Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2018-2020
Progress report for: May 2018 – July 2019
Commitment 3 progress report: May – June 2019
Commitment 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 civic and financial literacy, and work readiness
- Integrate civics, financial literacy and workplace competencies into their local curriculum across years 7 - 11
- Effectively teach civics, financial literacy 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:
Milestones
Milestone 1
Stocktake of existing Toolkit resources complete.
Start/End dates: June 2018 – September 2018
Progress: Completed
Milestone 2
Ministers consider Ministry of Education analysis of opportunities to support expanded access to Toolkit opportunities.
Start/End dates: 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.
Start/End dates: June 2018 – February 2019
Progress: Completed
Milestone 4
Pilot implementation reporting and evaluation complete.
Start/End dates: February 2019- November 2019
Progress: Underway
What we have been doing
The Toolkit has received a second year of funding ($3.5 million) through Budget 2019. This funding will be used to build on the design and development carried out in 2018, including:
- Developing an online credentialing system for the components of the Toolkit linked to the student-facing website.
- Provide training and support for teachers to integrate the new resources into their teaching and learning programmes.
- Develop additional tools and resources for schools and students to support Toolkit teaching and learning, with a particular emphasis on Māori medium resources
We have completed a review of the literature on civics education implementation in schools. The review looked at the experiences of the United Kingdom, Australia and Estonia (attached).
We have finished writing the content for the Toolkit’s student-facing website. This content was written in collaboration with a range of government and nongovernment subject matter experts and tested with young people. The content is currently being translated into te reo Māori. The website is now scheduled to launch in September.
We have completed a stocktake of resources available to support delivery of the Toolkit topics in te reo Māori. While we identified over 300 resources in English (124 of these for civics and citizenship education), only four te reo Māori resources were identified (two of these focused on civics/democratic rights and responsibilities). We are now working to identify priority Māori medium resources for development as part of Phase Two.
How we are including diverse voices
- In developing the School Leavers’ Toolkit student-facing website we have worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including government and non-government subject matter experts and students. This work has built on the information we gathered during our Phase One Engagement with schools, students and employers.
- We will be increasing engagement with parents, whānau and the wider community as part of Phase Two
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 publically available.
What's next?
- Our civics education resources are on track to be completed at the end of September.
- We intend to provide updated milestones to reflect Phase Two of the project, now that Budget 2019 funding has been confirmed.
Links – Evidence of progress and milestones achieved
- Civics education literature review