Youth Guarantee focuses on improving the educational achievements of targeted 16 and 17 year olds by providing them with an opportunity to participate in a range of vocational courses free of charge.
Programme objectives
The objectives of the Youth Guarantee initiative are to:
- increase the educational achievement of targeted 16 and 17 year olds not currently engaged in education by providing them with improved access to study towards qualifications at levels 1 to 3 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in tertiary education
- improve transitions between school, tertiary education and work.
Youth Guarantee places confirmed
The TEC has announced the allocation of Youth Guarantee places for 2010.
In 2010, there will be 2,000 Youth Guarantee places available across New Zealand.
As 2010 is the first year of implementation, only selected organisations were approached by the TEC and invited to submit proposals.
Providers who have Youth Guarantee places in 2010.
Background information
The TEC has provided some further background information for organisations about Youth Guarantee. This includes:
Further information will added as it becomes available.
Learner eligibility
The target group for the Youth Guarantee initiative is students aged 16 and 17, who have achieved NCEA Level 1 or less and for whom a vocational pathway would be a preferred choice.
It is expected that demand may exceed the number of places that can be funded in 2010. Youth Guarantee providers will need to apply the following criteria to determine student eligibility:
- Age: students must not turn 18 years of age within three months of starting study under the Youth Guarantee
- School level: students must have completed Year 11 and be ready to move beyond school
- New students: students must be new to tertiary education i.e. not previously or currently enrolled in a Student Achievement Component (SAC) funded course
- Full time: students must be enrolled full-time
- Full year: students must enrol in a minimum of a full year’s worth of study (the equivalent of 0.8 EFTS).
Students enrolled in Youth Guarantee will not be eligible for Student Loans administered by StudyLink. Providers will be responsible for ensuring their enrolled Youth Guarantee students are not claiming any type of Student Loan through StudyLink.
Provider eligibility
To be eligible to provide Youth Guarantee, tertiary education organisations (TEOs) must:
- already deliver Student Achievement Component (SAC) funded courses
- have a track record for delivering NQF Level 1 to 3 courses targeted at youth that lead to successful outcomes e.g. numbers of students that achieve positive outcomes are above the national average (either successful course completions or retention) or demonstrate its capability to deliver to this age group
- have pastoral care capability, including delivery in culturally appropriate contexts
- have developed the capability to deliver embedded literacy, language and numeracy and can deliver such courses (or have a credible plan to do so during 2010) to Youth Guarantee recipients
- have capacity to deliver extra EFTS or can scale up for 2010
- demonstrate capability in catering to the needs of Māori and Pacific students
- be able to provide students, through the course content, knowledge and information on pathways into higher level qualifications and vocational training
- be prepared to submit manual reports to the TEC at regular intervals.
Process for provider selection
The Youth Guarantee is open to institutes of technology and polytechnics, wānanga, private training establishments and other tertiary education providers. However, as 2010 is the first year of implementation, only selected organisations will be approached by the TEC and invited to submit proposals.
Approximately 2,000 Youth Guarantee equivalent full-time students (EFTS) are likely to be available for allocation in 2010 throughout New Zealand.
Successful selection will be based on providers operating in areas of high need (i.e. greatest number of youth unemployed), and how well their proposal meets the programme’s objectives. Funding decisions will be made as part of the Investment Plan process.
Delivery model
A Youth Guarantee programme will consist of courses that meet the objectives of the initiative and are suitable to the target group.
The courses offered as part of the Youth Guarantee must be vocationally focussed, with clear pathways into higher levels of training integrated into the course content. The courses do not need to be restricted to Youth Guarantee students.
Courses offered through Youth Guarantee must:
- be linked to Levels 1-3 qualifications registered on the NQF
- have embedded literacy, language and numeracy in the course content (or have a credible plan to do so during 2010)
- provide students with knowledge and information on vocational pathways
- contain a mix of practical, specific and generic skill development
- be delivered face-to-face (i.e. not distance learning)
- not be a direct substitute for school-based learning.
The TEC expects to invest in a range of vocational courses for Youth Guarantee students. Preference will be given to the following New Zealand Standard Classification of Education (NZSCED) classifications:
- Engineering and Technology
- Business, Accountancy, Office Systems/Secretarial, Management
- Agriculture and Horticulture
- Trades 2.
This does not exclude providers offering programmes within other course categories, but they would need to clearly demonstrate to the TEC that the courses have clear vocational links and progression into higher level qualifications.
Funding
For every Youth Guarantee student enrolled in an identified Youth Guarantee course, the provider will be paid a Youth Guarantee Payment of $4,500, in addition to their SAC and TEO Component funding, to cover student fees and pastoral care arrangements. Courses must be provided free of charge to Youth Guarantee enrolled students.
$4,500 is no higher than the relevant Fee Course Cost Maxima (FCCM), and will be paid to providers as part of the monthly SAC allocation. SAC funding will be subject to a ‘wash up’ at the end of the year for under-delivery below 97%.
Youth Guarantee students enrolled in courses with embedded literacy and numeracy will not incur the additional SAC ‘top up’ payment for certificate levels 1-3 courses.
Pastoral Care
The Youth Guarantee Payment includes provision for pastoral care services for Youth Guarantee students. Pastoral care may include a range of services tailored towards the needs, including cultural, of the individual student. This may include: providing career planning and advice, learning support, extra-curricular activities, an orientation programme, regular form classes or counselling.
Performance monitoring
The TEC expects a high level of performance from Youth Guarantee courses. This would include a similar or higher level of achievement by Youth Guarantee students compared to other students enrolled in the same course.
Fund requirements will be in place to measure the performance of the Youth Guarantee students. The TEC will measure the following outcomes for 2010:
- Retention: providers will report on how many Youth Guarantee students complete their enrolled courses
- Successful completions: providers will report on how many Youth Guarantee students successfully complete their enrolled courses
- Progression: providers will report on how many Youth Guarantee students progress into further education or training or employment
- Literacy Language and Numeracy: providers will report the extent to which Youth Guarantee students improve their literacy and numeracy skills as measured against the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions.
Upon expansion of the programme beyond 2010, the TEC would expect providers to set key performance indicators within their Investment Plans based on the measures above.
Dependent on the availability of funding, additional providers will be eligible to offer Youth Guarantee as the programme expands. Performance in meeting the programme’s objectives will be considered in determining any future allocations.
Reporting
The TEC intends to monitor Youth Guarantee students using the Single Data Return (SDR) system. Providers will need to identify these students in their SDR returns using the new code provided for this purpose in the ‘Source of Funding’ field.
Providers may also need to provide some additional manual reporting against fund requirements. A template and timeline for this reporting will be provided at a later date if required.
Providers are responsible for ensuring their enrolled Youth Guarantee students are not claiming any type of Student Loan through StudyLink and will be required to check this.
Administration
The Youth Guarantee delivery and administration will form part of a provider’s Investment Plan. Successful providers will be allocated a number of EFTS that will be itemised in their Mix of Provision section of the Investment Plan.
Those providers with Investment Plans already in place for 2010 will receive notification of the additional funding in a confirmation letter as soon as practical.
Those providers submitting Plans for 2010 to the TEC will receive confirmation of the delivery and funding in their Plan Approval letter published on Workspace
Timeline
- Youth Guarantee information released on website - early August
- Selected TEOs invited to submit proposals - early August
- Proposals submitted to the TEC - 28 August
- TEC assesses proposals - September
- Indicative allocations advised to TEOs - September
- Board of Commissioners approves allocations - November
- Notification letters sent - November
- Youth Guarantee commences - January 2010