• Howick and Pakuranga Times
The school, which opens at the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) next month, will give up to 80 Year 11 students who may not suit a traditional school setting the opportunity to learn in a different environment.
About 20 secondary school principals signed a memorandum of understanding in December to show their support for the Otara-based polytechnic’s new School of Secondary-Tertiary Studies.
The colleges are among the founding member schools involved in a partnership between secondary schools, MIT and the Ministry of Education.
A new law amendment will enable MIT to be, at this stage, the only tertiary institute to offer dual enrolment and dual-funding pro-cesses for secondary and tertiary students. This gives students from these colleges the opportunity to be enrolled in the MIT programme as well as their high school.
A number of East Manukau high schools are taking part in the scheme, including Edgewater and Howick Colleges.
Basic skills in English, maths, technology, study skills and an introduction to further education will be taught, and students can gain the equivalents of NCEA level three through the programme as well as the first two years of a tertiary qualification.
Michelle Hards, an experienced educator who is currently director of teaching and learning at Aorere College in Papatoetoe, has been appointed the founding head of the tertiary high school.
Mrs Hards says potentially disengaged students unlikely to succeed in a regular school environment could be identified to enter the tertiary high-school system.
The education model is unique as it does not take students “out of school”. “It keeps them ‘in school’ but not ‘at school’,” she says.
“The School of Secondary-Tertiary Studies will change the face of New Zealand’s education system.
“I’m passionate about South Auckland and strongly believe this school will enable us to take the best of the tertiary and secondary school systems so ‘disengaged’ South Auckland students can reach their true potential.”
