Under 25s Project

From 2013 - 2015, a group of researchers from five tertiary education organisations undertook a large two-year project supported by Ako Aotearoa’s National Project Fund to develop a professional development (PD) decision-making model to support tertiary educations in engaging with under-25 learners.

With the New Zealand Government identifying the importance of increasing young people’s qualification levels, this project provided an opportunity to learn from both tutors and young people themselves what kinds of skills teachers need in order to successfully support the learning of this group of students.

A co-leader of this project was Judith Honeyfield, Academic Advisor at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology), responsible for staff capability development.

Researchers in five collaborating institutions (Bay of Plenty Polytechnic (Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology), Eastern Institute of Technology, Waiariki Institute of Technology (Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology), Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and Waikato Institute of Technology) collected information from selected courses with high numbers of under-25 students, from tutors of those classes and from other stakeholders in their institutions.

They designed and implemented PD activities that were offered to tutors, later sought further feedback from both tutors and students about the value of these initiatives.

The researchers designed resources to assist teachers of under-25 students in deciding on the most appropriate PD. These are simple “how to” products to enable implementation of PD activities in a variety of contexts.

A strong feature of the under-25s research project was the kaupapa Māori philosophy that underpinned the research. The research team included both Māori and non-Māori researchers, and they were supported by staff from Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in conceptualising and implementing a kaupapa Māori approach.

Full information about this project is available on the Ako Aotearoa website.