Taking education to the periphery: despite its obvious success, it's unlikely the pilot nursing degree programme run from Kaitaia will continue.

WHEN NORTHLAND Polytechnic offered to run a Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) parallel pilot scheme in Kaitaia three years ago, many would-be nursing students living in the Far North couldn't believe their luck. To have the opportunity to gain a tertiary qualification and nursing registration, and, in all likelihood, find work in the area in which they lived, was almost too good to be true.

When the programme began in 2001, 35 students enrolled, the majority of whom were Maori. The oldest was 59, the youngest 20, and there was only one man. Many were solo mothers and the sole income earners for their families. A high proportion had worked as enrolled nurses (ENs). Numbers are now 22. Five students have moved to the Whangarei campus in order to resit certain papers.

Programme co-ordinator and tutor Roger Barton, who moved to Northland from London in 1995 in search of a quieter life, says the programme has offered a degree and vocational training to people who wouldn't have otherwise had the chance and who could well have ended up supporting their families on a benefit. "I am really impressed at the quality and dedication of these students. They are committed to their studies and really appreciative of the opportunity. My impressions are borne out by other tutors who have come up here from Northland Polytechnic to teach certain block courses. In 2001, tutor Althea Hill described these students as not just absorbing knowledge, but eating it."

Although the Kaitaia campus is a lot closer than Whangarei for most of the students, some still travel long distances to attend or get to their clinical placements. Anita Wilson lives in Kaikohe and travels 140 kms per day to and from the campus. "For most of us, this has been our first exposure to tertiary education," she said. "This has been very challenging and a very steep learning curve, but we have worked very much as a whanau and support each other through the tough times. The secret to the success of this programme has been the smallness of the class and our willingness to help each other."

At the beginning of the course, there were a number of teething problems. These included the inadequate size of the prefabricated building where students spent their first semester, the lack of computer facilities, and difficulties accessing the Northland Polytechnic nursing library. For half of the first year, the polytechnic financed a bus once a month to take the students to the library.

Finding suitable clinical placements was not a problem, however. With the support of the local community, the Kaitaia Hospital and iwi providers in Northland, the students have experienced a wide range of clinical settings. They have also all spent time at Whangarei Hospital. Wilson, who is a Tauira Aronui representative on NZNO's National Student Unit, hopes to specialise in primary health care, once she has sat her state finals in November.

Narelle Stayte, who lives in Awanui just north of Kaitaia, has found the course "absolutely brilliant and my only opportunity to better myself". She had initially begun her nursing training in Auckland about six years ago, but found it too difficult as a solo parent with a young son. Now she lives on her parent's dairy farm, combining milking with study. Ideally she would like to work in Kaitaia Hospital when she graduates, but she is aware how small and how often under threat of closure the hospital is. "Maybe some of us could even set up our own clinic in this area. There's certainly a great need for nursing services."

Next semester, part of the transition to practice course will be taught via video conferencing from the Whangarei campus to save the tutor travelling to Kaitaia. I low successful this teaching method will be has yet to be proven. "We're the guinea pigs for this idea," said Stayte.

The only man on the course, Rick Gardner, lives closer to Whangarei than to Kaitaia. He chose to do the Kaitaia course, when this was offered to him, because, at the age of 50, he was a little nervous of being in a class of predominantly school leavers. Gardner had been an EN for over 20 years, returning to Northland from Perth in order to live where he had been born and raised. Four years ago, he swore he would never nurse again. But be discovered, if he wanted to earn a decent in come, nursing was what he knew best and getting an RN qualification would give him security. Gardner has enjoyed being among the maturer student group. "What we lack in academic ability, we make up for in life experience," he said. He hopes to work for one of the Maori providers in the area and has already been approached to do so.

The students are disappointed Northland Polytechnic is making no promises to continue the course after this year. Wilson believes there's a huge interest in the community for it to continue, stating some students would even be prepared to move from Whangarei to do the course and ensure its survival.

Northland Polytechnic nursing department programme manager Kerene Strochnetter doubts there will be a similarly course run from Kaitaia again, even though she concedes the pilot has been hugely successful for the students. Resource issues and difficulties finding suitable clinical placements mean she is now looking at strategies for running an alternative course from 2004. This includes the possibility of video conferencing for first-year students, with an expectation they would go down to Whangarei for their second and third years. "We need to take education to the periphery, especially in an area like Northland where it is hard for people, because of their personal and financial circumstances, to travel to central places. Northland Polytechnic is committed to offering courses to students in Kaitaia. What shape these will take, however, has yet to be decided," said Strochnetter.