Tuia Te Hononga Tāngata, Tuia Te Hononga Ao: Taking the Pulse of Distance Learning in Aotearoa New Zealand

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Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu

https://www.tekura.school.nz/ 

# of unique students – 28,587
Type of provider – School, public, distance school
Primary distance modality – Asynchronous

Background

The Correspondence School, as it was then known, was established in 1922 to provide schooling for what Government officials thought would be around two dozen primary school students in isolated areas of New Zealand. By the end of the first school year there were 347 students enrolled. These initial students were taught through lessons, letters and work that was sent between the teacher and their students through postal mail, ushering in the age of correspondence education in the New Zealand schools sector. As early as 1931, the school began to experiment with educational radio. With advances in technology, The Correspondence School began to incorporate audiographics and other forms of computer-based instruction in 1990, and later e-learning in 2001.1 

The school was formally renamed Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura) in 2015. It is the only distance school as defined by the Education and Training Act 2020.

Governance

The Education and Training Act 2020 defines a distance school as “a school for the time being designated under section 196 as a distance school” (Government of New Zealand, 2024a, p. 39), which falls into the category of being a special institution. Section 196 reads:

196 Distance schools

(1) The Minister may, by notice in the Gazette,—

(a) when establishing the school, or at any other time, designate a State school that is not a State integrated school as a distance school; or

(b) at any time, remove a designation under paragraph (a).

(2) However, the Minister may not designate a school as a distance school, or cancel a designation as a distance school, without having regard to the education of people unable conveniently to receive tuition from a suitable State school that is not a distance school.

(3) Subject to clauses 8(7) and 12 of Schedule 23 and any regulations made under this Act specifying when a board member’s office becomes vacant, if an existing State school is designated as a distance school, its board must continue in office as constituted until a day specified by the Minister in the notice in the Gazette under section 122(1) determining the composition of its board, but must go out of office on that day.

(4) With the consent of the Minister, a distance school may provide early childhood education.

(5) A distance school may deliver education through any medium, including digital technology.

(6) The school that was, immediately before the commencement of the Education Amendment Act 1989, a correspondence school is to be treated as having been—

(a) established under section 190 as a composite school; and

(b) designated under subsection (1) as a distance school. (p. 153)

In addition to describing a distance school, the act requires that as state schools, special institutions must have a board. However, as a special institution the board is appointed by the Minister of Education based on criteria outlined in the legislation.

122 Composition of boards of special institutions

(1) The Minister must, by notice in the Gazette, determine the composition of the board of a special institution.

(2) A notice under subsection (1)—

(a) may apply to a specified institution or specified institutions, or to institutions of a specified class or description:

(b) may revoke or amend any other notice.

(3) However, no board member is to go out of office by reason only of the amendment or revocation of a notice under subsection (1).

(4) If a notice under subsection (1) relates to a special institution that is a distance

school, the notice must specify—

(a) that the board is required to have a staff representative as a member; and

(b) whether the staff representative is to be elected, co-opted by the board,

or appointed by the Minister.

(5) One board may administer a number of special institutions. (pp. 121-122)

At present, the two New Zealand Gazette notices that outline this composition for Te Kura are Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Board of Trustees (Te Kura) Notice 2020 and Corrigendum—Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Board of Trustees (Te Kura) Notice 2020 (Government of New Zealand, 2020b; 2020c). Beyond these specific provisions, the regular operations of the board follow the same Education (School Boards) Regulations 2020 that govern all school boards (Government of New Zealand, 2024b).

Along with the definition of a distance school and requirements related to its board, the Education and Training Act 2020 also outlines several provisions with respect to enrolment and attendance in a distance education school.

46 Secretary may require enrolment of certain children at distance school

(1) The Secretary may, by notice in writing, require the parent of a student who holds an exemption certificate issued under section 44 or who has been directed under section 82(1) to enrol the student at a distance school to—

(a) enrol the student at a distance school specified in the notice; and

(b) ensure that the student does the work of the course in which the student is enrolled.

(2) Enrolment must,—

(a) for a student exempted under section 44(1)(b), be for the period of exemption; and

(b) in any other case, be until the student turns 16 years or any shorter period specified in the notice. (Government of New Zealand, 2024a, p. 82)

68 Restrictions on enrolment at distance school

(1) The Minister may, by notice, fix criteria for enrolment in early childhood, primary, and secondary education at a distance school.

