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Issue Sixteen March 2010

 

← Issue Seventeen May 2010 | Home Page

In this newsletter we highlight our new occasional paper series and outline our upcoming reports. We also cover the updating of the Employment Outcomes of Tertiary Education data base, and reports from other agencies covering the measurement of productivity in education, health literacy, literacy skills in the workforce, Māori success in tertiary education and gender differences in graduate income.

New series of occasional papers

You will have noticed from our release updates that we have started a series of occasional papers. These papers fill a gap between our short fact sheets, which provide summary statistics on a topic, and our longer analytical reports. The papers will tackle a specific question or topic and provide succinct analysis, usually in 10 pages or less. They will include reviews of existing literature, discussions of topical questions and analysis of specific issues.

The papers we have released to far are:

1. Tertiary education, skills and productivity
2. Training opportunities — exploring what happens two months later
3. Comparing university tuition fees with PBRF performance

Over the next few weeks we will be releasing two further occasional papers looking at skills, qualifications and the labour market.

Upcoming reports

We have several reports in the final stages of development, which we plan to release within the next month or so. These reports cover Youth Training, the transition from school to degree study, university rankings, the factors associated with different levels of literacy and numeracy skills and the final reports from our literacy, language and numeracy research projects.

New data added to the Employment Outcomes of Education data set

Last year, Statistics New Zealand released the first results from the Employment Outcomes of Education data set. This data set integrates administrative data on education with data on employees and employers. It enables us to explore the employment outcomes of tertiary education at a very detailed level.

Statistics New Zealand have just completed an update of the data set to include tertiary education records for 2007 and 2008. This provides five years of usefully linked data. The Ministry will be conducting several projects using this data during the year. Statistics New Zealand will make a public release of updated tables later in the year.

Measuring government productivity in health and education - a feasibility study

Statistics New Zealand have just released a study that focuses on the measurement of government health care and education productivity. These sectors are regarded by many as two of the most important public services in the country and receive the highest public expenditure.

The feasibility study concludes that it is possible to measure change in the productivity of government health care and education services in New Zealand, according to current best practice worldwide. However, there are some big questions for the compiler:

• What constitutes the scope for government productivity estimates?
• How can one define government output and deal with quality change?
• What can be done about the lack of prices?

The study is available on the Statistics New Zealand website. Statistics New Zealand is also running seminars in Wellington, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Auckland to present and discuss the findings. Details are on their website.

Kōrero Mārama: health literacy and Māori — Results from the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey

This report from the Ministry of Health describes the health literacy skills of Māori compared to non-Māori. Data in the report was sourced from the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. Health literacy is defined as the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services in order to make informed and appropriate health decisions.

The report found that Māori have poorer health literacy skills compared to non-Māori across all of the measured variables. Eighty per cent of Māori males and 75 per cent of Māori females were found to have poor health literacy skills. On average, New Zealanders have poor health literacy skills.

The report presents findings by gender, rural and urban location, age, level of education, labour force status, and household income. It is available on the Ministry of Health website.

Literacy skills in the workforce

A new report from the Department of Labour on workers with low literacy or numeracy skills examines their characteristics, jobs, and education and training patterns. It also provides information on the prevalence of low literacy and numeracy skills in the workforce in different industries and occupations. The research uses data from the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey 2006.

This report is available on the Department of Labour website.

Hei Tauira — teaching and learning for success for Māori in tertiary settings

This report, published through Ako Aotearoa, investigates tauira, exemplars, of success for Māori in tertiary education. It highlights the key factors to be considered in fostering success for Māori in tertiary settings.

The full report is accompanied with a summary guide and quick reference card. The work is the result of a Teaching Matters Forum project funded by the Ministry of Education.

The report and summaries are available on the Ako Aotearoa website.

Graduate income study

This study, published by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, analyses of graduate income data from 2002 to 2007 by broad field of Study to examine the differences in income between male and female graduates (bachelor’s degree or higher qualification) one and five years after entering employment.

The report is available on the Ministry of Women’s Affairs web site.

← Issue Seventeen May 2010 | Home Page