ITENZ Awards 2019

The session will cover the proposed changes under the Reform of Vocational Education and what it means for TEC, for the sector, for employers and for students or trainees going forward.

General Criteria   

Scholarship/Academic Excellence   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for one or more of the following:   

• 1. a track record of successful academic achievement appropriate to their context  
• 2. dedication and commitment to learning under all circumstances  
• 3. passion for learning and subject area/s  
• 4. outstanding growth, improvement, commitment or intellectual development in the subject area/s  

Contribution to peers/staff/organisation  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for one or more of the following:   

• 1. support for peers (international and domestic) that goes above and beyond expectation  
• 2. success in establishing on-going relationships with domestic students/peers that facilitate successful learning and pastoral experiences    
• 3. support for tutors which contributes to teaching and learning of self and others   
• 4. a record of outstanding leadership in the organisation appropriate to their context  
• 5. service to the organisation   

Contribution to the community  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for one or more of the following:   

• 1. success in programme-relevant contexts outside the classroom or in the wider community    
• 2. service in the wider community   
• 3. record of building productive relationships with people outside own peer group that facilitate a greater understanding of both the student’s and New Zealand’s culture and identity  

General Criteria   

Scholarship/Academic Excellence   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for one or more of the following:   

1. 1. a track record of successful academic achievement appropriate to their context  
2. 2. dedication and commitment to learning under all circumstances  
3. 3. passion for learning and subject area/s  
4. 4. outstanding growth, improvement, commitment or intellectual development in the subject area/s  

Contribution to peers/staff/organisation  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for one or more of the following:   

1. 1. support for peers that goes above and beyond expectation  
2. 2. success in the context of care for others, inclusiveness and class/team cohesiveness   
3. 3. support for tutors which contributes to teaching and learning of self and others   
4. 4. a record of leadership in the organisation appropriate to their context  
5. 5. service to the organisation   

Outreach  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for one or more of the following:   

1. 1. success in programme-relevant contexts outside the classroom or in the wider community    
2. 2. service in the wider community   
3. 3. other unique contributions  

General Criteria  

Facilitating learning   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:   

• 1. a record of successful teaching suitable to the context (e.g. small group/large group/face to face/on-line/ distance/ work based)  
• 2. passion for subject and for learning  
• 3. teaching and learning strategies that actively engage students   
• 4. support for students to build self-assurance and competence  
• 5. innovative strategies in course/learning materials  
• 6. contributing to the wider environment for teaching, including organisational and/or industry and discipline contexts  

Assessment of student learning   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. successful in assessing student development, progress and achievement against expected learning outcomes  
• 2. formative assessment strategies used to build student capability and confidence   
• 3. summative assessment strategies appropriate for the learning outcomes and the teaching and learning context  
• 4. innovative approaches to assessment are evident  

Reflection on learning and teaching   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for the use of sound practices to evaluate own effectiveness as a teacher and excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. collection and reflection on student feedback   
• 2. collection and reflection on peer/colleague feedback   
• 3. collection and reflection on stakeholder/employer feedback  
• 4. changes made based on feedback and reflection  

General Criteria  

Students are supported  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. success in facilitating support for students to achieve their educational goals  
• 2. success in facilitating support for students to achieve their personal goals  
• 3. a record of respect, care and commitment to student relationships and well being   
• 4. success in building relationships with students’ whanau  
• 5. other unique contributions  

Staff members are supported  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. support for staff that facilitates their achievement of their administrative roles   
• 2. support for staff that enhances their teaching roles and their relationships with students  
• 3. a record of success in support for staff in pastoral contexts   
• 4. success in on-going relationships with staff that facilitates communication and building of relationships with students and their whanau/communities  
• 5. other unique contributions  

The organisation is supported  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:   

• a record of commitment to the organisation’s values and ethos  
• a record of commitment to targets to enhance the smooth running of the organisation  
• support for the organisation’s communities that demonstrates respect and care  
• other unique contributions  

