To read this content please select one of the options below:

From schools in low-income communities to university: Challenges of transition for Māori and Pacific students

Māori and Pasifika Higher Education Horizons

ISBN: 978-1-78350-703-0, eISBN: 978-1-78350-704-7

Publication date: 4 April 2014

Abstract

Māori and Pacific school leavers, who tend to be clustered in low-decile schools, are less likely than any other ethnic groups in New Zealand to begin degree-level studies, to succeed in their first year, and continue with their studies. This chapter will draw on the research findings from a prospective, longitudinal, qualitative study of student transition from secondary school to university (Madjar, McKinley, Deynzer, & van der Merwe, 2010). The study was an in-depth, longitudinal one with young people in transition, recruited in their last term of high school and followed to the end of their first semester. A sub-sample was followed until the end of their second year of university study. The chapter will discuss the critical importance of engagement, both academic and social, for student success in university environment. We will also explore the significance of connections with the students’ whānau (extended family) and community, and the peer connections and their impact on students’ experience of transition.

Keywords

Citation

McKinley, E. and Madjar, I. (2014), "From schools in low-income communities to university: Challenges of transition for Māori and Pacific students", Māori and Pasifika Higher Education Horizons (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 241-252. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420140000015020

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited