Adult and Community Education

ACE requirements

• Purpose
• Consulting on community learning needs
• Quality assurance
• Learner eligibility
• Delivery requirements
• Payment
• Monitoring
• Reporting

Purpose

The ACE objectives are to:

• provide informal, non-assessed learning opportunities that are characterised by programme diversity, flexibility and responsiveness to identified community learning needs and individual learners
• contribute to the tertiary education system in line with the directions outlined in the Tertiary Education Strategy 2010-15.

ACE funding is only available to meet the following priorities:

1. targeting learners whose initial learning was not successful
2. raising foundation skills
3. strengthening social cohesion.

There are also five university-specific ACE priorities.

Investment of ACE in each sector will also be prioritised to particular areas of focus and outcomes.

All TEO[1]s receiving ACE funding must abide by Condition ACE001[2].

Consulting on community learning needs

The ACE quality assurance arrangements require ACE providers to have appropriate processes in place to:

• consult the community, learners and stakeholders, and
• ensure the information gathered informs:
• the design and development of specific activities to reflect the needs of target learner groups
• the longer term direction of the organisation’s ACE programme.

With the reduction in total ACE funding, TEOs need to focus their ACE provision more closely to the specific needs of their communities while ensuring alignment to the funded ACE priorities. Therefore, TEOs need to ensure there is appropriate and effective consultation with their community. ACE activities should also be organised in liason with other local ACE organisations to avoid duplication.  

Quality assurance

TEOs receiving ACE funding must meet the ACE quality assurance arrangements detailed in the NZQA[3] publication Quality Assurance Arrangements for Providers of Adult and Community Education. They must continue to meet the quality assurance, audit and review requirements of Rule ACE010[4].

PTE[5]s, REAPs[6], and community organisations have ACE quality assurance audits undertaken by NZQA as part of their standard audit cycle. Organisations need to pay the cost of these audits.

Resources for ongoing ACE quality assurance can be accessed through ACE Aotearoa.

Learner eligibility

In accordance with Rule ENR515[7], learners must be aged 16 years or older, not enrolled full-time at secondary school and must meet citizenship or residency requirements.

In exceptional circumstances, a full time secondary school student aged 16 years or older may be enrolled in an ACE course, subject to Rule ENR516[8].  We expect the number of these enrolments to be minimal.

REAPs can enrol learners who are younger than 16, subject to Rule ENR099[9].

Delivery requirements

Subject to the ACE funding rules and conditions there is no restriction on any of the following:

• the length of a course
• the premises for delivery; subject to local fire, health, safety and access requirements
• the minimum group size.

TEOs may set fees for ACE provision. If they do so it must be in accordance with Rule ACE037[10]. 

Rule ACE038[11] specifies that ACE funding may not be used to run courses for teachers or tutors. 

Payment

Community organisations, PTEs, REAPs and schools that have surplus funds at the end of the financial year are subject to Rule MOR020[12].

All costs incurred in relation to or provision of ACE delivery must be paid from ACE income.

All providers are paid in monthly instalments on the first banking day of each month

Payment information for PTEs, Community Groups and Schools

From 2011 ACE funding will no longer be paid to PTEs, Community Groups or Schools in 12 equal monthly payments. Payments will be as follows:

• Equal monthly payments from January to June 2011 will make up 52.20% of each TEO's annual funding allocation.
• The remaining 47.80% will be paid through equal monthly payments from July to December 2011.

For more information please see the website update on Changes to Calendar Year Baselines.

TEI ACE funding

TEI ACE funding will continue to be paid in 12 equal payments.

Monitoring

We monitor ACE delivery through relevant performance measures in organisations' Investment Plans, including (where appropriate):

• the number of learner enrolments or learner places (schools)
• learner ethnicity and gender
• completion and retention rates
• progression of learners into a formal education programme
• re-engagement.

We may also monitor:

• evidence of learner eligibility
• learning outcomes achieved by learners
• financial information about expenditure of ACE funding and any other ACE income.

