Skills for Good - April 2024: Pacific graduation, Manaaki fund round 2 opens, support for learners and more

Earlier this month, I had the absolute privilege of attending a Pacific learner graduation ceremony, celebrating their achievements amongst whānau, colleagues and employers. They are an inspiration to a future generation of learners, and also stand testament to the support and encouragement provided by their employers. Each time I attend events such as this, it serves as a reminder of not only the efficacy of work-based learning, but also of the often life-changing differences it is making for your staff, our learners. You can check out the full story further below.

The disestablishment of Te Pūkenga continues, and you will gradually start to see Te Pūkenga branding being removed from our various touchpoints from next month. At the same time, we will be refreshing our Careerforce brand, and we look forward to sharing more details with you next month.

While our future remains unclear as we await decisions on what will replace
Te Pūkenga, we move forwards with confidence, as we know that whatever the final structure, work-based learning will be a critical element. I can assure you that the importance and effectiveness of work-based learning is not lost on officials.

At the heart of work-based learning is our tripartite model between yourselves as employers, your staff (learners), and Careerforce. This year to date, it has been pleasing to see a pickup in enrolments and activity. This is a reflection of all the hard mahi and commitment across the tripartite agreement. Thank you.

Rod Bentham
Executive Director
Te Pūkenga, trading as Careerforce

Pacific graduates recently danced the night away at a colourful celebration of success. Fifty-four Careerforce Pacific learners were filled with pride as they graduated with their NZQA recognised qualifications at Manukau’s MIT Theatre.

Graduates from the Northern region had completed a range of Health and Wellbeing programmes from Level 2 certificates to Level 5 diplomas, some graduating with multiple qualifications.

The ‘Pacific Celebration of Success’ was designed to recognise these graduate achievements, amongst proud family members, employers and work colleagues.

Careerforce Pacific Lead, Laloifi Ripley, says, “The atmosphere in the auditorium was electric.

“This is something I have visualised for a while, and it was great to see it come to life. For a lot of our Pacific people, they work in these roles to support their families, to put food on the table and to provide. Often the thought of gaining a qualification never crosses their mind.

Our 2023 EPI year (Educational Performance Indicators) closed off recently. Here are a few highlights and shout-outs from the year:

We supported 16,187 unique learners across the year, including 6,308 new enrolments
We supported work-based learning across 2,077 worksites across Aotearoa in 2023, up 17% on 2018
4,137 learners completed their training programmes leading to the awarding of their NZQA qualifications
Level 4 learners now account for 41% of our learners, up from just 27% in 2018, with our apprenticeships accounting for a significant proportion of this growth
Across 2018 through to 2023, we have seen a sure but steady increase in the proportion of younger (34 and under) learners and also in our male learners. We are hoping that this is a reflection of the changing makeup and increasing diversity in the overall workforce
Our Gateway (schools programme) enrolments have increased by over 500% from just 206 in 2016 to 1,248 in 2023, and a 136% increase in participating schools to 151 across Aotearoa
While our activity rate increased on 2023 versus the previous year, it still remained shy of our 80% target. Increasing this activity rate is a key focus for Careerforce in 2024, and that will in turn support greater learner completions, the ultimate prize.

These numbers simply couldn’t have been achieved without the ongoing support of yourselves, our employers, that we partner with across the length and breadth of Aotearoa, and so we thank you. This year, as we celebrate our 30th anniversary, we have a number of initiatives planned and activities underway to further support improved employer and learner outcomes, and we look forward to working on these with you.

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.

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. We have contacted learners about these sessions and they can RSVP by completing the online form on our website.

To apply, your learners need to complete the application form here. To be eligible, they must be enrolled in a Careerforce programme and meet all the relevant criteria. For more information, please refer to our FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).

Learners will be notified of the outcome within two to three weeks of the fund closing date.

Recipients of the Manaaki fund will be asked to provide feedback to Careerforce to enable us to measure the impact of this funding.

We can support learners with their application if needed, at Manaaki.Fund@careerforce.org.nz

A team of staff from across Careerforce, supported by a lived experience advisory group developed a comprehensive Disability Action Plan that sets out a list of actions that will ensure our products and services are accessible and fit for purpose for disabled learners.

One of the key actions is making sure that digital platforms and new technology consider accessibility for disabled staff and learners.

The team managing Careerforce’s e-learning and assessment platform Aka Toi, completed a site accessibility audit to get a better understanding of where they could make improvements and ensure the platform was user friendly for all. As part of this ongoing work, we introduced the UserWay Accessibility widget on Aka Toi. The widget has a range of tools to help better support users with digital accessibility needs, including easily increasing font sizes, activating dyslexia friendly fonts, adding contrast to the page and more.

A further reminder that across March and April, we placed a number of learners on-hold due to inactivity on their training programmes. A number of these learners are now scheduled to be withdrawn later in May if they have still not completed any activity. Please review your monthly [emailed] training report to identify if you have staff that are at risk of being withdrawn, or discuss with your Careerforce Workplace Advisor. Regular enrolment fees will apply for any re-enrolments.

As we are funded by the TEC to support learners, we need to ensure learner success. This means we require learners to be regularly active in their learning journey.

We are required to report to NZQA to ensure our programmes are consistent with the requirements of the qualification. It also helps us to improve our training programmes and ensure they remain relevant to your workplace needs - your feedback is important.

We will be in contact with employers and graduates over the next few months to ask for feedback regarding the following Programmes:

Primary Care Practice Assistance (L4)
Rehabilitation Support (L4)
Health and Wellbeing (L2)
Cleaning (L2 & L3)
Social & Community Services, including Diversional Therapy, Mental Health and Addiction Support, Disability Support & Community Facilitation (L4)
Business (Leadership and Management) (L6)

This is a reminder that the last date for Careerforce trainees to submit assessments for these version 1 programmes is 31 May 2024. The Level 3 programmes impacted are:

Health Assistance (version 1)
Support Work (version 1)
Orderly Services (version 1)
Newborn Hearing Screening (version 1)
Dental Assistance (version 1)

After 31 May 2024, any learners who have not completed all the required unit standards for this version of the qualification will, from July 2024, be transferred to the version 2 programmes. We have also advised impacted learners and assessors.

If you have any queries about the closure of version 1 programmes, or transferring to version 2 programmes, please contact your Careerforce Workplace Advisor.