Uiuinga Aka Kōrero / Touchpoint survey
Touchpoint is N4L’s yearly survey, sent to more than 3,000 principals and IT leads at schools connected to the N4L Managed Network. The survey helps N4L understand what schools think about us and our products and services. It enables us to listen to our customers and drive constant improvement within our organisation, resulting in better customer service and support for schools and kura.
We’re proud that, in 2023, 91% of principals were satisfied with us; 94% of principals said they trust us; and 93% of principals would recommend us.
Touchpoint also asks additional research questions to understand wider context and provide unique insights into the thoughts and concerns of leaders at schools and kura across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Insights from the survey are shared in our annual Aka Kōrero – Hopuāhua | Touchpoint Snapshot.
Our latest survey looked at the thoughts and concerns of schools and kura across Aotearoa around three themes, and below are the key findings:
Whakamaru ā-ipurangi
Cybersecurity
With today’s increasingly challenging cybersecurity threat landscape, we want to understand how much knowledge and confidence schools have about cybersecurity, what gaps in knowledge there might be, and what future initiatives or developments would be of value to them. This supports our efforts in helping keep schools safer and more secure online.
To bolster their cyber confidence further, schools would like such things as training, an audit/checklist, monitoring/reporting, guidance on best practices and information about security threats and advisories.
In the event of a cybersecurity incident, more than half say they would go to N4L (59%). 39% indicate they would go to their internal IT lead or external IT provider.
Other places schools would turn for help include Netsafe, Ministry of Education and their school board.
88%
of schools indicate they are confident
or very confident they have sufficient
cybersecurity protection.
Hangarau ā-kura
Technology in schools
Schools currently spend most of their
technology budget on devices and
device programmes, IT providers and
educational software.
At times, schools may face challenges around having access to the right technology for their school and the right level of spend for their circumstances. This research helps N4L understand where schools are currently spending their technology budget and what their future technology needs might be, so that we can plan future initiatives and support.
If there was additional finding, schools would like to buy spend more on new devices or replacing existing devices, and STEAM‑related (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) equipment.
They would also like to fund training for teachers, students and families, and pay for further IT support.
Tautoko ā-hangarau mōhiohio (IT)
IT Support
This section helps N4L understand how schools are accessing their IT services and how much support they might require from us. This informs how we engage with schools and IT providers, as well as enabling us to tailor resources. Support from IT providers is an area schools spend a significant portion of their budget on.
45% of schools use a combination of both internal and external IT support.
3% indicate they have no IT form of support (no external support and no in-house IT Lead nor IT team).
90%
of schools indicate they use some form
of external support from an IT company
(ad-hoc, regularly scheduled or based on site)