Northland students hoping to begin their first-year studies towards a Bachelor of Education have been told last-minute the course is cancelled. Photo / 123rf
Northland students hoping to begin their first-year studies towards a Bachelor of Education have been told last-minute the course is cancelled. Photo / 123rf
A solo Northland mother says she was blindsided by the cancellation of her university course less than two weeks before it was set to begin.
She is one of seven first year students to find out the University of Auckland’s Bachelor of Education (Teaching) was cancelled last Friday, just days before Monday’s planned orientation. The course was due to start on February 26.
The university says the cancellation was because of a lack of applicants. One student had been enrolled in the Huarahi Māori specialisation, which is for people proficient in te reo Māori, but a further six applicants had applied across both programmes.
The mother from Dargaville said she was completely blindsided by the phone call from the university. She had thought it was a prank.
“I didn’t realise what was happening. It just sounded like they were trying to transfer me to study in Auckland. I actually had to drag it out of her and actually tell me that they’ve completely cancelled it.”
Another solo mother, Elané Wassyng, received an email from the university, after missing multiple calls on Friday, which she said didn’t say why the course was cancelled or when it may resume.
She had quit her full-time job to study the course at the Tai Tokerau campus.
“I definitely feel lost and really uncertain. I thought this would be the start of a brand new pathway and a way of giving back to the community.”
An email at nearly 5 pm on Friday revealed the programme would not be offered this semester in Northland.
A University of Auckland spokesperson for the Faculty of Education and Social Work said students were offered the opportunity to transfer their applications to the city campus in Auckland.
But Wassyng said the suggestion to study in Auckland added insult to injury as she couldn’t just uproot her two children, who attend school in Whangārei and are part of the community, to move south.
“Even if they gave me more notice that would not have been an option for me.”
Student Keti Holtz was pursuing the degree after working as a teacher aide at Bloomfield Special School. During her phone call with the university about the cancellation, it was also suggested she move to Auckland.
“I was like hold on, I live in Whangārei,” she said.
Holtz has put in a formal complaint to the university over the communications, late notice and the fact that despite a teaching crisis the course would not go ahead.
The Dargaville mother had organised childcare for her 4-year-old son and was prepared to travel 45 minutes twice a day so she could attend the course. The cancellation felt like she had almost reached the finish line but then it was snatched away, she said.
However, the course lecturer had made efforts to place the students into contact with institutions who could help them continue their studies.
Holtz said she was told on the phone that the “future was not looking good” for the course held at Te Papa Ako o Tai Tokerau, which is Whangārei’s University of Auckland campus.
Wassyng felt the bridging course she had completed prior now felt like a waste of time and money, she said.
The university spokesperson confirmed second- and third-year students in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) for English Medium and Huarahi Māori would be able to continue their studies in Whangārei this year.
They said the university would explore new directions for internal teacher education to prepare Māori- and English-medium teachers in Tai Tokerau, including a proposed graduate Huarahi Māori programme.