General Criteria  

Leadership and Professional Development  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. a record of promoting excellence and innovation in the organisation   
• 2. promoting excellence and innovation in relevant environments outside the organisation (e.g. industry, communities, outreach)   
• 3. contribution to whole-of-sector and/or whole-of-system developments in tertiary education.   
• 4. ongoing commitment to own learning and sharing knowledge and skills with peers/colleagues within or outside the organisation  

Guidance and direction   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. a record of leading that is beneficial to others and/or the organisation  
• 2. practices that and enthuse others to action   
• 3. effective communication of ideas and vision    
• 4. responsiveness to supportive ideas from others that benefit the organisation or the community   

Leadership qualities  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following: 

• 1. strategies in making others in the organisation feel confident and capable  
• 2. building trusting and respectful relationships with others, which builds team capability  
• 3. uses self-assessment to reflect on stakeholder/industry feedback to facilitate educational improvement   

General Criteria  

Planning and Design for Learning  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. a record of successful use of technology in course or programme design  
• 2. a clear understanding of how technology contributes to effective learning and an explanation how technology is reflected in the course or programme of study   
• 3. strategies to encourage student autonomy and acknowledgment of the technological experience of the student  
• 4. innovative strategies to engage student interest through technology  

Facilitating learning   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:   

• 1. A record of successful teaching using technology suitable to the context (e.g. small group/large group/face to face/on-line/ distance/ work based)  
• 2. passion for technological use in the subject and for learning  
• 3. teaching and learning strategies through technology that measurably improve student outcomes  
• 4. support for students to build self-assurance and competence through the use of technology  
• 5. innovative strategies in course learning materials  

Reflection on learning and teaching   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence of sound practices in the use of technology to evaluate own effectiveness as a teacher and excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. collection and reflection on student feedback  
• 2. collection and reflection on peer/colleague feedback   
• 3. collection and reflection on stakeholder/employer feedback (where appropriate)   
• 4. changes made based on feedback and reflection  

General Criteria  

Organisational Quality  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. a record of excellence in the organisation that facilitates ongoing improvement in students’ academic and vocational/personal achievements  
• 2. a record of excellence in the organisation demonstrated by the support and pastoral care given to students   
• 3. a focus on excellence in teaching and learning that motivates students and encourages them to engage actively in their learning  
• 4. a record of innovative practices that impact positively on the organisation  
• 5. a focus on organisational self-reflection and evaluation that brings about improvement  

Strategic Leadership    

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. a focus on effective strategic leadership which is demonstrated in the organisation’s policies and practices  
• 2. a record of collaboration and engagement with other organisations to improve outcomes for learners   
• 3. encouraging and advancing the use of reflective practice to improve teaching and learning   
• 4. leading the development of innovative practices to enhance organisational and sector performance  

Contribution to Industry/Communities  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for excellence in one or more of the following:  

• 1. a focus on promoting effective links with the relevant industry, employers and relevant communities   
• 2. ongoing commitment to providing qualifications that meet the needs of industry/or relevant stakeholders   
• 3. a clear understanding of what contributes to effective learning that improve graduate outcomes  
• 4. keeping informed of developments in work practices, graduate destinations etc. and changing practices and programmes as a result.  
• 5. innovative practices that improve communication and relationships with the industry/or relevant stakeholders and/or communities  

General Criteria  

High academic achievement/academic merit   

The nominee demonstrates/provides clear evidence of the following:  

• 1. the proposed study is coherent and well thought-through   
• 2. a record of academic ability that will enable the undertaking of this study/research at this level   
• 3. the relevance of the proposed academic programme to scholarly and career plans  
• 4. a clear academic and/or industry rationale for the value of this research/programme of study  
• 5. unique contribution and academic merit of the proposed study/research  

Professional and Academic Development   

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for the following:  

• 1. reflection on how the study/research prepares for and enhances professional and academic development  
• 2. a clear academic rationale that the study/research will help peers/colleagues   
• 3. reflection on how the study/research will advance the practices of teaching and learning   
• 4. a sound rationale that the study/research will advance the academic practices of the organisation  
• 5. unique contribution towards professional and or academic upgrading/improvement    

Contribution to the community  

The nominee demonstrates/provides evidence for the following:  

