Share
Preview
Win a Morning Tea worth $100 for your team
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
              E M P L O Y E R   N E W S L E T T E R   |  J A N U A R Y   2 0 2 1    
In this Issue
Motivating trainees at the start of the year
Apprentice activity - an important reminder

Chromebooks help trainees accelerate learning
Youth in Health & Wellbeing Careers events
Welcome to Careerforce's January update
Kia ora

Welcome to the first edition of Skills for Good for 2021.
I hope you and your team had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year.

It can be a challenge ‘getting going’ following the festive season.  In this edition of Skills for Good, we have included a video which includes tips for getting learners motivated at the start of the year.
The popular $100 Workplace Morning Tea Shout is back this year.  In the quiz below, simply answer three questions correctly to be in the draw to win a morning tea for your team.

We look forward to working alongside you in 2021.  If you have any questions at this stage of the year, please don’t hesitate to contact your local Careerforce Workplace Advisor or call us on 0800 277 486, otherwise we look forward to catching up with you soon.

Ngā mihi nui

Andrew Saunders
General Manager, Employer Services

Motivating trainees at the start of the year
The start of a New Year is often a great time to get your trainees motivated.  Your organisation has already recognised the importance of training by investing in upskilling staff. Here are some tools to help support trainees and apprentices succeed and ensure they remain motivated on their training journey. Check out this video for some useful suggestions.
 
Apprentice activity requirements, an important reminder
Careerforce apprenticeships are typically made up of between 13-14 modules, and have an expected duration of 18-24 months. Accordingly, to complete an apprenticeship within this expected duration, apprentices should, on average, be completing 4-5 modules over any six month period.

In August, new activity requirements were introduced and communicated to all apprentices and their employers. View email to employers here. These require apprentices to complete at least one module within any five month period of their apprenticeship, or the apprenticeship will be placed on-hold. If there are no modules completed within any six month period, apprentices may be withdrawn from their apprenticeship.

Earlier this month, a number of apprentices were notified that they had been placed on-hold as they had not met these activity requirements, and also that they may be withdrawn from their apprenticeship next month if there is still no activity. For any employers claiming Apprenticeship Boost payments, it is important to be aware that on-hold apprentices are not deemed to be active, and therefore any Apprenticeship Boost payments will cease for these apprentices.

Each month, training reports are sent to all employers and these indicate the progress of all trainees and apprentices, plus also highlight any that are on-hold, together with an anticipated withdrawal date. We encourage you to carefully review this report each month.

Good News! TEC has announced that cleaning programmes are now eligible for TTAF
Last year Careerforce made a strong case to TEC to have Cleaning programmes (Level 2 & 3) included as part of the Targeted Training and Apprenticeships fund (TTAF), as these programmes were not initially eligible for the fund.

The good news is that TEC has now confirmed the following are all covered by TTAF effective from January 2021 and are now fees-free.
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Level 2)
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Health Care Facilities Endorsement)
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Level 3)
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Level 3) Carpet and Textiles
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Level 3) Contagion and Specialised Infection Control
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Level 3) Hard Floor Surfaces
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Level 3) High Risk Environments
  • New Zealand Certificate in Cleaning (Level 3) Supervision

Whilst the funding is for the period through to December 2022, the list of eligible qualifications may change over this period, so we cannot assume these qualifications will be covered for this entire period.

Please refer to our website for the latest on programmes eligible for TTAF.

Enrolments into Business Level 5 are now free until December 2021
There are no enrolment fees for workplaces wishing to enrol their staff into the Careerforce business programme until the end of this year. (Previously this promotion closed at the end of last year). Enrolment fees are waived for the New Zealand Diploma in Business (Leadership and Management) (Level 5)*.

*For enrolments in the NZ Diploma in Business (Level 5) that are eligible for Fees Free or for any applicable grants, these entitlements will take precedence over the Careerforce free enrolment offer.

Jane Mander Retirement Village, Whangarei shared a photo from last year's morning tea win

You can win a morning tea worth $100 for your team! Congratulations to Robin Slade from Brain Injury, Waikato who won a morning tea from the last issue.

Simply complete three questions correctly to be in the draw to win a morning tea for your team. The quiz closes on 5 February 2021. To enter, follow the link below:
Meet Apprenticeship Advisor Jillena Paekau
We'd like to introduce Jillena Paekau who recently joined Careerforce as Apprenticeship Advisor for Hamilton and parts of the Auckland Region. Jillena has a wealth of experience in service delivery in the health, disability and injury sectors.  In her last role, she was an Occupational Therapist working within residential services for people with traumatic brain injury. We're thrilled to have Jillena join us especially at this time of fast growing apprentice numbers.  She'll be working with employers to promote apprenticeships and provide support, guidance and assessment for apprentices.
Chromebooks help trainees accelerate their learning
Trainees are making great strides along their training journey following Government funding.

Last year Careerforce obtained funding to help support learners whose training was disrupted by COVID-19 and have limited or no access to technology enabled learning.

Careerforce were able to purchase Chromebooks and portable broadband devices, along with data packages to support learner success and boost confidence with online learning.

Chromebooks are laptops that run Google’s Chrome operating system.  Google has made Chromebook as easy to set up as any smartphone and much easier than setting up a PC, laptop, or other notebooks.

Careerforce set out to identify vulnerable learners, those in need of additional access to technology and those facing technological and skill barriers. Many trainees also used a shared workplace computer to complete their online studies, which is often unavailable.

Loaning Chromebooks to trainees enabled them to do their own learning and come together in group setting ‘study hubs’.  The study hubs were set up with the workplace to further address the needs of more kanohi ki te kanohi ‘face to face support’.  Trainees have been able to concentrate better on their study and make some real progress.

