Background information for improving nursing education outcomes
22nd August 2008
Dear Colleague
NZNO is committed to supporting and improving Nursing Education in New Zealand. It is well understood that the nursing education environment is complex and varied, and is affected by both the education and health systems.
NZNO has taken the initiative in pulling together a document that backgrounds the funding systems that underwrite the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) processes. The two primary objectives that have guided this collation are:
- To stimulate awareness and discussion of the issues around funding nursing education in New Zealand.
- To promote understanding of the complex funding structures currently in place in New Zealand by students, nurses, nurse educators and nurse managers.
It has been a challenging exercise to read the many Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) documents and collate them. In recognising the changing education environment, NZNO has taken the decision to post the document on this website so that it can be updated as required. Some ‘hard copies’ of this document will be placed in the NZNO library for wider access, as needed.
The next step is to write about the mechanisms of the Ministry of Health’s Clinical Training Agency (CTA) as an intrinsic part of nursing education funding. Once completed, the two documents should provide a more accessible and comprehensive overview of the government funding structures from nursing’s perspective. This will then meet the third objective of this project:
- To examine nurse education funding frameworks from the Ministries of Education and Health in order to provide an overview
NZNO recognises the urgent need for this structural information to be disseminated as significant changes are taking place in both the education and health systems. It is NZNO’s hope that the nursing sector responds in a proactively collaborative way so that more progress can be made in shaping the future of the profession based on individual and population health need. NZNO will support this process to this end.
NZNO hopes that this collation focusing on the TEC will support negotiations around the funding processes which have a significant impact on the education of nurses within the tertiary system. Of course, the wider spin-off of securing better nursing education structures comes with the improvement of health outcomes and the reduction of disparities for all New Zealanders.
Regards
Anne Brinkman
Professional Nursing Advisor, NZNO