17 March 2017 Edwina Kapa Auckland Dear Edwina Response to Complaints and Concerns This letter serves to respond to your complaints and concerns relating to EnterpriseMlTand is turtherto our meetings of 11 January and 13 February 2017. As advised in our meeting of 13 February, undertook a comprehensive investigation regarding each 0f the issues you raised. have subsequently also investigated the additional issues you raised in February. I would like to acknowledge the rontribution you made to EnterpriseMlT and the errorts you took to teach and support the Employment Skl'lls students in your care. These are challenging students and often have required teaching and support beyond normal requirements. Addressing the needs oithese students and identirying approaches that keep them engaged has also been challenging and led to many changes in the delivery as we have sought to respond to these circumstances. The eitorts that you and Heeml made were often above and beyond our expectations and I do appreciate this very much in terrns oiyour concerns: MANUKAU MIT mam, Newbury Street, etara Bag 94005, Manukau 2241,Au:kland, New 0F Zea'am' 099638000 PUB 968 3701 inio@manulQ9 MAEKAU or rEcIlIloLoGlI Delivery at the Henderson site I understand your concerns about the suitability of the Henderson site. The background to this is that we were specifically requested to use this site by the Department of Corrections and did undertake a safety/secur'ity/su'itabillty assessment prior to beginning delivery at the site. In hindsight, the major challenge that became evident was not so much the site itself but the interaction between our students and others, often this not being the fault ofour students at all. We had not fully anticipated this and ultimately were requested to remove our students from the location to prevent further incidents This is something we have learnt from and will take additional steps to explore when considering otherfuture sites. Provision or promise 0' financial inducements to students to enrol lhave reviewed all expenditure records for EnterpriseMlT and Carl Cunfirm that no inducements were paid bythe company or reimbursements made to any stalf member that may have covered the provision of these. Further, i interviewed the staff members you suggested may have made such offers and Andrew brownlee. They deny that such offers were made. As a consequence orthis,l contacted a number ofstudents from each ofthe cohorts that you taught and was unable to corroborate that such offers were made. was not able [0 Contact all students and therefore cannot rule out that some students may have believed that such offers had been made but i have also been unable to verify any incidences where this did occur, As such, I have issued written reminders to all staffthat it is against policy and against funding rules for any inducements to be offered to students. Field Trip to Rainbows End as a bribe I have investigated the allegation that students were taken to Rainbows End as a bribe, I can confirm that such a trip did occur. The circumstances of this were that the person concerned was requested to cover the group atvery short notice and was aware that the group had not engaged in many activities away from the delivery site during the programme. The excursion was arranged through a personal contact and neither EnterpriseIVlIT nor the staff member incurred direct costs other than transport in undertaking this activity. I have accepted that this excursion was reasonable although have reminded all staffthat such trips require prior approval from management before being undertaken. provision of cigarettes to Minors have interviewed the staffalleged to have provided the cigarettes. This allegation was denied. I also asked those students was able to contact in relation to possible inducements to enrol in the programme and was unable to obtain any verification ofsuch an incident occurring. I do note that you have subsequently provided a letter from a parent expressing their concern in this regard but that is the only evidence I have and in itself, this is insufficient for me to be able to initiate any disciplinary action particularly given the time since the reported incident I have, however, again communicated with all staff to remind them that any such practice would be a breach of both policy and law that would be likely to lead to disciplinary action for serious misconduct. MANUKAU INSTITUTE or TECHNOLOGY To Whom Tluunl I Mlnuhu Representation of the Programme You raised a concern that the recruitment staff had advised prospective students that a high proportion of the delivery would be activity based without consulting you. The description ofthe programme you reported was provided to the students is consistent with my understanding of how the programme delivery was intended to occur. Assessment Undertaken in 2017 I can confirm that former EnterpriseMlT staff have been contacting students from 2016 in order to try and assist them to complete any necessary learning and assessment in order to complete their qualification. This has involved staff with some assessment training but who are not qualified assessors spending time with students and assisting them to complete assessments. In these cases, the assessment evidence has subsequently been reviewed and the actual assessment decision made by a suitably qualified assessor. I requested that Quality Manager, Marie Laycock, personally review all assessments undertaken through this process. She has reported that she believes that the assessment decisions made in each case are valid and that the assessment practice has been consistent with what should be expected. It is important to note that it is not a requirement for every person involved in the assessment to be a fully qualified assessor when such assessments are undertaken within an accredited provider but that our own policy does require that anyone involved is sufficiently trained for the specific part of this task they undertake. Where the literacy skills of the student are also not being implicitly tested as part of the assessment, it is also reasonable for verbal questions and answers to be adopted as part of the assessment and for these to be recorded by the assessor. I have formed the view that this is what occurred in the case you identified. I have noted that you believe that the student may have been unduly prompted in terms of their response. I have been unable to identify other examples where this is suggested to have occurred and the person concerned has stated that it was not the case in this event. On balance, I have therefore been unable to identify any breach of our expectations in terms of assessment practice. I have, however, reminded all staff of what we do expect and the care that needs to be taken to ensure that it is the work of the student that is assessed. Email I have noted that you are still using an EnterpriseMlT email account. Ijust need to notify you that all email accounts associated with EnterpriseMlT are about to be shutdown now that the company has ceased trading. It is therefore important that you be aware ofthis and that you make copies of any emails you may wish to retain prior to this occurring. I would request that you please request that any of your past students contact Andrew Brownlee or Marie Laycock directly to discuss any ongoing concerns they have or to make arrangements to complete the gramme. Again, I wish to thank you for your contribution to EnterpriseMlT and wish you the ry best for the future. Director - Strategy