Foundation Skills/Pastoral care at Otago Polytechnic for students from near and far/Objectives

Pastoral care for students from afar
Students who choose to study in your city/town and who come from different regions of your country may experience anxiety or stress related to a number of factors, including home-sickness, lack of confidence, lack of friends, too many friends, etc. These factors could affect their levels of motivation and performance and it is important to ensure that they feel supported.

Code of Practice for the pastoral care of international students
When international students come to study in New Zealand, many of them may experience a variety of issues including loneliness, isolation, home-sickness, culture shock, lack of confidence. The New Zealand government recognizes the importance of ensuring that these students are well informed, safe and well cared for. To this end, the NZ Ministry of Education has developed a Code of Practice of Pastoral Care for International Students, which all education providers are expected to adhere to.

Please download and read the short information leaflet that provides an overview of the Code.

Pastoral care for domestic students
Although one expects your local students not to have too many issues, they could present with a range of challenges including an unsafe home environment, inability to access safe student environments at home, culture shock due to a variety of students from different and unfamiliar backgrounds in their classes, etc. It is important to tune in to their unique needs and provide pastoral care where appropriate.

Pastoral care and cultural considerations/contexts
Students from different cultural backgrounds may prefer support services that cater for other students from similar backgrounds. In New Zealand, these groupings are mostly


 * Maori students
 * Pacific students
 * International students.

As a teacher, it is important to be aware of these students' needs and where to refer them to if help is required beyond that which you can provide. Some institutions also provide special meeting spaces where students identifying with a particular group could meet, e,g, over lunch times. Are you aware of any such spaces in your institution?