Auckland School

It became clear in the late 1960’s that another training school would be needed to train sufficient physiotherapists for New Zealand’s needs.  The situation became critical in 1970;  Auckland had been suggested as a possible site for a second school,  but the Auckland Hospital Board were not able to provide one at that time. When the Minister of Education announced in 1970 that all Health Education would be transferred to the Education Department it became clear that the negotiations to establish a school in Auckland had broken down.[1]

The suggestion in 1971 that a physiotherapy school should be established at the Central Institute of Technology in Heretaunga (a site divorced from medical teaching and hospital practice) was met with dismay by the NZSP, and averted only by prolonged lobbying assisted by the timely intervention of the Medical Assn. of NZ.  In her editorial Miss Derbridge (Society Vice-President) felt that Auckland was the only centre which could fulfil the requirements by being in association with medical teaching and within a hospital complex.

The establishment of a second school in Auckland was announced in 1972[2].  It would offer a three year diploma course and be controlled by the Auckland Institute of Technology (AIT) to open in 1973.  Negotiations reached the final stages in October 1972 when a syllabus committee was set up.  Progress was accelerated when a suitable building became available on the Grafton Campus - Trinity College,  the Old Methodist Training College.  In January 1973 Fran Elkin became the tutor in charge of setting up a new Physiotherapy school.  Teaching staff assembled on 30 January 1973  -5 members,  3 others, 2 more in the third term.

In a guest Editorial in the Journal in May 1973 Glen Park spoke of how the Government had firmly excluded the possibility of vocational courses being set up within a University.  However she saw some hope that the growing university-technical institute relationship would lead to cross crediting..

Students who had applied to do physiotherapy in November 1972 were confused when results of their applications came back - they were told they had been nominated to go to Auckland.[3].  57 students (45 female and 12 male) congregated at Trinity College on the Grafton Campus,  AIT in March 1973[4].  The physiotherapy course was one of four full time courses there - Business Management,  Advertising & Marketing and Secretarial.  Physiotherapy students were noticeable by their casual dress - far removed from the world of commerce shared by their counterparts.

Course details are listed in the November 1974 Journal.

The accommodation at Grafton was too small, with no hydrotherapy pool, the gymnasium too small, and no lecture theatre to hold all students.  In the early years based at Grafton four tutors shared one small office,  staff and students froze in winter, and lectures were punctuated by the grinding gears of heavy trucks[5].  It was hoped to build a new school closer to the university.  Considerable help was received from the University of Auckland School of Medicine,  Auckland Hospital Board and the Department of Education for funds to buy equipment.  In 1974 there was 1 course supervisor, 8 tutors, with 4 more during the year.

Living accommodation for the students was difficult -  no one wanted these students,  they were not university students,  nor were they Hospital Board employees.  Cornwall Nurses Home and Grafton Hall each accepted a small number of students.  The rest found board privately,  or at the Y.W.C.A.  By the beginning of 1974 most went flatting at exorbitant rents.

The student hours generated by physiotherapy students in May 1975 warranted the establishment of a Department of Physiotherapy in its own right at the AIT - a Head of Department was appointed[6].  Fran Elkin was appointed the first woman Head of Department at the AIT.  There were 52 students in their 2nd year in February 1974 and they started their work in the wards wearing pale blue culotte type uniforms.  In the second year of operating the Auckland School received 145 applications for 1975 - only 57 NZ  and 3 from overseas were accepted.

In 1975 there were 42 graduates - 2 course supervisors and 16 tutors of whom four were part time[7].  The lease on the property at Grafton had been renewed and the permanent siting of the department was still under review.  Morale for students was riding high after a 100% pass rate for the initial intake of students at the end of 1975 in the State final examination.  The Journal for November 1975 details a year in the life of an Auckland physiotherapy student.

At the end of 1975 a two week postgraduate course was run.  This was limited to twenty registered physiotherapists of whom eleven were in hospital practice,  four in private practice,  and five non-practicing.[8]

1976 was the first time all three years of the course had been taught at the AIT.  There were two course supervisors,  fourteen full time tutors and two part time tutors.  There were thirty three graduands.  