• 1. a clear plan for how the outcome of the study/research will be disseminated to the members of ITENZ  
• 2. a clear rationale for how the study/research contributes to wider community or communities   
• 3. a clear rationale for how the study/research contributes to tertiary education  
• 4. any other unique contributions towards outcomes/ excellent practice for a designated cohort and/or context   

     About Adelaide Reid

Adelaide Reid, Lead researcher Adelaide Reid, The Collaborative Trust

BA (1^st class Hons), University of Otago

Researcher and analyst with Community Colleges NZ and The Collaborative Trust 2010 till present

Researcher with The Christchurch Health and Development Study, University of Otago 2017 – 18

ESL tutor New Zealand and Spain

     About Doug Reid

Doug Reid, Project manager, Chief Executive Community Colleges NZ

Post Grad Cert in Strategic Leadership, University of Canterburys

CE Community Colleges NZ since 2011

Previously Christchurch Campus manager with Academy Group NZ

The Youth Guarantee Pathways and Profiles research project focuses on the experiences and perspectives of learners in the Youth Guarantee Fees Free programmes and explores the value of the programme for our young people.

Data have been gathered from the 2015 learner cohorts at YMCA, Unitec and Community Colleges NZ and a sample of these learners was followed through until the end of 2018.

This presentation discusses the research questions and looks at the common themes that emerged.

Update from Immigration New Zealand

Over the last 18 months, INZ has gone through a large change programme moving to processing by product type rather than geographical region. Celia will discuss the year that’s passed; provide an overview of what INZ is doing to address ITENZ members’ feedback; give you insights into INZ’s strategic direction and discuss any upcoming policy or product changes. There will be time for questions and answers.

Update from Education New Zealand

The update on the new digital platforms NauMai, the Media Centre and the Prime Minister’s Scholarships to Latin America and Asia.

     About Celia Coombes

Celia Coombes is the Sector Manager of Education in Immigration New Zealand and has been with INZ for 15 years.

Her role is to support the education sector to grow sustainably while managing risk to New Zealand. She has devoted much of the last 5 years (since taking this role) to increasing INZ’s engagement with the sector and transferring knowledge, data, and intelligence out to providers so that they can make informed business decisions. She works very closely with partner agencies such as Education New Zealand and NZQA.

She joined INZ in 2004, following 2 years of travel and work in the accommodation industry (Austria and Scotland). Celia has held a variety of roles within INZ, but have always been involved with the international education sector.

     About Hon Chris Hipkins

Hon Chris Hipkins is Member of Parliament for Rimutaka. He is the Leader of the House and Minister of Education and State Services, also the Minister responsible for Ministerial Services.

Chris completed the Bachelor of Arts majoring in Politics and Criminology at Victoria University and started working in the industry training sector. Before becoming an MP he also worked at parliament, first as Senior Advisor to two Education Ministers and later in the office of the then Prime Minister Helen Clark. Chris entered Parliament in 2008 and became the Spokesperson for Education at the beginning of 2013. He places a strong emphasis on social justice and believes that every New Zealander should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. He is a staunch advocate for and defender of our public education system. Chris believes that a free, quality education is the right of every child.

Chris entered Parliament in 2008 and became the Spokesperson for Education at the beginning of 2013. He places a strong emphasis on social justice and believes that every New Zealander should have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

     About Annabel Robertson

Annabel Robertson is ENZ’s Auckland based Business Development Manager and is the Vice Chair of EdtechNZ. Prior to this, Annabel was posted to the New Zealand Embassy in Berlin and worked on international security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

In the face of significant sector change, providers need to be adaptable and innovative to exploit the opportunities presented. Challenges for leaders are to inspire confidence, align effort, empower and engage employees and customers, and innovate through collaboration. In this session, ETCO’s CEO Jeremy Sole and Institute for Strategic Leadership CEO John Wadsworth will offer practical insights into what it takes to be an effective leader with an emphasis on how to build a highly engaged, high trust leadership team that leads with unity.

About Jan Roodt

Jan Roodt is a professional international education consultant with experience in domestic and international operations of medium to large sized tertiary organisations (ITP’s and PTE’s). His previous contracts include International strategy, the identification of offshore business opportunities, student recruitment and agent management.

