Welcome to the Assessor Newsletter -July 2024

Staff Assessors - Leadership and Management

We're excited to introduce two new team members, Niki van Paassen and Ronal Reddy. They are both highly skilled educators’ and lovely people, and it’s wonderful to have them on the Business Diploma team of Assessors.

We have also farewelled Leanne Nicholas, who moves to another work-based learning division. We wish her all the best in her new role.

During this time of transition, it's great to have John Kenny back supporting us from his beachside whare and keeping our learner assessments well-marked and under control.

Staff Assessors - Health and Wellbeing

Our staff assessor’s have experienced a busy time welcoming new staff into the team. We also farewelled a very long-serving member of the team, Christine Moss.

Christine had been with Careerforce for 17 years in various roles – as a Careerforce Workplace Advisor, and then as a staff assessor. She has a huge bank of knowledge and her latest project within Careerforce was developing and championing the Peer Support learning package. We will miss her greatly.

We welcomed back Jeanette Hopley on a part-time basis for a short term contract. Jeanette retired 3 years ago and was delighted to be helping us out as we recruited more permanent staff.

Angelea Stanton joined us in June and has hit the ground running! Angelea’s skills and knowledge of the aged care environment will be very beneficial for learners she supports in their learning journey.

Our newest assessor, Dawnette Bailey, joined us in early July, bringing with her lots of skill and knowledge from across aged care and mental health.

With all our staff movements this year the team has remained strong and supportive of each other, truly working to our values of kotahitanga, manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga.

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi, with your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive. (speaking to the collaboration of the team in supporting our learners to succeed.)

‘Misconduct’ means some form of wrongdoing. You may also hear this referred to as ‘academic dishonesty’ or ‘academic integrity’.

Unfortunately, we’re seeing more and more instances of academic misconduct in learner’s assessments.

Careerforce takes academic misconduct very seriously as we have an important role in ensuring the integrity of our programmes and qualifications. In your role, you need to know that staff are correctly assessed as being skilled and competent to do their job, and that clients are properly looked after.

Assessors must not mark work as correct if it appears to not be the learner’s own original words. If you suspect that a learner has presented assessment evidence that is not their own, seek more information from the learner. This can be by having a conversation with the learner about their knowledge and understanding. Note down the key points of the discussion on the assessment, sign and date the notes, and if the learner is present, get them to sign the notes as well.

When examples of academic misconduct are detected, there are consequences for learners. The learner may be required to re-submit new assessment evidence for marking. In some cases, unit standards will be removed from a learner’s NZQA record of achievement.

We are communicating with all Careerforce learners on this subject, to let them know what is and isn’t acceptable, and will continue to remind them. We have developed a summary web page and downloadable flyer for learners.

We are currently developing tighter processes to handle this issue and will be able to provide you with tools and support to assist you in your role, shortly.

If you are unsure of the authenticity of a learner’s work or need to discuss this with someone, please do not hesitate to contact the moderation team - moderation@careerforce.org.nz. You are also welcome to bring queries to Hono Mai on a Wednesday from 1-2pm. You can join the meeting link by logging into iportal. Just click on the ‘Hono Mai meeting for assessors’ menu option.

‘Job Aid’ support files
Module Introduction Videos

'Job Aid' support files:
These are one-page printable resources, summarising the learning and assessment elements of a unit/module.

These files can be accessed as either a paper-based form via one of the Health & Wellbeing Level 3 programme tiles on the Resource Library, or online on Aka Toi under a new module section "He raumi ano/More resources"

Module Introduction Videos:
A Module Introduction Video is being added to the top of each module on Aka Toi to guide learners through the structure of the module. Learners will be able to access it in a range of languages (with captions).

Toitū Te Waiora, the Workforce Development Council with responsibility for Health & Wellbeing qualifications is undertaking a five-year review of the structure and content of the following qualifications:

Health and Wellbeing (Level 2)

Health and Wellbeing (Level 3) with strands in Health Assistance, Support Work, Orderly Services, Newborn Hearing Screening, Vision Hearing Screening

Toitū Te Waiora is proposing to make changes to the structure of these qualifications and strands, and their final decisions may have a direct impact on the training you provide for your workplace.

In summary the proposals are:

Health and Wellbeing (Level 2) – There is little change with updates to the wording

Health and Wellbeing (Level 3) – Two options are being proposed:
Option 1:
Extending the number of strands throughout the programme to include some additional strands relevant to the Home Support/Disability sectors.

Option 2:
Creating 3 qualifications at Level 3 grouped as follows:

a qualification for the Aged Care, and Home and Community Support sectors
a qualification for the Hospital sector incorporating current Level 3 strands (with some suggestions for additional strands)
a qualification for the Disability sector.

You have an opportunity to have a say in this review. The consultation form asks if you agree with the proposed changes and to consider if there are areas of knowledge that are missing from the proposals (e.g. which conditions are the most common in your sector but are not identified?)

We encourage you to find out more about the changes and provide your feedback.

Details of the proposed changes can be found here on the Toitū Te Waiora website.
Feedback can be given via their consultation form, or alternatively you can contact the team at healthandwellbeing@toitutewaiora.nz.

Their deadline for providing feedback is Wednesday 31 July 2024.

Earlier this year we launched the Careerforce Manaaki Fund to provide temporary financial assistance to learners facing unexpected hardship that is impacting upon their studies.

There have been 4 rounds to date with many learners receiving a one off payment of $400 to help with alleviating financial barriers. Round 4 has now closed and applicants will be notified on 5 August.

Round 5
Applications open:
5 August – 18 August 2024
Applicants notified:
2 September 2024
(Dates are subject to change)

We’re committed to promoting a healthy learning environment where Careerforce enrolled learners can talk to someone confidentially about their mental health when they need to.

Careerforce is extending support to those enrolled in a Careerforce programme* through a short-term pilot programme. Our Mental Health Advisors are available to provide assistance to individuals on their learning journey.

Our objective is to foster a positive and supportive learning environment where all Careerforce programme participants feel comfortable seeking confidential support for their mental health and wellbeing.

Support is available via phone, text, email, Microsoft Teams, or in-person depending on location.

Click here to learn more.

Do your trainees or apprentices need some extra support with their training programmes? Our Achieve Study Hubs are face-to-face sessions where they can drop in, ask questions, meet with other learners, and receive help with their learning.

Achieve Study Hubs are run all across Aotearoa
Our Achieve Study Hubs are scheduled across the country. Trainees and apprentices are also welcome to attend sessions outside their area. See the full schedule on our website.

Please make sure your learners are aware of this additional support, and encourage them to attend.