RoVE update #3

Nick Matthews Industry Pathways and Apprenticeship Manager

The Review of Vocational Education (RoVE) is due to wrap up on 31 December 2022. So, what does this mean for builders who employ and train apprentices?

We are beginning to have a clearer picture of how apprentices will train post-RoVE, and what the pathway will look like for an apprentice and their employer from 1 January 2023.

By way of a recap, the nationwide merger of the Polytechnics and Institutes of Technology with Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) into one provider known as Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (Te Pūkenga NZIST) has happened.

Many of the ITOs, specifically the BCITO providing carpentry training, is now legally known as Te Pūkenga Work Based Learning (WBL) Limited. This transition occurred on 4 October 2021, although you wouldn’t have noticed any difference to branding or training delivery. This was a deliberate tactic to ensure stability and continuity in apprenticeship training during the RoVE roll out. The transition of ITOs into WBL allowed ITOs to separate out staff, learners, and training functions from the traditional ITO functions, ensuring an integration of on-job, on-campus, and online training. Essentially, WBL can function more like a Polytechnic, with a heavier emphasis on teaching and education, something BCITO wasn’t previously mandated to deliver.

A key outcome of RoVE is to deliver a stronger focus and support to employers. Te Pūkenga NZIST aims to support employers, and subsequently their employees, by ensuring greater consistency in vocational education nationwide. The question builders and apprentice employers are starting to ask is “What does this look like come 2023?”.

As an industry, we are still waiting for the detail. What is known is that from 1 January 2023, ITPs and WBL subsidiaries will operate under one identity: Te Pūkenga NZIST, and branding such as vehicles, shirts, and signage will reflect this change by 31 March 2023.

While we have been given no clear indication as to what pathway must be undertaken for new apprentices post-RoVE, New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) has received clear direction from ITPs that they will continue to train and support existing apprentices until the end of their apprenticeship. Trainees enrolled with WBL will also complete their apprenticeships under the WBL training model. So, for the meantime, its business as usual.

Senior representatives from both the ITP and WBL subsidiaries are working together to consolidate the Carpentry Programme. They are aligning the best parts of the various programmes currently offered by ITPs and WBL into one nationwide resource for apprentices and employers. It is expected the new programme curriculum will integrate literacy and numeracy assistance, provide tutorial and targeted lessons underpinning on-site learning in an off-site classroom environment, and see increased pastoral care for all learners.

Some good news is the Apprenticeship Boost Initiative (ABI) has been extended to the end of December 2023. This means employers can continue to access financial support from Work and Income for employing and training apprentices. However, the first-year rate is lower, now $500 per apprentice per month (previously $1k) from 5 August 2022. There is no change to the second-year rate, which remains at $500 per month until the initiative ends in December 2023. The Targeted Training and Apprenticeship Fund (TTAF), which is a subsidy for trainees, will end on 31 December 2022.

Recently, members of Industry Training Association Building’s (ITAB) Incorporated Society met and discussed how ITAB can continue to operate post-RoVE given the changing landscape. Additionally, NZCB Board and Management has engaged with Te Pūkenga NZIST to explore ways we can support Te Pūkenga and NZCB members who employ apprentices, not just those who align with the ITAB Apprenticeship Programme. A paper, subject to approval and sign off from both the ITAB and NZCB Boards, has been drafted and explores options and targeted initiatives for NZCB members and apprentice employers.

I hope to provide an update and an announcement on what this will look like in the next edition of InHouse.

Until then...

A key outcome of RoVE is to deliver a stronger focus and support to employers. Te Pūkenga NZIST aims to support employers, and subsequently their employees, by ensuring greater consistency in vocational education nationwide.