T: Monday mornings can sometimes be absolutely diabolical, all depending on what has happened over the weekend. Sometimes we can actually spend quite a chunk of the day just sorting out, you know social problems even sometimes, just where things that have happened outside the course because someone has taken a dislike to somebody, the old gossip … It can impact quite a lot so yes, if something, I mean, this morning they were quite happy to carry on and get those things finished, then I will stick up for them if I think they’re getting a raw deal, but I won’t tell lies. So if their case worker rings up and they’re not on the course, then that is exactly what I will say. But you know, I think that they know that they can come and talk and if there are things that I cannot deal with or I think they’re in a dangerous situation then I will actually say to them, ‘we need to talk to somebody else, we need to talk to our social worker’ who comes in once a week. Those sort of things, but I think also, the fact that I have them as a full-time course means that there is a little bit more freedom in how things could be arranged, so if something is just not going well in the morning there often is a time in the afternoon where we can slot something in. And that I think actually works quite well.

While providing such support can be demanding, this element also provides much of the satisfaction that the teachers derive from working in this sector.

  T: I just love it so much, because it’s like the kind of camps you go on, like when my daughter went on a whanau, a Maori studies camp, it’s a bit like that, it’s creating that family environment that perhaps a lot of them haven’t had and honestly, it’s an immense privilege, yeah, that’s the bottom line for me. It’s a privilege to work with these girls.

We observed several examples of how learners’ daily lives and issues ‘intrude’ into the programmes, requiring diversions from planned activities.

In several cases learners’ issues took precedence in the teaching for that session. One Pasifika learner in his 40s arrived for his weekly 1:1 session somewhat distracted by a letter that he had recently received from the Department of Courts. He was not at all confident about what the letter required of him and was uneasy. The teacher read the letter with him, explaining that it was a call for jury duty. He explained his anxiety about not being able to carry out the duty because of his poor English skills, so the teacher then composed a reply, in consultation with him to obtain an exemption. This task of the teacher writing a formal letter for him to take to Court after the teaching session took about 20 minutes of the hour-long teaching session.

Another learner in a workplace programme was somewhat lethargic in a session observed from 1-2 pm; he had started his shift at 1 am that morning and was due to do a further two hours of work after the teaching session.

In all of these cases, the teachers were clearly aware of the issue, its implications for that session and endeavoured to help resolve it where necessary without the issue totally dominating other concerns or other learners’ activities. The extent and seriousness of some of the issues arising15 does call into question where teaching ends and social work begins, but feedback from the learners interviewed for this study strongly indicated that they value this part of teachers’ behaviour.

15 Not necessarily the ones listed above, but other incidents and issues that teachers recounted. For example, one of the teachers related how she has provided accommodation in her home for her students at times of crisis.