STAR Best Practice

STAR is a resource funding to all schools with students in years 11 – 13 plus. The objectives and criteria for the use of STAR are contained in Appendix 3, Chapter 1 of the Funding, Staffing and Allowances Handbook.

The objectives of STAR are to enable schools to:

• facilitate 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
• provide or purchase tertiary-type courses that will better meet students' needs, that will motivate them to achieve, and which will facilitate their smooth transition to further education, training or employment
• support students to explore career pathways and help them make informed decisions about their schooling and future work or study.
  
  (Appendix 3, Chapter 1 of the Funding, Staffing and Allowances Handbook, November 2008)

The handbook provides sound advice on how the funding should be used. School boards of trustees are responsible and accountable for the use of STAR.

The Ministry provides support and guidance to schools in the use of STAR:

• The STAR Handbook (STAR, A Guide to the Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource, second edition) provides guidance to schools on the use of STAR.
• A national advisory service, run on contract with School Support Services providers, offers advice and guidance to schools on aspects of best practice, and facilitates changes in school-based STAR practice if and as required.

As a guide to schools the following provides advice on what the Ministry views as good practice for STAR.

In general:

• STAR is a resource designed to increase flexibility for schools to meet individual student need. The resource is calculated from a school's senior roll and may be used across the whole student body when supported by school-based practice or policy in line with the school's charter.
• STAR may be used to purchase a range of experiential learning opportunities linked to individual student need and the good practice concept of personalising learning, such as tertiary-type courses and work experience (as distinct from work placements under Gateway).
• Resource flexibility may be reduced when schools hard-wire STAR funding into capital expenditure or staffing, or when STAR is used to fund ongoing school-based courses when these costs could be borne in part or full from conventional resourcing.
• To ensure courses remain relevant for students it is good practice to review curriculum regularly.
• STAR can be used to meet the experiential learning needs of a wide range of students, including special needs, at-risk and gifted and talented students. It is not intended that a student receive ongoing STAR funding to attain a qualification at tertiary level.

Key concepts for use of STAR include meeting individual student need; personalising learning; maintaining flexibility to ensure the resource is available to meet student need; ensuring STAR is available to meet the needs of a wide range of students.

The following examples provide a guide for principals and staff on the use of STAR:

Example 1:
A school uses STAR to run a number of tertiary-type courses in-house and purchases a range of courses directly from external providers. The provision of STAR courses is regularly reviewed and opportunities to enhance the range and nature of courses (i.e. student, parent, community need; course delivery mode; course delivery funding; providers used) are picked up and used by the school. Students may select STAR courses and experiences according to their career interest and to explore career-related learning.

Best practice principles contained within this example include: regular review of use of resource to meet individual student need, the opportunity to use the resource across a wide range of students; maintenance and enhancement of resource flexibility.

Example 2:
A school uses the majority of STAR to run in-house tertiary-type courses and hard-wires STAR to ongoing provision of these courses. A small proportion of STAR is used to purchase externally sourced courses. There is no or little review of the use of STAR and STAR-funded courses exist in an unchanged format for many years. Students are assigned to courses and have little opportunity to explore career related learning.

The lack of best practice principles in this example suggest the school is not using STAR to maximum benefit in terms of Appendix 3 (Chapter 1 of the Funding, Staffing and Allowances Handbook - Nov 2008). Best practice principles absent from this example include: no regular review of resource; student need is not identified nor encouraged; a limited and fixed use is maintained; resource flexibility is markedly reduced.

If you have any queries regarding STAR you can contact your local School Support Services advisor or Jocelyn Anton, Senior Advisor (Careers and Transition): email jocelyn.anton@minedu.govt.nz [no spam] or DDI 04 463 8037.