TEU Tertiary Update - Hau Taki Haere, Vol 12 No 24

WAIKATO UNI CUTS HOPE FOR ASPIRING TAUIRA

Following pressure from Te Amorangi Mātauranga Matua (TEC), Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato is considering disestablishing its pioneering Te Tīmatanga Hou and Certificate of University Preparation (CUP) programmes. These programmes have over the years helped many first-time tauira (students) into tertiary study. Tauira and kaimahi (staff) in the Certificate of Attainment in Foundation Studies (CAFS) also face an uncertain future.

In a letter to kaimahi at the whare wānanga Pathways College, which oversees its continuing education and foundation studies programmes, the whare wānanga deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Doug Sutton, says that while no decisions have yet been made, “…the proposal or any revised version of it … is likely to result in the disestablishment of some positions at CUP and Te Tīmatanga Hou; some reduction in CAFS staffing levels may also be necessary.”

Even more ominously, he warned that the whare wānanga is proposing “a significant and possibly total reduction in the number of pre-degree EFTS for 2010.”

The whare wānanga has told kaimahi that high numbers of degree-level enrolments are likely to exceed its tauira funding cap by as much as 7 percent by the end of this year. It must therefore take measures to avoid carrying too many un-funded tauira. Also, TEC has urged whare wānanga, through the Tertiary Education Strategy and the Statement of Tertiary Education Priorities, to focus on degree-level and postgraduate teaching. This direction, combined with an increase in enrolments, has led to entry-level courses and foundation studies programmes that help tauira move on to degree study being cut.

TEU Te Tumu Whakarae, Dr Tom Ryan, says this means that at Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato up to 450 tauira could miss out on admission to the whare wānanga next year, of whom about 40 percent would identify as Māori.

“So the very people we desperately want to have a chance at higher education, to have better opportunities to provide for their whānau, families, hapū, and iwi and to up-skill our communities and economy, are going to be excluded by such a decision. The whare wānanga and the commission both need to reconsider the path they are taking.”

Kaimahi have been given until 5 August to respond to the proposal of the whare wānanga.
ALSO IN TERTIARY UPDATE THIS WEEK:

1. Business needs to copy TEI model
2. Time to prepare for aging workforce
3. Toku reo toku ohooho
4. Hard to take lesson from Weatherston case
5. Tertiary Education Strategy no longer guiding policy
6. Youth court judge says tertiary education can stop offending
7. Melbourne University cuts 220 jobs

BUSINESS NEEDS TO COPY TEI MODEL

TEU Te Tumu Whakarae, Dr Tom Ryan, says that if businesses want to meet the needs of their communities and customers, they should change their governance structures to more closely reflect those used by public tertiary institutions.

Dr Ryan’s comments follow a story by the Education Review last week that showed that the Government was in fact considering the opposite: scaling back the diversity of polytechnic councils to reflect the failed model of private business.

“E raka ana te mauī me te matau. I think it is worth asking whether we would have the levels of unsustainable private debt and economic vulnerability if more of our businesses’ boards had worker representatives, customer representatives, iwi and community representatives, on them.”

“There’s no doubt that, on the whole, polytechnic councils are delivering very good value for money given the pūtea (funding) they receive. Generally they are also working closely with their stakeholders and local community in innovative and exciting ways to give tauira real learning opportunities. They are working hard to drive our much needed recovery.”

NZUSA Tumuaki, Sophia Blair, has said the Government’s proposal to move away from a representative model of governance for polytechnics is alarming:

“The proposed changes to representative governance are completely at odds with the Government’s previously stated agenda in tertiary education which demands the sector be responsive to the needs of its communities, learners and industry,” said Blair. “How does the Government expect to provide appropriate education and ensure robust decision-making at the highest levels when it removes the very mechanism for ensuring this can happen?” asked Blair.

“We are deeply concerned at the manner in which this proposal has been developed – it has been secretive, appears baseless in its recommendations, and is entirely without adequate consultation. For such significant changes, this is extremely poor process and totally unacceptable”, said Blair.

TIME TO PREPARE FOR AGING WORKFORCE

The EEO Trust’s recent publication Workplace age and gender: Trends and Implications suggests that Aotearoa faces a long-term skills shortage of tertiary teachers. The report uses census data to show that tertiary teaching professionals are ageing, with a shift in the peak age from 40-44 in 1991 to 45-54 in 2006, marked declines in the 30-44 age range and increases in those aged 50 or more. Forty percent were aged 50 or more in 2006. The report lists tertiary educators as one of several occupations that need to prepare for long-term skills shortages in the future.

