03 Hōngongoi (July) 2009
Kōkiri!
Advancing the Kaupapa of Literacy Aotearoa
Kaua e rangiruatia te hā o te hoe; e kore tō tātou waka e ū ki uta.
‘Do not lift the paddle out of unison or our canoe will never reach the shore.'
Kia ora tātou
Today, more than ever, we need to paddle in unison. Under a new government, with new priorities and a new budget, Literacy Aotearoa is at one of those stages in its history where we can either make great progress towards our goals by working well together or let the opportunity we have slip away as we struggle to find our rhythm against the slap of the tide.
That’s easy to say, but when you are trying to get everyone to paddle in unison, you can’t just tell people they have to do that and hope that somehow it will happen.
Te Kōruru recognises the need for greater communication and so we’re launching Kōkiri! as a way of achieving this.
Why Kōkiri?
People often ask what Te Kōruru does. We could answer “It is responsible for governance strategy and stakeholder relations,” but that probably wouldn’t help explain what we really do. Instead, we thought it would be more useful if we published Kōkiri! after each Te Kōruru hui (that’s four times a year). That way we can tell you what we learned, what we discussed, and what we decided.
Because this is all about Literacy Aotearoa and where we’re heading, we would like you to circulate it to everyone in the organisation and post a copy on the notice board, so that all Poupou personnel (even those who don’t read their emails) can catch up with the news. We promise to be brief.
The pace of change in the tertiary education sector means we are all on our toes watching out, catching up and keeping up. The good thing about Te Kōruru Hui is that the hui give us breathing space to talk about new developments and understand what impact they may have. We draw breath and take stock as we figure out the best strategies for the organisation. One thing we all recognise is that this is not a little organisation any more and we need to find ways for Te Kōruru to boost our business and other key skills as we shoulder this responsibility.
Because Literacy Aotearoa is so clearly focussed on adult literacy, we have grown significantly by responding to new opportunities opening up for adult students. We have been able to keep a step ahead of developments and programme requirements and Ngā Poupou have responded brilliantly to the challenges we face.
Budget 2009
It’s still too early yet to determine the full impact of Budget 2009.While we have come out better than some other organisations in our sector, Literacy Aotearoa will lose funding in certain areas. For instance, and as you are aware, there will be no funding for capability development next year, and the CPI adjustment will be stopped, which means that the funding will decrease annually. Also additional funding for growth of Adult Literacy provision has been cut although current provision appears to be retained. And until the Investment Plan is approved by TEC, the funding levels for Literacy Aotearoa remain unknown.
It is important to also recognise that the cut in ACE funding affects us, in that a number of Ngā Poupou have had access to Community Education hours for group work, training and professional development. The amount received over recent years has decreased, and the potential focus on literacy, language and numeracy tuition means that is not clear how this funding will be distributed in the future. If it follows the current processes then the schools will determine how and to whom the funding will be given.
Despite these budget realities, some real opportunities do exist for us, if we look in the right places. After all, the Minister made this statement in parliament:
“Higher priority provisions will be courses that focus on literacy and numeracy and on other foundations skills that offer good staircasing opportunities for future training and employment.”
The key to making the most of the possibilities ahead of us will (as always) be the quality of the tuition we provide over the next year to 18 months. The Hon Georgina Te Heuheu, recently sent congratulations to the Literacy Aotearoa membership for our achievements so far. So thanks everyone and let’s keep it up.
Constitutional and Quality Assurance Review
We have been delighted with the feedback on the proposed changes to Te Whāriki o te Kaupapa (the Constitution of Literacy Aotearoa) at recent Regional Hui. Thanks to the Poupou who have made submissions, and a big thank you to all the people who sent such hugely positive messages. We are grateful for your confidence, and appreciate your constructive suggestions.
Te Kōruru has approved the revision of Te Poutama Painga, following your overwhelming endorsement, and the overall process will conclude at Te Hui ā Tau.
National Planning Hui
We are very excited to see 27 creative workshops offered for the National Planning Hui. We look forward to the annual injection of energy, information and ideas when we all meet in Hongongoi (July). We welcome and look forward to meeting our new colleague Ian Miller, newly-elected Tauiwi Representative for Te Heke Tuarua (Region Two),
NZ Post Advertisements
Organisations like ours don’t often get to advertise, unless someone else pays the bill, so it’s exciting to know the radio and magazine ads sponsored by New Zealand Post were given national distribution for two weeks. We were pleased with the format of the ads - they’ve got a great call to action: and they are promoting the use of the Literacy Card, which is now available at NZ PostShops.
Ngā Hui Heke
Te Kōruru members appreciated the opportunity to meet, listen to and talk with Ngā Poupou personnel at the recent Hui Heke. Not only did everyone get to rendezvous at new host venues – some even got to join the 30th Birthday Party for Tararua Learning Centre. A big thank you to Ngā Poupou who acted as hosts for this year.
Queen’s Birthday Honour
It is with great pleasure that Te Kōruru congratulates Te Uira Kerehoma of Arohamai Aotearoa Literacy on her well-deserved award of the Queen’s Service Order (QSO) in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Those of us who know and have worked with Te Uira for many years are delighted that her perseverance, energy, achievements and commitment have been recognised by this government.
Heoi ano.
Te Kōruru
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