Approximately 290 devices and data set ups have been made available to allow trainees to accelerate their learning. Among the organisations to benefit were Social Services agency, Waitomo Papakainga, Ngati Kahu Social Services and Bluelight in Hamilton.

Workforce Development Councils – Consultation closing soon
A reminder that the Workforce Development Council (WDC) Order in Council (OiC) consultation is due to close on 5 February.

WDCs are a crucial part of the vocational education reforms (RoVE), and to formally establish the WDCs, a legal instrument called an Order in Council is required for each. Last year, industry-led interim Establishment Boards were working with the Tertiary Education Commission and industry sectors, peak bodies, educators, Māori business and industry, to engage and provide advice to develop draft content for WDC Order in Council proposals.
As part of the consultation, TEC particularly wants to know what people think about each WDCs proposed name; the industry coverage; and their governance arrangements. For more information, or to have your say, go to WDCconsultation.tec.govt.nz.

This video gives further background.
Help us bring training to life
We hear a number of inspiring stories about the work your trainees and apprentices do every day, and about the difference their training and attainment of qualifications has made to both their work and personal lives. These stories allow us to bring workplace training to life. Here is a taste of the stories we shared last year.
If you have some great stories that you would like to share, we’d love to hear them.  It's an opportunity to celebrate and recognise your organisations and your heroes. If you think you have an interesting story, please email us at marcomms@careerforce.org.nz
Meet your future workforce – become a Gateway Employer
Open your door to support young people into a career in the health & wellbeing, and social & community sectors by becoming a Gateway employer.

Gateway is a work placement initiative for senior school students (Year 11 to 13) allowing them to explore a career and gain credits towards their NCEA. Find out more below:

Workplace Literacy – what does this mean?
Here is an easy-read explanation of the term “workplace literacy” by Skills Highway:
https://www.skillshighway.govt.nz/workplace-literacy

This site breaks down workplace literacy into four parts:
1.       Awareness of employees who are bright, intelligent and motivated but are held back because of low literacy and/or numeracy skills.
2.       Understanding the impact this can have on your business e.g. higher costs from accidents, staff turnover, missed deadlines, unnecessary wastage and errors.
3.       Exploring the value of workplace literacy and numeracy programmes such as improved communication, better paperwork, more accurate data collection and improved commitment to quality control. 
4.       Approaches on how to measure improvement from a workplace literacy and numeracy programme including some templates for measuring success.

If you want to learn more, the Skills Highway site also has a range of Resources for developing a training programme and a list of TEC approved Workplace Literacy and Numeracy Providers that can help you with this.
Using Aka Toi as an assessor
Would you like more information about using Aka Toi for marking?
We offer coaching sessions for assessors. See the video for more information.

Workforce Diversity Campaign
In previous issues of Skills for Good, we have detailed how we had been successful in securing funding from the TEC Covid-19 Response Fund for a significant campaign with the objective of attracting, training and retaining a resilient and diverse care and support workforce in a post COVID-19 environment.

Pre-Christmas, an RFP was released to shortlisted agency partners to support the development and rollout of this campaign, and proposals are due at the end of this month. All are very excited at the prospect of leading the development of this campaign, and promoting the extensive and rewarding opportunities available to be part of our amazing and essential care and support workforce.

We are really excited to be leading this campaign development on behalf of our sectors, and we will continue to keep you updated on progress.

Youth in Health and Wellbeing Careers Events
We are running a series of events across the country to encourage young people to choose a career in the essential health and wellbeing sectors. If you are interested in connecting and engaging with young people, get in touch with us at schools@careerforce.org.nz.
Find out more below:

Qualification Review Update
As the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) appointed qualification developer for Health & Wellbeing qualifications, we are undergoing a major review of a number of qualifications. This is a requirement of the NZQA for all qualifications listed within the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF), and is also good practice to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
Rehab L4 – Awaiting NZQA Approval
The reviewed qualification was submitted to NZQA on 5 November. We are awaiting approval from NZQA.

Skills for Living L1 – Awaiting NZQA Approval
The reviewed qualification was submitted to NZQA on 12 October. We are awaiting approval from NZQA.

PCPA L4 – Awaiting NZQA Approval
The reviewed qualification was submitted to NZQA on 12 November. We are awaiting approval from NZQA.

Social & Community L4 – Awaiting NZQA Approval
The reviewed qualification was submitted to NZQA on 5 November. We are awaiting approval from NZQA.

Jobs for Good - your free recruitment platform
Keep the vacancies coming, and remember; it’s free, it’s easy, and it’s super-targeted.
Go here to list any vacancies.

 
New opportunity at Careerforce
Our staff work in a variety of ways to enable and enhance the skill and qualification level of the workforce in the sectors we support to improve health and wellbeing outcomes in
New Zealand.
At this time we have one vacancy. Please feel free to share this with your colleagues and whānau who you think may be interested.
Vocational Pathways Advisor - Christchurch
The Vocational Pathways Advisor works with secondary schools and workplaces to provide opportunities for students to develop their theory and practical skills and knowledge, through the Vocational Pathways & Gateway programmes.
Popular links
Find out more about:
  • Careerforce Qualification Programmes >> More
  • Gateway and Vocational Pathways >>More
  • How to contact your local Careerforce Workplace Advisor >>More
 
Please share with your colleagues
We hope you're enjoying Skills for Good, and encourage you to share our newsletter with your colleagues.  We also welcome your feedback. Contact us.

Sign up here to receive the Skills for Good Newsletter
If you have been forwarded this email and wish to keep receiving these updates, please >>Sign Up Here


 
 
 


Email Marketing by ActiveCampaign