The EEO Trust, in an earlier report, developed in collaboration with Te Kāhui Tika Tangata (Human Rights Commis­sion), the Retirement Commission, Business New Zealand, the CTU Te Kauae Kaimahi, and the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce recommends that employers facing an aging workforce should redesign jobs to reduce demands such as risk of injury or burnout while retain­ing experience. They should also consider older workers for mentoring, pairing or “buddy” systems, quality control or trouble-shooting roles, and proposes phased retirement opportunities to extend the working lives of valued older employees.

TEU Te Tumu Whakarae, Dr Tom Ryan, says that this data has significant consequences for employers in the tertiary education sector that need to be faced now rather than later when it may be too late.

“Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi. We need to be thinking now about where our new kaimahi will come from and what we need to do to recruit and retain them here in Aotearoa. We also need to make sure we value our older kaimahi because we won’t be able to afford to lose them.”

TOKU REO TOKU OHOOHO

While Aotearoa has gone a long way to embracing te reo and te wiki o te reo Māori (Māori Language Week), it's time to push for more, TEU tauheke and Te Kura Matatini o Taranaki (WITT) academic Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru told the Taranaki Daily News yesterday.

This week is te wiki o te reo Māori, and many tertiary institutions, organisations and individuals are working to incorporate more Māori into their everyday community kōrero and tuhituhi. The success of te wiki o te reo is another step on the way to all people in Aotearoa recognising the value of our own unique indigenous language.

Dr Waikerepuru was part of the team which had te reo officially recognised as a national language, and then pushed on to the Privy Council in 1993 to have te reo Māori broadcasting responsibilities acknowledged by the Government.

"I think te wiki o te reo Māori is a good indicator ... maybe there is a place for te marama o te reo Māori (Māori Language Month) and then eventually it will get up to te tau o te reo Māori (Māori Language Year), and then everyone will be happy.”

"There has to be a goal of some kind and, by that sort of approach, by the time 2040 comes along we will be a fairly balanced community."

In 1986 Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi (Waitangi Tribunal) agreed with Dr Waikerepuru's claim that te reo was a taonga (treasure), which helped te reo Māori to become officially recognised in 1987.

HARD TO TAKE LESSON FROM WEATHERSTON CASE

The conviction of Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo lecturer, Clayton Weatherston, for the murder of tauira, Sophie Elliott, has resulted in renewed calls for regulations regarding relationships between kaimahi and tauira at tertiary education institutions.

TEU Te Tumu Whakarae, Dr Tom Ryan, told the Sunday Star Times it would be difficult for any policy to prevent kaimahi-tauira relationships, but the union would help Otago review its policy, if asked.

"Kaimahi in whare wānanga generally do not like kaimahi-tauira relationships because they are disruptive and there is invariably a power imbalance involved. We do not encourage them and most employers don't encourage them."

However Dr Ryan warned that it’s not always clear how to apply such a principle:

"You have got to realise that the category of 'kaimahi' is extremely broad. A graduate tauira who is a tutor may be only one year older than the undergraduate tauira that he or she is teaching . . . There are a lot of grey areas."

Dr Ryan has since noted that some of the criticism of Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo has been unfounded.

“The publisher of Miss Elliot’s work, a professor at the University of Oregon, also claimed that ‘US universities would never have allowed such a relationship’. Yet when I google University of Oregon Graduate School, the only guideline for kaimahi and tauira says that: ‘[faculty must] Excuse themselves from serving on graduate committees when there is an amorous, familial, or other relationship between the faculty member and the student that could result in a conflict of interest’. This actually is almost the same as the University of Otago’s policy!”

“It is important to note nevertheless” Dr Ryan said, “That TEU’s code of ethics for its members strongly advises staff against sexual or other close relations with students. The union would be very happy to work with Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo or any other institution on reviewing their policy on such matters.

TERTIARY EDUCATION STRATEGY NO LONGER GUIDING POLICY

Te Tāhuhu o Mātauranga (Ministry of Education) 2009 monitoring report on its Tertiary Education Strategy emphasises maintaining broad and equitable participation and encouraging achievement in tertiary education. This endorsement by the ministry seems to stand in contrast with the direction of a new Government that is introducing a range of policies apparently aimed to limiting the fiscal cost of tertiary education participation. The Government has announced it will issue a new tertiary education strategy by the end of the year, which will guide the 2011-2013 funding period.

