Introduction

Waitakere City Education & Learning Plan

BACKGROUND

There has been interest in developing a citywide learning and education strategy for a number of years. This was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Waitakere Education Sector Trust (WEST) in 2001. It was recognised then, that a more strategic and collaborative approach to the provision of learning and educational opportunities in the city could greatly improve educational outcomes for people in Waitakere.  

The Educators and Communities Call to Action Group is a part of the Wellbeing Collaboration Project which began in 2002. It is a group of education sector stakeholders whose goal is to facilitate improved working relationships within the education sector and between educators, families and communities. They held a one day conference in October 2005 that focused on the issue of improving learning experiences through the development of education sector and community partnerships.

This conference highlighted the need for a shared understanding of what the city wants to achieve in relation to education and the need for more strategic planning and action in this area. Thus the idea of developing a Learning and Education Plan for Waitakere became a reality in 2006. With support from the Waitakere City Council and ASB Community Trust, WEST employed a fulltime Learning Plan Coordinator to begin this process.   

THE PROCESS

Information was gathered by: 

• One on one interviews with key education stakeholders (for complete list see appendix). Interviewees were asked about their thoughts for learning in the future – what they saw as the challenges and the opportunities in Waitakere. They were asked who they networked with and who they would like to network with to achieve better learning outcomes.

• The data was collated and arranged using the Secondary Futures themes: Students First; Inspiring Teachers; Social Effects; Community Connectedness; and The Place of Technology.

• Focus group forums and workshops were held for the following sectors: Early Childhood; Schooling (Principals, Boards of Trustees & students); Maori; Pasifika; Youth; Tertiary, Adult & Community Education; Special Education; and Refugee & Migrants. In the latter stages, Results- Based Accountability workshops were sometimes used to focus on key actions and potential partners.

• A Sustainable Learning conference in March 2007 brought more than 200 people from many sector groups together to share their vision for learning in Waitakere.

• Key education stakeholders have been added to a database and kept regularly updated through the WEST newsletter, The WEST Education Dialogue. The WEST website has continued to add positive education stories and biographies of local principals. The Waitakere community is invited to provide feedback via the website.

Information was gathered that contributed to the following:

·            A baseline understanding of the current learning and education environment in Waitakere City across a number of a key indicators, both quantitative and qualitative and from a range of stakeholder perspectives 

·           The development of a shared vision for each sector, snapshots, indicators and analyses that provide the overarching goals and structure for the Learning Plan 

·            The development of a framework of action areas and specific tasks that link with the vision and provide a practical pathway for reaching the vision and goals  

·            A basic outline of how the action areas and specific tasks may be implemented, including potential roles, responsibilities and timeframes 

·            Identification of the key players in relation to their respective roles in implementing the action areas and specific tasks 

·            A shared understanding of good practice in relation to: 
§                  Long term planning for improved citywide learning provision 
§                  How communities and educators can work together to improve learning experiences and learning provision 
§                  Improved engagement with key stakeholders both at an operational and strategic level.   

THE STAKEHOLDERS

The Waitakere Education Sector Trust has representation from most education sectors. Trustees have played a major role in facilitating the focus group sessions and providing feedback for the learning plan for each sector. This has involved a lot of extra time, effort and dedication from this passionate group of educators and community people.

Educators and Communities Call to Action group meet monthly following WEST meetings. This has enabled wider involvement into the Learning Plan from the community and provided added support from other community agencies, including local and central government agencies, through the Waitakere Wellbeing Project. 

Early Childhood Call to Action group formed a network currently facilitated by Coordinator, Anita Weir. The purpose of the group is to ensure every child in Waitakere has access to quality early childhood education. The group meets monthly and has a website. 

Waitakere Area Principals’ Association (WAPA) meets regularly to offer leadership support and to share best practice among the 94 member schools, both primary and secondary. During 2007 WAPA president, Darren Smith, was a key driver in forming a reference group to facilitate the learning plan for the schooling sector. The group has sought the cooperation of the Ministry of Education to work on key actions for the learning plan. 

Waitakere Area Secondary Principals’ Association (WASPA) represents the 10 secondary schools in the City. The group has formed a partnership with the Ministry of Education, a@w (Achieving at Waitakere), which fully supports the work on the Waitakere Learning Plan and the WAPA vision. The a@w initiatives strive to develop lifelong, confident, flexible learners, well prepared for learning, living, working and participating in 21^st Century contexts. 

The Waitakere Board of Trustees forum met for the first time in 2007 and intends to hold meetings at least once every year. As a result some BOTs have formed cluster groups in Waitakere to share expertise and governance issues. 

