Forum Links Community And Education

Forum Links Community And Education

The Porirua Education Forum, held on Monday 24 August at Te Rauparaha Arena, continued the visionary work of this initiative to strengthen outcomes for local students by linking community and all levels of education.

Members of the organising committee Don Campbell, Chief Executive Whitireia Community Polytechnic and Russell Marshall, Chair of the Porirua Education Forum, invited Hon Anne Tolley, Minister of Education, Minister of Tertiary Education, Minister Responsible for ERO to speak on education policy at this meeting. The theme of this forum was “Working together to lift educational achievement and improve our community”.

Four high school principals delivered presentations on this theme. Hedley Aitken, Bishop Viard College considered key competencies, industry needs and the value of tertiary scholarships. He emphasised the benefits of career planning.  Tim Davies-Colley, Aotea College, spoke of the socio economic factors in student success. Suzanne Jungerson, Porirua College, proposed a larger perspective, seeing learning outside the limitations of local issues. Mike Webster, Mana College , outlined the differences in student attitudes and teaching styles between High schools and tertiary institutions. He made the case that what works well in one environment doesn’t necessarily work well in another “let’s not forget there are two different environments.”

Russell Marshall considered that “this was an excellent and well informed audience with good discussion and exchange with the Minister. The Secondary Principals also provided thoughtful and interesting presentations.”

Anne Tolley announced that the draft Tertiary Education strategy will be released in September. It will indicate the direction for the education sector for the next 5 to 10 years .“It will be more concise than the previous strategy and give the sector a clear sense of the Government’s priorities” she says.

Tolley sees quality education and the numbers of young people completing qualifications as critical to this, with tertiary providers held accountable.  Tolley was “pleased to see that around 90 percent of students enrolled at Whitireia complete their courses.  We know what works for Maori works for Pacifica and likewise with everyone else.” Tolley called the sector to take responsibility and act on this information “The whole sector needs to understand and act on the evidence”.

This is the fourth Education Forum in the Porirua region. It is strongly supported by Whitireia Community Polytechnic and the Porirua City Council. To date the outcomes achieved have included:

-each forum is an event in itself, with pivotal guest speakers and timely topics,

-outcomes and findings have been included in Porirua City Council LTCCP,

-a Research Committee established – position created to collate data representing local issues,

-Māori Forum established, chaired by Dr Turoa Royal

-a “Think Tank” initiated.

 
Chief Executive, Don Campbell said “this was a really timely event with changes looming in the secondary tertiary interface as well as the governance and funding of tertiary education.”

/ends

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