There was still no permanent site for the School of Health Sciences in 1976[9].  In her Editorial for the May 1976 issue of the NZSP Journal Fran Elkin commented that when the school commenced in 1973 there were no trained teachers,  but in 1975 there were four UK trained teachers,  and five tutors who had completed a tutor training course at Petone.  Staff were also working towards higher degrees.

1977 was a year of decision - Paul Street had been selected as the site for the new School of Health Sciences.  An extra course supervisor was appointed -  and there were 400 applications for 60 places.  51 students graduated.[10]  There were two course supervisors,  13 tutors, 4 part time tutors, + those seconded from other specialities.  A description of the AIT course was published in the NZSP Journal in April 1981.

In February 1980 a Postgraduate course “Physiotherapy in Medical and Chest conditions” was run with Barbara Webber (Brompton Hospital London) as guest speaker.[11]

By 1981 there were three course supervisors, two senior tutors, thirteen full time tutors, twelve part time + those seconded from specialised departments.  54 students graduated[12] 

Staff had increased in 1983 to three  course supervisors, two senior tutors, thirteen  full time tutors, seven part time tutors.  43 passed the state final examination

The NZSP had vigorously supported the establishment of a College of Health Sciences in Auckland in October 1974.[13].  The school was dismayed to learn in 1978 that the school would be transferred to the North Shore where training would be divorced from a hospital site.  The Society was most concerned about this projected move and Michael Lamont as its voice protested vigorously.  By September 1978 they were told all decisions were made, but in December 1978 with a new minister appointed they tried protesting again.   This was to no avail,  it was announced in 1980 that the AIT Health Sciences courses would take over the North Shore Teachers College site,  and contact with the Medical School would be maintained.  The nursing course would move in 1982,  and physiotherapy in 1983 [14].  The school moved to the North Shore site at Akoranga in August 1983.  This move was very welcome to Fran Elkin,  even if it did not change an average workload of 60 hours,  six days a week.

Fran Elkin advised in December 1985 that the AIT would be establishing a Diploma Committee,  to write regulations for all diploma courses offered by the institute.  Auckland and Otago representatives met and completed a new curriculum in 1986[15].

In 1986 there were three course supervisors, two senior tutors, seventeen  tutors full time and six part time tutors.[16].

Two new graduate degrees were announced in 1990 for health professionals at Auckland’s School of Medicine - in health sciences and public health.  Graduates could progress to a PhD[17].

The Auckland Institute of Technology was also anxious to run a degree programme.  In September 1990 the AIT advised that it would be advantageous for it to have the evidence that members of the profession were supportive of the level,  content and standard of education to be provided by its Physiotherapy Degree Programme.  The Society had not seen the curriculum and reiterated that support could only be given if the course complied with the NZSP Policy of research-based,  open-ended education and fulfilled the criteria of the Physiotherapy Board’s registration requirements[18].

In March 1991 the Auckland Institute of Technology received approval from the NZ Qualifications Authority to offer a Bachelor of Health Science (Physiotherapy ), being the only degree programme to be offered through a NZ polytechnic.  This would enable students to enter the Master of Health Science Programme run through the University of Auckland’s School of Medicine. The programme was brought to fruition largely through the efforts of physiotherapy tutors Marion Thogersen and Marion Wallace.  Programme leader for the AIT degree in the following two years was Brian Blankenberg,  who had helped to implement physiotherapy degree programmes the University of Manitoba,  and previously at the University of Zimbabwe.

In 1991 both physiotherapy schools advertised conversion courses for those people with diplomas who wished to convert to a degree .

At the end of 1993 the AIT advertised the only postgraduate physiotherapy programme in NZ to have received approval from the NZQA and which had been written in conjunction with the NZMTA.  It commenced in April 1994  at the AIT [19],  and was known as the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Science (Manipulative Physiotherapy ).

In September 1994 in response to a request from the Physiotherapy School Peter Larmer agreed to act as a professional monitor of the NZQA approved Master of Health Science Degree.