(2) A notice under subsection (1) may fix different criteria for—

(a) different distance schools:

(b) distance schools of different classes or descriptions:

(c) early childhood, primary, and secondary classes at distance schools.

(3) A person may not be enrolled at a distance school unless—

(a) the school’s board is satisfied that the person’s enrolment meets the criteria fixed under subsection (1) (if any); or

(b) the person is entitled under section 33 to free education at a State school and the Secretary has directed the distance school’s board to enrol the person.

(4) The Secretary may not give a direction under subsection (3)(b) unless satisfied that the only State school that the person can conveniently attend is a distance school.

(5) If the Secretary is satisfied that a person who is enrolled at a distance school in accordance with a direction under subsection (3)(b) can conveniently attend a State school that is not a distance school, the Secretary may notify the board of the distance school of that fact.

(6) If the board of a distance school receives a notice under subsection (5), it must cancel the person’s enrolment unless the board is satisfied that the person’s enrolment meets the criteria fixed under subsection (1) (if any).

(7) The board of a distance school must cancel the enrolment if it is satisfied that—

(a) a person’s enrolment at a distance school does not meet the criteria fixed under subsection (1) (if any); and

(b) a direction under subsection (3)(b) has not been made in respect of the person relating to the school.

(8) The board of a distance school may delegate the task of being satisfied that enrolments meet or do not meet the criteria fixed under subsection (1) (if any) to the principal.

(9) For the purposes of subsection (4), the distance school must offer education at the level, and in the subjects, required by the person or a parent of the person.

(10) A notice under subsection (1) is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements). (pp. 93-94)

69 Some domestic students may have to pay fees for tuition from distance schools

(1) The following students may not be enrolled or continue to be enrolled in a course, class, or programme at a distance school unless the appropriate fee (if any) prescribed by the board with the Minister’s consent has been paid:

(a) a domestic student who has turned 16 years and is not enrolled full-time at a registered school:

(b) a domestic student enrolled at a private school:

(c) a domestic student who is granted an exemption certificate under section 38(1).

(2) Subsection (1) does not give any person the right to enrol at or receive tuition from a distance school. (p. 94)

244 Offence relating to irregular attendance

(1) A parent of a student commits an offence if the student,—

(a) while enrolled at a registered school, does not attend the school as required by sections 36 and 42; or

(b) while enrolled at a distance school, does not do the work of the course in which the student is enrolled.

(2) A person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $30 for every school day on which the offence occurs.

(3) However, a fine imposed for an offence against subsection (1) may not exceed $300 for a first offence or $3,000 for a second or subsequent offence.

(4) The imposition of a penalty under this section does not limit or affect any provision of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989. (p. 173)

These enrolment conditions outlined in sections 10 and 68 of the legislation have been operationalized by the Government of New Zealand (2020a), as published in the New Zealand Gazette as “Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura) Enrolment and Dual Tuition Policy.”

The Education and Training Act 2020 further places requirements on the appointment of the chief executive.

94 Chief executive of distance school not required to be registered

(1) The chief executive of a distance school is not required to be registered.

(2) This section overrides sections 92 and 93.

94A Appointment of chief executive of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu

The chief executive of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu is appointed for a term of not more than 5 years, but may be reappointed for 1 or more terms. (Government of New Zealand, 2024a, p. 108)

Finally, there is also a part of the Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement between the Secretary for Education (acting on behalf of the Government of New Zealand) and the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association that is specifically focused on Te Kura.2 From a governance perspective, these provisions focus on the workload of Te Kura teachers, specifically around hours of work. In particular, the collective agreement states:

11.2.1 In order to carry out their duties in terms of this agreement it may be necessary for teachers to work for more than 40 hours per week. The normal hours of work for teachers however should, as far as practicable, not exceed 40 hours per week Monday to Friday.

11.2.2 Teachers are normally required to be present on the site for at least 35 of their working hours per week. These hours may be worked between 7.00am and 6.00pm daily from Monday to Friday inclusive, with a required core attendance time of 9.00am to 3.00pm. A lunch break of one hour is to be taken generally between the hours of 12.00noon and 2.00pm (unless agreed otherwise) provided that the timing of the lunch break does not interfere with operational activities. 

