Executive summary

Te Tāhuhu/the Ministry (the Ministry) has made ākonga wellbeing a priority. This is in response to extensive feedback about the general state of wellbeing of ākonga, specific indicators of variable wellbeing, declining attendance and engagement rates, and clear cross-government expectations of improvement.

We have placed ākonga at the centre of our mahi. The project is underpinned by a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi to enact principles of kaupapa Māori, including co-designing and empowering ākonga to shape the development of this mahi and using multiple sources, processes and approaches. It seeks to address the need for a measure of ākonga wellbeing in education settings that is founded on ākonga voice and ākonga agency.

A co-design approach has been taken in the development of ākonga wellbeing measures and will also be used in developing the proposed mechanism for their use. Through collecting ākonga voice in this project, we seek to develop a set of relevant and reliable ākonga wellbeing measures in education settings, using their concepts of what wellbeing means to them. We have intentionally sought the voices of parents, whānau, Māori, Pacific peoples and refugee or migrant ākonga, those identifying as Rainbow, as having disabilities and those with additional learning support needs.

The purpose of this report is to highlight how this mahi has been informed and shaped by the voices of our ākonga, and what has emerged as key areas of importance for optimal wellbeing such as positive teacher- student relationships, support for managing time, opportunities to participate in a range of activities that support identities, cultures and interests, and the importance of close friends.

A total number of 9,820 ākonga participated in the in-class and online engagements. This resulted in 227,357 responses from in-class engagements and 67,096 responses from online engagement. 15,308 responses were received from parents and whānau, 1,279 responses from Māori communities, 2,022 responses from Pacific communities, 84 responses from the disability community, and 261 responses from migrant and refugee communities. A small group from the Rainbow community submitted their responses anonymously via the online engagement module. ›

Both machine and manual analyses were applied to the data from the in-class and online ākonga wellbeing workshops. Nicholson Consulting and Kōtātā Insight were contracted to conduct machine learning analysis and theme formation on the data received. A total of twenty-one themes emerged from the machine analysis. Manual analysis supplemented these themes with descriptions to better understand the context for each theme. Each of the parents/whānau/community/ target groups identified just over one third of the same themes voiced by ākonga. In addition, each group identified additional themes that had not been voiced by ākonga that they believed impacted the wellbeing of their rangatahi. This highlights the importance of taking an ākonga-centred approach to this project, and the need to be more aware of the potentially paternalistic role of adults making decisions for and about ākonga.

Feedback was sought from ākonga and teachers regarding the engagement process in kura/schools. Most of the feedback received focused on the survey process itself and stated that they had nothing else to add. Other comments stated they were satisfied with the survey, enjoyed being able to have a say, and that everyone’s voice was heard. Similarly, we received mostly positive feedback from all priority groups, with a similar desire to see the results of the survey, the proposed wellbeing tool being developed, and the data it generates informing action.

This report has been compiled to present the findings for this phase of the project that supports the development of a set of reliable, valid and easy-to-use ākonga wellbeing measures for common use that are culturally inclusive and support te ao Māori concepts of wellbeing.