Workshop on school-science partnership in Rarotonga

Workshop on school-science partnership in Rarotonga

The future of an ongoing school-science-health community partnership will be discussed at a workshop in Raratonga this week.

More than 50 educators, health professionals, researchers and representatives of community organisations from the Cook Islands and New Zealand will meet in Rarotonga for the two-day workshop to explore the future direction of the pilot Cook Islands Pacific Science for Health Literacy Project - a NZ Aid-funded partnership programme.

The project is a collaboration between the Cook Islands Ministries of Education and Health and investigators from the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

For the past three years, the collaborators have worked together to develop a school-science-health-community partnership involving Nukutere, Titikaveka and Tereora Colleges.

In learning areas ranging from sciences and social sciences to English and health/PE students have been exploring issues relating to non-communicable diseases and their impacts in families and communities.

They have been considering evidence-based actions that their generation could lead.

The project has demonstrated that student engagement takes place when teachers are able to facilitate learning that allows adolescents to examine real data about issues in their community and construct meaning based on a combination of evidence and personal experience. Positive educational and health outcomes are emerging.

The project team are holding the two-day workshop on 2-3 August, 2016 to discuss the future of the project with invited participants from Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Atiu and Mangaia communities.

Participants will share experiences and perspectives from their communities and, together with the current project team, explore opportunities for extension of this pilot project within Rarotonga and Pā Enua (Outer Islands).

These discussions will inform proposals to NZAid and other appropriate agencies for consideration of future funding.

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