Fran Elkin retired from the position of Head of the AIT School of Physiotherapy in 1994.  In her time at the AIT 1140 students had passed through the physiotherapy programme,  many of whom were sought after by  overseas recruiters, and left their mark around the world.  Some of the highlights she recalled from her career were :-

All 43 students from the first class passed the final examination.  The students worked very hard,  they were the first class and they knew they were guinea pigs.

Having so many students return as lecturers,  many with advanced qualifications.

Gaining a Woolf Fisher Travelling Fellowship to Canada in 1977,  allowing her to visit other physiotherapy schools  and see other programmes.  Implementing the nation’s first degree programme in physiotherapy within a technical institute as well as the first post-graduate diploma approved by the NZQA.[20]

Andrea Vujnovich was appointed to succeed Fran Elkin in December 1994.  She had been programme leader for AIT’s Post Graduate Diploma in Health Science (Manipulative Therapy).  Andrea had trained at the Auckland School in 1983,  and was top student when she did an Advanced Diploma there in 1986.  Andrea then taught the Advanced Diploma,  and developed the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Science Manual Therapy.  She had worked in private practice and hospitals,  and also held a Master of Science Degree in Physiology from Auckland.  At the time of her appointment as Head of Department she was working on a project studying central nervous system changes in stroke victims with Dr. Lynn Rochester[21].

Andrea Vujnovich gave updated information on courses available at the AIT in a article in the August 1995 Journal.

The NZQA had accredited the Faculty of Health Studies to offer a Master of Health Science degree,  to be taken over  two years full time or equivalent part time.  Grants had also been made available to the school to purchase equipment to support research initiatives,  and a large multidisciplinary clinic was under construction within the Faculty of Health Studies[22].

Andrea Vujnovich wrote an article in the December 1996 Journal explaining that the School of Physiotherapy at the AIT possessed a degree of autonomy.  Having the degree level and postgraduate degree level programmes meant there had been a clear move to an academic qualification as opposed to the apprenticeship style model that was in place previously.  The curriculum recognised that physiotherapy operates within the context of a rapidly increasing knowledge base.  All physiotherapists have to be responsible for maintaining competence throughout their working lives.  Graduates should become independent in decision making,  accept responsibility and become accountable to all stakeholders.  Quality assurance mechanisms were in place at the school,  and lecturers were all involved in research.  Concerns for the future were the funding problems and the future clinical education of undergraduate physiotherapy students.  Problems about funding for the fourth year affected both Auckland and Dunedin students.

In the August 1997 Journal Andrea Vujnovich detailed 81 projects by 15 staff being researched at the AIT - she wrote that the prime research objective of the School of Physiotherapy was to identify and initiate strategies that ensured the production of high quality applied research within the Health Studies Faculty.

AIT physiotherapy students developed and piloted a survey questionnaire to seek views regarding continuing education for ongoing competency for registered physiotherapists in April 1998.  It was intended that after piloting, the questionnaire would be available for use by the Society to survey members and nonmembers.

A Post graduate Certificate in Acupuncture was offered by the AIT in 1999[23].

The Auckland Institute of Technology became a University in October 1999 to be known as the Auckland University of Technology.

[1] Derbridge Editorial NZJP May 1972 page 3

[2] NZJP November 1972 page 33

[3] AIT Students Report 1973;  NZJP November 1974 page 45

[4] AIT School Report   1973  NZJP May 1974 page 49

[5] NZJP December 1994 page 8

[6] AIT School Report  1974; NZJP May 1975  page 30

[7] Annual Report1975

[8] AIT School Report  1975; NZJP May 1976 page 39

[9] Annual Report 1976

[10] School Report 1977 NZJP May 1978 page 47

[11]  AIT School Report  1980 NZJP April 1981 page 25

[12] Annual Report 1981

[13] Editorial NZJP November 1979 page 5

[14] AIT School Report  NZPJ April 1981 page 25

[15]  Annual Report  1986  NZJP August 1987 page 14

[16] 1987 Annual Report

[17] NZJP December 1990 page 4

[18] E/M 1/2 - 9 - 90

[19] Newsletter December 1993

[20] NZJP December 1994

[21] NZJP December 1994

[22] NZJP August 1995 page 32

[23] Newsletter for April 1998