Request for Proposal - The impact of Tertiary Education Strategies on success for Pacific Learners
Context
Three Tertiary Education Strategies (and associated Statements of Tertiary Education Priorities) have been released by successive governments in New Zealand (2002-2007; 2007-2012 and 2010-2015). These have variously indicated governments’ desire to improve the educational achievement for Pacific learners, yet overall participation and success rates for Pacific learners have improved only marginally over that time.
Ako Aotearoa is the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence. Our vision is the best possible educational outcomes for learners. Ako Aotearoa’s Pacific Caucus has oversight of our strategic theme; “Supporting Pacific Peoples’ advancement through tertiary education.” The Caucus is looking to build a portfolio of strategic work that will enhance the success of Pacific learners in tertiary education.
The work
Ako Aotearoa’s Pacific Caucus wish to commission a study on the impact of successive tertiary education strategies on how tertiary education institutions have developed their support for Pacific learners. Specifically, we seek to understand how the government strategy documents have influenced the strategic thinking of universities, institutes of technology and wānanga in respect to supporting Pacific learners’ participation and success and what impact these institutional strategies have then had in terms of organisational change. We also seek to understand organisations’ perceptions of how the TEC and other government agencies incentivised and supported these organisational changes.
We anticipate the initial work will involve two phases of data gathering:
- a comprehensive desk review of charters, investment plans, annual reports and related documents across the TEIs identifying how institutions have responded at organisational level.
- a series of informant interviews with senior managers in institutions responsible for pacific learners about how institutional responses have changed over time.
Note that the work should be focussed at the organisational level. This project complements other work already in progress that is designed to identify exemplary practice in supporting Pacific learners and also work is being undertaken in the PTE sector.
The output will be a publishable report.
Closing date for proposals is: 5.00pm Friday 1 October 2010