11.2.3 Where, with the agreement of the employer, a teacher works flexible hours the teacher may be required to keep a record of attendance.

(a) Without limiting any of the other provisions of this agreement, the school may request the services of a teacher during a vacation period for a total of up to five days in any 12 month period.

(b) The employer will provide the teacher with reasonable notice of a request under clause 11.2.3(a) and wherever possible will take the needs of the individual teacher into account. 

There is also a clause related to an annual review of student-teacher ratios. Additionally, there are detailed procedures for determining surplus staffing, the provision of an off-site allowance, and management allowances.

Resourcing

Te Kura is resourced in a variety of ways. Along with the above mentioned regulations, the Education and Training Act 2020 also outlines several provisions with respect to resourcing.

555 Grants for distance schools

Despite section 550,—

(a) the board of a distance school must in each financial year be paid, out of money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose, a single grant of an amount that the Minister determines:

(b) any part of a grant may be used for the payment of teacher salaries:

(c) a board may not, out of money that is not part of a grant, pay any part (or all) of a teacher’s salary, or pay to the Crown any part (or all) of a teacher’s salary paid by the Crown, except—

(i) with the Minister’s consent; and

(ii) in accordance with the conditions of the consent (if any):

(d) the Minister must withhold consent under paragraph (c)(i) unless satisfied that special circumstances applying to the school make it inappropriate for the Minister to do so. (Government of New Zealand, 2024a, p. 399)

These funding provisions outlined in section 555 of the legislation are operationalised each year by the Operations and Integration group of the Ministry of Education. The funding mechanism is described as:

The bulk grant provides the staffing and operations resourcing for the early childhood, Year 1-15, young adult, and adult students eligible under Te Kura’s Gazetted enrolment policy to receive full government funded tuition. Te Kura’s bulk grant is generated by an EFTS-based funding model, comprised of:

  • a base funding component, adjusted on an annual basis to consider increases in school operational funding; and
  • a per-student rate adjusted over time to consider the impact of teacher salary settlements.

The base funding component for the 2024 school year was $20,079,015, while the per-student rate was set at $4,958.74 for a full-time enrolment. Overall, enrolment funding was based on the following formula. 

Equivalent Full-Time Student Value and Service Level Factors
Funding Category Number of Main Subjects
One Two Three Four Five Six +
Full time – Years 11+ 0.20 0.40 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Full time – Years 9-10 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Full time – Years 7-8 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Full time – Years 1-6 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Secondary Dual Health School – Years 9-15 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.00
Secondary Dual – Years 11+ 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.00
Secondary Dual – Years 9-10 0.17 0.34 0.51 0.68 0.85 1.00
Primary Dual Health School -Years 1-8 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
Primary Dual -Years 1-8 0.25 0.50 0.75
Adult/Young Adult 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.00
Early childhood – full time 1.00

The enrolment portion of the grant paid to Te Kura is based on the criteria outlined in sections 10 and 68 of the legislation, as described in the “Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura) Enrolment and Dual Tuition Policy” (Government of New Zealand, 2020a).

Te Kura’s resourcing is paid monthly, in advance, on the first working day of each month. As the monthly instalment is based on projected enrolments, there is a reconciliation against actual enrolments in May and September.

Additionally, students living in New Zealand or overseas who do not meet the criteria outlined in the “Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura) Enrolment and Dual Tuition Policy” may still enrol at Te Kura as a fee-paying student.3 Finally, adult students (i.e., those aged 20 years and over) can enrol in courses at Te Kura by paying an administration fee of $116 for each course.

Further, Te Kura receives funding for a variety of programmes that apply to most public schools, including “supplementary learning support, KiwiSport, student support payment, part-time ECE assisted playgroup, at-risk gateway funding, equity funding, teacher aide pay equity settlement, Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu specialist and support staff settlement funding, and donations funding” (Ministry of Education, 2023b, p. 10).

Finally, it should be noted that Te Kura follows an open enrolment policy, which means that students can begin their learning at any time. This policy results in the reality that three students could enrol in a course today, four more next week, and nine others three weeks from now. This policy prevents Te Kura from using any form of cohort model for their programming.

