Rate My Professor Tautala Aiono-Faletolu

Tautala Aiono-Faletolu serves as Professional Practice Fellow at Va'a o Tautai – Centre for Pacific Health, within the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago. The centre, located at 71 Frederick Street in Dunedin, focuses on Pacific health workforce development, research, and programmes such as POPO Pacific Health Workforce and internships. As a key contact for the centre, she supports initiatives in Pacific health education and outreach. Additionally, Tautala Aiono-Faletolu holds the position of Senior Advisor Professional Development at Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Social Justice and Child Protection Research Network, associated with the Social and Community Work programme at the University of Otago, contributing to research on social justice and child protection issues.

Tautala Aiono-Faletolu completed an MA in Human Services at the University of Otago. In August 2020, she presented her master's work titled 'Meaningful social work practice in the rebuild of Samoa following natural disasters' at the Postgraduate Symposium IV, organised by the Sociology, Gender Studies and Criminology Programme. Her academic contributions include co-authoring the 2023 publication 'Child protection inequalities for Pasifika children in Aotearoa New Zealand: diverse realities' in Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online (Volume 19, Issue 3, pages 238-260). The study analysed national data from 2015 to 2019 on child protection processes, revealing higher notification and investigation rates for Pasifika children but lower substantiation and uplift rates compared to other groups. Earlier, in 2008, she presented an abstract on 'A study of the Land and Titles Court of Samoa' at the Pacific Postgraduate Symposium V. She is also involved in teaching the PACH201 Pacific Health: New Zealand and the Pacific paper at the University of Otago, alongside Talai Mapusua and guest lecturers.