In developing policy initiatives for education, three inter-related themes flow from the
objectives, environment, and strategic focus outlined above:
- lifting educational attainment
- building capacity to meet demand
- integrating education, social and labour market policies.
LIFTING EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
New Zealand has a good education system, but we need to continue improving it to
keep up with international developments and to meet the demand for an increasingly
diverse range of educational opportunities. Through the initiatives outlined here, the
Government aims to build on successes so far while striving for better outcomes for all
students.
The resources available can never meet all the demands, however. Decisions on the
priorities for the use of resources must be soundly based.
Some areas of particular concern to the Government are:
- ensuring that education resources achieve quality outcomes
- making a sustained effort to address the needs of students who are under-
achieving or at risk of failure
- disparities in achievement in some areas of learning (for example, while student
achievement in reading and writing literacy compares well internationally, 13-
year-old New Zealanders ranked as only average in mathematics and science in a
1995 international study).
Addressing these concerns is not just a matter of more resources. In a small country
with an ageing population, everyone's contribution counts.
Students at risk of failure
Issues affecting the education of students who face the huge personal, social and
economic waste of not achieving to their full potential at school are a priority. The
causes of risk of failure are complex, and the response will be wide-ranging. It will
include both the integrated approaches described later in this paper, and the following
specific initiatives.
- Continuing to develop policies to address truancy. Some 500 students of
compulsory school age are currently being catered for by church, iwi and
community groups in settings which are not registered schools. Policy initiatives
to deal with truancy are designed to return to the education system many students who have been alienated by the traditional school setting, and also to ensure that schools can focus on providing for the learning needs of such students.
- Improving the effectiveness of assistance to schools at risk of failure or poor performance in educational delivery, or schools that are struggling to provide an effective learning environment. Some South Auckland schools provide one example, although problems are not limited to one area. The Government is developing a range of initiatives, including alternative administrative arrangements in clusters of small schools, to reduce the workload of principals and boards of trustees.
Raising achievement levels for specific groups of students
- Maori students: a comprehensive education strategy for Maori is discussed later in
this paper - see "Details on Consultations".
- Pacific Islands students: the Ministry of Education recently launched a strategic
plan for action to support Pacific Islands student education.
- Students with special education needs: the Special Education 2000 policy aims to
establish a clear, consistent and predictable resourcing framework for special
education. Phase One, the Special Education Grant, was introduced in 1997 to
provide for students with moderate special education needs. Phase Two, which
was announced on 13 May, focuses primarily on students with high or very high
needs. The Ongoing Resourcing Scheme is designed for students with high or
very high needs throughout their school years. It will provide an equivalent level
of resourcing for students with similar levels of need irrespective of their school
setting or location. Two separate initiatives will meet the needs of students with
significant speech/language difficulties or severe behavioural problems.
- Especially able and gifted students: enabling this specific group to rise to their full
potential will be the focus of development.
- Students from language backgrounds other than English: English is not the first
language, nor the language of the home, of 58,000 current students. Of these,
some 34,000 require extra English teaching to become sufficiently fluent in English
to succeed in the school system. Early intervention is necessary to redress their
educational and related disadvantages. Improved support for this group is proposed.
Curriculum development
In 1993 The New Zealand Curriculum Framework was released as an overview policy
document for a complete rewrite of the New Zealand curriculum. The Curriculum
Framework comprises seven essential learning areas and eight sets of essential skills. So
far, four new national curriculum statements - in mathematics, science, English and
technology - along with three Maori language counterparts - te reo Maori, pangarau
(mathematics) and putaiao (science) - have been published.
Although the introduction of these was accompanied by curriculum support materials
and teacher professional development, the pace, size and timing of the introduction
have led to complaints about workload pressures on teachers. The Ministerial
Consultative Group on Workload is currently considering the implementation, support
and training required to complete implementation of the curriculum reforms.
Early childhood education
Quality early childhood education provides an important foundation for children's later
learning, in terms of personal, social and educational development. The sector is noted
for its diversity and rapid growth over recent years, and standards of care and
education vary widely. Current policy is to apply taxpayer funds consistently across the
diverse providers, with a premium for quality to encourage continual improvement.
