There’s an old South American fable about the difference between heaven and hell. The scenario is the same for both – a beautiful atmosphere and the very best food cooking in the background. The catch is that the only eating utensils are spoons with two metre long handles. In hell everyone is starving. They spend so much energy trying to figure out how to feed themselves that no one eats. In heaven, everyone is happy and well fed. They have figured out how to feed each other.

The people in the fable learnt that collaboration is transforming and enriching. Victory Primary School in Nelson is an outstanding example of this principle. They don’t enrol a child, they enrol the entire family. By including families and the community that surrounds their children they have transformed and enriched lives.

I recently spent a day with Mark Brown, Principal of Victory Primary School. He confirmed my belief that with a desire to make a difference and a commitment to include families and communities in the solution, things do change for the better. You can read more about Victory Primary School in this newsletter.

Over the past year the ITO has been involved in bringing several community agencies and peak industry bodies together to explore collaborative practices. Much of this has been happening informally for years, but it is time to formalise and focus. With a common vision for the social services industry these collaborations will have far reaching impacts.

We also have a number of projects that are providing opportunities to partner with many people and agencies in the sector. Our degree, national moderation and in-house training recognition projects have strong collaborative elements that ensure true industry involvement. All of these projects are nearing completion and I am certain that our efforts will be recognised for the teamwork that has taken place.

Long may we continue to feed each other.

The draft degree unit standards for social work and youth work have been developed by unit standard working groups consisting of representatives from peak industry bodies, tertiary education organisations (TEOs) and community organisations. The unit standards will shortly be put before a reference group for feedback.

“The process has been a truly collaborative endeavour,” says project leader, Dr Amanda Torr. “The end result will be a workable and effective model that will deliver meaningful degree qualifications that prepare people for professional work and post graduate study.”

The unit standards have been grouped in a way that builds knowledge, professional skills, and analytical and problem solving skills as well as helping learners develop their independent learning abilities.

Dr Torr says the degrees and unit standards have been developed so that TEOs can deliver them in programmes that reflect their own unique philosophies and teaching methods. She says moderation will reflect institutional expertise and TEOs will be recognised as peers in the degree delivery process.

As for all degree programmes, the national degrees will be delivered by people actively engaged in research. At the same time there will be a robust process of workplace assessment that ensures learners can transfer their learning to real workplace settings. This dual requirement means the collaborative relationship between the ITO and TEOs will continue beyond the degree development. Work is currently underway to consider future funding of the degree programmes recognising the dual importance of theoretical and workplace based learning.

“These are exciting times for the ITO. I am confident that the draft unit standards are what the industry wants,” says Dr Torr. Once the unit standards are signed off, work will begin on developing the national degrees themselves. It is hoped that the degrees will be ready for approval and registration by the end of 2009.

For more information or request to be part of the process please contact Dr Amanda Torr, Project Leader at amanda.torr@tkaito.co.nz

Learning how other social services manage their training of staff and volunteers is one of the highlights of involvement in an ITO project to recognise in-house training programmes.

Fourteen organisations are participating in a feasibility study to see how their own training can be recognised towards part or full national qualifications in social services.
Since last July, 13 NGOs and one government agency (Child, Youth and Family) have had their training mapped against social service unit standards and hosted peer reviews of their training systems.

Lesley Belcham, General Manager of OUTLineNZ, summed up the feedback of the organisational peer review experience. “I have often felt like a sponge trying to soak up as much about other social service organisations and the ITO training world as possible.”

The organisations have identified the recognition service as having potential to help retain and grow their workforce, offering new pathways for professional development and improving overall training systems and resources.

Jac Lynch, ITO project manager, said examples of good practice identified during the peer reviews have been shared among the study participants. “If this recognition service is established formally it will certainly be a development tool for the sector,” she says.

As well as the review visits, the project has created other opportunities for social services to network on training issues and share learning about in-house training. In April, three of the participating organisations (Women’s Refuge, Plunket and NZ Federation of Family Budgeting Services) showcased their training models at a seminar hosted by the ITO. The seminar was attended by NGOs and officials from the Tertiary Education Commission and the Ministry of Social Development.

To date the programmes of the organisations have been matched against unit standards in social services work, youth work, Iwi/Māori social services, Pacific Island social services, suicide intervention, Tamariki Ora-Well Child, and social services work with abuse, neglect and violence. A final report on the project will be presented after July.

