The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) of New Zealand made available a series of webinars to enhance online teaching practice and meet the requirements of tertiary learners.
Paora Ammunson, TEC Deputy Chief Executive for Learner Success said, “New Zealand has considerable experience when it comes to delivering learning online. With COVID-19, we were looking at ways we could build on this ability with resources and tools that may help tertiary education organisations (TEOs) deliver their teaching online.”
These videos support the tools and resources drawn from New Zealand and Australia and the rest of the world that may be of help for TEOs’ online delivery. The series has subject matter experts from the Open Polytechnic, TANZ e-Campus, University of Newcastle Australia and Southern Institute of Technology’s SIT2LRN share practical advice and case studies to improve online teaching practice.
The TEC was taken encouraged by the strong level of interest in the webinars, especially from NZIST subsidiaries and private training establishments. In fact, over 70 per cent of attendees surveyed said they would share the video of the session they joined with a colleague.
The TEC will continue working with subject matter experts in New Zealand and Australia, to ensure TEO’s have access to best practice advice and resources.
Earlier at the ned of July 2020, Minister of Education, Hon Chris Hipkins, announced a long-term recovery plan for the international education sector that includes a $51.6 million investment from the COVID recovery and response fund to help reset New Zealand’s international education sector.
The Plan consists of three concurrent workstreams that focus on stabilising the international education sector, strengthening the system and accelerating the transformation of the sector as signalled in the 2018 International Education Strategy. The government is investing:
- $20 million in support for state and state-integrated schools for the remainder of 2020 to continue to employ the specialist international workforce to continue teaching and providing pastoral care to international students who remain in New Zealand.
- $10 million for Private Training Establishments (PTEs) including English language schools to buffer the sharp decline in revenue and maintain a foundation of PTEs for the recovery phase.
- $10 million to develop new future-focused products and services to drive growth in our system onshore and offshore, to ensure a more resilient sector. This will include:
- Allowing students to begin studying from their home country to provide greater flexibility for learners and make our international education sector more resilient to shocks such as COVID-19.
- A unified digital platform to provide a single strong New Zealand brand and presence to enable providers to deliver study programmes to more people offshore.
- $6.6 million to continue the pastoral care and other activities for international students, subject to the proposed cancellation of the Export Education Levy for 2020/21.
- $3 million for marketing and brand promotion activities to keep New Zealand’s education brand visible in key markets while travel is restricted.
- $1.5 million for English Language Schools to deliver English language training to migrants to help them to succeed in our schools and communities.
- $500k to develop a quality assurance process to ensure the ongoing quality of a New Zealand education being delivered offshore, through NZQA.
In a recent article, OpenGov Asia shared how New Zealand has been recognised internationally throughout the pandemic for efforts in fighting COVID19, and in particular, it has been recognised for its’ impressive leadership from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Key leadership practices which are leading to New Zealand’s success is the government’s willingness to let themselves be led by expertise, its efforts to mobilise the population and to enable coping, all of which leads to increased trust in leadership which is needed for transformative, collective action such as the pandemic demands.
In the same vein, the New Zealand government announced the launch of a new online, phone and onsite service in response to the economic impact of COVID-19.
Chris Hipkins, Chairs of the Employment, Education and Training Committee said that the government has created up an all-of-government group focused on employment, education and training (EET) to support the COVID-19 recovery. This is one example of the initiatives that the new group taking a co-ordinated and strategic approach to job support will be rolling out as they rebuild.
