Increasing educational attainment for TES priority learners

Welcome to the homepage for the Increasing Educational Attainment for TES Priority Learners project.

Led by Ako Aotearoa, with support from the Tertiary Education Commission and the Ministry of Education, this project will result in advice and recommendations that will improve the outcomes and experiences of priority learners in our tertiary system. The focus of this work is on providing advice related to teaching and learning, but part of this will involve considering the context within which these take place.

We will be updating this homepage over the course of the project > find out how to be kept informed of new material, changes, and discussion opportunities

• Who are Priority learners?
• The Educational Attainment Working Group
• Expert Forums
• Discussion Papers

Who are Priority Learners?

For our purposes ‘priority learners’ are those engaged in learning fundamental skills. These are students taking part in programmes designed to provide the basic, essential skills required for initial entry into the workforce, the development of further lifeskills, and/or progression into further study, and primarily consist of learners at levels 1-3 of the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF).

We are using the term priority learners for this group because of their importance in achieving the goals of the Tertiary Education Strategy 2010-15. As well as generally supporting high-quality research and improving system performance, the Strategy prioritises addressing the needs of several priority learner groups (Minster for Tertiary Education, 2010):

• More young people (aged under 25) achieving qualifications at levels four and above, particularly degrees.
• More Māori students enjoying success at higher levels.
• More Pasifika students enjoying success at higher levels.
• More young people moving successfully from school into tertiary education.
• Improve[d] literacy, language, and numeracy and skills outcomes from levels one to three study.

The Strategy therefore directly emphasises the need to improve outcomes from level 1-3 study. In addition, however, ensuring the existence of high-quality foundational education is key to addressing the needs of most other priority groups. To ensure that more Māori and Pasifika achieve at higher levels we need to ensure that the foundational programmes in which many learners participate, and associated institutional arrangements, support effective pathways to higher levels of study. We need to do the same for young people who are deciding whether or not to transition from school to tertiary study, and ensure that level 1-3 study is a genuinely valuable option for those not yet ready to study at higher levels.

At the moment, our work is focusing on learners who are studying at education providers. While the workplace-based training that Industry Training Organisations provide is a significant part of level 1-3 provision, it involves quite different drivers and constraints than that of other tertiary organisations. If you are interested in issues affecting learners in industry training, please contact the Industry Training Federation (www.itf.org.nz).

The following publications on the Ministry of Education's Education Counts website provide some background on these learners:

• Benefits of Tertiary Certificates and Diplomas – exploring economic and social outcomes (Earle 2010)
• Youth Training - Statistical Profile 1999 to 2008 (Mahoney 2010)
• Training Opportunities: Exploring what happens two months later  (Mahoney 2010)
• Training Opportunities: Statistical Profile 1999 to 2007 (Mahoney 2009)

The following two data reports were prepared for the EAWG by Ako Aotearoa staff, with support from the Ministry of Education and Tertiary Education Commission. They provide an overview of official statistics relating to priority learners and how well our system is meeting their needs.

• Profiling ‘Priority’ Learners - Who are they, where are they, and what are they doing?
• Profiling ‘Priority’ Learners - Pathways, what’s working well, and where are there issues?

The Educational Attainment Working Group

While Ako Aotearoa is leading this project, the decisions and recommendations to come out of it will be developed by an independent Educational Attainment Working Group (EAWG). The members of this Group are:

• Peter Coolbear (Ako Aotearoa; Chair)
• Jeremy Baker (Industry Training Federation)
• Christine Clark (Corporate Academy Group)
• Peter Conway (New Zealand Council of Trade Unions)
• Karen Davis (Victoria University of Wellington)
• Dr Shane Edwards (Te Wānanga o Aotearoa)
• Stuart Middleton (Manukau Institute of Technology)
• Phil O’Reilly (Business NZ)
• Judy Solomon (The Solomon Group)
• Pauline Winter (Auckland University of Technology).

If you have any questions about either of these pieces of work, please contact Nicholas Huntington at: n.huntington@massey.ac.nz

Expert Forums

As part of this work, Ako Aotearoa hosted a series of discussion events with international experts on issues relevant to priority learners.

• Dr Bruce Vandal, Education Commission of the States (US) 
• Professor Ewart Keep, Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (UK) 
• Professor David Conley, Educational Performance Information Centre (US) 

Each expert spoke at a main public forum, and a smaller number of focused regional meetings.  Material from these events, along with further information on each expert, can be found by following the link below.

• Priority Learners Expert Forums
   

Discussion Papers

As its work goes on, the Educational Attainment Working Group is identifying several key issues of particular relevance for Priority Learners. A series of discussion papers is being commissioned on each of these areas, and the EAWG is especially keen on hearing your feedback on these topics – particularly regarding examples of good practice in these areas.  

Following the links below will take you to these discussion papers and a dedicated space for consideration of each issue.  The key areas identified to date are:

• Issues for learners in Targeted Training programmes (Youth Training and Training Opportunities)
• Successful transitions for priority learners
• Issues for part-time learners

If you would like to be alerted to further discussion papers and opportunities for conversation, please follow these instructions

General Enquiries

If you have any questions about this work, please contact Nicholas Huntington at: n.huntington@massey.ac.nz