Secondary/Tertiary education interface

Executive summary

Government is keen to protect young people against unemployment, both now and in their future. A number of recent government initiatives are aimed at increasing opportunities for young people to stay at school, participate in training or assisting them into work. In addition, Government has a focus on addressing literacy and numeracy, raise achievement, and increase qualification levels.

Some of the initiatives designed to progress these policies require a joint approach between secondary and tertiary institutions.

The legislation that governs the sharing of education responsibilities between secondary and tertiary institutions currently limits school students to very short periods of time in the workplace or in tertiary study. It envisages the student being first and foremost a school student.

The main area for legislative change will:

• allow the Minister of Education to formally recognise a secondary/tertiary partnership
• enable the Minister of Education to enter into an agreement with the secondary/tertiary partnership (including detail on the education that will be provided and pastoral care arrangements for the students enrolled)
• set requirements around planning, reporting and auditing.

In particular, legislation is needed in order to establish at least five trades academies by 2011.

Adequacy statement

The Ministry of Education confirms that the principles of the Code of Good Regulatory Practice and the regulatory impact analysis requirements, including the consultation Regulatory Impact Assessment requirements, have been complied with. A Regulatory Impact Statement was prepared and the Ministry of Education considers it to be adequate. The final Regulatory Impact Statement was circulated with the Cabinet paper for departmental consultation.

Status quo and problem

Many young people leave school without adequate qualifications because they do not find the school system relevant to their needs. In tertiary education they often undertake courses that do not lead to nationally recognised qualifications and therefore successful employment options.

To provide more relevant and worthwhile pathways for these students, changes at the secondary/tertiary interface are needed. At present different legislative and funding frameworks for the school and tertiary sectors create barriers to better integration.

Existing provisions in the Education Act 1989 restrict the time school students can spend at tertiary institutions or in the workplace (particularly for students who are under 16).

Under the Act, the school board of trustees always remains accountable for students enrolled at the school, regardless of where they receive their education. This provision is appropriate for short work experience courses such as ‘taster” or shadowing courses and therefore should remain.

The existing provisions are not appropriate for the options being developed where students may spend relatively large amounts of time at tertiary institutions or in the workforce and only a small period in secondary school.

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Objectives

Initiatives such as trades academies and school-based apprenticeships are designed to add value to the education system by expanding the range of options open to young people. New legislative arrangements should:

• allow more flexibility for provision of programmes shared between the secondary and tertiary sectors
• ensure that the education, welfare and safety of students are adequately covered at all times
• assure Government that the funding provided is used to further its priorities and policies, and is responsibly accounted for.

Objectives for legislative amendment need to achieve the best balance between these three aspects.

This area is still developing. Other initiatives may yet be included. For this reason, the legislative framework should not be specifically restricted to industry-based initiatives.

Alternative options

The main set of amendments is around establishing partnership arrangements when secondary and tertiary institutions are to work closely together to provide joint programmes for students. Three alternative models were considered.

Model One would create a new form of Crown entity by establishing secondary/tertiary partnerships as a statutory body in the Education Act. This model would use the existing framework set up by the Crown Entities Act for steering, planning, reporting and accountability arrangements. It would set out the responsibilities of the new Crown entity in relation to students.

Setting up new Crown entities is likely to create pressure for separate funding for infrastructure and human resources rather than a sharing of existing resources in the partner institutions. It could result in cumbersome legislation if it tried to provide the necessary flexibility to cover off all the partnership options. It is not consistent with government directions to reduce bureaucracy.

Model Two would amend the Act to clarify the ability for students to dual enrol and to spend longer in tertiary education and work, but leave the relationships between the Crown and the partnership to be the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding or a “gentleman’s agreement”. This model is used in the education sector for clusters of schools such as Resource Teachers Learning and Behaviour. It has not proved robust for either administration or accountability. It has not been used where significant funding streams have been involved. Although this model could provide flexibility for individual arrangements, the Crown has less control over outcomes for students.

Model Three would require the partnerships to nominate a lead provider who be responsible for the relationship with the Crown and purchasing responsibility. While this option provides a clear line for accountability, it would be likely to result in one institution dominating the partnership and the others being concerned only with what was being purchased from them. This is unlikely to achieve the shifts in cooperation needed to improve education at the secondary/ tertiary interface.