The organisations involved in the study are Scouts NZ, GirlGuiding NZ, YMCA, Young New Zealanders’ Challenge, Te Runanga o Ngati Porou, Te Runanga o Raukawa, Taeaomanino Trust, National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges, Family Support Agency (Rangiora), OUTLineNZ, Child, Youth and Family, NZ Federation of Family Budgeting Services, Aotearoa NZ Association of Supervised Contact Services and the Plunket Society.

For further information about this project, contact Jac Lynch at jac.lynch@tkaito.co.nz
Jac will also be presenting this project at the Industry Training Federation’s Annual Conference in July.

Focus on outcomes rather than inputs is the key theme in a collaborative project that will change the way the ITO moderates its social services unit standards. Out goes the narrow compliance model to make room for a system that will recognise the diversity of teaching and assessment approaches, upcoming changes to the tertiary sector and the value of learning from the expertise and experience of others.

Jenny O’Connor, Quality Systems Manager, says this approach is closely aligned to both the ITO’s values and international best practice in evaluation and quality assurance. “We want to enhance the opportunities for sharing and learning in areas of assessment common across social services qualifications, as well as linking people and organisations that assess specific disciplines,” she says. “This helps focus moderation on the learners’ achievement and the extent to which quality assessment practice is occurring with our accredited providers.”

The changes ccome from a review of the moderation system during 2008. The review identified a number of issues with the current system. As a response a national moderation working group, made up of ITO assessors and accredited tertiary education organisations (TEOs), was set up to design a new system that would meet sector needs. The group has met four times since last December. “We wanted this system to be built and owned by the providers – they are the experts” says Jenny. “The group has worked really hard and considering the diversity of the organisations they represent, it has been really gratifying to see how people can come together to achieve a common goal that they all feel passionate about." A consultation document outlining two possible models for the future has been circulated to the wider sector for consultation. The final outcome will be integrated into a new Accreditation and Moderation Action Plan and registered with NZQA.

As a result of the feedback during the review process the ITO is doing something new and different for national moderation this year. There will be two two-day national moderation events in Wellington, during the week of 5-9 October, for all ITO assessors and accredited TEOs. The programme will include a key note address on competency assessment, small workshops in areas of special interest plus moderation of assessment samples. “The response from providers to this initiative has been overwhelmingly positive. This will be the first time, in quite some time, we have had ITO assessors and assessors from our accredited TEOs under the same roof,” says Jenny. “People are really looking forward to a time of sharing expertise and knowledge and adding value back to the organisations that train the future workforce for the social services industry.”

For further information about this project, contact Jenny O’Connor at jennyo@tkaito.co.nz

The Association for Supported Employment in NZ (ASENZ) and the Social Services ITO have joined together to revitalise the National Diploma and National Certificate in Employment Support. This strategic partnership is looking very promising in building the capacity and capability in the employment support sector. And like all relationships, there have been rocky patches. What is important is how the strength of the relationship has steam rolled those out.

Two years ago ASENZ approached the Social Services ITO about starting the project. There was a good deal of enthusiasm for this on both sides and the project gained momentum. Unfortunately, soon after the initial work, the ITO went through a restructure to improve their own capability and capacity. What resulted was only one person involved in the early discussions remaining with the ITO. However, the level of trust and enthusiasm remained. The incumbent manager was incredibly effective in maintaining the continuity of discussions and the ongoing process. And it didn’t take the new managers long to jump on board.

It was very heartening to see how quickly we were all in agreement as to how to refresh the supported employment qualifications. This agreement led to a memorandum of understanding between ASENZ and the ITO.

During this past year, I have worked closely with ITO staff members Karin Brown and Justine Te Moananui in setting up a small group of assessors from within the supported employment industry, realigning the unit standards required for the qualifications and developing the connections between the workshops and the assessment requirements. We have now completed three two-day workshops and the students are working away on their assessment tasks.

We have achieved quite a lot in a short space of time and we are immensely proud of that. We are also proud that we have been able to deal with some interesting situations in a positive manner. It has not all gone as smoothly as we would like and there have often been situations which created problems. I have been very impressed with the way Karin and Justine have handled things. Karin has been very supportive and maintains very regular e-mail and phone contact. She has been able to keep an objective viewpoint and practical perspective throughout the process of getting the programme up and running. This has shown a very real commitment to the programme and toward the relationship between ASENZ and ITO.

Justine continued this positive approach during a period when Karin was away on holiday. This was further emphasised by Karin and Justine attending the ASENZ mini- conferences last year to present the national certificate and diploma programmes to the conference participants.

