Developing STAR policy and procedures
STAR strategic objectives
STAR funding gives schools considerable freedom to develop programmes that meet the needs of their students. Programmes should meet the following objectives:
- facilitates transition to the workplace for students, particularly those intending to go straight into the workforce or those likely to leave school without any formal qualifications.
- provides or purchases tertiary courses that will better meet students' needs, will motivate them to achieve and will facilitate their smooth transition to further education, training or employment.
- supports students to explore career pathways and helps them make informed decisions about their schooling and future work or study.
Developing a STAR operational policy
The STAR coordinator ensures that the school's STAR policy and procedures are developed and are then formally reviewed regularly (every one to two years).
Operational policies for STAR will vary between schools, but they should include:
- a statement stipulating what STAR funding can be used for
- a statement delegating financial responsibility to the STAR coordinator and outlining accounting processes and standards as required.
The policy could also include statements about:
- where the STAR programme fits within the school's strategic plan
- what the school will target, how the money will be used and how these decisions line up with the national objectives and criteria
- how the funding will be used to meet the needs of the students defined in the National Administration Guidelines 1(f)
- how students' needs will be identified and used to create an appropriate (and responsive) STAR programme
- the school's expectations of the external providers and of the students participating in off-site learning experiences
- health and safety, consent and attendance requirements for off-site learning
- the form of reporting required by the board of trustees, including financial reporting and outcomes for students
- the responsibility for completing and submitting the STAR Funding Report by 20 December each year.
Despite best efforts, schools cannot predict student needs, what the external providers will do or how the needs of local businesses may change.
It is therefore helpful for a school’s STAR policy to address the following types of questions:
- Where do we find the data that informs us of the needs of our students?
- What will we do if a student withdraws from a course too late for a refund?
- What will we do if the quality of the course is not good enough?
- How will we ensure that the programme is responsive to student, community and local industry needs?
- How will we review our own performance?
Each school will have its own processes for policy development and these may include:
- setting up a STAR team
- conducting a meeting of the whole staff
- consulting with the school community.
Exemplar 1: Developing a STAR operational policy
The national objectives for STAR and its funding criteria should be central to developing a school’s STAR policy. Seek input from the wider school community to identify:
Identifying your students’ needs, interests and aspirations
As part of the annual review process, the STAR coordinator collates information about the needs, interests and career aspirations of individual students and uses it to establish a broad picture of the needs of students.
The STAR coordinator can get this information from the students themselves and by consulting teachers, parents or guardians, and the course providers.
This ongoing information-gathering and analysis uses a variety of sources including:
- individual student achievement data and information on potential career paths
- students' transition needs at the time when they select next year courses
- student needs survey or questionnaire
- observing the courses in progress
- information from course evaluation sheets
- STAR funding review data
- response rate of students for advertised STAR-funded courses
- the process that staff use to refer a student or a group of students
- meetings with other staff members
- consultation with parents about their children's needs
- feedback from providers
- the school's record of students with special needs (National Administration Guidelines 1(f)).
Teachers and/or careers advisors collect information about each student's career planning as it develops, in a process that may include developing a learning and career plan.
Exemplar 2: Identifying your students' needs, interests and aspirations
The information gathered will highlight who to target and how the money should be spent. Students can then be provided with personalised learning pathways and a smooth transition to the workplace or further study.
Exemplar 3: Identifying your students' needs, interests and aspirations
Exemplar 4: Identifying your students' needs, interests and aspirations
Responding to new needs and opportunities
New needs and opportunities will arise, both within the school and in the community.
At school, teachers may have students who would be interested in taking their subject further into an area that requires specialist knowledge, or schools may not have the facilities or course materials they need to deliver particular unit standards.
For example, a food and nutrition teacher may have students who are interested in taking unit standards in hospitality and catering, but the school may not have an industrial kitchen to make this possible.
Other teachers who have skills that are not part of the national curriculum programme may be interested in offering a course where they can share them with the students. For example, a technology teacher may have the skills to offer a course in automotive engineering.
New industries that need workers with specialist skills and knowledge may develop in the community, or the local polytechnic may offer an expanded range of courses.
The STAR policy needs to be flexible enough to allow the coordinator to respond to new needs and opportunities as they arise. Proactive networking is a sound strategy to keep up to date with changing trends in local education and employment, so the coordinator can tailor future programmes to reflect those trends.
Exemplar 5: Responding to new needs and opportunities
Course criteria
Any STAR courses offered should meet one of the following criteria:
- The course, in all or part, includes work-based learning.
- The course, in all or part, leads towards credit for unit standards on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), including NCEA, for vocational, education and training courses at level 1 or above.
- The course leads to a quality-assured tertiary qualification at a level beyond that of a typical year 13 course that would usually be available in the senior secondary school.
Resource B is a checklist for course criteria
Referral process
The STAR coordinator will have a clear process that staff can use to refer students who might benefit from a STAR-funded activity.
Resource C is a checklist for individual student needs [PDF; 25kb]
Restrictions
Entitlement staffing provides adequate funding for schools to provide learning areas associated with the national curriculum as listed on the STAR excluded list. STAR is not intended to support schools looking to reduce class sizes or to support small optional subjects.
Resource G is the STAR excluded list [PDF; 86kb]
Course delivery
STAR funding can be used for a wide range of educational opportunities, including academic courses, industry training and general courses on topics such as first aid. Such opportunities vary in length and include short introductory courses.
Schools can offer their students STAR programmes on site or off site, or a combination of both.
Using external providers gives students access to expertise and facilities that are not available within the school as well as the opportunity for some ‘real world’ experience. On the other hand, internal delivery can be less disruptive and more cost-effective. Schools can purchase course materials and assessors from an external provider while supervising the students themselves, or they may pay an external provider to come into their school to provide tuition.
STAR course providers must be accredited by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) in order to offer assessments in their courses. If the STAR programme includes a course that is delivered by an external provider, it must run under that provider's accreditation.
Schools can engage other organisations, such as local employers, to provide work-based learning. A memorandum of understanding should be signed by the school and organisation, which clearly outlines the expectations, roles and outcomes of the relationship.