Executive Summary

The Pasifika Education Plan 2006-2010 (the Plan) provides a strategic direction for improving education outcomes for Pasifika peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The Plan was released in June 2006.

This is the second in the series of monitoring and evaluation reports on the 2006-2010 Plan. It provides a national and regional picture of progress towards achieving the Plan's goals and targets and forecasts progress to 2010.

The report shows that many of the activities that contribute to sector-wide goals are tracking well and will be achieved by 2010. These include work on Pasifika languages, building capability and capacity, international work across the Pacific region, and the Auckland Strategic Action Plan amongst others. The report also shows particularly pleasing progress in reducing suspension rates.

This report also identifies areas requiring accelerated effort. These identified areas have been focused on in the latest Pasifika Education Plan.  The 2007 findings include:

Early childhood education

• Participation has continued to improve. The forecast position for 2010 is that Pasifika participation will improve considerably to 88.5 percent. This is short of its target of 95 percent. However, the FREE ECEprogramme is expected to improve this forecast;

Compulsory education

• half of all 2006 Pasifika school leavers achieved NCEA Level 2 or above. The forecast position for 2010 is that the target will be exceeded at 56.9 percent;
• the rate of Pasifika students leaving school with little or no formal attainment has improved and is forecasted to match that of non-Pasifika school leavers by 2010; and
• the age-standardised suspension rates for Pasifika students decreased sharply by 17 percent between 2006 and 2007 after three years of steady increase and may well meet the 2008 target. The forecast is for a Pasifika age-standardised suspension rate of 7.9 per 1,000 students by 2008, close to the target of 7.5 per 1,000 students;

Tertiary education

• Pasifika participation shows the greatest rate of increase of all ethnic groups at 22 percent since 2001. The forecast position is for 4.3 percent participation at degree level or above, slightly below the target of 5 percent;
• the five-year retention rate is increasing at all qualification levels from 42 percent to 45 percent and is likely to be exceeded with a forecast position of 48 percent by 2010;
• the forecast position on the five-year completion rate for students who begin bachelors degree-level study in 2006 is at 32 percent; however, with more effort and the recent changes in the tertiary sector, it is expected that shifts will be made towards achieving the target currently set at 38 percent; and
• the proportion of Pasifika undertaking Modern Apprenticeships has increased, while the proportions of Māori and European/Pākehā have decreased; and

Education sector-wide

• a monitoring framework has resulted in two monitoring reports driven by robust evidence and linked to education sector and theme strategies;
• close and effective working relationships with education agencies and a protocol agreement between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs have been strengthened, consolidating strategic approaches supporting the Plan;
• the ministry has developed strong links with Pacific countries through the Treaty of Friendship with Samoa, a Memorandum of Understanding with Tokelau, and a Memorandum of Understanding with Niue. The ministry has supported all Forum Education Ministers' Meetings (FEdMM) since 2001 and in 2007 New Zealand hosted the FEdMM annual meeting in Auckland;
• the Auckland Strategic Action Plan is how the Pasifika Education Plan is realised in Auckland. A strong Pasifika team has been built in Auckland with a focus on connecting educational activity across the region; and
• the Vagahau Niue in the New Zealand Curriculum and the Tongan in the New Zealand Curriculum guidelines were launched in 2007. The Tokelau language curriculum will be launched late in 2008.