News

April 2022

A wellbeing and resilience course for literacy learners

Wed, 2022-04-06 10:12

Waitakere Adult Literacy has run their first seven-week free Wellbeing and Resilience course. Tutor Jacqui Tisch explains why she offered to run the course – and what the learners are saying.

From 1999–2018 I assisted at a social skills programme for young people who found the world, and especially school life challenging.

I found myself asking the very same questions that the young people I worked with were confronted with: “How long is it going to take me to recover from this setback?” “What strategies can I use to recover?”

Connecting Mid Canterbury – creating wellbeing and a sense of belonging

Wed, 2022-04-13 10:25

Connecting Mid Canterbury Charitable Trust, established by Kate White in 2017, runs two initiatives to grow and support healthy, resilient and connected communities – the Mid Canterbury TimeBank and Keep Learning Mid Canterbury.

Keep Learning Mid Canterbury (KLMC) organises around 40 talks and workshops every year. They are open to everybody and most are free. Workshops for this year include flax-weaving, suicide prevention, digital detox, and regular cultural cooking sessions. In the first term that was A Taste of the Philippines and A Taste of Argentina – cook it and share it.

Getting the dyslexia-friendly quality mark

Wed, 2022-04-20 10:36

The Ashburton Learning Centre was one of the first organisations to apply for the New Zealand Dyslexia-Friendly Quality Mark (DFQM) developed by Ako Aotearoa. The first intake was in October last year.

To get the DFQM organisations need to meet standards that measure their practice in four key areas: leadership and management; the quality of teaching and learning; the teaching and learning environment provided for learners; and the quality of the organisation’s relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Quick Wins – a new MSD-funded role for REAPs

Wed, 2022-04-27 10:47

The MSD has contracted REAP Aotearoa/ REAPs to deliver programmes and support that remove the barriers to participation that are faced by many people, as a result of Covid-19.

Tracey Shepherd, the Director of REAP Aotearoa, says that the funding is on the back of the excellent work REAPs did during the pandemic last year.

Most REAPS have long had individual contracts with the MSD to provide specific educational opportunities.

Now there is a national approach to address specific Covid-related barriers, and it is funded by a small national contract.