Pasifika Education Plan: Monitoring Report 2006

The Pasifika Education Plan 2006-2010 (the Plan) provides the Ministry of Education with strategic direction for improving education outcomes for Pasifika peoples in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. The Plan was released in June 2006 and this is its first monitoring report. This report provides a national and, where possible, regional picture of how well the ministry is going towards achieving the goals and targets of the Plan based on our current work.

The previous Plan (2001-2005) saw significant progress in meeting participation targets, however making gains on achievement targets proved challenging. The current Plan builds on the strengths of the previous five years while signalling areas where extra effort is required to make significant lifts in Pasifika student achievement.

The report uses 2000 as a base year for quantitative analysis wherever possible and provides information on the current status of each target as well as giving a forecast position out to 2010.

Overall, this report shows a positive `report card' where, based on what we are doing today, all targets bar one are heading in the right direction, forward. This report is the first step in knowing which areas will require additional effort. More specifically:

• In early childhood education
  • participation will continue to improve from 85% in 2006 towards the forecasted position of 95%.
• In compulsory education
  • the percentage of Pasifika students leaving school with at least NCEA Level 2 will be at least 51 percent. The forecast position exceeds this target at 52.2 percent.
  • Pasifika students leaving school with little or no formal attainment will match that of non-Pasifika school leavers by 2010;
• In tertiary education
• while Pasifika participation shows the greatest rate of increase at 22 percent since 2001 and at 3.5 percent in 2005, the forecast position is at 4.3 percent participation at degree-level or above, slightly below the target of 5 percent;
• the five year retention rate target to increase retention at all qualification levels from 42 percent to 45 percent is likely to be exceeded with a forecast position of 48 percent by 2010;
• the forecast position on five year completion rate for students who begin study in 2006 at bachelor degree-level is at 26 percent by 2010, and with more effort and the recent changes in the tertiary sector, it is expected that shifts will be made towards achieving the target currently set at 40 percent.

The activities contributing towards the education sector-wide goals are tracking well to be achieved by 2010. These activities include work on Pasifika languages, building capability and capacity, international work across the Pacific region, and the Auckland Strategic Action Plan amongst others.

You can download a copy of the full report at the bottom of this webpage as a MS Word 2002 document or a PDF file. For further information please contact us via email on: Pasifika.Unit@minedu.govt.nz