C. The Whānau Assurance Statement

An important component of the review process is compliance with legal and regulatory requirements (including the National Education Guidelines and National Administration Guidelines), and with the undertakings and obligations set out in the kura charter. Collectively these constitute the main compliance requirements for Te Aho Matua kura kaupapa Māori.

ERO has developed a Whānau Assurance Statement (WHAS) for use in kura reviews. This document sets out and explains the legal requirements applying to Te Aho Matua kura.

The WHAS is designed to help kura manage their compliance obligations. The document describes the individual requirements in the legislative and regulatory framework and asks the whānau chairperson and principal to attest to the kura compliance. The whānau attest that they comply with the legislation, do not comply, or are not sure whether they do or not.

As part of its process, ERO checks several significant compliance requirements directly (sometimes referred to as the big five  1  to make sure the WHAS has been completed accurately.

In the event that the WHAS, or ERO’s check or the review process generally, identifies major compliance issues the review may be re-focused to audit compliance requirements more directly.

Although the WHAS is intended to be completed in advance of an ERO review, its design as a legislative checklist means that whānau can use the document at any stage to strengthen their internal review of compliance (not just in preparation for ERO).

Guide to implementation

This diagram is the guide to implementation the three headings are implications for ERO, implications for Kaitaki and implications for Kura. Under the first heading sits ERO checks attestation, ERO follows up on no and unsure aspects of student safey, ERO investigates in depth five aspects of student safety, ERO decides that the attestation is reliable or focuses more directly on legal requirements if not and WHAS supports kura in ongoing compliance management. Under the second heading is Kaitaki assist whanau to complete WHAS as necessary, Kaitaki help explain compliance results, Kaitaki assist with the investigation of the five student safety aspects, Kaitaki assist whanau to understand how to address any identified non-compliance and Kaitaki help with understanding of compliance obligations. Under the last heading sits Whanau complete WHAS and attest to compliance before review, Whanau dicuss and explain compliance results with ERO, Whanau provide information about the five aspects of student safety, Whanau act on their knowledge to address any areas of non compliance and lastly Whanau use WHAS to assist ongoing compliance management.

Significant compliance requirements

ERO has chosen five significant compliance requirements (the ‘big five’) to check in every kura review because of their potentially high impact on students’ achievement. These are:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance.

 

  1. Students’ emotional and physical safety; teacher registration; stand-down, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions; attendance. See under Significant compliance requirement.