Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2018-2020
Progress report for: November 2020 – February 2021
Commitment Number: 3
Lead agency: Ministry of Education
Objective:
- To develop a Schools Leavers’ Toolkit (Toolkit), comprising a suite of tools, resources and curriculum supports making it much simpler for schools to:
- Understand and respond to learners’ levels of financial literacy, work readiness and knowledge of civics and personal wellbeing
- Integrate civics, financial literacy, personal wellbeing and workplace competencies into their local curriculum across years 7 - 11
- Effectively teach civics, financial literacy, personal wellbeing and workplace competencies.
- Civics education, and an understanding of how government and the democratic process works, is an important element in developing young people who are confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners.
- The Toolkit will also provide a vehicle for increasing young people’s access to other Plan commitments, such as the information products being developed by the Office of the Clerk, and the Youth Parliament programme, delivered by the Ministry of Youth Development and the Office of the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives.
Ambition:
- Every young person can access the civic and financial literacy, and workplace skills, they need to succeed, before they leave schooling.
OGP values:
Milestone 1
Stocktake of existing Toolkit resources complete
June 2018 – September 2018
Progress: completed
Milestone 2
Ministers consider Ministry of Education analysis of opportunities to support expanded access to Toolkit opportunities
September 2018 – December 2018
Progress: completed
Milestone 3
Exploratory co-design phase concludes and is used to inform resource development and a detailed implementation support plan.
June 2018 – February 2019
Progress: completed
Milestone 4
Pilot implementation reporting and evaluation complete
February 2019 - Dec 2021
Progress: underway
Milestone 5
Toolkit training and support programme complete
February 2020 - Dec 2020
Progress: completed
Milestone 6
Initial pilot of digital badges underway
June 2021- on indefinite hold
Progress: some delays
What we have been doing
- The School Leavers’ Toolkit student website was launched in 2019 by Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister of Education. It provides key information and advice on civics, wellbeing, financial literacy, key workplace competencies and personal wellbeing. The site is available in English and te reo Māori and has been designed in consultation with a range of young people to appeal specifically to 16 – 24 year olds. The website has seen over 150,000 views since the launch, with over 56,000 first time users as at 28 February 2021.
- On 16 June 2020 we launched new civics education resources for teachers of English medium education to use with students from years 1 – 13, with a particular focus on years 6 and above. The resources are based on two key themes; belonging and living together in Aotearoa New Zealand and processes of decision making and government. These resources are available on the School Leavers’ Toolkit teacher facing website. We have had very positive reviews of the new resources so far.
- On 16 June 2020 we also launched Te Hekenga ki Hawaikihou. Te Hekenga ki Hawaikihou is a co-designed curriculum integration framework that reflects some of the key skills and knowledge that ākonga in kura arareo Māori education settings seek to develop in preparation for their future pathways.
- Work to prototype digital badges for each of the four School Leavers’ Toolkit topics has been put on indefinite hold due to COVID-19.
- We contracted a supplier to develop civics education resources for use in Māori Medium settings. These resources seek to take a holistic approach to civics education through a te ao Māori lens (e.g. How can I use my te ao Māori perspective to address issues in my community?). The delivery date for these resources was June 2020, however the timeline for engagement with the Māori Medium sector was impacted by COVID-19. We intended to launch these alongside an adaptation and translation of the English medium civics resources in June 2021.
- We have created a mihi video to welcome young people to the School Leavers’ Toolkit.
- In 2020 we delivered training and support programme for teachers and educators to integrate the School Leavers’ Toolkit into their local curriculum. Most of the workshops scheduled for Term 1 in 2020 were completed, with a small number being done via webinar. The workshops scheduled for Term 2 were delivered in Term 3 due to COVID-19. Most of these workshops were delivered via Zoom. These workshops were mostly well-received and focused on introducing the civics resources to schools nationwide. There was a great deal of excitement about these resources, especially from Māori medium kura and wharekura.
- We continue to review and create new content for the School Leavers’ Toolkit on a two-monthly basis. We reviewed the ‘Taking care of myself’ section of the website in January and we are currently updating new pages on managing stress and anxiety, maintaining connections after secondary school and mindfulness. In March we are adding a section on Te Tiriti o Waitangi for the Government and Voting section and adding information on activism. We communicate new content through Ministry channels such as Facebook, Instagram and the School Bulletin. We are also engaging a digital marketing organisation to boost the social media presence of the School Leavers’ Toolkit.
How we are including diverse voices
- We have and continue to engage via our School Feedback Hubs for further development of the School Leavers’ Toolkit. These Feedback Hubs have been formed to support our understanding of the needs of specific user groups, such as students with disabilities, students with learning support needs, and Māori and Pacific young people.
- We have undertaken a review of the student website content to ensure it is reflective of the diversity of young New Zealanders in the current environment. As part of this we have developed a mihi video that welcomes young people to the School leavers’ Toolkit and rewritten parts of the website to reflect a stronger te ao Māori perspective.
- We have created an Inclusion and Diversity Video Resources and supporting lesson plan for teachers to use in their classrooms. This resource can be used to support young people to call out and address racism when they observe or experience it. We created this video resource alongside the Human Rights Commission and launched it in September 2020. You can view the video here: https://school-leavers-toolkit.education.govt.nz/en/taking-care-of-myself-and-others/racism-and-other-forms-of-discrimination/
- We have re-established a Civics Resources Working Group which incorporates a range of voices across agencies. This group will review the Civics resources Māori medium adaptation in early March 2021 as well as link up on overlapping ongoing projects to understand better how we can collaborate.
How we are keeping diverse communities informed
- We are using the Toolkit on TKI website to provide updates on Toolkit product development. The site includes a feedback portal for any questions or ideas users may have. The Toolkit on TKI website is publicly available.
- We are utilising channels such a Kia Manawaroa to reach more whānau Māori. Through this channel we will communicate new content to the School Leavers’ Toolkit and the launch of new resources (such as the Māori medium civics rauemi)
- We worked closely with the Māori medium sector for the development of the Māori medium civics rauemi. This included a rangatahi reference group who helped to shape and decide on what content was most relevant to them for the Māori medium civics rauemi.
What’s next?
- In addition to the work contemplated in the Milestones we are creating ‘off the shelf’ packages for each part of the School Leavers’ Toolkit. We are currently at market with an RFP for off the shelf packages of learning. Responses are due mid-March and we intend to have these completed and ready for launch by end of June 2021. These packages of learning will:
- consist of a package of learning in the form of unit plans or lesson plans
- use and curate existing resources, which will cover all learning required for a learner to demonstrate competency in each of the Toolkit topics; and
- be able to be tailored and augmented by schools so as to meet the needs of the local curriculum context.
- We also have work underway to adapt and translate the civics resources (due to be completed in May 2021), including Ministry and Civics Working Group reviews, and quality assurance. We intend to launch these alongside a series of e-books that were also created for the Māori Medium education sector. This is tentatively scheduled for June 2021.
- We are creating new video content for the School Leavers’ Toolkit. The focus of the new video content will be to break the myths around what happens after school, for example:
- “It’s better to get your study over and done with – don’t take time off after school!”
- “If you don’t go straight into study, you’ll never go back”; and
- “University is for smart people, ITPs are for people who aren’t as smart and if you can’t do either, you get a job”.
- We are reviewing our School Leavers’ Toolkit from a usability and accessibility perspective in the next quarter. This was done prior to the launch in 2019 so we think it is prudent to review again.
- We will continually update, refine, and archive the content of the student facing School Leavers’ Toolkit.