The current strategy sets out three areas in which the tertiary education system was expected to contribute to our society: success for all New Zealanders through lifelong learning; creating and applying knowledge to drive innovation; and strong connections between tertiary education organisations and the communities they serve.

However the current Government has remained committed to an EFTS cap and the policy direction from Te Amorangi Mātauranga Matua (TEC) are closing down pre-degree entry level courses which were aimed at expanding access to tertiary education.

Government proposals to cut tripartite pūtea (funding), limit pūtea to tertiary education to below the rate of inflation and cut adult and community education by 80 percent, all suggest that it has abandoned the current strategy and is already working to an as yet unannounced new strategy. He kino te tokomaha ki te kāinga a kai, tēnā kia tū ki te mahi ka aha hoki?

YOUTH COURT JUDGE SAYS TERTIARY EDUCATION CAN STOP OFFENDING

Principal Youth Court Judge, Andrew Becroft, says that low expectations for tauira to finish school and enter tertiary education is causing huge social problems for Aotearoa.

Commenting on Te Tāhuhu o Mātauranga's Tertiary Education Strategy monitoring report, he told the Press:

"As a society, maybe we have accepted too readily that a small group that is, the kids we see in the Youth Court, simply won't cope in mainstream or even alternative education."

"We've been perhaps too content to settle for that ... and what it means is they've ended up drifting out of education and often into the Youth Court, at huge social cost."

The monitoring report included data showing Aotearoa has among the highest proportion of pupils in the developed world leaving school and not going on to tertiary study.

The ministry says this has partially been the result of a strong labour market allowing rangatahi (young people) to move into jobs without completing education, and low expectations in Aotearoa for all rangatahi to complete secondary and undertake some tertiary-level education. However, it is also likely to include many rangatahi who have left school early with no opportunity to move into employment.

Judge Becroft said almost every offender appearing in the Youth Court had no links with education.

"The community would be deeply concerned and horrified at how many in the Youth Court aren't engaged in any form of education. Attendance at school or a vocational course was a ‘highly protective factor’ against offending. It builds resilience and the potential for positive life outcomes," he said.

"If there was a king-hit in New Zealand for reducing youth offending it would be keeping everybody meaningfully involved in education until the age of 16."

MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY CUTS 220 JOBS

Melbourne University will slash 220 full-time academic and administrative kaimahi because its financial position has taken a battering in the economic crisis.

In an email to kaimahi, vice-chancellor, Professor Glyn Davis, said the crisis had devastated investment returns and a so-called ‘‘economic response program’’ would result in 50 academic and 50 administrative kaimahi taking voluntary redundancies.

Another 120 jobs would go in restrictions on contract renewal, a freeze on hiring, and attrition.

Several faculties, including medicine, the Victorian college of the arts and music, land and environment, and economics and commerce needed to cut costs or revamp their structures to remain in the black, Professor Davis said.

“A $30 million shortfall had been identified and the whare wānanga had discussed targets with faculty heads but would not reveal these”, he said.

Senior vice-principal, Ian Marshman, said the crisis had hit Melbourne University hard because it had the largest endowment of any Australian institution.

From 2005 to 2007, the endowment brought in about $100 million a year, but last year the whare wānanga lost about $191 million in the financial crisis. The whare wānanga expects a return of about $40 million in the next three years. The voluntary redundancies are expected to cost the whare wānanga about $15 million.

“The redundancies were unsustainable and the relationship between staff salaries and the financial crisis was unclear”, Mr Clark said.

“As a public university our staff are funded from the recurrent budget; we’ve never had a relationship with the rises and falls of the stockmarket as to how we employ staff.”

By Miki Perkins at the Ag
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TEU Hau Taki Haere - Tertiary Update is published weekly on Thursdays and distributed freely to members of the Tertiary Education Union and others. Hau is taken from the Māori union name “hautū” but in this case hau refers to news and wind. Taki when used with the verb haere gives emphasis to the meaning. You can subscribe to Tertiary Update by email or feed reader. Back issues are available on the TEU website. Direct inquiries should be made to Stephen Day, email: stephen.day@teu.ac.nz

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