Canada-Alberta International Vocational Education and Training Conference

Canada-Alberta International Vocational Education and Training Conference, Calgary, 31 August 2009

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā hau e whā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Greetings from New Zealand.

Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today. It is a privilege to be alongside the eminent national and international speakers. And I am delighted to be discussing education from a New Zealand perspective. 

I have the honour of being both Minister of Education and Minister for Tertiary Education in New Zealand. This gives me an excellent view of the interface between the school and tertiary education systems, an area we are doing a lot of thinking about. It is this area that I particularly want to focus my comments on today. We have strong traditions in vocational education and training, both in our polytechnic sector and industry training arrangements. But we want to use our strengths in these areas to promote higher levels of participation and achievement for our young people.

We want to ensure that there are clearer pathways for young people into vocational education and training so that more see it as an opportunity for future employment and success. More than that, we see vocational education as a way of encouraging young people to remain in education and training through learning that engages and excitesthem, because it better matches their individual interests. To enable this to happen requires changes to how and where learning currently happens for many students. For example, through partnerships between school and tertiary and school and business, and also continuing to improve our understanding of what students need to know and be able to do to succeed. I would like to share with you some of the things we are doing to achieve this.

In a time of global recession, the New Zealand government is clear that investing in our young people is essential to driving our recovery.

In the education portfolio, our policies and initiatives are therefore focused on skills and knowledge, from the foundation skills of literacy and numeracy leading to higher-level school and tertiary qualifications. We want all our young people to have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the global marketplace of the 21st century.

In my address today I will briefly outline New Zealand's education landscape and then discuss our policies and initiatives, which I believe are a key element in getting our country through, and out of, the current economic climate.

The education system in New Zealand attracts considerable private and public funding. Education is the third-largest area of government expenditure after welfare and health.

In terms of achievement, we are among the highest -performing OECD countries. Our students achieve as well as or better than students from other OECD countries in areas such as reading, mathematics and science. Our top students are among the best in the world. 

Achievement levels and participation rates in education have improved over the past few years - we have an increasing proportion of our students leaving school with at least our senior secondary qualification. More students are enrolling in formal tertiary education and industry training. In recent years the proportion of Māori and Pasifika school leavers obtaining qualifications at senior secondary level or above has grown at a faster rate than that of the total population. Māori participation rates in tertiary education have grown markedly over the last decade, with Māori now having the highest tertiary participation rate of any ethnic group. Participation rates for Pasifika and Asian students have also increased.

But we must do better, and my Government set its priorities for education in New Zealand when we came to power last year.

Our aim is to raise the achievement of all young people in New Zealand. This includes raising the literacy and numeracy achievement of New Zealanders from a young age. We want all students to start secondary school with the literacy and numeracy skills they need to learn at that level.

We want to increase the number of students who leave the education system with worthwhile qualifications, ready to enter employment or go on to further study. And we want to fund high-quality, relevant tertiary courses that create job opportunities and economic growth.

Underpinning this approach is the need to strengthen the interface between secondary and tertiary education systems. It is not always easy for students to move between the two, whether because of a lack of information and planning, not enough available options, or perhaps financial barriers.

Our Government is introducing new models that allow for more flexibility and innovation and that ensure young people are supported in their progress through education and into employment. 

When we look at the school leaving statistics, and the stories behind them, it is clear that for some young people, the school system is not the best fit.

They need to be working towards qualifications that are part of our National Qualifications Framework. We want students to have the opportunity to get trades and technical qualifications while they are at school. We want to broaden the options for those 16 and 17 year olds who are at risk of leaving school early, without worthwhile qualifications.

One of the government's election promises, the Youth Guarantee, is the centrepiece of this work. Youth Guarantee will provide free study towards school-level qualifications at tertiary institutions. It aims to keep young people in education who might otherwise be left behind, recognising that some students can be more motivated in non-school settings.

Two thousand student places will be available to young New Zealanders under the Youth Guarantee in 2010 and again in 2011. In these initial years, we will target areas with high youth unemployment rates where there is access to suitable vocational training programmes.

In February this year, our Prime Minister John Key held a Jobs Summit at which the country's leading thinkers considered ways to ensure the recession didn't have a disproportionate impact on employment rates. The decision to fast forward the Youth Guarantee, to start next year, was one of the commitments to come out of that Summit. This decision also shows the importance that business and the wider community places on education as a key economic driver.

The ultimate aim is to ensure that every 16 and 17 year old in New Zealand can access free tertiary education.

Another initiative that will provide learning opportunities to our youth is Trades Academies. These will give school-aged students opportunities to undertake trades and technology programmes. Trades Academies will help make education more relevant to young New Zealanders. We want to get more young people actively engaged in their education, and offer students who prefer hands-on learning a high quality option for gaining the skills that our country needs. 

As with the Youth Guarantee, Trades Academies will provide students with more options for, and information about, learning that will contribute to future employment.

Trades Academies aim to:

motivate more students to stay in education by providing them with a greater range of courses

give students a head start on training for vocational qualifications and easier access to employment, and

support education institutions in becoming more responsive to local and national business and economic needs.

There is strong interest from the education sector in Trades Academies. The Ministry of Education received 115 proposals to establish academies, and has shortlisted 11 for further consideration. We have committed to having an initial five Academies established by 2011. These could be based in schools or in tertiary institutions or they could be virtual, and infact two of the 11 proposals under consideration are indeed virtual! Trades Academies will see several groups working together - schools, tertiary institutions, industry training organisations and employers.

