Latest news with #EducationandWorkforceSelectCommittee
Scoop
5 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Supported Learners Carry The Burden Of Minister's Delusion
Minister of Vocational Education Penny Simmonds told the Education and Workforce Select Committee yesterday that she thinks most polytechnics are overstaffed, describing what she considers high staffing levels as 'abysmal'. Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union is pointing to cuts currently proposed to educational opportunities for supported learners as a prime example of the human cost of her delusion. Weltec and Whitieria are proposing to disestablish both of their existing Level 1 Certificates in Skills for Living; and Skills for Learning and Working for Supported Learners. Along with the four full time equivalent staff members, the greater Wellington region will lose the only programmes of this kind for learners with disabilities if the proposal goes ahead. Kaiwhakahaere | Organiser Drew Mayhem says 'there is considerable demand for both these programmes within the community. Student numbers have not decreased. These cuts are purely due to the government's inability and unwillingness to provide a level of baseline funding that will avoid further contraction of the sector before it is in a permanent death spiral.' Te Pou Ahurei | National Secretary Sandra Grey says 'the Minister uses an 18:1 student/staff ratio as a blunt instrument to measure viability but this misses the point of why we need polytechnics. If 12 disabled young people want to gain work skills in Porirua, why wouldn't we fund that? By her reckoning those 12 young people miss out on the future they deserve and 12 businesses miss out on great workers.' 'Furthermore, the Minister's Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill, if passed, will only further destabilise the provision of vocational education, as the bill provides no clarity on what the future of the sector looks like beyond closures and possible privatisation. New Zealanders deserve better. They were promised regional autonomy but instead are having our tertiary providers hollowed out from within.' To have your say on the Bill, click here for the TEU's submission guide, and here to make your submission by midnight tonight.
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Staff numbers at polytechnics abysmal: minister
By John Gerritsen of RNZ Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds says staff numbers at some polytechnics are so high they are abysmal. Appearing before the Education and Workforce Select Committee to answer questions about the government's Budget decisions for Tertiary Education, Simmonds said institutions' ratio of staff to students was critical for their viability. Claim govt setting up polytechs to fail She said polytechnics had reduced their staff numbers by 8.2% on a headcount basis and about 4.9% on a full-time equivalent basis but their staff to student ratios were still lower than they were in 2016-17. "Those ratios are critical to the viability of an institution. If you're running at a ratio of less than one to 18 for academic staff to students, you are in financial trouble and they are low," she said. Simmonds said a number of polytechnics were "incredibly damaged by the last four or five years under Te Pūkenga". She said they had lost domestic enrolments, failed to rebuild international enrolments quickly, and had not responded quickly to changes. Simmonds said Te Pūkenga should have addressed staff surpluses at loss-making polytechnics more quickly. She said it had not become financially sustainable, even though it recorded a financial surplus last year. Simmonds and Universities Minister Shane Reti insisted government funding for tertiary education was increasing as a result of the Budget. Committee member and Labour Party MP Shanan Halbert said Budget figures showed total tertiary funding would drop $124m in the 2025/26 financial year to $3.79b. Tertiary Education Commission officials said the drop was due to the end of the previous government's temporary, two-year funding boost and moving the fees free policy to the final year of students' study. Simmonds said the government ended equity funding for Māori and Pacific students because it wanted to target extra funding to needs not ethnicity. She said if a Māori student who was dux of their school enrolled in a polytechnic qualification, their enrolment would attract the equity weighting, even though they had no need of additional support, which she said did not make sense. Tertiary Education Commission chief executive Tim Fowler told the committee enrolments had grown so much that institutions were asking for permission to enrol more students this year than they had agreed with the commission in the investment plans that determined their funding. "We've had most of the universities come to us and ask to exceed their investment plan allocation... over 105% this year. In previous years, I think we might have had one in the past decade, so unprecedented levels of enrolments," he said. Fowler said it was the commission's job to balance that growth, favouring government priorities such as STEM subject enrolments and removing funding from under-enrolled courses. "We're continually adjusting in-flight what that investment looks like and where we see areas where there is demand that we want to support we try and move money to it. Where there's areas of under-delivery, we try and take that out as quickly as we possibly can so it doesn't fly back to the centre - we want to reinvest it elsewhere," he said. "The challenge for us this year, there are far fewer areas of under-delivery than there is over-delivery."
Scoop
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Parliament Rejects Proposal To Address Critical Workforce Shortages
Over 20,000 New Zealanders signed a petition calling for paid training in healthcare, teaching, and social work to address critical workforce shortages. In June 2025, the Education and Workforce Select Committee dismissed the proposal. Despite being presented with an evidence-based solution and widespread public support, the Select Committee concluded: 'the issue is complex, and we do not consider there is an immediate solution to it.' 'Yet again, female-dominated professions are dismissed and devalued,' says Paid Placements Aotearoa's Campaign Lead, Bex Howells. 'This government talks about fiscal constraint but can find $1.9 billion for a mega prison to hold 800 people. The same funding allocation could see over 17,000 people paid to train in essential services. Paid training would deliver excellent return on investment – at a time we desperately need resolution for staffing shortages.' The Select Committee acknowledged the need to grow New Zealand's essential workforces, noted Australia's introduction of paid training schemes, and referenced the European Parliament's vote to ban unpaid internships (on the grounds of exploitation). Howells adds, "This is a deeply disappointing outcome - albeit unsurprising - in the current political climate. Our proposal is not about an 'immediate' fix. It's about laying the groundwork for long-term workforce growth and access to services." The Government's refusal to act means staff shortages will persist - affecting both those who deliver these services and those who rely on them.
