• Circuit-breaking 'new Directions' Plan For Child, Youth And Family Launched
• MODERN APPRENTICESHIPS EXPANDS
• CHILDREN'S AGENDA
• IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

CIRCUIT-BREAKING 'NEW DIRECTIONS' PLAN FOR CHILD, YOUTH AND FAMILY LAUNCHED
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey and Child, Youth and Family (CYF) Chief Executive Jackie Brown last week launched New Directions, the change plan to take the Department confidently into the future.

New Directions details how CYF plans to implement the Mick Brown's report and how the additional resources given to CYF in the Budget will be used to support its rollout. The Department received an additional $216 million over the next four years.

At New Directions' core is the recognition that CYF needs to focus more on improving the long-term outcomes for at-risk children and their families, rather than simply providing immediate solutions to immediate problems. That way the ongoing well-being of children will be better supported and it will help us avoid the costs of repeated crisis interventions.

Besides changing the way the department itself works, CYF will co-operate even more closely with community organisations providing help to at-risk families and work harder to mobilise everyone in the fight against child abuse and neglect.

The New Directions programme, which draws heavily on the recommendations of the Brown report, aims to:

• improve professional social work practice;
• create a more seamless, integrated department;
• increase collaboration with communities; and,
• give regions greater decision-making power over resource allocation.

Some of the specific aims of New Directions are to:

• reduce youth re-offending;
• reduce recurrence of harm to children and young people;
• improve well-being for children, young people and families; and,
• encourage a culture in which everyone takes responsibility for ending abuse and neglect.

Child, Youth and Family is now working on the detail of implementing the New Directions strategy. It is also liasing with Treasury and the Ministry of Social Policy on establishing targets for measuring progress on implementing New Directions and the recommendations of the Brown Report.

CYF is also establishing an external reference group to help it with the implementation of New Directions. The specific role of the reference group is to:

• provide professional advice to the Department on the New Directions programme as a whole and on significant individual projects;
• support and advocate for the programme both within and outside the Department; and,
• independently monitor the implementation of the New Directions programme.

The Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society, the Office of Commissioner for Children, the Public Service Association, the Child Policy Reference Group (an advisory group to the Ministry of Social Policy), the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers, Te Komiti Arai Taki Manaaki (Maori Advisory Group to Child, Youth and Family), the Pacific Peoples Reference Group, Te Kaiahwina Ahumahi (the industry training organisation for social services) and New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services have been invited to provide a representative to join the External Reference Group.

Mr Maharey said that all New Zealanders are concerned about child abuse and neglect and want a better deal for our vulnerable kids. However as Mick Brown notes in his report, care and protection is about adult behaviour. The abuse and neglect of children, or tolerating abuse and neglect, must be stopped. To do this it's not enough to change the workings of a government department, we must also change adult behaviour.

* information on the New Directions programme has been posted to Steve Maharey's website at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/maharey/

MODERN APPRENTICESHIPS EXPANDS
A major expansion of Modern Apprenticeships into 15 new industries begins on 1 July. The latest stage of the national roll out brings the programme to the aeronautical engineering, agriculture; aluminium joinery (architectural) baking, contracting, flooring, food processing, forest industries; furniture, horticulture, motor engineering, public sector, road transport, seafood, and sports turf industries. Modern Apprenticeships are now available across 25 traditional and new industries, and will expand over time to include new areas.

In total, 44 Modern Apprenticeships Co-ordinator organisations have now been appointed, with over 120 Co-ordinators available throughout New Zealand. There over 800 Modern Apprentices in industry training, and coverage is being extended across a good proportion of New Zealand's industries, with more to come next year. The target is to have at least 3,000 Modern Apprenticeships by March 2002.

* further information about Modern Apprenticeships can be found on-line at www.modern-apprenticeships.govt.nz

CHILDREN'S AGENDA
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey joins pupils at St. Bernard's College, Lower Hutt, this week for a consultation session on the Children's Agenda. The Agenda is about making New Zealand a great place for children and will include a five-year plan of what the Government needs to do to help achieve this vision.

* further information is available on-line at www.mosp.govt.nz.

IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
A new report signals the way for New Zealand to be a world leader in the field of export education. The report, The Impact of International Students on Domestic Students and Host Institutions, written by Head of the School of Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington Professor Colleen Ward, reviews the impact of international students on domestic students and the community. Professor Ward says if we want to become recognised as a world leader in the field of export education, we need to provide more guidance and support to those education institutions in New Zealand which have international students.

The presence of international students even in large numbers is insufficient in itself to promote intercultural interactions, to develop friendships and to result in international understanding. Structures need to be in place to foster those processes.

Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey said that the report has important implications for the future direction of New Zealand in the export education market. An extra $1.3m was provided in the Budget to support the long-term development needs of the export education industry.

The report says intervention strategies play an important role in ensuring positive experiences but institutions are not always aware of which actions or strategies are most effective. Mr Maharey has asked the Ministry of Education to look at ways of providing greater support and guidance to institutions with international students, including developing and providing them with examples of best practice.

* the report can be found on-line at www.minedu.govt.nz