The reason the sector finds such targets daunting is that – to date – no large-scale tertiary provider in Aotearoa has consistently achieved parity across the board.
In the past, the solutions we have tried have been well-intentioned though small-scale and, when these proved unsuccessful, we tended to revert towards questioning the role of whānau, high schools, the economy or a funding system for the interminable stasis we have lapsed into.
Te Pūkenga, as a national network for vocational education, has set the target of eliminating disparities impacting Māori, Pasifika and disabled ākonga, traditionally under-served in our systems, by 2031.
Te Pūkenga has set the target of eliminating disparities impacting Māori, Pasifika and disabled ākonga by 2031.
The need to make meaningful and lasting progress on equity was one of the main reasons for bringing together the 24 previously standalone, competing providers of online, on-campus and work-based skills training.
Achieving such unprecedented results requires a sustained effort from the whole of Te Pūkenga, as well as its partners in iwi, community and industry.
The first research project commissioned by the new network Te Rito captured the experiences in education of around 3000 ākonga and kaimahi. They told us they wanted increased support for mental health, digital connectivity and cultural competency within lecturing and support teams.
Once we understand what the barriers are for learners to achieve success – and the passionate kaiako who support them – we have an obligation to act. Our major response in the crucial area of mental well-being is Te Pae Ora: a platform offering a range of online tools and resources from a range of different perspectives, complementing already existing on-campus support. It will be launched during Mental Health Awareness Week and made available to all 271,000 Te Pūkenga ākonga nationwide.
Te Rito is part of an increasing body of work on what factors support learners to thrive and which ones put them at risk of not completing their courses or programmes of study. Many of the key factors making it more likely for ākonga to disengage from tertiary learning are common across all groups of learners. Meaning, if we make progress on equity, everyone benefits.
The main factors include being the first in your family to enrol in education beyond school and being the sole carer for dependents. Leaving school with fewer than 30 external NCEA credits is predictive of needing specific types of learning support. Other challenges are not having reliable transport to and from study or access to digital devices and connectivity.
You’ll note from this list that being Māori or Pasifika or disabled or low-income Pākehā alone are not among the key drivers of educational attrition. However, we know that members of these groups often experience several of the main factors simultaneously, leading to higher rates of disengagement than the general population.
One major finding from viewing the data through an equity lens is that our current processes, and those of the majority of tertiary providers, are mainly designed for the institutions themselves and not learners.
We can see this in the number of aspiring ākonga who are lost to tertiary education each year. We know that tens of thousands of potential learners a year are lost to vocational training. Recent research by Universities NZ shows a similar pattern for its members.
For us, many of these ākonga disengage during the enrolment process. They have started pre-enrolment, they are cognitively able to handle a course of study, but they just don’t make it to their first class.
It is increasingly clear that, in developing better guidance and support to respond to the needs of those wanting to learn with us, we’ll be making a huge difference to the lives of whānau, businesses in need of a productive, skilled workforce, the economy and the country as a whole.
Until then, we in education – as the late great Dr Ranginui Walker once suggested – will continue to be obsessed with finding new ways to resuscitate the canaries in the coal mine, rather than inspecting the integrity of the mineshaft itself.