Members of the ASENZ Board have expressed their appreciation of the professional, practical and personal aspects of the application of the agreement between us, and I look forward to continuing my connections with the ITO staff.

Can’t and won’t are words school prinicpal Mark Brown doesn’t use. He believes in ‘you can’ and ‘you will’. However, he also believes that sometimes support is required to get his kids and their families to think this way. The key to this support is engaging and including families and communities to become part of the solution.

Dr Rory Truell, Executive Director for the Social Services ITO, says this philosophy fits in very well with the ITO’s. “We have a responsibility to include families and communities in problem solving. This is part of our core values of kotahitanga (connecting people), manaakitanga (honouring others and ourselves) and kaitiakitanga (upholding our responsibilities). Mark Brown sets an example for us in the ways he has lead his school into incorporating these values into action,” he says.

Mark Brown is principal of Victory Primary School in Nelson. He has been in the news recently for setting an example of how a low decile school with 70 per cent non-European children can successfully address issues of low achievement, truancy, bullying and exclusions. Victory Primary School, like many low decile schools, had a history of all these things. In fact, transient families were such an issue for the school that nearly 60 per cent of children wouldn’t return to school for a second year.

That’s a far cry from where the school is today. So, how did Mark achieve this turn around? Two words best describe his actions - inclusiveness and cooperation. “We were continuing to do things the way we have always done things which was just looking at our patch as what was included inside the school fence. But this approach was producing the same results. We had to change our actions and our attitudes if we were going to make a difference,” says Mark.

The attitudinal shift came with a simple philosophy that the school didn’t just enrol a child, they enrolled an entire family. The school’s patch became much broader than the boundary fence. This idea then became embedded in the school purpose of “Victory Primary School is here to help families and communities to educate young children” and the school motto of “Everyone matters at Victory”. Mark Brown felt so strongly about this that these principles were written into the school charter.

So, if the school was going to take a community approach to education they had to be able to implement a proactive and preventative model rather than a ‘fix it’ model to schooling. Mark admits this was a very tall order. “I knew we could do it, but we couldn’t do it without help. We were only experts in education. We needed experts in all kinds of other things and our community had all of that expertise. We had a community that was opportunity rich. We just had to tap into that,” he says.

Community spirit and inclusiveness are ideals many organisations aspire to. However, the actions required to achieve this often seem very arcane and complicated. Not so, says Mark. “Once we got the attitude right we started looking for opportunities and they were out there. We were thinking ‘we can’, not ‘we can’t".

For example, Mark noticed many refugee mothers were very isolated. They were dropping their kids off at the school gates then returning home for the rest of the day to an empty house. The refugee children also seemed very isolated from their peers and had difficulty adjusting. The solution was to convert an old tennis pavilion into an adult refugee learning centre. Part of the pavilion was also turned into a day care centre to support the mothers with younger children. The result is a happier more engaged refugee community where the parents and children learn together and support each other.

Another example is the new gym. The school had been planning on building a new gym but with a little more thought and a little more fundraising a community centre was built that incorporated the gym. Victory Community Health Centre houses organisations like Plunket, WINZ, Pregnancy Support, Independent Midwives, La Leche League, budget advice, asthma nurse, arthritis educator, community law, counselling services, housing services, elderly services for fitness, health and social activities, youth services, family activities, cultural activities, community sports activities and Kohanga Reo. “We built the facilities then invited the community to move in. They have really taken it on board and it is now entirely self managing. It really benefits our kids as well. We are now able to identify and address problems early, this is the key. We have all the referral services and support services right here on campus that address the problems for the entire family. Bad behaviour in children is most often the result of deeper family issues. Once we start addressing these, the children behave better and can start concentrating on learning. We have that support right here. We are not only open 8.30 to 3, we are open 7am to 10pm with support for our community,” says Mark.

The school has also set up many educational and social support programmes for the children. A relationship with a local iwi means the school can offer specialist Maori home work help in after school care. This supplements the school’s six bilingual classes with 112 children taking part (1/3 of the roll). An equivalent programme is run for refugee children and other special needs groups. Also, partnerships with community organisations like Big Brothers Big Sisters allow the school to run those programmes during or after school. Social skills are further developed with friendship clubs, anger management programmes, art therapy and many national programmes.

