Quality assurance arrangements for providers of Adult and Community Education (ACE)

NZQA will publish the quality assurance arrangements for Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers at the beginning of April.

Quality assurance for the sector aims to help ACE providers enhance the quality of the ACE they deliver, protect the interests of their learners and foster continuous improvement.

During 2004, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority worked collaboratively with organisations involved with ACE to develop, consult on and trial the quality assurance arrangements. The findings of this consultation were published in a report in December 2004. The full report is available on the NZQA website: www.nzqa.govt.nz

The published quality assurance arrangements will be sent to all directly funded ACE providers along with a FAQ sheet. Both of these documents will also be available from early April on the NZQA website, where a new section for ACE providers is being created in the 'For Providers' section.

The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is developing a comprehensive range of support services to help ACE providers meet the quality assurance arrangements. In April they will release a handbook with examples of good practice. Shortly after this an introductory QA training for ACE providers in May and June 2005 will be delivered in association with local ACE Networks.

All directly-funded ACE providers will be audited to ensure that they meet the QA arrangements. The ACE QA audits and reviews are due to start in August 2005 and will be completed by December 2007. These audits and reviews will be conducted by existing Quality Assurance Bodies (QABs) and the Education Review Office (ERO) and become part of the regular cycle of audits and reviews already in place. Providers of ACE not currently covered by a QAB will be audited by NZQA at an agreed time.

By 2008, all ACE providers will need to meet the quality assurance arrangements in order to be eligible for funding from the ACE funding pool.