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| |  | |  | "It can be difficult to see what lies ahead in life when you are 15 or 16 -- a good spin-off from [our] programme has been that many students are becoming excited about their future."
A picture of NZ tertiary education enrolments revealed A 16 percent increase (to 17,900) in students enrolled at diploma-level and 14 percent decrease (to 2,400) of students at bachelors level was recorded at private training establishments in 2005. Overall, in 2005, 504,000 students were enrolled in formal study programmes at tertiary education providers in New Zealand, with 47,000 of those being international students. For more new information on enrolments in tertiary education, the Ministry of Education's 2005 Tertiary Education Enrolments report is online as a PDF document.
Registrations open for the 2006 ITF Annual Conference The Industry Training Federation's conference is in Wellington next month. Keynote presenters include Generation Y expert Peter Sheahan, Minister of Tertiary Education Michael Cullen, The New Zealand Institute's David Skilling, and Clive Chappell from Sydney's University of Technology. More information on the 27-28 July conference is at this web page.
Mergers of small polytechnics possible Small, regional polytechnics facing financial difficulties face possible mergers, the education and science select committee heard earlier this month. Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen said the government was committed to a "network of provision" of education but not necessarily to individual institutions, and institutional mergers was an "open question".
New business training programme for students at ENZT Enterprise New Zealand Trust (ENZT) has added a new business learning programme - the Student Enterprise Learning Link programme - to its stable of products. With financial support from Business NZ, ENZT is taking over Lion Nathan's Business Experience programme, which the brewer had been running for 10 years. The three-day practical education programme requires secondary school students to create a hypothetical product, set up a company, and prepare a business strategy to produce and sell their product. Business NZ Chief Executive Phil O'Reilly said it was important young people learned about business while still at school. "Secondary school students need to be exposed to commercial thinking to help grow entrepreneurial attitudes and habits. New Zealand's future growth prospects depend on a new generation with commercial skills and self-belief," he said. The
Enterprise New Zealand trust website is at this
web page.
ECE in NZ is big business and big news Corporatisation is taking over the early childhood education sector - according to Unlimited magazine - as parents face rising costs due to government pressure to get more qualified teachers into the sector. The magazine reports that New Zealand is in the early stages of the corporatisation that has already been the pattern for early childhood education providers in Australia, the UK and the US. Wayne Couillault, chief investment manager for Fisher Funds Management, which is a shareholder in the country's only New Zealand-listed provider, Kidicorp, is reported saying that the number of small, local early childcare education providers will gradually decrease, "just as supermarkets have led to the demise of the corner dairy. It's inevitable". The Unlimited story is at this web page.
Tax incentives for private school parents, says Labor leader Australia's Labor Party national president has called for tax incentives and childcare support to parents who send their children to private schools. Warren Mundine wants tax breaks on school fees and direct subsidies for parents using the private school system, similar to the childcare rebate, The Australian has reported. The story in The Australian is at this web page.
Australian Labor party proposes differential tertiary funding The Australian Labor party plans a tertiary education policy of funding student places differentially between universities to allow institutions 'to do what they do best'. The proposed policy, a clear departure from Labor's one-size-fits-all funding policy, would allow institutions to focus on specialised areas and let other areas lapse. It could also mean institutions fail. A story in The Australian on the issue is at this web page.
West Australia backs down on outcomes-based education plans The West Australian government has toned down plans for outcomes-based courses for the state's senior school certificate. Education commentator Kevin Donnelly said there were now moves to provide teachers with a clear map on what is taught, as opposed to vague outcomes, ridding courses of political correctness in favour of essential academic content, and allowing teachers to mark out of 100 instead of grading on eight levels. Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich has conceded she could have handled OBE implementation differently. "What we needed to do was pull it back and reintroduce the syllabus and reintroduce the content and be very strong on assessment and moderation," she was reported as saying in The West Australian.
Aligning vocational education research with industry an Australian priority The Australian National Centre for Vocational Education Research is looking to better engage with industry on its work programme, following a review of its services. A government statement on the review is at this web page.
Higher salaries can keep teachers in high-poverty schools, research suggests A bonus programme for teachers of hard-to-staff subjects in tough North Carolina public secondary schools saw turnover rates of the targeted teachers drop by 12 percent. A paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research says the programme ran for three years from 2001 and awarded an annual bonus of $1,800 to certified maths, science and special education teachers working in high poverty or academically failing schools. Experienced teachers showed the strongest response to the programme. 'Evidence from a Policy Intervention in North Carolina' is by Charles Clotfelter, Elizabeth Glennie, Helen Ladd and Jacob Vigdor. It is online at this web page.
Immigration levels do not hinder integration and education, report says There is no link between the size of immigrant student populations and the size of performance differences between immigrant and native students, an OECD report finds. The findings show that high levels of immigration do not necessarily impair integration, the report argues. The report examines the performance of students with immigrant backgrounds and compares it with that of their native counterparts. It also looks at other factors that could influence immigrant students' performance. More information is at this web page.
Website opens doors on education research A Ministry of Education website that describes itself as a one-stop statistics and research shop is jam-packed with indicators, reports, research, statistics and publications on all education sectors. The six-month old Education Counts website has set itself the lofty ambition of being the best education sector information and analysis shop in the world and delivering to clients "not just what they wanted but also what they didn't know they wanted or needed or couldn't have believed was possible". David Lambie, the Ministry of Education senior manager of data management and analysis, said the site had had a good response from people using its resources. He said the site, which used newer internet technology than the main Ministry of Education Ministry site, made it easier for visitors to find and read data. Education Counts is at this web page. | ||
