Details of new ACE funding model announced

5 April 2006

Details of new ACE funding model announced

The new funding model for adult and community education (ACE) will help ensure learners and communities have access to high quality community education that works for them.

“Today’s announcement follows the release of the ACE funding framework in July last year, which signalled that all funding for ACE would come from a single funding pool from 2006 onwards,” TEC acting Steering and Investment Group Manager Pauline Barnes says.

“Since then, the TEC has worked with the sector on the best way to implement the framework. Our analysis has shown that the best funding model is the one that takes into consideration the different costs providers have to meet, and the distinct activities that they deliver,” Pauline Barnes says.

From January 2007, total funding for each provider will be made up of:

- a base rate that will fund providers to assess the learning needs of their communities and design a programme of ACE activities that will meet those needs

- a single flat rate per learner hour

- a payment for brokerage services that will be paid to providers whose main role is to help learners find an ACE activity that meets their needs.

“This funding model is transparent and responsive to the needs of ACE providers. It will bring more certainty and stability to the sector and ensure that the government gets value for the money it invests in ACE,” Pauline Barnes says.

The new three-part funding model will start in 2007 and will be fully in place by 2009. During the settling in period, the TEC will work with individual providers to finalise how the new funding model will operate for them.
Today the TEC also published ACE Professional Development Strategy and Action Plan 2006-2010 which provides a well-focussed and coordinated approach to professional development in the ACE sector.

“For learners to have access to ACE that is of high standard, we need to ensure that ACE practitioners have the skills they need to deliver ACE that is of quality and meets the needs of learners.

“This strategy will help practitioners develop these skills. It will also build the capability and capacity of the ACE sector as a whole to ensure professional development takes place across the sector on an ongoing basis,” Pauline Barnes says.

To see the strategy and action plan go to the TEC website at http://www.tec.govt.nz/funding/training/ace/professional-development.html.
More information on the funding framework is available on the TEC website at http://www.tec.govt.nz/funding/training/ace/ace_idf.htm.

ENDS

© Scoop Media