Skills for Good - June 2023: Our next steps, new micro-credentials and more

Tēnā koutou

We are currently in the midst of the next round of kaimahi consultation as Te Pūkenga assumes its new national structure. I’m sure you will appreciate the complexities of bringing together 25 separate organisations into one, but as we have continued to highlight throughout this transition, our absolute commitment is to maintain business as usual for our employers and ākonga (learners).

We always enjoy sharing stories in Skills for Good about our ākonga (learners), and in this issue, we share an uplifting story about Willie Tiuli, a Housing Case Worker making a real difference in his community, and who recently completed his Apprenticeship in Mental Health and Addiction. There was some recent media coverage from a university academic calling for there to be apprenticeships in mental health to help address workforce challenges – as this story about Willie highlights, these very much exist here and now. We currently have 500 apprentices enrolled in our mental health and addiction apprenticeship programme, and nearly 700 have completed the programme to date.

With the Government’s recent extension of the Apprenticeship Boost fund, there hasn’t been a better time to enrol in one of our extensive range of apprenticeship programmes.

Ngā mihi nui

Rod Bentham
Executive Director
Te Pūkenga, trading as Careerforce

The Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) was first announced in February 2019, and led to the subsequent formation of Te Pūkenga – the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology in 2020. This brings together our 16 Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics and 8 Industry Training Organisations into a single organisation. Careerforce transitioned into Te Pūkenga as a business division in September 2022.

As we have previously shared, 2023 represents a significant year of change for our Careerforce kaimahi (staff) as the single organisation with a single national structure takes shape. Te Pūkenga has recently commenced consultation on a proposed operating structure, and that encompasses around 9000 of its current kaimahi (staff).

You can read more about this current Te Pūkenga consultation from Andrew McSweeney here and on the Te Pūkenga website, where he shares some detail around the next stage of consultation. Andrew McSweeney is the new Deputy Chief Executive for Te Pūkenga Learner & Employer Experience & Attraction, and with a strong pedigree in work-based learning. As Andrew highlights, and as we have been reassuring you throughout the transition into Te Pūkenga, our absolute commitment remains with our ākonga (learners) and employers, and you should not notice any change or disruption.

Please feel to reach out to your regular Careerforce contacts should you have any queries or concerns.

Pact is upskilling its Service Coordinators to increase their leadership and management capabilities, with some impressive results.

The community support services organisation is putting these staff through the NZ Diploma in Leadership and Management (Level 5) with support from Careerforce - Te Pūkenga.

Pact supports around 1300 people across South Island and the Lower North Island with a variety of needs, including those recovering from mental illness, having a physical or intellectual disability, or overcoming an alcohol, or other drug or gambling addiction.

The Diploma has been embraced by Pact, as part of their Service Coordinator’s Professional Development programme, with a team of Careerforce assessors supporting the learners through their learning journey.

Becks Edwards, Pact Knowledge and Learning Manager, says “We’d been discussing a way in which we could upskill our Service Coordinators and Managers with a recognised qualification that would also be appropriate to our organisation and add value to the work we do. The Level 5 Diploma was identified as a good fit.”

With input from the disability support sector, we are pleased to announce the launch of two micro-credentials.

These micro-credentials are for people who completed a Health and Wellbeing apprenticeship with a different specialisation and want to complete the disability specialisation. They are also suitable for people who hold the equivalent of a level 4 support work qualification and want to update their skills and have them formally recognised.

Learners must be working under the Enabling Good Lives framework.

As a result of the introduction of the Unified Funding System (UFS), the Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) closing, and changes to immigration settings, there have been changes to funding eligibility for international learners and associated identification requirements. These have resulted in changes to the enrolment process, and which has created some confusion.

Please go here for the latest information, but noting that the manner in which Careerforce requests information through the enrolment process is simply to ensure that it is meeting its statutory obligations.

Housing Case worker, Willie Tiuli proudly supports people to find a home, keep a home, and live well.

Though he left school with no thoughts of studying again, Willie has now completed a New Zealand Apprenticeship in Mental Health and Addiction Support, so that he can better support people experiencing homelessness.

Gaining a nationally recognised qualification is thanks to the commitment from his employer LinkPeople, and support from Careerforce.

“Although, I didn’t see myself studying after school, I had a real desire to do something to help people,” says Willie.

Careerforce’s e-learning platform Aka Toi is getting a bit of a makeover in July, which may result in a small amount of downtime for Aka Toi at the time – actual site navigation will remain much the same as currently. We will place messaging on Aka Toi as dates and times are firmed up. We expect to roll out further enhancements over time to continue to improve the user experience.If you have any queries, or experience any issues at the time, please contact elearning.ops@careerforce.org.nz .