Never stop learning – A return to university

After over a decade working as a child psychotherapist in the public and private sectors, Maree Foley decided to go back to university. She had completed a four year Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) at Massey many years before, followed by a three-year Post Graduate Diploma in Child Psychotherapy at Otago University in the 1990s. Since completing her BSW she had always thought she would do a doctorate, but life had carried on.

Returning to University

It was 2005. She was 40, married with two children, working as a child psychotherapist and was also active as a volunteer in a few professional associations. The pathway for her to do her doctorate involved doing a Masters by thesis prior to enrolling for a doctorate. So the journey began. She scaled down her work and began her Masters part-time through Massey University, graduating three years later with a MPhil in Social Work with Distinction. On the back of this, she won a highly contested NZ TEC Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship and a Shirtcliffe Scholarship, and more recently, was also awarded a Victoria University Doctoral Scholarship. These scholarships allowed her as a mature student to research full time.

Her doctoral research, which is being conducted at Victoria University of Wellington, focuses on how the manager-employee employment relationship impacts on levels of employee engagement. It brings together her interests in the development and maintenance of relationships in families and looks at how these experiences in our families relate to how we get alongside others at work as part of getting the job done.

Studying as a Mature Student

As is often the way with mature students, Maree’s post-grad study involved juggling a busy family life and voluntary work with related associations. She is currently President of the New Zealand Association of Infant and Family Mental Health (IMHAANZ) and is an executive board member of the World Association of Infant Mental Health (WAIMH). She is also an executive member of the New Zealand Coaching Psychology Special Interest Group (although obviously currently on study leave).

With her doctorate nearly complete, her aim is to support practitioners, especially those in the social services, to find ways to research and publish their innovations and work; she is also keen to resume develop her workplace coaching practice.

“Doing a doctorate as a mature student with an already busy life is no easy road and you need to be extraordinarily committed to finish it. However,” she says “the benefits of studying later include researching topics that have grown from experience at the coalface… it helps bring our practice experiences alive as theory”.

This is an advantage in being a mature student, where areas of research are prompted by theory and experience of issues in the field. Often, the unassuming and under-valued experience of mature students contributes a new perspective to old issues.