes which foster a whānau supportive learning environment.
• Learning Resources and Practical Application of Learning: specifically, the role of lecturers as a resource for students’ learning.
• Wider Concept for Academic Success: positive attitudes towards study, confidence, self-esteem and self-belief.

Key Recommendations

The key recommendations from the project were:

Effective tutor/student relationship | It is clear from this research that having an effective tutor/student relationship appears to be the optimal factor in the success of the students in this study. The challenge for tertiary institutions is to enable effective tutor – student relationships to develop and ensure that class size does not become a barrier these relationships.

Consider student development in a holistic way | The findings from this study also call for the need to ensure that tertiary courses focus on more than the academic qualification and consider student development in a holistic way by considering how the course content will enhance the life of the student in general. While this is definitely a challenge, this study indicates that students place value in holistic development as much as the qualification that they are working towards.

Extend the research to the wider tertiary sector | This investigation studied only a small sample group of students and cannot represent the sector overall. It is recommended that this investigation be conducted with representation from minority group students from university, polytechnic, wānanga and more PTEs to further identify teaching strategies that support such students to complete the qualifications

Further research into interrelationships | The findings of this study highlight the importance of the tutor-student relationship and the interrelatedness of this with the learning environment and course content. Further investigation surrounding how this relationship can be developed and nurtured with a larger cohort would be beneficial for the tertiary sector.

Track students’ progress | As it is known that these students have moved onto higher level studies at other institutions, it would be beneficial to track their progress with a view to determining if the skills they learnt at NZCC were transferable and if they were able to continue to achieve well. It would also be useful to determine if the four factors identified in this research continued to be important for the students as they progressed through higher levels of study.