Performance and monitoring
All Youth Guarantee TEOs will report to TEC through the Single Data Return (SDR). The SDR is the system TEC uses to collect specific data required for funding, the monitoring of performance against Investment Plans, and for publishing performance information and statistical reporting.
This means the unit of funding for Youth Guarantee has changed from a ‘learner place’ to an Equivalent Full-Time Student (EFTS), as it was in 2010 and 2011.
Providers new to using the SDR may need to obtain a Student Management System (SMS) that is compatible with the SDR or use a bureau service. Information about Ministry of Education approved companies providing SMS or bureau services are available on the STEO website.
Information about how the SDR works is available on the STEO website under the SDR section. This website includes resources including the ‘Induction to SDR’ section (found at the bottom of the webpage) and the ‘2013 SDR Manual’ (near the top of the webpage).
TEC has also developed supplementary guidance to support TEOs with the reporting requirements of SAC levels 1 and 2 and Youth Guarantee. These guides contain instructions about how to capture the information required for the Single Data Return (SDR) and Verification of Study (VoS) processes and are designed to complement existing information provided by the Ministry of Education on the STEO website.
The supplementary guides are:
The first document is mainly for TEOs with experience using the SDR. The second is aimed at TEOs new to the SDR and who require extra guidance. TEOs setting up qualifications and courses for the first time might also benefit from the following information in relation to course classifications and funding categories. While SAC funding categories will not be used to calculate Youth Guarantee funding, this information is required as part of setting up courses in STEO.
Youth Guarantee Performance Framework
TEC is required to measure the performance of TEOs against the following Educational Performance Indicators (EPIs):
- student retention
- course completion
- qualification completions; and
- student progression to higher level study or employment.
These EPIs will be measured using the Youth Guarantee performance framework outlined below. The framework sets out the minimum performance expectations for each of the EPIs.
| Course completion | Qualification completion | Retention | Progression |
| Level 1 | 55% | 40% (for levels 1 and 2 combined)* | 50% | 40% |
| Level 2 | 60% | | 45% | 35% |
| Level 3 | 70% | 60% | 55% | 35% |
* this measure will be set at 25% for former Youth Training TEOs as a transitional measure for 2013 only.
There are no credit achievement targets for Youth Guarantee learners in 2013.
TEC will use performance against these EPIs to inform decisions about future funding. These are minimum expectations and TEC expects TEOs improve performance year-on-year. Eligibility for further funding or an increase in funding will be informed by a TEOs performance against the rest of the sector. TEOs need to ensure their performance data is accurate and submitted as per the SDR requirements outlined in the documents above.
For further information on how EPIs are defined and calculated, please see the Educational performance section of the TEC website.
The framework has two different targets for the Qualification Completion measure. This is to allow a further year for those TEOs new to Youth Guarantee in 2012 or 2013 to transition to the current Youth Guarantee model.
The 40% target is TEC’s minimum expectation for TEOs who delivered SAC and/or Youth Guarantee funded provision at any of their delivery sites prior to 2012.
The 25% target (minimum expectation) only applies to TEOs who commenced delivery of Youth Guarantee in 2012 or 2013.
Both targets recognise that some learners may not achieve the qualification their first time. It allows TEOs to re-enrol a significant proportion of learners in further study in order to complete their qualification.
These performance expectations are based on the past performance of former Youth Guarantee TEOs who are experienced in delivering to the target learner group.
Publishing of Youth Guarantee performance for 2012
TEC intends to publish 2012 Youth Guarantee performance during 2013. Reported performance will be based on combined ERS, SDR and NZQA data, and calculated using the 2012 rules and definitions as outlined in the Youth Guarantee 2012 – Measuring Youth Guarantee from SDR and ERS.
In addition, TEOs that offered Youth Guarantee in 2010 and 2011 and reported through the SDR should be aware that TEC may also report performance for 2012 using the SAC rules and definitions, as we did for 2010 and 2011 reported performance. This will enable some Youth Guarantee provision to be consistently reported across years.
Re-enrolling a 2012 student when moving to the SDR
Some TEOs have accepted learners on to their Youth Guarantee programmes later in the 2012 year, intending that such learners will continue their studies into 2013.
It is important for funding and for performance measurement purposes, that the correct (2012) course start date is recorded in the SDR. However, because a number of TEOs do not yet have the necessary NZQA or TEC approvals that will enable the actual 2012 start dates to be entered into a Student Management System (SMS), a work around will be required.
This requires TEOs to:
- create the qualification in TEC STEO, and send it to TEC for approval. When a qualification is entered into TEC STEO, the TEO is required to enter a qualification start date that is at least one day forward of the date of entry.
- request TEC arrange for a back-dated approval to be facilitated. Although the system will not ordinarily allow the qualification to be back-dated to the date when 2012 enrolments first took place, TEC can facilitate this. Requests for back-dating will be batched and processed by TEC once per week.
TEOs requiring a back-dated approval must indicate this to the TEC when first submitting their qualifications for approval.
Once the qualification has been set up with the correct (back-dated) date, the courses linked to that qualification can then be set up with the correct start year (in this case 2012). Then the correct start dates can be entered in the enrolment file for the April 2013 SDR to reflect the actual start dates.
Please note this arrangement is specifically designed for TEOs that are new to Youth Guarantee in 2012 as a transition measure only. Youth Guarantee TEOs delivering programmes prior to 2012 are not in this category because they are not moving to the SDR this year, and were required to have the necessary NZQA and TEC approvals prior to commencing delivery of all Youth Guarantee qualifications. Requests for backdated approvals from such TEOs will not be approved.