This week the supervision allowance for home educated students has been paid to most eligible parents. A significant number have found they were underpaid, mostly those who have exempt students age 16+ who have enrolled in 1-2 subjects with Te Kura. For those students, the allowance should NOT be affected. I have been investigating. I'm posting this information here so those in this situation know what action to take. Once this has been resolved, I will add the pertinent points to my more general article on the Supervision Allowance and Te Kura or Distance Learning. I encourage you to read that also if you have more general questions about whether you should be eligible for an allowance.
How the process is supposed to work (in theory)
When a student is enrolled in Te Kura under the Young Adult gateway, their enrolment details (name, NSN, date of enrolment etc) goes through to the Ministry of Education on a list, as the Ministry fund these students. Any students on the list who hold a homeschooling exemption, the Ministry extracts onto another list and sends back to Te Kura, asking for confirmation of how many subjects those students are enrolled in. Te Kura sends the list back with a list of how many subjects each student is enrolled in. The Ministry can then make updates at their end to ENROL and RAD (the national student and homeschooling databases respectively).
If the student is enrolled in 3 or more subjects, then their exemption is ceased, and they are no longer entitled to the homeschooling supervision allowance. If they are enrolled in only 1-2 Te Kura subjects, then the exemption and allowance continues.
At least, that's the theory. However....
If the student is enrolled in 3 or more subjects, then their exemption is ceased, and they are no longer entitled to the homeschooling supervision allowance. If they are enrolled in only 1-2 Te Kura subjects, then the exemption and allowance continues.
At least, that's the theory. However....
Weak links in the chain (or where things can go wrong)
There are multiple points in this chain of processes where things can go wrong.....
1) Te Kura itself first updates the student on ENROL, the national database. They tell me that if they note that the student is currently listed as exempt, then they try to make a point of contacting the family to ask how many subjects in total they intend to enroll in (as initial enrolment does not necessarily reflect full intended subjects), and to explain if it's 3 or more the exemption will cease. That's an excellent idea, but I'm confident from the comments of many families that does not always happen. In the process of updating the student on ENROL, unless they have checked and found/acted otherwise, their action of adding them as a Te Kura student will automatically cease the exemption.
2) If the Ministry fails to check with Te Kura, or Te Kura fails to return confirmation of subject numbers to the Ministry, then things won't get corrected as they should.
3) Even if the above does happen, there is no guarantee that follow up will be correctly done. In theory, because of the above process, there should not be the current issues occurring - the sheer volume of them shows that things are not being done property at some point in the chain. And from my conversations with the Ministry and Te Kura, no one actually knows where it's going wrong, making it hard to fix.
4) There is no set regularity to the process of sending through lists, responding to them, and taking follow up action, which doesn't help the efficacy of the process.
5) In theory, the student's learning advisor is also supposed to make notes on the record that the student is home educated and only doing 1 or 2 subjects, but how/if that is picked up on and actioned is unclear.
As I said to the lovely folk at Te Kura today, it shouldn't be this complicated! I will therefore be submitting a suggestion to the person currently working on improving the online enrolment forms, which should help:
On the online enrolment form for Young Adults, add the following questions/information:
1) Te Kura itself first updates the student on ENROL, the national database. They tell me that if they note that the student is currently listed as exempt, then they try to make a point of contacting the family to ask how many subjects in total they intend to enroll in (as initial enrolment does not necessarily reflect full intended subjects), and to explain if it's 3 or more the exemption will cease. That's an excellent idea, but I'm confident from the comments of many families that does not always happen. In the process of updating the student on ENROL, unless they have checked and found/acted otherwise, their action of adding them as a Te Kura student will automatically cease the exemption.
2) If the Ministry fails to check with Te Kura, or Te Kura fails to return confirmation of subject numbers to the Ministry, then things won't get corrected as they should.
3) Even if the above does happen, there is no guarantee that follow up will be correctly done. In theory, because of the above process, there should not be the current issues occurring - the sheer volume of them shows that things are not being done property at some point in the chain. And from my conversations with the Ministry and Te Kura, no one actually knows where it's going wrong, making it hard to fix.
4) There is no set regularity to the process of sending through lists, responding to them, and taking follow up action, which doesn't help the efficacy of the process.
5) In theory, the student's learning advisor is also supposed to make notes on the record that the student is home educated and only doing 1 or 2 subjects, but how/if that is picked up on and actioned is unclear.
As I said to the lovely folk at Te Kura today, it shouldn't be this complicated! I will therefore be submitting a suggestion to the person currently working on improving the online enrolment forms, which should help:
On the online enrolment form for Young Adults, add the following questions/information:
- Does this student currently hold a homeschooling exemption? Y/N
- If yes, what is the total number of subjects this student intends to be enrolled in this year?
I've already been told this would help a lot, as it would immediately alert the enrolment team to the situation, and allow them to ensure that they update ENROL in a way that will not cease the exemption where the student will only be doing 1-2 subjects and holds an exemption. The person in charge of changes however, is on leave until the 3rd of July.
I've also received a note from Resourcing on 4th July saying:
"We have had situations where students have enrolled in 3 or more subjects, but then have only attended 2 of those subjects. If this is the case, the parents need to ensure that they have withdrawn the student from those subjects formally with Te Kura and advised us of this change."
So if that applies to your student, make sure you follow up.
