Teen Parent Units FAQ

Teen Parent Units Frequently Asked Questions

These questions and answers were developed by the Ministry of Education working in collaboration with the Association of Teen Parent Educators New Zealand.

If you would like to suggest or request any additions to the Frequently Asked Questions please email georgia.dimock@minedu.govt.nz. The ministry will be regularly updating the Frequently Asked Questions below.

What is a Teen Parent Unit?

Teen Parent Units are one way of supporting school-age young people who are pregnant or parenting. A Teen Parent Unit is an educational facility attached to an already established host state school.

Teen parents are at high risk of under-achievement in education. This is because many teen parents face difficulties due to a lack of prior learning, social disadvantage and parenting obligations. The units are designed to provide educational support for these students.

The unit is always linked to an Early Childhood Education provider so that the child is supported while the young parent is learning. Most units are led by a teacher-in-charge under the supervision of the school principal and board of trustees.

What is the governance, management and staffing framework that applies to Teen Parent Units?

A Teen Parent Unit is an educational facility for young parents under the governance of a host state school. It is not a separate school. School Managers are responsible for ensuring that a Teen parent Unit is effectively managed. Many Board of trustees and Principals delegate the day to day management of the Teen parent unit to the Teacher in Charge.

The board of trustees is accountable to parents and caregivers, their local communities, the Minister and Ministry of Education, other government agencies, and the public for the performance of the Teen Parent Unit.

The school's Principal is the board's chief executive and is responsible for the day-to-day management of his school, including the Teen Parent Unit. The school principal is responsible for determining how the management and staffing duties for the Teen Parent Unit are allocated.

Does a Teen Parent Unit need to develop a charter for itself as separate from the school's charter?

No the Teen parent unit should be included in the host school's charter.

Who is responsible for the development of the charters/policies of teen parent education?

In many Teen Parent Units the teacher-in-charge works with school management to determine policy, budgets and planning. The principal of the host school, delegates or oversees this work and reports to the board of trustees

The school board of trustees, working with its principal, staff and students, and consulting with its parent community, is responsible for setting the strategic and policy direction for the whole school. The school board is responsible for determining the planning, reporting, budgeting, performance management and accountabilities for all parts of the school, including the Teen Parent Unit. Again, school managers often delegate some of these responsibilities to the teacher in charge of the Teen Parent Unit.

What makes an effective relationship between a school and its Teen Parent Unit?

The relationship works best when the board of trustees, the principal, the teacher in charge of the unit and the early childhood education provider have a clear understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities.

As with any schooling environment: acknowledgement by staff, management and trustees, that all parties are responsible for achieving the best outcomes for the school's pregnant and parenting students.

Why do Teen Parent Units have their own Ministry of Education number?

This is for Ministry of Education administration. The number allows the ministry to calculate the additional resourcing that schools with Teen Parent Units attract. It allows the teen parent unit to be resourced at the lowest decile regardless of the host school's decile rating.

What is the policy around the distribution of funding between a Teen Parent Unit and its school? Is funding for Teen Parent Units tagged or targeted?

The government separately funds students in Teen Parent Units to acknowledge the particular needs of these students. Although the resources are targeted, and not tagged, the ministry expects all the resourcing to be used for that purpose.

Funding for Teen Parent Units is allocated to the school's board of trustees. The school's board of trustees is then responsible for the budgeting and funding of the Teen Parent Unit as a part of its whole school planning, performance management and review cycles.

What is the process if a school wishes to establish a Teen Parent Unit?

The ministry is currently redesigning the establishment process to support the new direction from the recent review of Teen Parent Education policy.

If you are interested in discussing this process, the first step is contact the Ministry of Education Teen Parent Coordinator in your region.

What is the Schooling Improvement project? How will this project support and enhance education for teen parents?

Schooling Improvement works with clusters of schools identified to lift student achievement. There are currently about 300 schools in 18 Schooling Improvement clusters across the country. In all of these clusters, the schools and their teaching staff work collaboratively with the ministry and with expert providers to improve student achievement. The projects usually take three or so years.

The ministry and teen parent unit representatives, will work together to design the Schooling Improvement project. The first step is to commission an independent report on effective teaching and learning practices in the units. This work will get underway in term 4 2007 and in 2008 the feedback will be used for the next stage of the project.

Will the ministry provide a set of guidelines for schools wishing to provide teen parent educational opportunities - including effective practice, establishing a Teen Parent Unit and responsibilities of schools?

During 2008 the ministry and the stakeholder group will work together to find the best way to provide information and advice to schools. The ministry may bring together information about effective practices to raise student achievement and effective management and governance practices together as one resource. However, developing a comprehensive set of guidelines such as this takes time. In the meantime, the Schooling Improvement project will be working to identify effective practices and to share these practices with all the Teen Parent Units.