The session will take a different perspective to explore the benefits that global connections could bring to New Zealand. The hypothesis is that global connections should be strengthened by an increased offshore presence to ensure a greater benefit to New Zealand. Thus, organisations should challenge themselves to have a bigger appetite for an increased offshore presence, increasing the benefits of their global connections not only for themselves, but New Zealand as a whole. The following sub topics will be addressed:• An overview of the current position and challenges regarding offshore delivery and business opportunities. Challenges such as NZQA’s offshore criteria, Immigration NZ rules and the proposed changes to the current structure of ITP’s and ITO’s. • Benefits of offshore activities and how these will eventually benefit New Zealand will be explored. The involvement of more offshore staff will create a better understanding amongst offshore partners of the PTE sector and its strengths, potentially helping to address the perceived preference to work with Universities/ITP’s instead. By getting exposure to offshore activities, staff will be able to better understand international challenges/cultures whilst working in the ”backyard” of students who

Cultural capability is the skill of how to relate to and support students. This presentation will explore how leaders can help grow the cultural capability of staff. The presentation will draw on examples from New Zealand and overseas.

About John Wadsworth

John Wadsworth is the Chief Executive of the Institute for Strategic Leadership (ISL). ISL runs world-class residential leadership programmes for CEO’s, senior executives, and senior leaders. In addition, ISL works with executive leadership teams to drive performance through high trust, highly engaged, aligned and unified leadership. Prior to joining ISL, John was the Dean of Business and Information Technology at MIT and has held several national body Chair and Board roles.

In this session, Dr. Lehan Stemmet clarifies the widespread confusion about what stress and resilience is. He has researched the psychological and health consequences of stress for over 20 years and will share his findings. He explains some of the body’s responses to stress, as well as offering some useful tips to deal with pressure.

Two topics will be discussed in the presentation:

1. The importance of accessibility and inclusion for Deaf people in tertiary education. Why this is important and how it can be done. Feedback/experiences from Deaf people themselves tertiary education.

2. A summary of the Merge NZ Tutor Training programme funded by Ako Aotearoa. Merge successfully delivered professional development training for Deaf people wanting to teach New Zealand Sign Language. The benefits of this project, outcomes and where to from here.

About Lehan Stemmet

For over 2 decades, Dr. Lehan Stemmet has pursued his interest in how people deal with stress and challenges through what started as a personal project he called ‘Deal With It’.

Lehan links his observations over the years with some of the latest published research on stress and resilience, including his own research findings. He has been invited to present numerous talks and seminars to diverse audiences including senior leaders in businesses from a range of industries.

His work is published globally in mainstream business media as well as academic research articles, and in book and encyclopedia chapters internationally.

Lehan has worked in and with organisations from several industries, including biotechnology, consumer electronics, banking, FMCG, manufacturing, security, logistics, and tertiary education. He has also held various senior management and leadership roles in many of these industries.

Coming from a commercial senior management background Lehan has spent the last decade in tertiary education in various roles including his most recent as Associate Dean for Business at the Manukau Institute of Technology and Head of Department for Management at the Otago Polytechnic Auckland International Campus. He has taught a range of undergraduate and postgraduate management courses, including organisational behaviour, research methods, and organisational change and development to young students as well as senior executives.

Passionate about seeing people reach their full potential, he has developed a particular focus on navigating people through a journey of building resilience and leadership capability.

About Helen Mcphun

As the owner of a tiny PTE, Helen Mcphun‘s passion is to make learning work and to promote excellence in education. She sits on panels at NZQA, align with ITO’s, and consult in the corporate/academic space. Regardless of the context, providing the bridge to success for learners and educators is the goal.

About Helen Lomax

Helen Lomax is Director/Tumuaki of Ako Aotearoa, New Zealand’s National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence. Ako Aotearoa hosts New Zealand’s Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards and provides funding and services to build sector capability. Helen was a judge for the Global Teaching Excellence Awards (2017-2018) for Advance HE. Helen has also supported projects on international quality peer review benchmarking with universities and institutes from New Zealand, Australia and Pacific countries including Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. For the Tertiary Education Commission, Helen led major sector projects for priority learner groups, literacy and numeracy and funding for centres of research excellence.

