Wananga shake-up likely to bring job losses
A ‘‘redesign’’ of Te Wananga o Aotearoa headquarters could include job losses.
The catalyst for the Ma¯ ori tertiary giant’s shake-up was a disappointing review by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, and a looming deficit.
Almost 31,000 tauira (students) are enrolled with the wa¯ nanga, which has administration hubs in Mangere, Hamilton and Porirua.
But the qualifications authority (NZQA) has signalled lower confidence in its performance, and this financial year a deficit of between $2 million and $6m is projected.
It was disappointing, chief executive Te Ururoa Flavell said, and it was a catalyst for ‘‘a major realignment and refocus’’.
‘‘For the first time, the wa¯ nanga will record a deficit for the year,’’ said Flavell, who is only a few months into the role.
‘‘That’s the first time that’s happened and, therefore, there’s a responsibility for us to look at some areas of change in the staffing arrangements. Currently, we’re in the throes of a redesign.’’
Jobs would probably be on the line, Flavell said, but it was not yet clear how many.
Staff had been consulted and a final plan was expected to be announced early next month.
‘‘Most of it centres around our head office functions . . . There’s minimal impact, if any, on the teaching staff.’’
Flavell saw two main reasons for the deficit: a drop in enrolments and the funding system.
Funding caps created a system that ‘‘doesn’t really allow you the freedom to really chase after where you have your niche’’, he said.
There was a huge demand for the wananga’s te reo Maori programmes, for example, but it cannot take on extra students.
Another blow is the outcome of a review by NZQA – the wa nanga dropped from a category one rating to category three.
Those results are a marker of NZQA’s confidence in how the wananga is performing, and a lower ranking can mean more external scrutiny and less freedom.
‘‘It gives me a clear mandate from here on, as the new chief executive, to really get stuck into those issues and turn them around to get us back to a one rating,’’ Flavell said.
‘‘The good thing is, we know what we have to deal with and we have already implemented a number of parts of our plan.’’
The review noted positives, such as tauira finding their learning ‘‘transformational and manaenhancing’’.
However, the consistency of assessment practices was put under the spotlight, and NZQA noted previous recommendations ‘‘have not yet resulted in necessary improvements’’.
Evaluators also said the wa¯ nanga should be better at picking up these kinds of issues itself, through self-reflection.
The wananga had already started its plan to fix those problems, Flavell said.
They related to two focuses of the review, and the wa nanga was rated as competent or highly competent in the other eight.