The policy aims to ensure widespread availability and compliance with quality
standards.
Regulation and accountability requirements need to be kept under scrutiny to make
sure they contribute to improving supply, participation, involvement and quality. The
Government will continue to focus on quality through training, and on lifting
.participation by Maori and Pacific Islands children.
Other initiatives
Other current policy initiatives to lift educational attainment, described in later sections,
include:
- professional development and support of pre-service and in-service teachers
through a comprehensive review of teacher education
- further development of the National Qualifications Framework
- development of national assessment policy
- a review of the Education Review Office
- a comprehensive review of all aspects of tertiary education and training.
BUILDING CAPACITY TO MEET DEMAND
Forces which are placing pressure on all areas of the education system to meet the
demand for teachers, property, and other resources include:
- unavoidable pressure from roll growth in the compulsory education sector
- increased demand for early childhood education, and for tertiary education and
training
- curriculum demands and recent improvements to staff:student ratios in schools
- teacher workforce demographics and the changing nature of the teacher labour
market
- policies to promote access, parental choice and diversity among education
providers, which are blurring traditional boundaries between services (primary
school, secondary school and tertiary) and changing institutional structures.
A range of responses and initiatives are under way or planned to build up the capability
of the education system.
Teacher supply
The recruitment and retention of trained and skilled teachers is a priority. A substantial
increase in the number of teachers will be required over the next five to ten years to
meet student population growth. The forecast additional requirement for 1998 is 760
primary and 520 secondary teachers. The growing number of teachers reaching
retirement age will also increase demand.
The main strategies co-ordinated by the Ministry of Education to meet the demand for
teachers are:
- building the numbers and increasing the availability of high-quality pre-service training (the review of pre-service and in-service teacher education, discussed later, will focus on ensuring an adequate supply of high quality teachers)
- further recruitment and support of overseas teachers
- retraining former teachers to return to the classroom.
These are supported by additional strategies including:
- incentives to attract teachers to hard-to-staff positions such as those in specific
schools or in subjects in which there are shortages, including mathematics, science
and Maori-medium
- assistance to schools to improve relief teacher recruitment
- national recruitment campaigns.
Other initiatives
Other policy initiatives to build capacity, described later, include:
- a review of teacher workloads
- consideration of a unified pay system within an integrated teaching service
- a substantial increase in the education property capacity and a comprehensive
review of the Ministry of Education's capacity to effectively plan and manage the
property portfolio and capital works programme
- a comprehensive review of the Education Act 1989.
INTEGRATING EDUCATION, SOCIAL AND LABOUR MARKET POLICIES
The Government is looking for effective co-ordination between education, health,
welfare and labour market policies to ensure that education, economic growth and
social cohesion reinforce one another. Too often, there is duplication or people fall
through cracks. Education contributes to an integrated approach to finding solutions in
several areas.
Students at risk
Increasing numbers of students have health, welfare and behavioural problems, and special education needs, which contribute to under-achievement at school. As the primary responsibility for intervention may not rest with the school, the issue is how central agencies can best work together in finding solutions.
An inter-departmental programme is being undertaken to help families raise healthy
and capable individuals. This work includes a stocktake of existing programmes, the
development of objectives and action plans, and co-ordination to improve the
effectiveness of support for students.
In considering how to better co-ordinate the provision of Government services to such
families, the role of education will be to ensure that schools and teaching staff can focus
on providing for the learning needs of students, while also supporting the work of other
agencies to meet students' health and welfare needs.
Employment Strategy
The Government has introduced an Employment Strategy. Its two key objectives are:
reducing the percentage of job-seekers who are long term unemployed; and involving
unemployed job-seekers in part-time community work and training. The strategy is
driven primarily by policies supporting economic growth. In addition, specific
measures to improve access to appropriate education and training and labour market
attachment of job-seekers will be implemented. A steering group is co-ordinating work
on details of this policy and its implementation.
Youth income support
Youth policies must be properly integrated to encourage all youth to be either in
employment or in some form of education and training. The Coalition Agreement
announced that the Government will work towards a universal system of living
allowances for tertiary students, as part of a comprehensive system of youth income
support that gives comparability between unemployed job-seekers and students.
