59191 (2025). Shanan Halbert to the Minister for Vocational Education

59191 (2025). Shanan Halbert to the Minister for Vocational Education: What actions, if any, is the Minister taking to support the Tertiary Education Strategy’s goal of reducing disparities in achievement between population groups at polytechnic institutes?

Hon Penny Simmonds: Polytechnics are autonomous institutions, and the Vocational Education Training redesign has given them the ability to respond to the unique and specific needs of population groups within their regions. The Tertiary Education Commission requires polytechnics to include Learner Success Plans and Disability Action Plans in their investment plans. These outline how the polytechnic is working to improve outcomes for all learners, including progress updates against previous plans. to the Government’s priorities, including those in the Tertiary Education Strategy. Polytechnics have access to a range of funding to support this, including additional equity and learner component funding for disabled learners and learners with low prior achievement in vocational education and training, disabled learners in foundation education, and Māori, Pacific, and disabled learners in degree and above programmes. The TEC provides evidence-based resources to all tertiary education organisations (including polytechnics) to help them better understand their students and trainees, which includes best practice resources for different student groups. This recognises that the contribution of the tertiary education sector to economic growth and productivity is maximised when all students are supported to progress through and complete their qualifications.