Message from the AST Trust

A promising year in store

Kia ora tatou, and welcome to what surely must be a better year than 2020. I trust you had a decent break, recharged your batteries, and perhaps wove in some reflection, and planning for 2021.

While we hope the worst of COVID-19 is now behind us and we are managing the best we can, we still have numerous challenges ahead of us. There has been a lot of publicity about the skill shortages in the industry. However, there is no doubt the various funding initiatives, including the Targeted Training and Apprenticeship Fund (TTAF), and Apprenticeship Boost, have generated more students/ trainees, which should in time help to address this shortage. Various workstreams continue as part of the Review of Vocational Education (RoVE), including an increased focus on employers as trainers. I was part of a workshop in December, to obtain Industry Training Provider (ITP) and Industry Training Organisation (ITO) perspectives, which will be tested with various employer groups over the coming weeks. This is all part of informing an operating model for Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST), which by 2023 will include all 16 ITPs, plus the 11 ITOs. In December, the Industry Training Association Building (ITAB) providers met in Hamilton for our annual meeting with New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB), Chief Executive Grant Florence, and ITAB Business Development Manager, Nick Matthews. It was a very constructive forum and included a presentation from Dr. Simon Bilton about the Construction Centre of Vocational Excellence, (CoVE another part of RoVE). CoVE will run projects to help identify future needs of employers, including delivery modes to support the work-based learning. Planning is well underway for the 2021 NZCB Carpentry Apprentice Challenge. We are all looking forward to this, especially with the 2020 Challenge being cancelled due to lockdown. The Apprenticeship Scholarship Trust (AST) will again be a key supporter, and the event will be held at various locations around the country on 10 April. We hope to see high levels of interest again, and showcase the best of apprentice training in New Zealand.

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