Matauranga Strategy - Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated

6.5 Alternative Education
Alternative Education (AE) was the Governments response in 1999 to the large numbers of
13 to 16 year old students who, for various reasons were excluded from participation in
mainstream schooling. The purpose of AE is
“...to provide new learning opportunities for young people who are outside of, and alienated
from, the education system. Either they are unwilling to attend a regular school or schools are
unwilling to enrol them in a mainstream setting”(ECAET 2002:2).
The Ministry of Education pays funds directly to secondary schools at the same rate as pupils
enrolled at school and in line with the 40 week school year. In 2000, Skill New Zealand was
contracted to manage AE for the Hawkes Bay Consortium of schools and to interpret the
consortium’s vision for AE into a functional working model (ibid:3). The predominance of Mäori
and particularly young Mäori males referred to the programme, an average of 81% of the
placements over the two years since it’s inception, influenced the contracting of appropriate
providers versed in tikanga Mäori and whose tutors were good role models.
Such providers were deliberately selected over trained secondary school teachers (ibid:4). In
their report to the General Manager of Skills NZ, the East Coast Alternative Education Team
(ECAET) raised their concern at the predominance of young Mäori males in the programme
and that they were not being catered for within the compulsory education sector (ibid: 15).
The coordinator of one Mäori provider in the Ngäti Kahungunu rohe offering three placements
in an administration and computing course, was positive about the students they have received.
Among reasons for the expulsion of students on her courses were fighting, drugs and nonattendance.
She described the AE programme as not only an opportunity to offer skills
enhancement but also to provide a secure environment for students whose experiences of
schooling are negative and hostile. Many are reluctant to leave her course and some stay until
they reach 18 years when they must either transfer to a Youth Programme or enter the
workforce. The coordinator suggested that the low student/tutor ratio and a focus on work
experience and life-skills are major reasons why the programme works so well for her
organisation. However, school holidays consistently disrupted routines and students were
generally unable to cope without regular and directed support. This was also confirmed in the
ECAET report.
There are five models of training in AE. These include supervised correspondence at home,
small and large group training, and attached places for a small number of students who have
succeeded in previous AE placements. Here, there is a strong vocational focus ultimately
aimed at employment or further education in industry training outside of AE such as the course
described above. Attached Places is also the model brokered by Flaxmere College in Hastings.
In evaluating their management of AE over the two years since 2000, ECAET concluded that
they had not achieved the best outcome for the ‘excluded’ student to a satisfactory degree in
Hawke’s Bay. Reasons for this include:
“The tension between the negative effects created for providers from the payment system and
the desire of Skill NZ to satisfy the Consortium, by maximising purchasing power, had a
damaging effect on our ability to produce better result [sic] for learners in terms of delivery and
pathway planning outcomes...” (ibid: 14).
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