Youth Programmes Give Maori A Chance
1 November 2001 Media Statement
Training Opportunities and Youth Programmes Give Maori A Chance
Training Opportunities and Youth Training programmes are helping Maori improve their future prospects, according to an audit report released today by Maori Affairs Minister Hon Parekura Horomia and Associate Minister of Education Steve Maharey.
Training Opportunities and Youth Training programmes provide skills and training to long term unemployed people or those with low or no qualifications.
Mr Horomia said the effectiveness audit, conducted by Te Puni Kokiri, confirmed Mäori had access to, and benefited from, participation in the programmes.
“This audit report has been reassuring and worthwhile. The programmes are opening doors for people who have fallen out of the education system early and are finding it hard to get ahead. We need to assist people to get back into the education system or into the job scene, so that they can give themselves and their whanau a decent life.”
It is a point endorsed by the Associate Minister of Education (Tertiary Education) Steve Maharey.
“The report shows that Training Opportunities and Youth Training programmes are giving Maori trainees the chance to develop skills and gain credits towards qualifications, which will then help them get jobs or move into further education.
Mr Horomia said while many Maori are making full use of the programmes, there’s still room for improvement.
“The report suggests adjusting contracts and developing services with programme providers to allow them to work with trainees that have multiple barriers, be they educational, financial or personal.”
Recommendations from the audit report will be considered by the Ministerial group currently reviewing the Training Opportunities and Youth Training policies.
Recommendations
1. Skill New Zealand and the Ministry of
Social Development (MSD) expand the current outcomes
approach in contracting regimes to include a range of
outcomes that acknowledge trainee preparedness to move into
further education, training and employment.
2. Support
for the ongoing development the sharing of information about
successful practices.
3. Longer-term contracts are
entered into with committed and successful providers to give
training organisations more security and allow long-term
planning by providers.
4. Regional employers, industry
groups and iwi organisations be invited as a matter of
course to participate in Skill New Zealand’s annual planning
round for commissioning and purchasing of Training
Opportunities and Youth Training
courses.
Background
Training Opportunities
and Youth Training were established as two distinct
programmes in 1998 to help people with low qualifications or
limited skills move into work or further education or
training. They are funded through Vote: Work and Income,
and taken together, are the country’s largest single
employment intervention. Targeted trainees include the
long-term unemployed, domestic purpose beneficiaries,
Workbridge clients and youth with low or no
qualifications.
Te Puni Kokiri worked with Skill New Zealand, the Ministry of Education, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, the Department of Labour, and Work and Income during the audit.
Questions and
Answers
1. Why and how was the audit carried out?
The
audit by Te Puni Kokiri was undertaken to see whether Mäori
were having difficulty accessing the training programmes –
and to provide Government with assurance about the impact of
these training programmes on Mäori.
The audit team visited Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Canterbury, interviewing 26 training programme providers 211 trainees and 91 tutors and management staff within the districts. 91 postal questionnaires were also returned from 51 providers.
The audit team also interviewed Skill New Zealand and
Department of Work and Income regional staff. And it
reviewed policy papers relating to both programmes –
including four monitoring reports published since the
Training Opportunities Programme began in 1993.
2. What
improvements can be made to better support programme
providers?
Currently Government agencies have provider
development funding available that providers were unaware of
or did not access. Improved information to providers will
assist them to access these funds, as well as enable them to
improve their internal systems. Using the information in the
report, Skill New Zealand will continue their process of
developing best practice models.
-
3. How do people
get onto Training Opportunities and Youth
programmes?
There are varied approaches to attracting
trainees. For example, tutors in one Youth Training
programme commonly walk the streets informing youth about
their programmes, while some programmes used the local
media.
In the first quarter of 2001, 26% of trainees were referred from the Department of Work and Income.
4.
How many Mäori have completed one of these training
programmes?
In 2000, about 9,500 Mäori trainees completed
a Training Opportunities programme and about 6,000 Mäori
completed a Youth Training programme. During that time,
there were 22,146 Training Opportunities trainees and 13,125
Youth Training trainees in total.
-
5. What are the
eligibility criteria for the programmes?
Training
Opportunities provides full-time, fully funded training to
people registered with MSD and/or Workbridge who meet the
following criteria:
- 18 and 19-year-olds who have left
school in the past six months with low qualifications
-
unemployed who have been registered with MSD for at least 26
weeks, available to work for 20 hours or more a week, with
low qualifications
- people enrolled with and referred by
Workbridge
- recipients of the Domestic Purposes Benefit
or the Widows Benefit for at least twelve months, with low
qualifications
- refugees who have entered the country
within the past 12 months
- former prisoners who have
served a sentence of six months or more within the last six
months.
Youth Training is for young people – 16 and 17-year-olds (with some exceptions) – who have recently left school with low or no qualifications.
The following youth
are eligible:
- under 18-year-olds with low
qualifications who have left school, or under 16-year-olds
with a MOE exemption from school
- people 18 years or
older with low qualifications who have left school in the
past six months
- under 18-year-olds referred by
Workbridge
- refugees aged 18 or less who have entered
New Zealand within the past 12 months
- Youth Needs (a
MSD category) customers who are under 18-years-old and have
been registered with MSD unemployed for at least 13
weeks.
6. How many Mäori have got jobs or gone onto
further education after completing one of these
programmes?
In 2000, 48% of Training Opportunities’ Mäori
trainees got work within two months of completing the
programme. In the same year, 36% of Maori trainees on the
Youth Training programmes got work within two months of
completing this course.
In 2000, 60% of Training Opportunities Maori trainees went on to further education and training after leaving the programme. In the same year 59% of Youth Training Maori trainees went on to further education and training after leaving the programme.
7. How
much does it cost to complete a training
programme?
Training Opportunities and Youth Training are
free to trainees who meet the eligibility criteria.
8.
What will happen to the recommendations of the report
now?
The Ministry of Education and Skill New Zealand can
implement some improvements immediately. The
recommendations will also be considered by the Ministerial
group currently reviewing Training Opportunities and Youth
Training policies.
9. What will happen to the
programmes when Skill NZ is integrated into the new Tertiary
Education Commission?
The new Tertiary Education
Commission will continue to ensure that these programmes
meet the needs of target groups.
10. Where can I get
copies of the audit report?
Contact the Communications
group at Te Puni Kökiri on (04) 922
6024.