Otago Polytechnic Nursing lecturer wins national teaching award

Otago Polytechnic School of Nursing Lecturer Josie Crawley

Otago Polytechnic School of Nursing Lecturer Josie Crawley has won an Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award.

Josie is one of four teachers to win a $20,000 award in the “General – Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching” section.

Josie’s teaching career has been a diverse one, with students ranging from parents with intellectual disabilities, to prisoners, to Plunket workers.

Over the past two decades she has devoted her time to preparing students for careers in nursing or, in her own words, “developing compassionate nurses”. In doing so, she has had a considerable impact on the field of nurse education — locally, nationally, and internationally.

“I view teaching as a real privilege. I love nothing more than sitting one-on-one with a student on a clinical placement and see them make all the connections.”

A dedicated, intuitive, and authentic educator, Josie uses storytelling as an empowering, transformational educational tool.

“I like to construct learning environments that enable students to flourish — both within themselves and in their ability to connect with clients,” Josie explains. 

“Helping students connect with sensitive and difficult concepts better enables them to relate these to their own practice. I actively involve students in the learning process.”

As one student says: “Josie manages to turn every learning experience into a positive one”.

Another states: “I really enjoyed Josie's caring personality ... she always had time to talk to anybody when they had an issue. I have found her an inspiration to nursing.”

Ian Crabtree, Head of College: Health (including School of Nursing), says Josie is a highly valued member of staff within Te Kura Tapuhi: School of Nursing and across Otago Polytechnic.

“The Ako Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award is among the most prestigious teaching awards in New Zealand.

“It is so well deserved. Josie is one of Te Kura Tapuhi’s excellent educators.

“Josie’s contribution to the school, nursing and education of our learners is second to none. She is totally learner-focused and has amazing skills in bringing the best out of our nursing students in both theory as well as supervision whilst in clinical practice.

“Josie’s contribution to research within the school, Otago Polytechnic and the wider community is of a high standard, as is her support of new educators into education.”

Josie joins three other staff members within the school who have been awarded Ako awards in previous years: Dr Liz Ditzel, Mereana Rapata-Hanning and the late Jude Roddick.”

Otago Polytechnic Chief Executive Dr Megan Gibbons says the award reflects a strong culture of excellence at the institution.

“The School of Nursing has achieved excellent results for our learners in recent years with 100% passing the registration exam, and 97% gaining employment at the end of their degree.

“There was strong interest in our Nursing programme at Monday’s Tertiary Open Day. This reflects the quality of the programme, the excellent teachers, the clinical practice and experiences and the innovation implemented into what we do.”

Read more about the 2020 TTEA awardees on the Ako Aotearoa website https://ako.ac.nz/our-community/tertiary-teaching-excellence-awards/

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