Term

Definition

Adult Literacy and Life
Skills Survey (ALL)

New Zealand is participating in the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALL). ALL measures the prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills of a representative sample of respondents aged 16-65 from participating countries. ALL builds on the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) which was undertaken in 24 countries – including New Zealand – in 1996.

Assessment tools for teaching and learning (asTTle)

Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning (asTTle) is an educational resource for assessing reading, writing and mathematics for students in Years 4 to 12. The primary purpose of asTTLe is to provide a tool for teachers to assess individual students’ learning needs.

Best evidence syntheses (BES)

The best evidence synthesis iterations draw together, explain and illustrate through vignette and case study, bodies of evidence about what makes a difference to improve education outcomes.

Career Services

Career Services assists in the achievement of government education, training and employment goals through the provision of high quality career information, advice and guidance services.

District Truancy Services

District Truancy Services support schools to manage truancy by receiving and responding to referrals from schools of students who have unjustified absences. The District Truancy Services then provide schools with the information to enable them to implement a course of action designed to ensure a student attends school regularly.

Early Leaving Exemption

Parents may apply for students to leave school before the age of 16. The application must be based on the student’s educational problems or conduct, or estimated benefit of their staying at school. Students granted an Early Leaving Exemption can take up training courses, enrol in a tertiary education organisation, or begin full-time employment.

edCentre

An online gateway to information about New Zealand education. It provides access to educational services and advice for organisations and people at all stages of their lives.

Education Counts

An online resource to increase the availability and accessibility of information about education statistics and research. Education Counts can be considered a ‘one-stop-shop’ for such information including demographic, contextual, statistical, analysis and technical information to support the use and interpretation of data.

The Education Review
Office (ERO)

ERO is the government department which reviews and reports publicly on the quality of education in all New Zealand schools and ECE services, including private schools, kura kaupapa Māori (Māori language immersion schools), special schools and ngā kōhanga reo (Māori language ECE groups).

ENROL

ENROL is a central register of student enrolments developed by the ministry for schools to use via the web, to reduce the administrative burden for schools and improve the overall enrolment management process. It enables non-enrolments to be identified more accurately, in a more timely and consistent manner than possible with a paper-based system.

Gateway

Programme to build links between schools and businesses and allow schools to offer work-based learning opportunities to their students. Administered by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

ICT includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as video conferencing and distance learning.

In-service Teacher Education Practice Project (INSTEP)

A research and development project on the learning and practice of advisors, facilitators, resource teachers, and other in-service teacher educators.

LeadSpace

A website dedicated to building school leadership capacity, making available information, tools and links that support leadership, governance and management in New Zealand schools.

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)

NCEA is New Zealand’s main national qualification for secondary school students and part of the National Qualifications Framework.

New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI)

NZEI is a professional and industrial education union representing staff employed in primary, secondary and area schools, ECE centres, specialist education services and colleges of education.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) provides national and international leadership in assessment and qualifications. NZQA provides quality assurance for secondary and tertiary qualifications and education providers, recognition of qualifications including from overseas, administration of national assessment for secondary qualifications, administration of the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications and stewardship of the National Qualifications System.

New Zealand Teachers Council

The New Zealand Teachers Council is the professional body for all registered teachers working in early childhood, primary, secondary, tertiary and other teaching situations. It has responsibility for teacher registration, oversight of teacher education, and a role in teacher conduct and performance issues.

Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

PPTA is a voluntary trade union and professional association representing staff employed in secondary schools, area schools, technical and community education centres.

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

PISA is a three-yearly survey of 15-year-olds in over 40 countries and assesses how far students approaching the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in society.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

PIRLS is a research project that provides information on the reading literacy of Year five students. It is an international comparative study in which 35 countries participated in the first data collection in 2001.

Promoting Early Childhood Education Participation Project (PPP)

This project aims to increase participation and uptake of ECE in communities with low participation. It utilises community-based providers to identify and work with families to support them to access early childhood education services.

Public Service Association (PSA)

The PSA is a State sector union covering members in the public service, health services, local government, Crown agencies and private business.

Reducing Challenging Behaviour Initiative

An initiative to strengthen the ministry’s services for children and young people with severe challenging behaviour.

Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLBs)

RTLBs work within schools to provide advice and guidance to teachers of students who are at risk of low achievement owing to learning and/or behaviour difficulties.

Schooling Improvement Projects

Targeted professional development programmes for schools where students are at serious risk of underachievement.

Severe Behaviour Initiative

The Severe Behaviour Initiative focuses on strengthening the ministry’s individual behaviour services for children and young people with severe challenging behaviour across Early Intervention, School Service and Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes.

Sport and Recreation
New Zealand (SPARC)

SPARC is dedicated to increasing sporting activity of New Zealanders. This includes supporting elite athletes to getting out into local communities and encouraging people to get active.

Secondary-Tertiary Alignment Resource (STAR)

Provides all State secondary schools with additional funding to access courses that provide greater opportunities for senior students – Years 11-13. The most widely-used school resource for addressing the issues of engagement and relevance to improve retention in the senior secondary schooling years, and enable schools to facilitate smooth transition and access from schooling to further education or employment. Administered by the Ministry of Education.

Student Engagement Initiative (incorporates the Suspension Reduction Initiative)

Project aimed at improving participation in schooling by targeting schools with disproportionately high levels of truancy, early leaving and suspensions.

StudyLink

A service of the Ministry of Social Development, responsible for Student Allowances, Student Loans, Scholarships and Unemployment Benefit Student Hardship.

Te Kōtahitanga

A research and development project to improve Year nine and 10 Māori student achievement in mainstream schools, through a professional development intervention for their teachers.

Te Mana

Te Mana is part of the Whakaaro Mātauranga (Think Learning) project aimed at raising expectations of Māori achievement amongst Māori, the community, and education providers. Te Mana uses television, mainstream and iwi radio, and Māori media to communicate its key message “Te Mana – ki te taumata – get there with learning”.

Tertiary Education Commission (TEC)

TEC gives effect to the government’s priorities for tertiary education, and funds post-compulsory education and training offered by universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, wananga, private training establishments, foundation education agencies, industry training organisations and adult and community education providers.\

Tertiary Education Strategy (TES)

The TES 2007-2012 (incorporating the Statement of Tertiary Priorities 2008-2010) outlines the key priorities and strategic objectives for tertiary education over the next five years.

Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

TIMSS is an international comparative study that provides countries the opportunity to examine trends in mathematics and science achievement at the middle primary level (Year five) and lower secondary level (Year nine).

Whakaaro Mātauranga

A multifaceted programme to support whānau engagement in education, including Te Mana and the work of Pouwhakataki in the community to link children, families and educators to information about education.