Preferred options

The preferred option involves creating a discretion in the Education Act for the Minister to recognise a particular partnership as a “secondary/tertiary partnership”. This will provide a mechanism to formalise which relationships will be subject to the relevant requirements of the Act and allow the government to manage the numbers that can be set up and receive funding.

A discretion is more appropriate than something like an accreditation system where any body that meets preset criteria receives the designation (and therefore accesses any benefits that accrue). Because there will be funding implications that follow such recognition, the Minister is the appropriate person to hold the discretion.

Recognition does not create the partnership as a legal entity, although any individual partnership could choose to become an incorporated society or a charitable trust. We considered making this a requirement before recognition could be granted. It could be an onerous requirement for those partnerships where the partners turn-over fairly quickly as a new deed would need to be executed. The partners should all be pre-existing bodies corporate.

The Minister and the secondary/tertiary partnership would then enter into an agreement. The Act would specify some matters that would apply to all partnerships. These would include:

• a mechanism for the government of the day to set out its policies and priorities for the different types of partnership
• a planning document from the partnerships that sets out short-term and long-term goals
• an annual report
• auditing by the Controller and Auditor-General.

The agreement would specify matters that might vary from partnership to partnership. Such an agreement has a precedent in the agreements signed with integrated schools. It could specify:

• curriculum, courses and qualifications
• governance and management, including which organisation would be responsible for being the fund-holder
• allocation of responsibility for students
• selection of students
• attendance requirements
• pastoral care and career guidance
• funding
• roll numbers.

Students will be enrolled in the secondary/tertiary partnership. They also enrol part-time in a secondary school and a tertiary institution according to the particular course the student is undertaking. The enrolment in the secondary/tertiary partnership should be full-time – the intention is that the student’s whole programme will relate to the chosen education pathway.

Enrolment in secondary/tertiary partnerships is restricted to students in Years 11 to13 but the partnerships should be able to provide taster or shadowing courses for students in Years 9 and 10.

This model provides enough flexibility to accommodate different types of secondary/tertiary partnerships but allows the Crown to be satisfied that arrangements for students and accountability requirements are met.

The model does impose compliance costs on the partnerships. Firstly, all partners must develop and negotiate the agreement with the Minister of Education. This will, however, consist of items that would have had to be addressed in some form and discussed with the Ministry of Education. The extra work is in consolidating this into a formal document. The second potential area of increased compliance cost is around the separate planning and reporting requirements. Planning for and reporting on their contributions to a secondary/tertiary partnership would potentially have had to have been in the documentation for both schools and tertiary institutions in any case.

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Implementation and review

Interim legislation has already been introduced to allow the first tertiary high school to open at the beginning of 2010 at Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT). The Ministry of Education, MIT and South Auckland schools are working towards implementation of the tertiary high school by the beginning of 2010, with an intake of up to 80 Year 11 students in Term 1. The outcomes from the tertiary high school will be monitored and evaluated in order to inform the possible establishment of any further such institutions.

Southern Cross Campus has already been chosen as a trades academy site but as this has no tertiary partner it does not require additional governance arrangements. Five trades academies are currently preparing implementation planning for possible opening in 2010 and a potential six others have been asked to revise their business case proposals.

Consultation

The Government’s objectives in providing wider options to encourage young people to stay at school, or assisting them into work or further education were set out in its election documents. Trades academies and school-based apprenticeships were specifically mentioned.

In May 2009, the Ministry called for Expressions of Interest from institutions interested in establishing the first trades academies by 2011 and 114 were received. This process has initiated consultation and discussions at the local level as institutions prepared their proposals.

Trades academies have been discussed with the Secondary Principals Association of New Zealand and the Principals Advisory Council of the Post Primary teachers Association. There has been limited, informal consultation with schools on school-based apprenticeships and trades academies. School-based apprenticeships have been discussed with officials, schools and tertiary institutions in Australia.

The Department of Labour, the Treasury, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the State Services Commission, the Tertiary Education Commission, the Education Review Office and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority have been consulted. The Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Te Puni Kōkiri, Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, and the Ministry of Youth Development have been informed.