More than 90 per cent of all tauira who attend Te Wānanga o Aotearoa are happy with their experience, a survey has revealed.
 
Tumuratonga Keri Milne-Ihimaera said the results of the recently completed Tauira Survey provided a benchmark for areas where Te Wānanga o Aotearoa needs to improve from a tauira perspective.
  
Keri said among the most pleasing aspects of the survey of current tauira was the statistic that showed 96 per cent of those surveyed would recommend Te Wānanga o Aotearoa as a place of study to their whānau and friends.
 
“That’s a huge acknowledgement and it’s something we can be proud of.”
 
“The biggest reason for tauira coming to the wānanga is to make a positive impact on their whānau. We think that aligns really strongly with our mission of whānau transformation through education and that’s being affirmed by tauira through our survey."
 
“But they are also coming for a qualification and academic credentials and that is exciting as well.”
 
The survey identified enrolment and the streamlining of administrative processes kaiako are tasked with as priorities of where things need to change.
 
“Enrolment has been identified by tauira as a difficult pathway for them to navigate and there are some improvements we can make there,” said Keri.
 
“Our kaiako are recognised as a real strength in the survey, but survey results also tell us an area we could support them better is around their administration tasks – like the timeliness of the return of grades to students.”
 
“Their core business as teachers is a strength and that is an area of celebration for us but perhaps there’s a message for us in there about what can we do to better support our kaiako.”
 
Keri said her team committed to a Tauira Survey roadshow to let all kaimahi know what the results of the survey were so they could have further conversations around what the statistics mean at each wānanga site.
 
“That was a really important part of the survey to communicate the findings to our kaimahi and to ensure the information was specific to them so they can have conversations around what the information means and what can we do about it.”
 
She says the next steps are to share the survey results with our tauira. 
 
The survey had a record number of responses (5,401) and a response rate of 30 per cent – a record compared against previous Tauira Surveys.
 
THE RESULTS
 
Tauira were asked to rank various TWoA aspects on a scale of 1=Poor, 2=Fair, 3=Good, 4=Very Good, 5=Excellent
 
Enrolment experience
OVERALL: 4.1/5
 
Kaiako/Kaiawhina/Kaitiaki
OVERALL:4.3/5
 
Programme and Resources
OVERALL: 4.4/5
 
Learning Support Services and Library:
Library 4/5
Student Support 4/5