EPIT Impact Report 2023/24: Creating equitable education outcomes for every Kiwi learner

EPIT has continued to grow this year as we support a broad spectrum of equity work across the motu, heavily focused on early years, literacy, and careers pathways transitions.

In this year’s report we have chosen to focus on impact – taking action for impact, impact in the community, impact through engagement, and collective impact. All the initiatives and activities we support are demonstrating impact for the communities in which they work, and we are seeing fruitful engagement between partners. EPIT’s impact on the education ecosystem is also becoming more evident.

EPIT has worked to develop a deep understanding of our partners’ equity kaupapa and actively engage with them to bring people together.

Our facilitated conversations, thought leadership events, and ‘lunch and learn’ series, have all proven popular not just for educating and informing, but also as meaningful ways to connect with those working on similar equity challenges.

This year we also established our second Community of Practice (CoP). Careers Pathways and Transitions for our youth is an area of growing importance and concern for many in education and business. Following on from the successful launch of the Empowering Our Youth research report a hui was held with 25 attendees from 18 different organisations, including government, seeking to connect across sectors. As with the Literacy CoP, the Careers Pathways and Transitions will meet three times a year.

It is always pleasing to see our partners connecting. The past twelve months has seen the team from Nōna te Ao in Te Tairāwhiti seeking collaboration opportunities with Phoebe Davis, Ngāpuhi, in Te Tai Tokerau | Northland; Netsafe engaging with Tātai Aho Rau CORE Education to work together on online te reo content; Talking Matters connecting with Sew Your Story to build closer relationships in Te Tai Tokerau | Northland; and PMG Trust linking with Tātai Aho Rau CORE Education to better understand engaging with iwi in an education context. These are only a few examples and we are seeing more of our partners, as well as potential partners, contacting us for connection opportunities.

In November we were asked to showcase a selection of our partners and their mahi at the AcademyEX’s first Converge Symposium. OKE Charity, Talking Matters, Waitākere College, and Te Kete Hono were able to demonstrate what they are doing to improve inequity in education, how they are connecting into their communities and with each other.

Our shared collaboration space continues to grow with more partners choosing to call Te Whiriwhiringa The Nest home.

We also hosted a record number of organisations seeking to take advantage of our videoconferencing facilities, meeting rooms and workshop spaces.  Being able to provide these resources to the education-focused not-for-profit community, lowers their overheads enabling them to allocate more funds to impactful delivery. We are grateful to the Hugh Green Foundation for providing us the space, and for their continued support.

‍We continue to be thankful to all those who have so willingly supported EPIT over the past 12 months. From the ongoing generosity of our funders Allan and Gill Gray Philanthropies, and the Hugh Green Foundation, to the partners delivering the initiatives in our communities; and the EPIT team overseeing it all. Our collective impact would not have been possible without you.

Ngā mihi nui

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