Military-Style Academy pilot

A 12-month Military-Style Academy Pilot (MSA Pilot), ran from July 2024 through to July 2025.

Designing the Military-Style Academy Pilot

The goal of the Military-Style Academy (MSA) Pilot was to make a difference in the lives of the teenagers involved, by enabling them to positively contribute and thrive within their whānau and community, without offending.

The MSA programme team, led by Oranga Tamariki, looked at evidence from previous military-style programmes, in New Zealand and internationally, to understand what would give the rangatahi taking part the best chance of success.

The team embedded these elements in the Pilot programme design, including:

a deliberate focus on providing therapeutic care during the in-residence component, and
providing ongoing support for the rangatahi when they returned to their whānau and communities, to make sure they were well set up for the future.

These are key differences that set the Academy apart from previous iterations.

The Pilot programme began with a cohort of 10 young people, who were already in the youth justice system.

The Academy consisted of a 12-month programme, with three parts.

First part

The first was assessment of the young people who were potentially eligible to take part (a Youth Court Judge made the decision during sentencing).

The assessment included a clinical perspective and conversations with their whānau, who were involved throughout the programme.

Ahead of sentencing, the MSA Pilot was explained to the teenagers, whānau, and youth justice professionals (e.g. youth advocates) through Family Group Conferences.

Second part

The second was an in-residence stage, based at an existing Oranga Tamariki youth justice residence in Palmerston North.

The young people followed a specially created curriculum and syllabus, with daily activities to support their health, learning and wellbeing. This included military-style activities.

Third part

The third was an in-community stage. It lasted for 9 months and focused on transition back to the community, making sure the teenagers could build on their learnings from the residence stage and were well set up for the future, including a pathway into education, training or employment.