MonitoringReport2004 Supporting Young People to Continue in Education
 

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New funding to support youth transitions

The government has committed $57 million in extra funding over four years to assist young people making the transition from school to further education, training or work. The package covers the following initiatives.

Designing Careers

This initiative will pilot the concept of Individual Learning and Career Plans for all Year 10 students, and for selected ‘at-risk’ students in Years 11 to 13. It is being piloted in 75 schools to help students create a coherent and flexible programme of learning that leads to higher achievement and successful transitions from school into work, education and training.

This initiative includes funding for research to develop a stronger evidence base on what constitutes effective career information, advice and guidance.

New Youth Transitions Service

A new transitions service for young people who are at risk of not accessing education, training or work after leaving school is being set up. The service will be delivered by a lead provider in each area who will:

  • engage with school leavers and young people not in work, education or training
  • provide customised support and career planning
  • work with local employers and training and education providers to support opportunities for young people
  • help integrate youth services in each area.

The service will be progressively rolled out over the period from 2005 to 2007.

Enhancement of STAR, Gateway, Modern Apprenticeships and Training Incentive Allowance

Greater support will be provided to schools in the operation of the Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource (STAR), which funds provision of tertiary courses within the senior school.

The Gateway programme provides workplace learning opportunities within the school curriculum. It will be expanded from 2005 to cover schools up to decile 6, and will be available to all decile 1 to 6 schools from 2008. This will enable over 6,000 senior school students in about 160 schools to participate in 2005, compared with 4,000 students in 126 schools in 2004.

The government will also expand the Modern Apprenticeships programme to 8,000 places by June 2006. There has been steady growth in Modern Apprenticeships since the introduction of the scheme.

A pilot programme is being established to determine whether the Training Incentive Allowance could be used to encourage teenage parents to remain in, or return to, education.

Secondary-Tertiary Curriculum Alignment Project at Manukau Institute of Technology

One of the ways of improving pathways from school to tertiary education is improving the coherence between the curricula offered in polytechnics and those offered in secondary schools to meet the needs of students not planning to attend university. This can promote easier progression to polytechnic for many school leavers who would enjoy and benefit from further vocational education.

The curriculum alignment project at Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) involves MIT developing curriculum-based relationships with local schools and collaborating to ensure that there is a good fit between schools and the polytechnic. Students can then progress from one level to the next well prepared and without overlaps or gaps.

While it has been difficult for MIT to attribute an increase in student participation from neighbouring schools to the impact of the partnership programmes, staff believe that students from alignments are transitioning well into MIT programmes.

In November 2003, with the support of the Tertiary Accord of New Zealand (TANZ), MIT offered a curriculum alignment seminar to all polytechnics in New Zealand. The benefit of this approach has been evident within the members of TANZ and Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) in particular.

At CPIT, subject meetings have been conducted with local schools. Two professional development days were conducted with relevant school staff on how to incorporate industry unit standards into senior school technology programmes.

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