Breakout session - What learners want before they tell you: early signals, better decisions

Most providers are making strategic decisions based on information that is already out of date. Enrolment data from last year. Completion rates from the year before. By the time a trend is visible, the planning window has often closed. This session draws on Nexties' ongoing work with schools and career advisors across Aotearoa, including a current pilot programme with secondary schools focused on how rangatahi explore learning and career options, to share what learner intent looks like before it becomes an enquiry. What are learners exploring six to twelve months before they contact a provider? How does that differ across sectors, regions, and learner types? And what does it mean for how PTEs plan, position, and make decisions about where to focus? The session will share practical observations from this research and school engagement work, and invite participants to reflect on how forward-looking learner insight could change specific decisions in their own organisations, from programme planning and employer partnerships through to how they evidence labour market alignment in TEC investment plans. The goal is not to add to the noise. It is to give PTE leaders a different kind of signal, and a practical way to think about using it.