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MonitoringReport2005 Monitoring the TES ← The Tertiary Education Strategy | Home Page | List of Abbreviations → Second annual monitoring reportIn April 2004, the Baseline Monitoring Report for the TES was released. The report provided a view of what was known about the state of the tertiary education system at the start of the period of the strategy and before the implementation of the tertiary education reforms. The following year, the first annual monitoring report was released. The 2004 Monitoring Report tracked the progress of the tertiary education system against the strategy during the initial period of implementation of the tertiary education reforms from 2002 to 2004. This second annual monitoring report tracks further progress of the tertiary education system in the period following implementation of the key aspects of the tertiary education reforms up to the end of 2005. New information from profiles and stakeholder researchA significant feature of this year’s report is the inclusion of two new sources of information. One is an analysis of the organisational objectives in TEO profiles in 2005/07 and 2006/08. This analysis looked at the profiles for all tertiary education institutions (TEIs) and a sample of 12 industry training organisations (ITOs). It focuses on the statements of objectives within the profiles and the extent to which these line up with areas of the TES. This analysis provides a view of governance and senior management perspectives of important changes in their organisation in relation to the TES. The other is research on the engagement of key stakeholder groups with tertiary education providers. This research looked at the nature and extent of engagement of business, industry, Māori, Pasifika and other stakeholders with tertiary education providers. It included an analysis of profiles and focus groups with stakeholders. The published reports can be found at: http://educationcounts.edcentre.govt.nz/publications/homepages/tes/ Structure of the reportThe report begins with an overview of the state of the sector two to three years into the implementation of the TES. This section is structured around the four key themes of the reforms – excellence, relevance, access and capability – to draw together key themes from across the TES. This is followed by a set of cross-strategy indicators which highlights the overall changes in the sector. These indicators provide contextual information against which broader changes resulting from the TES can be monitored. The rest of the report is structured around the six strategies of the TES. These sections provide more detailed analysis of change within the important areas of each strategy and identify key challenges for moving forward in each area. The purpose of monitoringThe purpose of monitoring the TES is to provide ongoing, timely information on the progress of the tertiary education system against the TES. Monitoring will help make sense of the extent to which the intended changes are happening, in which areas and to what degree. There are three main audiences for this work:
Monitoring looks at the tertiary education system as a whole, rather than assessing the performance of individual organisations. It considers the overall patterns of change and response. It specifically examines the progress of the TES and is not intended to provide monitoring of all aspects of the tertiary education system. Monitoring and evaluation of specific policy and funding changes will be undertaken separately. Information from monitoring has informed the development of the 2005 STEP. It will also inform the development of the next TES and the next STEP. The challenge of monitoringThe TES sets a direction for the sector. It aims to improve the ability of the sector to achieve better outcomes. It does not set specific, measurable goals and targets. Much of the TES is aimed at shifting the attitudes, culture and focus of the sector. The key messages of the TES are summarised in the nine key changes1. These key changes are intrinsically difficult to measure. A narrow focus on quantitative indicators could easily miss the ‘real’ story. The system may be ‘scoring’ well on a whole range of indicators but still missing the point of the TES as set out in the change messages — or the other way around. The challenge of monitoring, therefore, is to highlight the overall messages, not just report on indicators. This requires using a mix of quantitative data that can provide measures of change over time, balanced with qualitative information that can provide explanation of how and why change is or isn’t occurring. The monitoring needs to examine system-wide indicators, but these are likely to be slow to show change in many areas. Therefore, there also needs to be information on examples of innovation and successful change. Some areas will require longer-term research beyond the scope of the monitoring work. Even so, monitoring can only provide a partial and selective view of change across a system that is as complex and dynamic as tertiary education. Over the period of the TES, monitoring will shift from summarising what is happening in relation to the TES, to making sense of how changes are contributing to the larger goals of the TES and the well-being of the country. This will require greater attention to the change messages to understand how well the tertiary education system is performing in a national and international setting.
1 Refer to the previous section on the Tertiary Education Strategy. (↑) ← The Tertiary Education Strategy | Home Page | List of Abbreviations → Page last modified on 26 November 2006, at 06:29 PM |
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