Programming

The type of programming provided by Te Kura is tied to the different enrolment categories as described above (e.g., early childhood education, adult learners, health school enrolments, dual enrolment, etc.). However, regardless of the type of programming, all of the learning opportunities provided by Te Kura follow their Big Picture learning philosophy. According to their website, Big Picture learning is described as:

Big Picture learning places you, the learner, at the centre. It’s a way to fully personalise your learning with plans that focus on your interests, your passions and your potential.

You, your whānau and your Te Kura learning advisor will design a programme of learning that is relevant to you and connected to the real world.

A key aspect of Big Picture learning is your engagement with the wider community to broaden, enhance and deepen your learning. This includes everything from interviewing a community expert on a shared interest to undertaking a long-term community-based project. This part of Big Picture learning is called ‘Leaving to Learn.’4

As a way to personalise Big Picture learning within the New Zealand context. Te Kura has adopted five principles to guide their Big Picture learning philosophy:

  1. Whakamana – Learner and whānau agency: Learners and whānau lead their engagement and learning, building on strong marautanga foundations.
  2. Kotahitanga – Wellbeing: Learners learn through a range of integrated learning opportunities that support their holistic development.
  3. Whaitake – Relevance: Learners’ aspirations, interests, needs and contexts drive their learning.
  4. Whakawhanaungatanga – Relationships: Learners learn within the contexts of whānau, Te Kura (online and face to face) and community with the support of a range of different people including Learning Advisors, kaiako, mentors, peers and whānau members.
  5. Māramatonutanga – Rigour: Learners are supported to reach their goals through rich programmes of learning and are well-equipped to move forward in their lives to experience future success.

The instructional model used to provide Te Kura’s Big Picture learning is primarily asynchronous in nature due to their open enrolment policy. The asynchronous instruction is facilitated through an online learning environment that they refer to as My Te Kura (which is actually a Desire2learn Brightspace learning management system5). Te Kura teachers and developers are responsible for the creation of online course content and the curation of online resources housed in My Te Kura. Using the Big Picture learning, the teacher facilitates the student’s progress through the course based on their agreed upon programme of learning. Much of the facilitation, instruction, and interaction is also conducted asynchronously, although it could also occur in a synchronous fashion if needed.

Activity

According to the Education Counts website, the overall school enrolment is described as so.

Level Total
Year 01 23
Year 02 72
Year 03 77
Year 04 116
Year 05 132
Year 06 140
Year 07 201
Year 08 295
Year 09 530
Year 10 900
Year 11 1,188
Year 12 1,583
Year 13+ 3,907
Total 9,164

These figures included 3,128 students of Māori descent enrolled. It should be noted that these figures are cumulative and based on the enrolment as at the end of 2024.

During the 2024 school year, Te Kura had a cumulative roll of 30,981 students with approximately 16,000 students enrolled at any one time. The number of education providers who used Te Kura for supplementary dual tuition in 2024 was 679. Based on the table below, broadly speaking Te Kura enrolled 2,712 students as full-time, early childhood education, or fee paying; 17,293 students as young adult, adult, or correction; and the equivalent of 11,043 unique students as primary and secondary dual enrolment.

Nature of Enrolment Enrolment Figures
Early childhood education 677 enrolments

●      159 were Māori and 9 were Pacific

Adult and young adult ākonga 10,572 enrolments of whom 8,617 were young adults

●      of the young adults 2,100 were Māori and 388 were Pacific

Years 1 to 13 full-time education services 2,035 primary level enrolments

●      791 were access enrolments

●      1,244 were referral enrolments

●      901 were Māori and 78 were Pacific

 

6,721 secondary level enrolments

●      1,228 were access enrolments

●      5,493 were referral enrolments

●      2,974 were Māori and 242 were Pacific

Years 1 to 13 dual enrolment education services 414 primary school registrations

●      151 were provided a specialist programme to assist with their learning support needs

●      74 were gifted and talented

●      23 were enrolled at a health school

●      103 received tuition in Te Reo Māori

●      104 were Māori and 12 were Pacific

 

10,351 secondary school registrations

●      6,158 enjoyed tuition in a subject that their school was unable to offer

●      1,079 were enrolled due to an emergency staff vacancy at their school

●      1,673 were enrolled at a health school

●      583 were enrolled in Te Kura’s Summer School

●      3,230 were Māori and 861 were Pacific

Years 1 to 13, 0.1/0.2 ORS supplement 278 ORS-verified ākonga

●      191 ORS high needs or ORS extension (0.1)

●      87 ORS very high needs (0.2)

Finally, the following table reports the 2024 dual registrations by year level and subject area.