About Ian Funnell

Ian Funnell is the Manager of the Monitoring and Assessment team at NZQA.

He has been working in the New Zealand tertiary education sector for 15 years and held qualification development, assessment, moderation, and leadership roles within the PTE and ITO sectors.

For the last eight years, Ian has worked at NZQA.

In his current role, he is responsible for a team of Evaluators that monitor:

• programmes leading to New Zealand qualifications
• TEO assessment practice in relation to NZQA-managed standards
• ITO national external moderation systems

If Performance Appraisals are a regular part of the staff management system at your organisation, you should attend this session. There is a growing body of evidence that they not only don’t effectively measure performance, but they may be a source of low levels of staff morale, especially if they are linked to reward systems.

This session will investigate why they don’t work and suggest performance management systems that are simple and effective.

About Paul Chalmers

Paul Chalmers established one of New Zealand’s oldest PTEs in 1995 and still advises a number of education organisations on performance related issues. He has also owned a large engineering organisation which religiously insisted its management team of over 40 participate in performance appraisals.

Paul is currently guest lecturing at AUT on performance management.

This session explores what a dyslexia-friendly learning environment looks like and what it will take to create one.

The first step is building awareness, not just the awareness of the educators, but of the learners, as well as all staff and stakeholders. This will help eliminate the stigma that is sometimes attached to dyslexia and dispel the myths that surround it. Another important factor is building educator capability. Strong, supportive leadership is also essential to implement a whole-organisation approach to dyslexia, where everyone in the organisation works together to ensure the needs of learners with dyslexia are met. This means that differences are acknowledged and accommodated for, and strengths are recognised and harnessed. The ultimate goal is to achieve inclusion. This session will demonstrate that this goal is within the reach of all organisations.

About Annette van Lamoen

Annette van Lamoen has a background in working with high-needs learners. She was a Teaching Fellow at the University of Waikato, where she lectured and tutored in adult literacy education and dyslexia. She was the Manager of the National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy for Adults and now works for Ako Aotearoa as a Professional Learning and Development Consultant. She is passionate about supporting educators and, by extension, their learners.

About Jan Roodt

About Anita Guthrie

Anita Guthrie is the General Manager of MySkill a PTE which is dedicated to the Home and Community Sector. She has extensive experience in building people capability and is passionate about working with people who make a difference to the 200,000 New Zealander’s gaining support so they can remain in their own home.

The presentation will focus on MySkill’s operating model which has enabled it to totally immerse itself within the Disability, Home and Community Sector.

Throughout the presentation Anita will give real examples of how they did this, the compromises they had to make and most importantly the impact it has had on our employers and learners.

MySkill differs from a standard PTE.  They are currently unfunded by TEC and owned by NZ Health Group who is the largest provider of support within the Disability, Home and Community Sector.  In 2016 TEC made the decision to remove all TEC funding due to an ITO complaining it was overlapping provision.  To remain financially viable, they had to make transformative changes to how we operated.

• How they have moved our core purpose from providing TEC funded qualification programmes to the sector to providing relevant, practical training and education to the sector.
• By reshaping our core purpose, they had to change our behaviour, attitudes and operating model to meet employer’s needs in the broader sense.
• What is really means to build learning content, delivery methods and assessments that fit into the employer’s ‘every day’ activities?
• The pain of being agile and needs based.  What this means for your bottom line and how they prioritised learner outcomes over higher revenue streams.
• Our journey to understand each of their clients (employer vs learner) and how they balance the two.
• Being true to the purpose of the sector and advocating for the true end user (the person receiving support in their home) via education and training activities.
• Being different and building effective working relationships within the sector ITO and NZQA.
• The unknown landscape for them with the vocational education review and TEC funding.

The next wave of digital disruption is here and changing everything we know about technology and its place in our world.

Ideas once coined ‘futuristic’ are rapidly changing the face of business. But are New Zealand students truly ready for the magnitude of change expected over the next few years? How can they leverage technology to accelerate their transition from education and succeed in the workplace?

