CERTIFICATION PILOT –MEET THE PARTICIPANTS!

The launch of the new Certification Programme underway was the result of a successful pilot and proof of concept completed in 2022. Here we ask a few participants about the pilot and what it meant for them.

What was your role in the Certification Pilot? I was a candidate and I wanted to register as a professional. What were the results for you? It was quite a long process but at the end of the day I’m now a Certified Professional Engineering Surveyor. It was a positive outcome for me. It was quite nice to go through the process and see how the guys compare your skills and knowledge of the industry to what the industry expects from a professional surveyor. It was a thorough process; it was very good.

What was your role in the certification pilot? I was one of ten assessors. All the assessors were assessed as part of the pilot. We were assessed together and there were around 20 further candidates, across the two different certifications. I then assessed about ten candidates altogether ranging from assessing assessors (one of the two main interviewers) and a third observing interviewer.

What were the results for you?

I became a Certified Professional Engineering Surveyor (number one apparently). As an Assessor seeing the different results was very interesting, it was a lot more varied than I expected. Some people really knew their stuff and others didn’t. The overall results were that we didn’t pass at least half of the candidates, it was surprising that quite a few people weren’t up to our standard, I hoped there would be more but we have a high standard and we are quite strict and keen to maintain that and keep the standard high.

JAYNE ALBISTON

What was your role in the certification pilot? The Pilot Program was part of the ‘Build’ phase of the Certification Framework Development Project, that I have led in my capacity as Professional Development & Advocacy Manager, with the oversight of a Governance Committee appointed by Survey and Spatial NZ Council.

Midway through 2020, I was brought on to the National Team at Survey and Spatial, to carry out a series of reviews, which resulted in a proposal for a new Certification Framework. I began Phase 1 of the project in 2021 by designing the Framework, complete with an assessment process suitable for all practice areas within the professions represented by Survey and Spatial NZ.

The 2020 reviews had revealed a common set of criteria across employers, regional and local authorities and the public for the definition of a ‘suitably qualified and experienced professional’. Those criteria, along with key organisational goals for Survey and Spatial New Zealand, became the benchmark for the new framework. They were also embedded into the design of the processes for the professional and technical assessments, recognition of competency and maintaining it on an on-going basis. In short, the Framework and programs inside it, had to include clear eligibility criteria, a public register, mandatory CPD and be supported by a robust renewal process and quality management system.

The two professions selected by Survey and Spatial for development of certification within the new framework were Engineering Survey and Land Development Engineering. Once I had designed the framework and processes, I worked with the Stream Leadership from Engineering Surveying and Land Development

Engineering to develop sets of professional and technical competencies. We designed one set of professional competencies for both certifications, the difference being that it would be assessed relevant to the profession for which competency was being applied for. Both certifications had their own sets of technical competencies.

The outcome of the design phase was a common purpose for all certifications developed for the framework; they would be formal recognition by Survey and Spatial New Zealand of those who had been assessed against a defined set of professional and technical competencies, which met standards and technical sign off criteria required by Private and Public Asset Owners, Territorial and Local Authorities and other such Entities.

Halfway through 2021, MBIE came out with a proposed new regime for the ‘Occupational Regulation of Engineers’ which was all encompassing and included land development engineering. This gave the development of our land development engineering certification an extra layer of purpose. After our submission to MBIE, it became clear we would be working towards our Land Development Engineering Certification becoming a class of licence under the new regime once the new Bill was passed. (NB. The draft Bill is due to be published in 2023)

The ’Build’ phase of the Certification Development project involved building the physical assets required to test and pilot the process. Then along with Mike Cutfield from the Engineering Surveying Stream and others, we recruited 2 teams of Assessors for the Pilot Program. The first part of the Pilot Program, saw the Assessors being ‘candidates’ as they first had to apply for and be certified before they could then turn around and assess candidates.

Including the recruitment of the Assessor Team, the Pilot Program ran February – July 2022. The actual assessment was run over an intense 8-week period which saw us stretched to our limits as we worked to the goal of completing the Pilot prior to the 2022 Annual Conference, held in the first week of August. In total, there were 32 participants in the Pilot Program. It was a thorough and robust, successful Pilot, resulting in competent, Survey and Spatial New Zealand Certified Professional Engineering Surveyors and Land Development Engineers.

What were the results for you? There are many outcomes from the Pilot that I celebrate. The achievement of completing phase 2 of a multi-phase, long term project of national historical significance for the professions involved, is definitely a career highlight for me. The fact that until now, there has been no regulatory framework for Engineering Surveying as a profession in New Zealand and that we have stepped in to self-regulate in the absence of legislation, is massive. The fact that there has been no regulatory framework involving the on-going reassessment of competency for land development engineers and that we have now created one that aligns with the intent of MBIE’s new regime for the Occupational Regulation of Engineers, is a significant step towards preserving a highly valued practice area for surveyors and engineers alike.

Another highlight is that there are now two new career pathways for New Zealanders and Migrants from both university and vocational education backgrounds. For Survey and Spatial New Zealand, that creates new pathways into membership as the industry and professional ‘home’ for engineering surveyors and land development engineers.

