Supported learners carry the burden of Minister’s delusion.

Minister of Vocational Education Penny Simmonds told the Education and Workforce Select Committee yesterday that she thinks most polytechnics are overstaffed, describing what she considers high staffing levels as “abysmal”.

Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union is pointing to cuts currently proposed to educational opportunities for supported learners as a prime example of the human cost of her delusion.

Weltec and Whitieria are proposing to disestablish both of their existing Level 1 Certificates in Skills for Living; and Skills for Learning and Working for Supported Learners. Along with the four full time equivalent staff members, the greater Wellington region will lose the only programmes of this kind for learners with disabilities if the proposal goes ahead.

Kaiwhakahaere | Organiser Drew Mayhem says “there is considerable demand for both these programmes within the community. Student numbers have not decreased. These cuts are purely due to the government’s inability and unwillingness to provide a level of baseline funding that will avoid further contraction of the sector before it is in a permanent death spiral.”

Te Pou Ahurei | National Secretary Sandra Grey says “the Minister uses an 18:1 student/staff ratio as a blunt instrument to measure viability but this misses the point of why we need polytechnics. If 12 disabled young people want to gain work skills in Porirua, why wouldn’t we fund that? By her reckoning those 12 young people miss out on the future they deserve and 12 businesses miss out on great workers.”

“Furthermore, the Minister’s Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill, if passed, will only further destabilise the provision of vocational education, as the bill provides no clarity on what the future of the sector looks like beyond closures and possible privatisation. New Zealanders deserve better. They were promised regional autonomy but instead are having our tertiary providers hollowed out from within.”

To have your say on the Bill, click here for the TEU’s submission guide, and here to make your submission by midnight tonight.