Shailan will present on adapting to new technologies affecting the future of work (such as AI and machine learning, IOT and big data), and provide insights for students to make the most of the digital economy.

About Shailan Patel

Shailan Patel is passionate about helping students catapult from education into employment. His career has been diverse, and he is now leading the MYOB education channel. He’s working alongside accounting and tech students, and young entrepreneurs. Shailan is no stranger to the stage – having presented at education/tech events across NZ.

The focus of this session is on NZQA’s work to date in developing our regulatory approach to jointly create a strong and responsive tertiary education system

About Eve McMahon

Eve McMahon is currently the Acting DCE Quality Assurance at NZQA. Eve joined NZQA for the implementation of the evaluative quality assurance framework and lead improvements to the qualifications system and framework. She was appointed to her substantive role as Manager Quality Assurance Strategy in 2016. Prior to that she has held a range of positions primarily across the health and education sectors.

The session will cover how our PTE links to industry and how the industry drives the training they want and how we see this fitting with the intent of the ROVE.

About Kari Pearcey

Kari Pearcey’s background has centred on training and people development, working extensively within government organisations and across a broad range of industries throughout her career.

Kari has previously held a GM position with the National Qualifications Assessment Centre, a role as a Framework Development Officer with the NZ Qualifications Authority and various staff development and training roles. She has also undertaken consultancy work to: develop unit standards and qualifications for Industry Training Organisations; develop and implement workplace assessment and moderation systems; and to assist industries to implement skill-based learning plans within their organisations.

Kari has specialist expertise in: organisation and management; business communications; leadership and management development; project management; training and development; information mapping; strategic information systems planning; people development and Human Resource management.

Through her facilitation Kari has been able to use her extensive knowledge of the qualifications framework to build relevance and return on investment for both learners and clients, understanding the needs of both and tailoring her delivery to suit.

Kari is currently tutoring for LearningWorks in the areas of Business Management and Leadership, Project Management, and Adult Education and Training. She also runs a Private Training Establishment the Allied Trades Institute and is the CEO for FloorNZ, the trade association for the Flooring Industry.

Recent research suggests that ‘change’ is a key characteristic of the modern workplace. In a numeracy context, this means preparing low-skilled learners to tackle situations that they have not encountered before, innovate, and continually learn new information. This presentation explores a problem-solving approach that can be used by educators working with adult learners at any level. The model enhances the transfer of numeracy skills to new contexts and supports learners to learn independently. The presentation also demonstrates how numeracy problems can be effectively used as a learning tool to develop numeracy and problem-solving skills.

About Damon Whitten

Damon Whitten is a specialist provider of professional development to the tertiary sector, focusing on adult literacy and numeracy. His emphasis is on generating and connecting research to real-world contexts and using the results to develop effective teaching and learning approaches.

About Jeremy Sole

Jeremy Sole is the CEO of the Electrical Training Company (Etco) and was elected to the ITENZ Board in 2018. He has a passion for leadership and business strategy and experience across a range of sectors and political environments. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Employment Relations and an MBA from the University of Auckland, is a Certified Practitioner in NLP Business Communication, and is a graduate of the ISL Strategic Leadership Programme. Jeremy is currently engaged in an organisational transformation project at Etco and will speak about the strategic imperatives behind the change programme and the outcomes he is working to achieve with and for his executive team and wider organisation.

About Victoria Lessing

Victoria Lessing (Co-director of Merge NZ). Victoria, born Deaf, is a social advocate for the Deaf community, qualified NZSL tutor and Co-Director of social enterprise, Merge NZ.Victoria has been teaching New Zealand Sign Language for almost 20 years and has been involved in the development of NZSL teaching curriculum and the online NZSL dictionary. Currently studying a BA double major in education and business, Victoria is also fluent in five languages, Victoria has a huge passion in inspiring people through teaching language and culture programmes.

About James Elliott

James Elliott is a practising lawyer and MC, columnist and comedian.  His weekly “Yesterdaze” column is published on www.newsroom.co.nz and he is a regular contributor to Radio NZ’s “The Panel” and “The Week That Was”.