The result in practical terms is that we are now moving to the Implementation Phase – which is a 5-year plan. As part of that, I am developing a National Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and Plan and will be a key player in facilitating that across New Zealand.

But the true gold from the Pilot Program for me, has been the creation of an exceptional National Team of Assessors, which we are continuing to build. The richness of relationships that this has created both personally and professionally for us all, cannot be understated. It is the people who made the Pilot Program and who will make the implementation of this National Framework and the Certifications that are developed within it.

SAM WILLIAMS

assessments and supporting information to assess our general professional and technical competence. From there, we were assessed by a panel of our peers and if successful form part of the assessor team. Once we had put ourselves through the process, we were ready to assess the preliminary group of candidates to enable analysis of the data and the process of how the system was working. That has been my role to date.

Since then, Mike encouraged me to take up a position on Council with the Engineering Surveying Stream for S+SNZ. In that role my aim is to advocate for certification, continue building the engineering surveying stream, create a group and a leadership team in that space leveraging off the certification assessor team and working relationships generated in that space.

What were the results for you? It was quite daunting at first. Mike assembled quite a team of well recognised engineering surveyors.

Bruce Walker

What was your role in the certification pilot? I was asked by Mike Cutfield (the Engineering Stream Chair) at the time, to apply to be an assessor. This is something I have been passionate about for some time with the civil construction industry not being regulated in terms of the competency level of the surveyors who can work in our industry, so when Mike asked me to get involved, I was pretty keen. The aim is to set a quality benchmark for our industry.

Mike put us in contact with Jayne Albiston (S+SNZ Professional Development & Advocacy Manager) who got us all together and encouraged us to submit our applications, written

So, to have yourself tested against the competencies and the 1-hour panel assessment from your industry peers was a bit unnerving as to how much you really know and understand about surveying. In the end it was quite a rewarding process.

There were some tight time constraints in place to get everything through in time which put a bit of pressure on the team, but we managed. We pulled together, worked hard, worked long hours as a team and were able to get a sample data set out for the S+SNZ Board and Council to review. With the tireless efforts of Jayne, we have got the framework tidied up in terms of the wording, individual competencies, and refinement of different areas. I would like to think we have helped in getting the certification to where it is now – at a stage where it can be launched.

What was your role in the certification pilot? I was an assessor applicant to start with, after being invited in with a group of people who are established in the industry was the qualification. We went through the assessor applicant process, were interviewed by Zoom and if successful we were appointed to be assessors on the pilot programme (we were all successful, nobody failed).

We were then assessed and issued with a Certificate of Competency. Then our role involved into us assessing the initial pilot programme candidates and we independently assessed the candidates.

What were the results for you? There were five key things.

1. We became certified as competent to practise ourselves as approved Survey +Spatial NZ Engineering Surveyors in my case, others became Land Development Engineers. We will be issued with Annual Practicing Certificates, so it was a personal gain for each of us.

2. We will be appointed as assessors ongoing once the formal programme is rolled out from July 2023.

3. Bringing together and establishing the beginnings of a national network for Engineering Surveyors and Land Development Engineers in a community which has never really had a structural feel to it or a formality around its involvement with Survey and Spatial NZ or what was NZIS. That is a big gain, having a brand-new community coming out of it.

4. Other than the long established cadastral, hydro and more recently the spatial community where there were recognised academic qualifications, registration, certification to practise in specific areas it is really good to have this new formal recognition of that certification status within S+SNZ, particularly in more modern times. It reflects the global trend where surveyors are used not just in hydro, cadastral and spatial but certainly in construction and engineering it is such a massive part of our industry and our community has so many surveyors working in it that it is appropriate now to have the qualification that matches the new community represented globally and in New Zealand.

5. The final point is very special to me and many others in the industry, the resurgence in interest and the ability to get the technicians division up and running with an enthusiasm possibly not felt since the old days of the NZTSA (the New Zealand Technician Surveyors Association) which ran from 1974 to about 1988. Many of the current S+SNZ members were part of the NZTSA and were from that community. We have really got in behind this neat resurgence feel with the technicians. The engineering surveying and land development engineering is a big part of that, but the whole technician community with people from cadastral and other fields, hopefully spatial and hydro (which is yet to be explored). The whole community has come together which has in effect been a really nice spin off. It has also led us to involvement with UNITEC and Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and Te Pūkenga institutions who grabbed us and put to talk to them as well. The whole certification programme has grown legs.

It has been superbly led by Jayne I have to say. We cannot claim to be the clever guys in this one, I think the Board and Council gave good direction, Ashley the CEO brought in a contractor (ie Jayne) who absolutely embraced this and with the support from National Office the outcomes with the educational institutions have delivered a spin off which I don’t think any of us thought would happen. It has been more than anyone could have hoped for as well as the Certification Programme. For me personally, we have kind of been waiting for this for over 40 years. A lot of people got a bit disillusioned along the way and many of us with a passion for the industry stuck it out. There have been swings of emotion all over the place so to