Access to education restricted — Goff

Press, 18 February 1989, Page 5

Access to education restricted — Goff

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Equal access to education has never been achieved in New Zealand, according to the Associate Minister of Education, Mr Goff.

He said yesterday that for many years there had been restricted entry to tertiary institutions. As demand grew there was a danger that these restrictions would become more severe.. Surveys had also shown that people from lower socio-economic backgrounds had always been and still were grossly under-represented in tertiary education, Mr Goff said. A survey last year by the University Students’ Assocation had shown that only a small minority of students at University came from the lowest 40 per cent of income earners. While less pronounced, there seemed to be a similar pattern at polytechnics, he said. New Zealand’s goal had to be both to expand rapidly the number of places available in tertiary education — recognis-

ing the need for a more highly skilled workforce and educated population — and to remove obstacles which prevented or discouraged people from lower income backgrounds furthering their education. Mr Goff said New Zealand already had one of the most generous student support systems in the Western World. Students in Sweden, for example, received only $l4 a week support supplemented by a repayable loan. Equity in participation would not be achieved simply by income support or even by increasing the number of places in tertiary education, he said. The reasons had to be addressed much earlier in the person’s family background or education career; it was these that determined their motivation and ability to undertake tertiary study.