"We have had situations where students have enrolled in 3 or more subjects, but then have only attended 2 of those subjects. If this is the case, the parents need to ensure that they have withdrawn the student from those subjects formally with Te Kura and advised us of this change."
So if that applies to your student, make sure you follow up.
How to get it fixed if this has happened to you
There are two departments involved in this - Te Kura's enrolment team, and the Ministry's resourcing department. In the first instance, it is best to contact Te Kura, because they need to update ENROL (if applicable) and also provide the Ministry with proof that your student is only doing 1-2 subjects. In theory they have already done that (via the lists), but the Ministry will not make further changes without evidence. You can contact the Te Kura enrolment team on 0800 65 99 88, select 1 from the menu.
The Resourcing department is responsible for issuing a declaration if one was not already done, and making the missing payment. You will likely also want to contact them, quoting your homeschooling reference number and stating the issue. You might write something like this:
"My child (insert full name) has a home education exemption, family reference number (insert number). They were enrolled in Te Kura for 1 (or 2) subjects from (insert date). Their exemption/supervision allowance should therefore not have been affected, but we have not received the expected payment amount [OR: we have not received the declarations or payment]. Attached is evidence that (child's name) is only enrolled in 1 (or 2) subjects [OR: we have been in contact with Te Kura and requested that they ensure the record reflect he/she is enrolled in only 1 (or 2) subjects.]. We therefore request that you ensure that our exemption remains in force or is reinstated if necessary, and that the missing payment is processed."
You can email Resourcing at Resourcing@education.govt.nz
Any payments that need to be made will usually happen within a month or so once Resourcing has things sorted.
The Resourcing department is responsible for issuing a declaration if one was not already done, and making the missing payment. You will likely also want to contact them, quoting your homeschooling reference number and stating the issue. You might write something like this:
"My child (insert full name) has a home education exemption, family reference number (insert number). They were enrolled in Te Kura for 1 (or 2) subjects from (insert date). Their exemption/supervision allowance should therefore not have been affected, but we have not received the expected payment amount [OR: we have not received the declarations or payment]. Attached is evidence that (child's name) is only enrolled in 1 (or 2) subjects [OR: we have been in contact with Te Kura and requested that they ensure the record reflect he/she is enrolled in only 1 (or 2) subjects.]. We therefore request that you ensure that our exemption remains in force or is reinstated if necessary, and that the missing payment is processed."
You can email Resourcing at Resourcing@education.govt.nz
Any payments that need to be made will usually happen within a month or so once Resourcing has things sorted.
Other things to be aware of
If your student is newly enrolled in Te Kura in 1-2 subjects, then until we know things have been fixed, it would be worth proactively checking with Resourcing prior to the next allowance payment that your student is correctly on the system and full payment will be processed for them. If they were enrolled at least a month prior to the declarations coming out, then how they are written on there should be accurate, but if they were enrolled later, it may not reflect what their system now says. In theory you could write on the forms, but I have no confidence that Resourcing actually reads/actions notes on the declarations which parents add.
When you enroll a student, either for the first time, or when enrolling them at the start of a new year for continuing studies, or if you have made changes to the subjects they are enrolled in, I recommend you communicate with Te Kura to make sure they are aware, and appropriately note, that your student is exempt, and should remain so.
However, note that if you do enroll in 3 or more subjects at any given time, the exemption will cease, and along with it the allowance. If they later drop out of Te Kura, or drop subjects, it is unlikely that they will be able to get the exemption back.
If this situation has only now come to your attention, and you have been historically "short changed" over the last couple of years or so, you may have a case to make for back payment with the Ministry - though you'll need to take that up with them.
If your student is enrolled in Te Kura full time (3 or more subjects) under the young adult gateway, there is also no student support payment (aka Te Kura supervision allowance) payable from Te Kura.
If your student is enrolled in Te Kura full time under another funded gateway, they may be eligible for the student support payment, however, that is a completely separate system, managed entirely by Te Kura, and none of the above applies. This is also true if a previous exempt student transfers to full time free Te Kura (eg due to geographical isolation).
When you enroll a student, either for the first time, or when enrolling them at the start of a new year for continuing studies, or if you have made changes to the subjects they are enrolled in, I recommend you communicate with Te Kura to make sure they are aware, and appropriately note, that your student is exempt, and should remain so.
However, note that if you do enroll in 3 or more subjects at any given time, the exemption will cease, and along with it the allowance. If they later drop out of Te Kura, or drop subjects, it is unlikely that they will be able to get the exemption back.
If this situation has only now come to your attention, and you have been historically "short changed" over the last couple of years or so, you may have a case to make for back payment with the Ministry - though you'll need to take that up with them.
If your student is enrolled in Te Kura full time (3 or more subjects) under the young adult gateway, there is also no student support payment (aka Te Kura supervision allowance) payable from Te Kura.
If your student is enrolled in Te Kura full time under another funded gateway, they may be eligible for the student support payment, however, that is a completely separate system, managed entirely by Te Kura, and none of the above applies. This is also true if a previous exempt student transfers to full time free Te Kura (eg due to geographical isolation).
Conclusion
Hopefully the above information will help you to resolve any issues you have may have experienced with missing supervision allowance payments for your child, and to proactively ensure that the issue does not arise again. I also hope that Te Kura and/or the Ministry can refine their systems to make it less complicated and more effective.
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