Thousands of trade apprentices, including those in the heavy diesel and automotive sector, could soon see radical changes in skills training, and not everyone is on board with the plan.
The government is proposing to merge 16 polytechnics around the country into one national entity called the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology to administer all students, apprentices and industry trainees.
Under this structure, the national institution would take over the current 145,000 apprentices and trainees and 25,000 employers, plus the existing 110,000 polytechnic enrolments.
It follows a period of crisis for the training sector where the government has spent $100 million in extra funding for four struggling polytechnics over the past year.
Education minister Chris Hipkins says the current model is “broken” and it’s time to “reset the whole system and fundamentally rethink the way we view vocational education and training, and how it’s delivered”.
The shake-up intends to bring the Industry Training Organisations under one roof with a co-ordinated approach.It also aims to extend the leadership role of industry and employers, and a unified funding system, Hipkins says.
“We would also ensure there’s strong regional influence in the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology through the proposed formation of regional leadership groups which would identify the needs of the local economy and become a key link between local government, employers, iwi and communities.
“The development of courses and programmes would be consolidated, improving consistency and freeing up resources to expand front-line delivery.
There will be more sharing of expertise and best-practice, and more use of online, distance, and blended learning” Hipkins says.
Public consultation on the proposal is open until March 27 and feedback will be “carefully considered”, Hipkins says.
Industry Training Federation (ITF) chief executive Josh Williams is not a fan of the proposal.
Shifting responsibility for workplace training and apprenticeships from industry-owned and governed Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) to a single government-owned organisation will destroy the apprenticeship system, he says.
“We intend to ask our employers and industries if they would prefer that their training organisation is taken over by a single government-owned institute.
“For every $1 million invested in the tertiary sector, ITO-arranged training qualifies 300 skilled workers.
By comparison the polytechnics currently qualify 50.
“To meet our future workforce challenges, we need to be investing much more heavily in work-based learning.
Industry itself is best placed to the determine the training arrangements to meet its needs, including commissioning vocational providers to deliver relevant courses and programmes.
“The big opportunity of this reform is to build on the success of our work-based system, because that is how we can address skills shortages, and get the right skills in the right place at the right time.
“We are looking for a system that supports and encourages thousands more employers, regionally and nationally to develop our workforce.
New Zealand’s industry-led training and apprenticeship model provides direct engagement and connection to real employers.
“We are not at all convinced that central management of workplace training and apprenticeships will incentivise more employers to engage and participate,” Williams says.
Industry training organisation MITO (which looks after the automotive, transport, logistics industries) is also concerned the wide-ranging reforms are “a step too far”.
It could make matters worse for skills shortages in key industries like the transport sector, it says.
MITO chief executive Janet Lane says the current apprenticeship and training model, managed by industry, “is effective and economically lean”.
This has been “completely sidelined in the new proposals”, she says.
“ITOs already work with industry effectively to develop the workforce development outcomes required through qualifications and training programmes.”
Lane acknowledges the polytechnic sector needs to be stabilised and recognises the sector’s value to the community.
However, the right solution is needed.
“Simply transferring 145,000 ITO apprentices and learners to a newly formed national institution will create unnecessary disruption in this period of significant skills shortages across industries in New Zealand.”
Lane is also critical of the government’s consultation period and says it’s not long enough.
“The proposals represent the largest shift in New Zealand’s tertiary education and training system in over 25 years.MITO does not believe that a six-week period for consultation will provide sufficient time for robust debate and meaningful consideration of the far-reaching implications.”
Road Transport Forum chief executive Nick Leggett says while there is “merit in certain aspects of the proposed reforms … we are not convinced that the disestablishment of ITOs to be replaced by industry skills bodies will be in the best interests of the road transport industry”.
“The strength of the ITOs is that they are industry-led and industry-governed and work co-operatively with industry to respond to the natural changes in the economy and the workforce demands of each industry.
“The recent work RTF and the industry have done with MITO on refining road transport qualifications is a great example of the ITO model being responsive to the needs of the sector.
We do not see why the government would want to do away with a model that is largely working for industry as it should.
“We are also concerned that the government has only provided a short six-week consultation period and it is our view that the public, industries and the vocational education sector deserve a better opportunity to consider and respond to the proposal,” Leggett says.
The Collision Repair Association (CRA), which represents hundreds of NZ panel beaters, believes the proposed reform will see employers hiring foreign labour rather than training local apprentices.
CRA general manager Neil Pritchard says the overhaul will also hit rapidly evolving tech industries the hardest.
The current pace of technological change in automotive repair as a result of new construction materials, autonomous driving technology and advancement of electric vehicles is faster than at any time in the past century, Pritchard says.
Trade organisations such as the CRA rely on specialist industry training organisations like MITO to ensure training is up-to-date with international standards, Pritchard says.
“Keeping up with the pace of change is critical to ensuring quality repair work and the maintenance of safe vehicles on our roads.
“Under the current model our industry is effectively represented by expert member volunteers on various review committees which review new vehicle trends.
This ensures we drive appropriate changes to the qualification and training.
“Training organisations like MITO have field staff which have spent years developing expertise and intellectual property to meet the training needs for the industries they represent.
“Under the government’s proposal, ITOs such as MITO would be removed leaving a gaping knowledge and relationship hole that we have little faith can be readily filled.
“The result will be employers bypassing the hiring of local apprenticeships and looking to fulfil their skills shortages with more experienced foreign labour which are already trained to the standard required,” Pritchard says.
However, Motor Trade Association (MTA) chief executive Craig Pomare says he welcomes the proposal and hopes it will lead to more people training for the trades.
But any changes must include resources and support for the tens of thousands of employers who train apprentices at their own cost, he says.
“For small business, like your local garage, it is difficult to take on the additional work of training an apprentice when you are already flat out.
You can actually lose time and money to that training in the first year or so,” Pomare says.
“We desperately need to grow more of our own skilled trades people and we need help to do that.
“Ideally, this reform would include life-learning options, to support this type of professional development,” he says.
