Te Kura (formally The Correspondence School) provides online long distance learning for students of all levels in New Zealand. Learn more about Te Kura and how it works.
About Te Kura : Who an enrol at Te Kura? : Who supervises my child while they learn? : The Home Supervisor Allowance : Useful Websites
Te Kura, formerly known as The Correspondence School (TCS), is a national school that provides long-distance learning for students from three years of age through to the last year of secondary school, Year 13. Te Kura has more than 20,000 students enrolled across New Zealand and provides all compulsory education services required by law for its students. This means Te Kura provides early childhood, primary and secondary education.
Te Kura provides over 300 remote courses across the board from new entrants through to secondary level. It also provides early childhood and some specialist adult education courses like ESOL (English for Speakers of other languages).
Te Kura was established in 1922 to provide education to students who were unable to attend school because of distance. Since then the school has enrolled students for a variety of other reasons and continues to play a vital part in the New Zealand education sector.
Te Kura is broken into four internal schools each of which has a Principal reporting to the Director of Teaching.
The four schools are:
- Early Childhood
- Primary
- Specialist Services and
- Secondary
There are many reasons a student may be enrolled with Te Kura rather than at a face-to-face school (i.e. a school that students attend on a daily basis).
Students may –
- Live a long way from their nearest school
- Live overseas
- Have exceptional sporting or arts ability they are pursuing
- Have been excluded/expelled or alienated from face-to-face school
- Study with Te Kura for medical reasons
- Have special needs
- Not be able to enrol in specific subjects at their regular school
- Be an adult wanting to learn or gain school qualifications.
Te Kura differs from other schools in many ways other than the obvious difference of not providing education face-to-face. Te Kura is often the “school of last resort” or “safety net school” (ERO Overview Report Sept 2003). This means it caters for those students whose needs have not been met by face-to-face schools. Often they have been expelled, are pregnant or have a young child/ren, have social issues preventing them from attending a school, are imprisoned and so on.
There are certain criteria a student must meet before they can enrol at Te Kura. These criteria are called ‘gateways’. Below is a list of the ‘gateways’ students can use to enrol in Te Kura.
Full-time Students
Full-time students are those who are enrolled only with Te Kura (as opposed to dual-enrolled students who are enrolled at both a face-to-face school and Te Kura).
For full-time students the gateways for enrolment are:
Exceptional arts and sports performance
The student is an elite athlete, dancer, musician, sports person or an outstanding actor or performer and their development programme prevents them from attending a regular school.
Geographic Isolation
The student is unable to attend a neighbouring school because of its distance or inaccessibility from their home.
Itinerancy
The student would otherwise need to change schools each term because their parents / caregivers travel from place to place on a regular basis.
Young Parents
The student is pregnant or has the primary care responsibility for a child.
Overseas
The student is a N.Z. citizen, or the child of NZ permanent residents, and needs to continue education while overseas.
Alienation
The student is alienated from the education system. An alienated student is one who local schools are unwilling to enrol or who is unwilling to attend the local schools.
Child, Youth and Family
The student is in the custody and/or guardianship of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS).
Custody
The student is in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
Exclusion / expulsion
The student is under 16 years of age and excluded from school, or over 16 years of age and expelled.
Psychological / Psycho-social
The student has been assessed as having psychological or psycho-social needs.
(Read the latest update on the Ministry of Education's enrolment policy via the link on www.correspondence.school.nz/enrol-with-us/who-can-enrol )
Dual-enrolled students
Dual-enrolled students are enrolled at both a face-to-face school and Te Kura. This may be the case for several reasons.
A student may:
Be Gifted and Talented
Year 1-8 students who are gifted and talented and whose home school is unable to provide the appropriate curriculum enrichment and acceleration.
Have Special Education needs
Year 1-8 students whose home school is unable to provide the specialist programming or curriculum adaptation appropriate to the student's assessed special education needs.
Have Special Needs
Year 9-13 students with special needs whose home school is unable to provide to appropriate specialist programming or curriculum adaptation.
Be a Transfering Student
The student:
(a) has transferred to a school where year 9 - 13 subjects previously taken are not available;
(b) is returning to a local school from a Regional Health School (RHS) and
wishes to continue subjects studied while at the RHS.
(c) is a year 7-8 student who has transferred from a Maori language based school to a school unable to provide Maori language tuition. The student may be enrolled for Te Reo Maori.
(Read the latest update on the Ministry of Education's enrolment policy via the link on www.correspondence.school.nz/enrol-with-us/who-can-enrol )
Or the face-to-face school the student is enrolled at may:
Have an Emergency Staff vacancy
School has an emergency staff vacancy and no suitable applicants are available.
Have Small Senior Classes
School has only a small number of students studying a subject at years 12 or 13 level.
Not have a Subject available
School is unable to offer a year 9 - 13 subject.
Not offer Technology
This is for isolated schools with no access.
Te Reo
This gateway is to support Te Reo Maori.
(Read the latest update on the Ministry of Education's enrolment policy via the link on www.correspondence.school.nz/enrol-with-us/who-can-enrol )
All of these gateways have criteria ‘pinned’ to them. Te Kura needs to be sure that that student fulfils the criteria prior to enrolling them. This often requires confirmation or referral from a school, organisation or professional that the student’s circumstances are such that it warrants their enrolment.
For a quick and easy way to see if your child is eligible to enrol at the school use Te Kura
enrolment wizard.
It is not the expectation that your child will learn on their own without support. They need encouragement, direction and often focusing just as they would at a face-to-face school. This is the role of the "Supervisor".
For the most part, parents are their child’s supervisors. However, in some instances, and depending on the reason for your child being enrolled at Te Kura a teacher may be employed to work alongside them, or a nanny may become the supervisor.
A supervisor is there to:
- Support the student as they develop skills and knowledge
- Encourage them to become an independent learner – (this means not doing everything for them)
- Encourage the student to take responsibility for their learning and schoolwork
- Help plan learning programmes for the student
- Check the students’ work before it is sent in for assessment to Te Kura.
There is a great deal of support available from Te Kura for supervisors. The school is able to explain how to go about your role as supervisor and give you tips and guidelines for carrying out the role to the best of your ability. For more information on the Supervisor read the concise Supervisor Toolkit section on
www.correspondence.school.nz/supervisor-toolkit.
The Government, via Te Kura, pays authorised supervisors of Correspondence School students an allowance for supervision if certain requirements are met. Criteria for receiving this payment has to do with the student’s return of ‘assessable’ work.
Assessable work is work that is done by the student that directly relates to the courses or programmes they are enrolled in. The work needs to show continued progress towards the learning goals set for the student at the beginning of the year.
There are other criteria that apply to this payment. You can only receive payment if the student:
- is a citizen or permanent resident of New Zealand
- is living in New Zealand
- is enrolled as a fulltime student with Te Kura
- is aged between 5 and 19
- has been on the roll for at least 10 consecutive weeks in the current year and completed a minimum amount of work as specified in the criteria above.
At the time of writing, the amount of the payment was:
- First child $380
- Second child $323
- Third child $266.50
- Fourth & subsequent children $190
This payment is made twice a year. For more detailed information about the Supervisor payment system visit
www.correspondence.school.nz/supervisor-toolkit/supervisor-payment.
www.tekura.school.nz
This is a great website to visit for lots of information on the New Zealand correspondence school system.
Article
Te Kura (The Correspondence School) by Kylie Valentine, qualified secondary school teacher
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