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Insider politicsBy Maria De CortSay “field trips” and images of bush shirt-cladbiologists or geographers hiking through tussocks aremore likely to spring to mind than aspiring politicalscientists in plush, pressed business suits ascending thesteps of Parliament.But there is a new breed of field trippers emergingfrom the University of Canterbury’s College of Arts.In June this year, Dr Bronwyn Hayward and DrTherese Arseneau (Political Science and Communication)led a group of 14 political science honours and graduatestudents on the second annual parliamentary field tripto Wellington.The students experienced first-hand the cut and thrustof daily politics in the capital. Over the course of two-anda-halfdays the students got the chance to discuss issueswith political leaders, public servants and policy analystsand receive a privileged insight into what goes on “behindthe scenes” in our nation’s corridors of power.Hayward said field trips were a key learningopportunity in arts.“The chance for students to compare what they havelearnt in a classroom with real world observation isinvaluable. We are very grateful for the way so manypolitical leaders and leaders in the community, media,business and the public service, together with UCgraduates, are willing to give their time and experienceto help mentor and inspire these students.”The intensive programme with back-to-back meetingsfrom the crack of dawn until long past dusk included afew significant political coups. The students were ableto conduct a group interview with National MPs BillEnglish, Katherine Rich and John Key on the role ofopposition parties and conduct one of the first interviewswith the new Green Party co-leader partnership of JeanetteFitzsimons and Russel Norman.One highlight of the programme was an eveningreception for 40 past and present students themed, “WhatI wish someone had told me before I graduated”.The students’ interaction with graduates now workingand researching in Wellington was a great opportunity fornetworking and mentoring to take place, said Hayward.Vanessa Roberts, an honours student from the class of2003, who graduated in April this year with her Masterof Arts in political science, helped organise the eveningfunction.Roberts, who currently works for the Ministry ofHealth as a policy analyst on the National Ethics AdvisoryCommittee, said the informal mentoring session was agolden opportunity for the current students to get aninsight into “the pitfalls and highlights” of job-hunting.“I would have loved to have had this sort of opportunitywhen I was nearing the end of my postgrad study. It canbe difficult for students outside of Wellington to developa real feel for career opportunities here, especially inthe public service. It is difficult to know who you arecompeting against, what policy analyst and other rolesinvolve and if you are offered a job, whether to take it.“It is a valuable opportunity for current students to askquestions that might not be appropriate to ask lecturersor even the best careers advisers. For example, questionsabout the workplace culture in different organisations,realistic starting salaries, and how to cope with movingcities and leaving friends behind.”At a big picture level the field trip was about fosteringleadership, Arseneau said.“We recognise these students are future leaders and weare really trying to nurture them as such. It is importantto us to make sure they are engaged in the world aroundthem, particularly the political world. We want to instil inthem a sense of excitement about politics as well as a senseof their responsibility to give back to this country that ishelping to educate them.”Arseneau said this year’s students had impressedeveryone they came in contact with and were “trulywonderful ambassadors for Canterbury”.Honours student Ara Tai Rākena said a highlight forhim had been realising what an incredible democracy NewZealanders lived in, that allowed such unfettered access tothose in power.“Everyone we talked to was surprisingly open and it wasparticularly interesting for me to discover how people withvastly different, and often directly opposing, ideologicalviews actually enjoyed professional and productiveworking relationships with each other.”Classmate Nicky Wilson-Kelly said it was a privilege totake part in the voluntary field trip.“Despite having studied New Zealand politics forquite a few years now, nothing could have prepared mefor the sheer delight at being able to translate some of myintellectual understanding of how parliament functionsinto real interactions with the political machine,” she said.“The trip definitely reinvigorated my appetite forpolitics.”Summer 2006 31