The Annual Report shows that, in 2015/16, we were responsible for a budget of over $13.7 billion. This investment helped over 1.5 million New Zealanders to learn, to train, and to achieve educational success in the last financial year. We also manage a significant property portfolio worth almost $14.6 billion.
Overall, we are making good progress towards the targets set for us by our Minister and ourselves, in our Four Year Plan for 2015-19. In 2015/16, for example:
- 96.6% of children participated in quality early childhood education (ECE) before starting primary school
- 83.3% of 18 year olds achieve an NCEA Level 2 qualification, and
- 56.6% of young people achieved a Level 4 qualification.
The report also shows that disparities in educational achievement are reducing. It also shows that, despite this, we have a way to go before the achievement of our Māori and Pasifika children and young people is the same as that for other groups.
One of the centre-piece of our work in 2015/16 was the effort put into ongoing development of our Communities of Learning|Kāhui Ako.
This is the most significant change in education since ‘Tomorrow’s Schools’ was introduced in 1989. Communities of Learning|Kāhui Ako bring schools, Kura, ECE services and kōhanga together to find, between them, the best ways to raise the quality of teaching and learning in order to raise achievement for all our children and young people.
Other major initiatives we progressed during 2015/16 included the updating of the Education Act, the funding review, our refocusing of professional learning and development for teachers on core subjects, and our review of learning support services for children with special needs.
We also made good progress on supporting the Canterbury schools rebuild programme, with the implementation of a series of initiatives to boost Maori and Pasifika achievement and in getting more at-risk students back into education or training.
All of these changes are designed to provide an education system that is more focused on the needs of our children and young people and their parents, on the further development of our teachers and education leaders and on ensuring our education system better supports the achievement and progression of all students.
Our goal is to ‘lift aspiration and to raise educational achievement for every New Zealander.’ Our annual report shows the progress we are making towards that goal and what we have to do to get there.