How will schools with Teen Parent Units be supported to meet the challenge to provide a teaching and learning environment that acknowledges the diverse range of needs outside of the schooling environment?

The Schooling Improvement project will work with units or clusters of units in response to their needs and will not take a `one size fits all' approach. Representatives from the host schools, Teen Parent Units, the ministry, and other professionals will work together to develop plans.

The Ministry of Education expects to have a report on effective learning and teaching practices in teen parent units in early 2008. This will be used with local data and information on student achievement to inform the project.

The Schooling Improvement project, for example, may provide units with professional development on effective practices to increase achievement of Māori and Pasifika students in reading, writing and mathematics; on the use of assessment tools and how teachers can use assessment information; or, learning interventions for students at risk of underachievement.

Who is eligible to enrol in a Teen Parent Unit and what information is required to enrol?

Teen Parent Units provide for the educational needs of students who face barriers to learning because of their pregnancy and child rearing responsibilities. Students who are within the age range to receive free education (i.e. up to age 19 years and ending on the 1st day of January after the student's 19th birthday) are eligible for enrolment. Where space permits, the Teen Parent Unit's school may also enrol students who are over the age of 19. These students are enrolled as adult students and will generate regular staffing and funding.

When students enrol in a Teen Parent Unit they should complete both the school's enrolment form and the Teen Parent Unit enrolment form. The following information needs to be recorded:

• date of first enrolment in the Teen Parent Unit;
• eligibility - copies of student's birth certificate; their child's birth certificate or a signed verification by a medical practitioner of expected delivery date; and a declaration that the student has the primary care responsibility for the child;
• name(s) and age(s) of child(ren);
• contacts: midwife/GP, dentist;
• Community Services Customer Number;
• types of benefits being received;
• the student's last year level in a regular school; and
• a copy of credits from last school attended.

What is the roll return process for a school with a Teen Parent Unit?

Schools with any attached units (including Teen Parent Units) receive supplementary unit forms from the ministry in their roll return packages, in both March and July each year. The supplementary unit forms must be completed and signed by the principal of the school, the teacher in charge of the Teen Parent Unit and the chairperson of the school board of trustees.

How is the funding roll for a Teen Parent Unit established?

Each Teen Parent Unit has an identified number of students, negotiated by the ministry with the school wishing to establish the unit. The appropriate number of students for a unit will depend on: the sustainability of student numbers; the best size for a unit in accordance with best teaching practice; the property available for the unit; and the availability and accessibility of early childhood service provision.

What should a school do if it wants to enrol more students than the approved funding roll for the Teen Parent Unit?

Where available space and other considerations permit, a school may enrol eligible and/or adult students in the Teen Parent Unit, on top of the approved initial optimal number. These students will be on the school's roll and will generate regular school resourcing. They will not generate Teen Parent Unit resourcing. A school choosing to enrol students in excess of the approved initial optimal number will need to transfer resources to the Teen Parent Unit to support the additional students.

What will happen if the school's Teen Parent Unit roll is below the Unit's identified funding roll?

Teen Parent Units are resourced on the approved identified funding roll. Where a Teen Parent Unit's actual roll is well below its identified funding, and/or the ministry has a reason to be concerned about sustainability and viability, the unit may be resourced (at least for a period of time) on its actual, rather than funding roll.

Will the ministry fund annual training days for teachers in charge of Teen Parent Units?

No. The ministry provides additional funding for the school to resource its Teen Parent Unit. The school board needs to budget for all staff performance appraisals and professional development plans within its annual performance management and budgeting cycles, including staff in Teen Parent Units.

The Schooling Improvement project may meet some of this need with professional development.

Will the ministry increase the number of management units for teachers in charge of Teen Parent Units?

No. The Teen Parent Unit staffing entitlement is generated on a ratio of 1 FTTE for every 10 eligible students, up to the unit's approved identified optimal number of students. One salary unit is also allocated for each full FTTE. Salary units are not allocated for part FTTEs. The school principal will determine how the management and staffing responsibilities for the Teen Parent Unit are allocated and distributed, in line with the board's general policy direction.

Does the child of the student enrolled in the Teen Parent Unit have to attend the Early Childhood Education service provider that is linked to the Teen Parent Unit?

No. Students enrolled in Teen Parent Units have the same choice as other parents about what Early Childhood Centre, if any, their child attends.

Teen Parent Units work closely with their associated Early Childhood Education centres and the Ministry of Education strongly recommends that students discuss their Early Childhood Education options with their Teen Parent Unit.

What support does The Correspondence School provide for teen parent education?

The units are eligible for support from The Correspondence School as extraordinary dual enrolments. Each student may access up to four subjects through The Correspondence School, regardless of whether these subjects are also offered by the school. The Correspondence School EFTS are available according to a formula based on the optimal roll.

The Correspondence School also allows some Teen Parent Units to offer subjects that they would not otherwise be able to.