Pacific Tertiary Students in New Zealand’s South: Towards a More Nuanced Framework For Understanding

Abstract

The experiences of students from Pacific backgrounds at the University of Otago, marked in part by problems of achievement and retention, are similar to those faced by Pacific students elsewhere in New Zealand’s tertiary sector and
also in the education sector generally. However, there are some differences in both the study and wider social context of Otago and its location in the south of New Zealand’s South Island, and, according to results from a small student
experience study, a difference in the cohort of students itself that may call for a different means of addressing student needs. This article examines the context of tertiary study for Pacific students in New Zealand’s south and some of the
popular culturalist frameworks put forward for understanding and addressing Pacific student need in the education sector generally. The southern study context as well as student self-reported study experiences demonstrate the need for a set of frameworks that are more sensitive to the diversity of Pacific students’ experiences at Otago. The metaphor of the beach from Pacific history, with its emphasis on crossing and meeting difference, is tentatively put forward as a means for better understanding and facilitating Pacific students’ pathways in New Zealand’s south.