Student Support and Retaining Graduates

The Government is committed to supporting all schools to deliver quality outcomes for Māori.  With over 80% of Māori students in mainstream schooling, there is an explicit focus on supporting teachers to have high expectations of Māori students, to build effective learning and teaching relationships, to engage meaningfully with Māori communities, and to build on prior knowledge.

The Government is aware of the public concerns about student loan debt levels and its socio-economic impacts.  The Government has made a commitment to improve the student support system particularly in relation to addressing student loan debt levels. Policy changes such as the Fee and Course Cost Maxima policy, the ‘no-interest while studying’ policy and the‘50/50’ repayment provisions are amongst many that have been put in place with this aim. 

An increase in the student allowance parental income thresholds occurred from 1 January 2005.  This initiative will extend eligibility to the Student Allowances Scheme. 

Increasing student allowance eligibility will help reduce the effects of student loan debt and contain costs for learners of tertiary education. It is estimated that this policy will reduce the amount of money drawn down under the Student Loan Scheme by nearly $20 million per year. This initiative provides an effective means of targeting additional assistance to people from families with moderate incomes.

These thresholds will be adjusted by CPI each year just as the student allowance payment rates are adjusted annually for inflation.

Figures on student loans show that about 5 percent of those who have used the loan scheme are currently overseas. Around 6 percent of those who have current loan debt are overseas – a figure that remains fairly constant from year to year because those who leave New Zealand seem to be roughly balanced by those who return. There is no evidence that the loan scheme is encouraging people to live overseas.

Those who leave New Zealand are more likely to have successfully completed a qualification at degree level or higher and to have higher debt on completing their studies.

Māori with student loans are less likely than other student loan holders to travel overseas following their tertiary study. A study of those who used the loan scheme between 1997 and 1999 showed that 5.7 percent were overseas in 2000.  However, in that study, the proportion of Māori overseas was only 2.8 percent.

The Government will continue to make improvements to the student support system over future budgets as resources allow. The responses that we received to the Student Support in New Zealand discussion document that was released late in 2003 will help inform the changes that will be made. 

Equity of access and opportunity is an important part of the vision for our tertiary education system, outlined in the Tertiary Education Strategy 2002/07.  Tertiary education organisations are expected to ensure equity of access and opportunity for people with disabilities and to provide the support these students require to participate fully.  All tertiary education organisations receive ongoing funding to support students' diverse educational needs, including students with disabilities. Tertiary Education Institutions also receive a Special Supplementary Grant, in proportion to the size of the institution, to contribute towards supporting students with disabilities who have high cost support needs.  This has increased both awareness of disability issues and of the numbers of students with impairments within tertiary education.

The Government has recently supported Achieve, the National Post-Secondary Education Disability Network to produce a Code of Practice for an Inclusive Tertiary Education Environment for Students with Impairments.  This Code of Practice is a tool to assist all tertiary education providers to achieve a fully inclusive environment through the ongoing identification and removal of barriers in all areas of campus life. The Code of Practice emphasises the importance of tertiary education providers consulting with Māori as they use the Code and implement an inclusive environment.

In addition the Government has recently opened a new Resource Centre for Deaf Tertiary Students, which will include training for support staff such as notetakers working with deaf students in tertiary providers, needs assessment for deaf tertiary students and provision of some assistive technology.

Early Childhood Education

In the early childhood education sector the Ministry of Education is working through regulatory and funding incentives to ensure that as many early childhood education centres as possible are staffed by qualified early childhood educators.  The Ministry is also working to determine how effective teaching can best be supported in parent-led settings.

In addition, regulations ensure that the Person Responsible in ECE is qualified and registered with plans to increase the qualifications and registration of staff in early childhood services.  This is until all hold at least the benchmark three-year Diploma of Teaching (ECE) by 2012 in order to increase the status of early childhood teaching as a career, in line with primary teaching.

63.5% of Māori staff working in teacher-led early childhood services are currently unqualified. Some of these people may currently be the Person Responsible and may, therefore, have been affected by the 1 January 2005 legislation change that was notified in 2000.

Extra payments to services that employ registered teachers will be made from April 2005. This will be an incentive for the registration of teachers, ensuring that they undertake a professional role and continue with professional development throughout their teaching careers.

In the Auckland area, TeachNZ is currently running an advertising campaign to promote the status of early childhood teaching to the public. The promotion includes qualified and registered teachers. This campaign will be extended to the Bay of Plenty and Waikato in 2005.

Seven hundred TeachNZ scholarships (potentially worth up to $20,000 each) have been made available to support early childhood student teachers. This is a large increase on the 175 that have been available in past years and underscores the value being placed on having qualified teachers in early childhood services.