ITI Articles

Major improvements have been made to the PTE Assessment of Strategic Relevance (ASR) in 2006, with ITI playing a big part.

PTE peak bodies, including ITI, have been holding workshops with the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) since October 2005 to improve the ASR in 2006. The ASR is being run in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and each year a third of PTE qualifications are being reviewed. Qualifications that are strategically relevant keep their funding, while those that fail the test must shape up or ship out. The ASR approach is unique to PTEs, with the public sector only facing a similar approach for a very few qualifications.

Even before the workshops began, ITI and the New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers (NZAPEP) ran a joint survey with our members to pinpoint the problems with the ASR. The results were kept private to NZAPEP, ITI and the TEC, but they were very useful in improving the depth of discussion.

The ASR is still not perfect and ITI does not ‘support’ the final version, but we recognise that it is a great improvement upon 2005. The TEC is closer to achieving its goals through effective criteria and evidence requirements, ITI members will face a fairer assessment and the wider community can have confidence that the PTE sector is delivering value for money.