Parents were also actively involved. Wine and cheese evenings and coffee afternoons are run regularly. “These give the parents a chance to connect with me and the teachers. It helps build the relationship and gives the parents a chance to be heard,” says Mark. The school also involves the parents in their children’s education and social wellbeing. “We have an active philosophy of helping parents do their job. For example, we don’t offer a breakfast in schools programme. We monitor if children are coming to school without breakfast. If they are, we talk to the parents to find out why. Then we help them through their issues with providing breakfast. It is a parent’s responsibility to do that and if they can’t we help them. This is dealing with the core issues and is more sustainable in the future,” says Mark.

So, how does he know he has succeeded? “School is now a fun and supportive place to be. Children want to be here and their families want to be here too. The whole atmosphere has changed,” says Mark. Statistics also show success. Victory Primary School now has an above national average academic achievement rate. There have been no stand downs in nine years and there is a higher than average national attendance rate and a lower than average transience rate. Bullying behaviours are managed from the first instance so second instances are very rare. Referrals for problem behaviour are almost nonexistent. And, most intriguingly, several families from the surrounding decile eight schools have enrolled their children in Victory School. “I may have to look at zoning,” says Mark. “We have a very full roll and I am getting more and more enquiries.”

There have been positive spinoffs for the surrounding community as well. Vandalism is rare. The area has a high percentage of houses with insulation. The rates of respiratory illnesses are lower than average. There is a higher percentage of people involved in physical activities. And there are higher than national rates of refugee adult literacy.

Surely this success had a very high cost attached to it? Mark says the school didn’t have to provide any extra money out of their operations grant. “We did do a bit of fundraising but mostly the money came from readily available pools of money from the Ministry of Education, District Health Boards and other government departments," he says. “Finding the money was not the hardest task.”

He also adds that the transformation was not an overnight success. “We have a ten year plan. We started in 2000 and have worked really hard to build on our successes year by year. But our strength has come from having a strong vision and including the parents and the community in supporting that vision. It takes time but it is important.”

Rory Truell agrees. “It is important to have a vision and to be working toward that vision everyday. It is wonderful to hear success stories like Victory Primary School. They have worked hard towards their vision for many years and are seeing the success. The ITO is working hard toward a highly qualified workforce that provides the best possible social services for our communities. We can learn from Victory’s example.”

At a recent Special General Meeting the ITO’s Board of Directors voted in a new constitution. As a result, the Social Services ITO is now operating under a new governance structure that is more focussed on outcomes.

This change is the result of a governance review that specifically asked the social service sector how the ITO could become more responsive to the industry and more responsibly meet strategic business goals. “I am positive this process has given us a governance structure that will drive the organisation in strategic planning and lead into the future,” says Rory Truell, Executive Director.

Our website has further details.

If you would like further details of the membership project please contact Justine Te Moananui, Special Projects Manager on (04) 915-7708 or on justinet@tkaito.co.nz

Social Services ITO project manager, Jac Lynch, will be presenting at the ITF’s up- coming annual conference. Her presentation will centre on the ITO’s feasibility study that looked at how social service agencies’ in-house training can be recognised towards part or full national qualifications in social services. She says this feasibility study shows that many organisations are dedicated to up-skilling their staff and these skills add value to organisations and to the sector as a whole. This fits well with the ITF’s theme of ‘Skills that Add Value.’

Here is more information about the ITF Conference.

The Industry Training Federation has chosen Skills That Add Value as the theme for its annual conference to be held at Wellington’s Te Papa on 28-29 July.

“The theme goes to the heart of what we aim to achieve in industry training and workplace learning,” says Federation Executive Director Jeremy Baker.

“Our conference will provide attendees with practical ideas and solutions to improve the relevance and effectiveness of workplace learning and vocational education and training, particularly in the current recession.”

Three international keynote presenters have been confirmed as well as ITOs and industry representatives leading a wide range of practically orientated workshops that share examples of good practice and innovative ways in which workplaces and industries can make the most of industry training.

The Industry Training Federation’s annual conference is a major event on the conference calendar for those interested in sharing and hearing about developments in the world of industry training and vocational education and training.

This conference has sold out in previous years so to reserve your place go to www.itf.org.nz/conference-2009

We have a new brand coming-can you figure out what it will look like from the teasers in this newsletter? Our next newsletter will be under the new brand and we need a new name to go with it. Give us your ideas and the winning idea will get two movie passes for a theatre near you.

Email your suggestions to misty.knowles@tkaito.co.nz by Friday 24 July.