The National Executive initiated a meeting in Wellington in late August 2006, where representatives from eight ACE organisations met to explore how they can collaborate more effectively to ensure ACE issues are firmly on the  political agenda, and lobby for more effective mechanisms within government.

Four years on, the Strategic Alliance is a forum where high level issues can be discussed by representatives of the main ACE providers. They include Adult and Community Education (ACE) Aotearoa; Te Runanga o Te Ataarangi; Community Learning Association through Schools (CLASS); Rural Education Activities Programmes (REAPANZ); Literacy Aotearoa; English Language Partners; the Metro group of Polytechnics; New Zealand Vice Chancellors' Committee; the Pasifika Education Centre (PEC); the Federation of Workers’ Education Associations (FWEA); and AMPTEE (Aotearoa Maōri Providers of Training, Education and Employment. ACE Aotearoa also acts as the secretariat/budget holder for the Alliance.

During 2010 the Strategic Alliance completed a draft discussion document Real Value: Investing in Ordinary People. Adult and Community Education in New Zealand: the next 10 years. The document was presented to the sector at the 2010 ACE Conference. Suggestions for change made by conference participants were included in a subsequent draft which was the focus of a meeting with the Minister, Hon Steven Joyce, later in the year. The focus of the Strategy is a strategic negotiated approach with government, with the sector taking more responsibility for operational issues. Officials from the Tertiary Education Commission and the Ministry of Education were involved in discussions during the development of the draft Strategy.

• Strategic Alliance Update August 2010 - Click here to download the update

• Strategic Alliance Update February 2009 - Click here to download the update

• Strategic Alliance Update December 2008 - Click here to download the update

• Strategic Alliance Update August 2008 - Click here to download the update