Trades academies will deliver sound education programmes that are responsive to student needs, such as automotive skills, engineering, forestry and business courses. The courses will be appropriate for a wide range of students, provide access to career advice and education planning, and will help give them a head start on the qualifications for their chosen career.

There's a school-based initiative I'd like to highlight here, which I think is a wonderful example of how we can use our best thinking, and our best technology, to deliver the training our young people need.

Aviation is a growth industry not only within New Zealand, but throughout the world. There is a shortage of people currently training for careers in technical fields for the aviation industry, which means there are a lot of good opportunities for trained people to gain employment within these fields.

Last year, the Catlins Area School, a small school in an isolated part of our South Island, became New Zealand's first provider of Aviation Studies through eLearning, or distance learning through ICT. Students throughout the region and from the rest of New Zealand have enrolled in the programme.

A range of courses are offered through eLearning including Aviation Studies, The Theory of Flight, Discover Aeronautical Engineering, and Virtual Engineering Pathways.

Working with industry partners, the school ensures that students get the best possible opportunities within an innovative learning community. 

It has applied to be a Trades Academy and hopes that this will allow its aviation programmes to be available even more widely.

Earlier I mentioned our National Qualifications Framework. Alongside our National Certificate of Educational Achievement, or NCEA, I'd like to say a little more about how they work together and how they work with vocational education and training.

The National Qualifications Framework contains a range of qualifications, from Level 1-the first secondary school qualification -- to Level 7 - postgraduate study. Qualifications such as NCEA fit onto this framework, as do trade and industry qualifications.

Indeed, within NCEA itself, schools can offer courses such as drama and automotive engineering as well as more traditional academic subjects. The credits gained from these non-traditional subjects will also count towards the NCEA qualification.

Specific industries can develop their own national qualifications for the National Qualifications Framework. This means that any tertiary education provider can become accredited to provide these qualifications, or certain unit standards towards them. The consistency and transparency of this system gives employers confidence that a person with a qualification gained on the framework will have the skills they need.

This is particularly important for vocational training. The system is flexible enough for learners to develop their pre-trade skills at secondary and tertiary levels, and then to move into an apprenticeship where they can continue earning credits toward the same qualification. 

Industry training overall is a key part of the vocational education and training system in New Zealand. We have built up a strong system of industry-led workplace learning over the last 15 years. Industry training is an essential tool for up-skilling New Zealanders and raising economic productivity.

The New Zealand Government invests approximately $200 million in industry needs through the industry training system, with another $65 million being contributed by industry.

There over 195,000 people involved in industry skill development and workplace learning every year. This is about a quarter of all people involved in tertiary education.

Around 35,000 businesses and organisations of all sizes are involved in industry training, potentially covering 78% of the New Zealand workforce. The workforce participation rate is estimated to be around 9 percent.

The initiatives I've talked about today enable students to gain the maximum benefit from secondary and tertiary education, and achieve flexible, meaningful qualifications. Now I'd like to tell you about a new and very exciting project that is working right on the boundary of secondary and tertiary education.

Next year will see the opening of a tertiary high school programme at a tertiary institution in South Auckland, the Manukau Institute of Technology, or MIT.

MIT is based in an area with a large Māori and Polynesian population, high unemployment rates, and lower than average educational achievement rates. It's an area where traditional approaches simply don't work.

The tertiary high school will be run as a partnership between MIT and contributing schools. It will enable students who are underperforming in school, and are likely to fail, to move into a more tertiary environment and combine both school and tertiary level vocational qualifications.

By combining the strengths of both a school and a tertiary institution, the tertiary high school should provide a much more integrated approach.

There has not been a programme like the tertiary high school in New Zealand before. It is a unique model. The students will have most of their education in the tertiary environment, but retain links with their home school for sports, cultural and other age appropriate activities.

We will be watching it closely to see how it benefits the students involved, and how we can apply a model like this more broadly across the system.

As I've said, one of our key priorities is raising the literacy and numeracy levels of children from a young age.

This is because literacy and numeracy skills lay the foundation for learning in every area of the curriculum - from primary, through intermediate, to senior schooling and tertiary education - and of course the work place.

That's why we are introducing Literacy and Numeracy National Standards for Year 1 to 8 students (5 to 12 year olds).

The National Standards for reading, writing and mathematics describe skills, knowledge and competencies students need to be able to learn successfully across the curriculum.

Early identification of students who need additional support will allow schools, teachers, the education system and parents to make deliberate decisions about how to improve their learning, and provide additional support where appropriate.

We know parents make an important contribution to their child's educational progress. To better allow them to do this, students' performance will be reported to parents in plain language from the end of 2010. This will make it easier for parents to support their children's learning in literacy and numeracy.

The standards have been set so that if a student is meeting them, they will be on track to achieve our senior secondary qualification by the time they leave school.

I began today by emphasising the importance of education in driving economic growth in New Zealand.

The innovations and changes our government is introducing aim to bring about change in the short and medium term, as well as building a long term investment.

We are focused clearly on ensuring our young people leave education with the skills and knowledge they need to be successful, both in the workplace and in society

I want to conclude with my sincere thanks for the opportunity to speak today. I look forward to talking more about our experiences, and yours.

No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, huri noa te ruma, kia ora mai tatou katoa.