RoVE Announcement Update
The Government announced their decision on the future of
Vocational Education in New Zealand today, 1 August 2019. This future is
focused on a unified system for all Vocational Education in order to address
the skills shortage we are facing as a country.
The decision sees the development of Workforce Development Councils – these
were initially looked at as Industry Skills Bodies (ISB) – which ITOs will be
transitioned into. A new Institute is also being established to
consolidate the Polytechnic sector, and provide trainee support across all
sectors.
It is important to note that the transition to the new system will be managed
to avoid impacting current trainees or slow down the uptake of required
industry training. It is important that industry have the confidence to
continue to invest in their people and the skills required for now and the
future.
The new system is heavily supportive of on-job training.
The key summary of when this transition will take place:
- Workforce Development Councils (WDC) to be setup 1 April 2020. There will be an expectation of consolidation during this transition.
- ITOs to be transitioned into WDC’s from April 2020 to June 2021
- Transition of trainees to New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST) will happen from June 2021 till December 2022.
- WDC’s retain the employer brokerage and standard setting functions.
Connexis, as an ITO, will have a strong voice in the
development of the WDC’s. Furthermore, the WDC’s will have a lot of power in
terms of industry training and where the funding will be focused in the future.
As such, we want to ensure we continue to actively and powerfully represent
industries’ voice during this time. Please email through questions,
comments and concerns so that we can represent industries’ views when we talk
with officials. If you’d like to discuss the changes in person, please
also get in touch direct, or you can email us on haveyoursay@connexis.org.nz
Most importantly, the team at Connexis is committed to continuing to support
our customers and trainees, it is business as usual. We will continue to
promote trainee enrolments and ensure industry do not stop training and gaining
qualified people as we move through the transition into a new system.
For more information and to view the government’s documents you can visit our RoVE News and Updates page here.