Year
Subject area 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Grand Total
Below NCEA 1 19 15 42 50 53 59 251 232 1454 2825 604 155 84 8 3 5855
Arts 1 1 2 3 29 68 11 2 117
English 9 5 18 18 21 20 56 80 351 726 122 21 11 3 1461
Health & Physical Education 1 1 2 2 31 85 23 3 1 149
Integrated Studies 3 3 9 7 7 7 11 16 3 66
Languages 1 99 14 287 442 148 70 37 2 1100
Mathematics 6 6 14 18 16 27 61 89 377 742 192 34 16 3 1601
Pathways Education 37 65 23 8 11 1 145
Science 1 1 1 3 4 4 10 15 130 272 21 8 3 1 474
Social Science 1 2 9 8 119 313 32 5 3 492
Technology 1 1 1 1 5 90 112 32 4 2 1 250
NCEA Level 1 8 1 9 14 173 536 4253 1079 422 21 16 6532
Arts 1 13 162 79 35 1 291
English 3 1 2 17 125 937 234 60 2 2 1383
Health & Physical Education 2 7 129 27 13 178
Kaupapa Maori 46 50 173 118 74 1 1 463
Languages 2 1 62 86 718 97 37 1 1004
Mathematics 5 1 5 9 32 159 951 265 85 3 6 1521
Pathways Education 8 44 331 112 68 12 6 581
Science 1 2 1 7 303 75 30 1 1 421
Social Science 1 23 368 43 11 446
Technology 3 22 181 29 9 244
NCEA Level 2 5 8 1 79 301 3161 995 11 6 4567
Arts 1 1 4 92 19 2 119
English 14 74 557 279 4 1 929
Health & Physical Education 1 27 292 54 2 1 377
Kaupapa Maori 1 1
Languages 1 1 48 65 487 28 630
Mathematics 2 4 3 17 340 179 2 1 548
Pathways Education 4 34 141 47 1 227
Science 2 2 2 30 421 233 1 691
Social Science 1 4 48 661 134 2 850
Technology 2 2 169 22 195
NCEA Level 3 1 4 23 148 2138 33 5 2352
Arts 2 4 102 1 109
English 15 241 14 1 271
Health & Physical Education 1 10 245 2 258
Languages 3 19 76 439 2 1 540
Mathematics 1 5 235 2 2 245
Science 1 10 271 6 1 289
Social Science 1 18 531 6 556
Technology 10 74 84
Grand Total 10 19 15 42 50 53 60 265 254 1628 3444 5181 4543 3639 73 30 19306

Historical Data


1 See https://www.tekura.school.nz/about-us/our-history/ for a more detailed history.

2 See https://www.ppta.org.nz/collective-agreements/secondary-teachers-collective-agreement-stca/part-11-te-aho-o-te-kura-pounamu-correspondence-school/ for the full text of this part.

3 See https://www.tekura.school.nz/assets/enrolment/Fees-schedule.pdf for the conditions of enrolment and the most recent fee schedule.

4 See https://www.tekura.school.nz/learn-with-us/learn-with-us/te-kura-big-picture-learning/

5 See https://www.tekura.school.nz/learn-with-us/learn-with-us/online-learning/ for more information about the My Te Kura environment, including the opportunity to login and view sample asynchronous course content.


References

Government of New Zealand. (2020a). Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura) enrolment and dual tuition policy. https://www.tekura.school.nz/assets/enrolment/Te-Kura-Enrolment-and-Dual-Tuition-Policy.pdf

Government of New Zealand. (2020b). Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu board of trustees (Te Kura) notice 2020. New Zealand Gazette. https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2020-go4212

Government of New Zealand. (2020c). Corrigendum—Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu board of trustees (Te Kura) notice 2020. New Zealand Gazette. https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2020-go4551

Government of New Zealand. (2024a). Education and training act 2020. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/LMS170676.html

Government of New Zealand. (2024b). Education (school boards) regulations 2020. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2020/0193/latest/LMS382668.html

Ministry of Education. (2023b). Resourcing notice for Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu – 2024 (GST exclusive). Government of New Zealand.