Reporting

TEOs must comply with reporting requirements specified in Condition MOR018. This also requires TEOs to report on ACE income and expenditure as a separate output in their annual statement.

Condition MOR019[13] requires ACE income and costs to be identified as a separate ledger item within the annual accounts for the TEO. ACE income comprises the following:

• funding from Vote: Education
• fees from learners
• income from enrolment and material charges
• any other income related to the management of ACE delivery.

• [1]

  Tertiary education organisation (TEO)

• [2]

  Condition ACE001: ACE collaboration and quality assurance

  All organisations receiving Adult and Community Education (ACE) funding must:

  • Work with communities and other local ACE providers in the development of their ACE programmes and activities to meet identified community learning needs, and 
  • Comply with ACE quality assurance arrangements, which includes ongoing annual self-review of progress against the arrangements.
• [3]

  New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)

• [4]

  Rule ACE010: ACE priorities and quality assurance

  All tertiary education organisations recieving Adult and Community Education (ACE) funding must meet the ACE quality assurance arrangements by:

  • Designing and providing ACE programmes and activities that align with the three funded ACE priorities;
  • Developing and maintaining systems and practices that underpin ongoing quality assurance, including an annual self-review of those systems and practices; and 
  • Complying with any Education Review Office or New Zealand Qualifications Authority review requirements or quality audits.
• [5]

  Private training establishments (PTEs)

• [6]

  Rural Education Activities Programme providers (REAPs)

• [7]

  Rule ENR515: ACE learner eligibility

  For organisations to receive Adult and Community Education funding, learners must meet all of the following criteria:

  • Be aged 16 years or older
  • Be a New Zealand citizen or Permanent Resident, currently resident in New Zealand
  • Not be enrolled in secondary school full-time, subject to Rule ENR516.
• [8]

  Rule ENR516: ACE participation by secondary school students

  In exceptional circumstances a full time secondary school student aged 16 years or older, including adult students, may be enrolled in an Adult and Community Education (ACE) course/activity, subject to the following:

  • The course or activity must occur outside normal school hours
  • The student must have written approval from the student’s school principal
  • The student must have written approval from the ACE programme director or equivalent.
• [9]

  Rule ENR099: Enrolling learners aged under 16 and within defined geographic areas

  Rural education activities programmes (REAPs) can enrol learners who are younger than 16 in Adult and Community Education programmes. These enrolments must constitute less than 10 percent of total numbers.

  All learners must be residents in the geographic area covered by the REAP as defined by the Ministry of Education.

• [10]

  Rule ACE037: ACE fees approval

  The following rules apply in respect of fees charged by tertiary education organisations (TEOs) that recieve Tertiary Education Commission funding for Adult and Community Education (ACE):

  • All fees must be approved by the TEO's governing body
  • Fees may be charged to learners on an activity-by-activity basis
  • Fees should reflect the actual cost of the course, yet be appropriate for the purpose and target group of each course.
• [11]

  Rule ACE038: ACE funding exclusion - teachers and tutors

  Adult and Community Education (ACE) funding must not be used to run professional development courses for teachers and tutors of ACE.

• [12]

  Rule ACE020: ACE carryover of surplus funds

  Any private training establishment, rural education activities programme, community provider or school that accumulates surplus Adult and Community Education (ACE) funds from its ACE income at the end of any financial year must retain this ACE surplus within the ACE ledger to be carried forward to successive years.
• [13]

  Condition MOR019 - Accounting for ACE funding

  Tertiary education organisations (TEOs) receiving Adult and Community Education (ACE) funding must be able to account for that funding and identify ACE income and costs as a separate ledger item within the annual accounts for the TEO.

  All payments for costs incurred in relation to or provision of Adult and Community Education (ACE) delivery must be paid from ACE income.

  ACE income comprises the following:

  • Funding from Vote: Education
  • Fees from learners
  • Income from enrolment and material charges
  • Any other income related to the management of ACE delivery.