The Waitakere student leaders’ forum was established in 2007 by Massey High senior dean, Bernadette Stockman, to give secondary student leaders the opportunity to share leadership issues and to have input into key Waitakere education decisions affecting young people. They meet once every school term in the Council Chambers. 

The Waitakere Special Education forum was formed recently with the purpose of discussing Learning Plan initiatives for their sector. This group has representation from the Ministry of Education Group Special Education team and local specialist school principals and staff, including Resource Teachers of Learning & Behaviour (RTLBs). 

Waitakere Youth Services Step Up group is a collaboration of more than 50 providers who have held regular hui since 2006. Their purpose is to empower young people to find their place of identity and wellbeing through maximising their opportunities and potential. Many of these people have had input in the Learning Plan, particularly those involved in Alternative Education and the Youth Transitions Service.  

The Waitakere Tertiary Regional Facilitation group, led by Unitec, was set up in 2007 to produce a report outlining a general overview and a set of priorities for the provision of tertiary education and training in Waitakere.  It reflects the views of Council, community, business, industry and commerce about education and training needs backed by sound evidence and projections. Much of this data has been used to put together the tertiary sector vision and actions. 

Waitakere Adult and Community Education Aotearoa (WACEA) holds regular network meetings providing a forum for ACE providers in Waitakere City to meet, support each other and share knowledge and resources. WACEA has representation from school based ACE, community houses, WEA and Waitakere Adult Literacy among others. 

Te Taumata Matauranga ki Waitakere (Waitakere Maori Education Forum) has provided a forum for those who wish to contribute to the Waitakere Maori Education Strategy. It includes principals, teachers, HOD Māori, education facilitators, whānau, Boards of Trustees, Early Childhood, Kohanga Reo, MOE staff, Primary, Intermediate, Secondary, Kura Kaupapa, Tertiary education providers and Health providers. This forum also held Maori focus group hui convened by Carol Ngawati, Awa Hudson (Te Taumata Runanga) and Yvonne Hawke.  

The Waitakere Pacific Board Inc, the Pacific Advisory board to Council, has an education sector group whose role has been to put together a Pacific Education Strategy for Waitakere. It has representation from all education sectors and consults with the Waitakere Pacific community through church, youth groups, etc. 

The Waitakere Ethnic Board (WEB), an ethnic advocacy partner of Council, has involved the ethnic communities in discussions and workshops on learning and contributed much to the draft learning plan.  

New Out West (NOW) Call to Action group involves those who work with and have an interest in refugees and migrants to ensure they settle successfully in Waitakere. The group participated in visioning exercises and action planning in key areas including education.  

Waitakere City Council has made a significant strategic commitment to enhancing educational and learning opportunities in the city with the adoption of the Lifelong Learning Priority in the Long Term Council Community Plan 2003 - 2013. Learning and education also feature strongly in many of the nine strategic platforms, as well as being a focus of the First Call for Children Policy. Central to the implementation of the concept of  lifelong learning is the need to have an education sector that is working seamlessly and collaboratively from early childhood education through compulsory schooling, to work-related training, tertiary, and ongoing adult learning opportunities.

The Council, particularly Sue Dodds and her team, works actively with a number of key education stakeholders on a variety of different projects in order to facilitate this process.  

In March 2008, the Council employed a fulltime permanent Strategic Partnerships Advisor: Education & Learning, to progress the development of this project.  This work is overseen by WEST, with a Reference Group being set up to provide guidance and support for the role, in order to achieve the goals of WEST and Waitakere City Council.  The Reference Group is made up of:  Carol Ngawati; Joy Eaton; John Rutherford; Serei Barford; Sue Dodds and Gayle Lafaiali’i.  

THE PLAN
The draft Waitakere Learning Plan will set out a vision of where the key education stakeholders and the community want to be in twenty years time. It will spell out key actions that each sector has contributed in identifying as an action that needs to happen in order to reach that vision and the potential key players.  

The sector feedback documents will be used to inform both local and central government agencies about their potential role in partnerships to deliver those actions. The emphasis is on developing creative and innovative ways of making a long term and sustainable difference to learning experiences and outcomes for people in Waitakere City by working together more effectively towards identified common goals.  

A vision gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves what it is we want and go there. It provides a platform to celebrate what we do well in Waitakere – and there are many examples of inspiring leaders in education, community connectedness and innovative approaches to learning. We need to build on those in a positive way, to put the focus on Waitakere as a learning city as well as an eco city.  

Through education we can understand and celebrate all cultures in our increasingly ethnic diverse community. We need to ensure that we provide adequate learning choices for all ethnicities in Waitakere. This requires a community wide effort to build “strong learning communities” that make a real difference for everyone. We know and can deliver on what’s best for the West.