About Pieter Watson

Pieter has been innovative in PTEs for over 20 years, having helped various PTEs achieve success with NZQA approvals, accreditations, and degree applications and monitoring, but specialises in self assessment capability building for EER.Pieter has read and analysed hundreds of EER reports and run workshops on this since 2011.

About Tim Fowler

Tim Fowler has been Chief Executive of the Tertiary Education Commission since April 2013.  He was previously Deputy Chief Executive, Quality Assurance at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.  Tim has held international and management positions in Australia and New Zealand in both the private and university sectors after starting his career in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Tim has an Honours Degree from Victoria University, a Masters from the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii, and executive education from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and INSEAD.

About Andy Jackson

Andy Jackson is the Group Manager, Tertiary Education at the Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga. The Group is responsible for policy, strategy and analysis for the whole post-compulsory education and training system including regulation, funding and student financing. The Group works closely with partner agencies including the Tertiary Education Commission, NZQA, Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue.

Andy has a 20-year career in public policy and operations, most of it in New Zealand. He has previously managed teams responsible for labour market, immigration and tertiary education policy at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and the Tertiary Education Commission, where he also worked in operations. He has also worked as a Senior Analyst at the Treasury on a diverse range of issues including serving as advisor to the Treasury Secretary.

Andy has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Public Policy from Victoria University of Wellington, and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. He originally comes from the north of England, before moving to London where he worked as a researcher at the House of Commons.

Updates are coming soon.

Imagine this. You have finally got your visa sorted to study in New Zealand or you have just moved to the city from a rural part of New Zealand to study your favourite subject. After, much deliberation you sought out the best school with the right programme. Excitement is high. A few weeks later you have to sit your first assessment. The document is confusing. English is a bit muddled. The instructions are a bit unclear. The language is unhelpful. Your eagerness and enthusiasm are replaced by fear and apprehension. As an adult educator, I have seen the assessment documents from hundreds of training organisations– PTE’s, ITO’s corporate environments, professional bodies and universities. There is an ongoing missing ingredient in many documents and that is plain old common sense. Too often learners are having to spend a lot of time trying to understand the assessment document and what it is asking of them before they can even start to provide the evidence or answers. Similarly, assessors are having to follow often long and detailed but somewhat useless assessor marking guides with rubrics, charts, and a plethora of subjective language. Imagine if the assessment documents were all completely learner and assessor centred as well as being compliant. What I often see are supposedly compliant but generally confusing and cumbersome documents. They promote the following – time lost marking, remarking, explaining, re-explaining, moderating, reviewing, etc. Clear, clean, learner-centered tools will help learners to showcase what they really do know and clear, consistent, objective assessor marking guides, will allow all assessors to assess all work consistently. Doesn’t really sound that hard!

It’s now 10 years since the External Evaluation and Review replaced audits. Many PTEs see the EER as “a problem”, with effective preparation as the “solution” for their next EER visit. In reality, the problem is QA, and the solution is effective self-assessment. This is outlined across various documents by NZQA, and this QED workshop analyses what NZQA needs from PTEs. We will look at a small number of cases where PTEs have had a sudden drop to Category 3, and show what their EER reports tell us about what NZQA needed and didn’t get. Participants should bring to this session an element of their own self-assessment practice that they wish to improve. The workshop’s main focus will be on what the quality assurance framework tells us about NZQA’s seemingly innocuous Front End Quality Assurance, and what Effective Self Assessment means in PTE-speak. We’ll list, and define the significance of, key documents including rules and guidelines for maintaining registration, programme approval and accreditation, consistency, training schemes, consent to assess and micro-credentials. And we’ll examine why moderation has become such a central part of QA, and how getting this right can ensure there are no surprises during monitoring visits and EERs.We will also look at the importance of integrating mission and values into the daily operational discussion, and for building capability across academic and administration staff. We’ll clarify how the range of all self-assessment KEQs should be defined and used in-house in between EER visits, discuss briefly how evaluation works in the outside world, and look at how focusing on statistics can help bring learning alive.