This paper examines the ethnicity of academic scholars employed by New Zealand’s eight crown-owned universities, with a particular focus on Pasifika academics. This paper discusses how despite national and university policies to see education serve Pasifika peoples better there has been no change in the numbers of Pasifika faculty employed by crown-owned universities between 2012-2017 and notes that Pasifika who are in the academy are continually employed in the lower less secure levels of the academy. Examining international discourses of exclusion from universities this paper builds on current Pasifika understandings and experiences of universities and highlights the urgent need for universities reconsider their current recruitment, retention and promotion practices and overarching structures and habits that operate to exclude Pasifika peoples.
Marilyn Chetty: Navigating higher education in New Zealand: What can we learn from our Pasifika students?
Pasifika under-representation in tertiary education in New Zealand historically sees a much higher proportion of Pasifika students come from families where very few other family members’ have tertiary educational experience. This means that there is less ‘cultural capital’ in terms of accumulated experience and knowledge from which the students can draw to support them in their transitions to and through university. Research shows that those with parents who have a bachelors qualification are more likely to go on to study at Level 4 and above. While Pasifika are just as likely to go on to study at Level 4 and above as other young people with similar school achievement, those studying for bachelors degrees are less likely to complete their qualifications. Despite increasing enrolments for Pasifika young people completion rates lag behind. This paper draws on a group project on the experience of navigating university of 40 third-year students from the Arts and Sciences at the University of Auckland. Qualitative interviews with nine third-year Pasifika students demonstrated the diverse cultural capital that they draw on, and particularly noteworthy are the first-in-family students who identified family as a key support in getting to third-year.
John Patolo: What does Statistics New Zealand tell us about Pacific languages in diaspora Aotearoa-New Zealand?
The population in Aotearoa-New Zealand, especially in urban areas, is highly diverse. This results in a very diverse linguistic environment. However, as has been the trend globally, the vitality of languages of Pacific peoples living in Aotearoa is in decline. The Census of Population and Dwellings data and the diaspora communities themselves have reported that the number of speakers of languages of the Pacific is declining. Communities in turn have brought the story to life, sharing their concerns about what the loss of heritage language means, and their desire to arrest this. In this presentation, I report on language data collected by Statistics New Zealand among speakers of Samoan and Tongan’s living in Aotearoa as well as speakers of te reo Māori (Māori language). Language is an important component of identity and cohesion. Languages reflect peoples’ attitudes, beliefs and opinions not only of themselves, but of others. Furthermore, given the inextricable relationship between language and evolving social change, language practices will play an important role in emerging national issues, and will become more important as diversity increases.
Genevieve Grava: Pinoys in Aotearoa: Barriers to integration
In recent decades, Filipinos have become an important source of migrants and there are currently over ten million Filipinos globally. In New Zealand, the need to fill labour market demands at the beginning of the twenty-first century caused a rapid influx of Filipinos arriving on skilled migrant visas. By 2013, the Filipino community has become the fastest growing migrant group in the country (Friesen, 2017). Categorised as a ‘comparable labour market’ by Immigration New Zealand in 2007, a large proportion of Filipino immigrants in NZ are considered ‘economic migrants’, or those who contribute to the economy by satisfying labour shortages (Spoonley, 2015). However, disjunctions between immigration policies and the lived experiences of migrants are evident. With New Zealand becoming one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, and the Filipinos being the fastest growing immigrant community in the country, the problem of resource provision that accommodates immigrant integration is problematised. This paper will investigate the barriers to integration experienced by Filipino immigrants in New Zealand and the strategies needed to promote their successful integration, thereby enhancing their sense of belonging, as well as their productivity as contributing members to society.
Each presentation will be allocated 20 minutes. Additional time for questions and discussion will be available in each stream.
