When Jane Elder arrived for an interview at Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) several years ago, she thought she was applying for a nursing position at Student Support Services. Instead, she accidentally found her calling as an educator.
"You know it's that southern thing, someone my husband knew said that they needed a nurse at SIT, so I thought it was a job for the student nurse," she laughed.
"And I went to the interview, and they're asking, what's your teaching style? And you'll have to teach students about healthcare. I was like, oh, I don't know.”
But the interview went well and they asked Jane, “when can you start teaching?” The penny dropped and Jane realised “…oh, it's for teaching, teaching. I thought it was for a nurse".
Fortunately for SIT students, Jane accepted the role and joined the School of Nursing at the start of the 2019 academic year. Since then, she has held a variety of teaching and leadership roles, including Tutor, Year 2 Programme Manager and, since 2026, Postgraduate Programme Manager.
Jane's pathway into nursing began with a long-standing passion for science. She completed a science degree at the University of Otago before studying nursing at Otago Polytechnic. After graduating, she worked primarily at Dunedin Hospital, building up clinical experience while drawing on her strong scientific background.
A change in her husband's work brought the family to Invercargill, creating an opportunity for a new chapter. At the time, Jane was also looking for a lifestyle that would better suit her young family. "I didn't want to do shift work, and I had little babies at the time."
Teaching offered the ideal balance, allowing her to remain connected to a profession she loved while helping to educate the next generation of nurses.
That science foundation remains central to both her teaching and her enthusiasm for healthcare education. "I'm really passionate about the science. It's something I could honestly talk about all day."
Jane teaches across several science-focused areas, including pharmacology and second-year nursing sciences. "I also teach in the pharmacology paper with Murray, and I teach the Year 2 sciences. So that's where my academic loves are."
She believes her science education has been invaluable throughout her nursing career, helping her better understand the language and concepts that underpin healthcare practice.
"It goes back to being able to learn the language of healthcare and being one step closer to understanding more because if you can understand the word, then you can understand the application of the word into the everyday medical language and what it means.
"Having that meaning helps with the understanding and then the application into clinical practice."
One of the most rewarding aspects of her role is helping students grow in confidence and deepen their understanding of healthcare. She is particularly passionate about helping learners connect scientific theory with real-world clinical practice.
As Postgraduate Programme Manager, Jane now oversees programmes that support nurses - many of whom are SIT graduates - and other healthcare professionals to continue learning and advancing their careers. She sees postgraduate study as a natural progression for a profession built on curiosity, growth and continuous improvement.
Her own lifelong enthusiasm for learning reflects the message she shares with her students: there is always more to discover.
"You know the more you learn, the more you realise you don't know anything, so, you want to learn more. It's like a positive perpetuating cycle of learning."