Trades training FOR MARAE

A new trades training facility at a marae in West Auckland is providing the local community with a pathway to enter in-demand careers.

NZMA has partnered with Hoana Waititi Marae in Glen Eden, Auckland, to create a purpose-built campus that can cater for about 80 to 100 students.

The Trades West Campus, which welcomed its first intake of students in February 2021, offers trades training to people living in the marae community and the wider west Auckland area.

Programmes on offer include NZ certificates at level three in carpentry, painting and decoration, and plumbing and gasfitting, with the latter accommodating 20 students and lasting 22 weeks.

Kylie Wilson, NZMA’s Chief Executive Officer, says the campus was launched to support the growing demand for trades training in New Zealand.

“The first intake for plumbing and gasfitting had a full class of students enrolled,” she says.

“The on-location vocational campus rounds out the marae’s existing education offering of early childhood, primary and secondary education—providing a skills-based tertiary learning opportunity for its youth and the wider west Auckland community.

True worksite environment

“In addition to the curriculum learning taking place on a true ‘worksite’ environment, students are also provided with career and employment advice, pastoral care support and goal-setting opportunities.”

As part of the three-year partnership, NZMA will renovate four existing prefabricated classrooms on the marae grounds.

It will also build permanent campus classroom structures and a carving workshop (whare tapere), which will become the property of Hoani Waititi Marae Trust on completion of the work.

The build of the campus is being undertaken by students as part of their practical learning components.

Hands-on learners

Wilson notes literacy and numeracy can be a barrier to entering formal tertiary study for some learners but says NZMA aims to make its courses accessible to all and offers plenty of practical experience.

“NZMA programmes all have literacy and numeracy embedded into the curriculum so we can support all students through their programme of study and into employment or into an apprenticeship.

“Our learners are also predominantly hands-on learners and for this reason we ensure that students are able to implement the theory they learn in class through handson building projects both on and off site.”

She says research by NZMA’s careers and employment team drove the decision to develop the campus because construction, plumbing and painting are in-demand industries suffering from skills shortages.

NZMA is a partner of the Auckland Maori and Pasifika Trades Training Consortia and it made contact with the marae through this network.

Sustaining the marae

“We are acutely aware of the high level of demand for trade qualified staff to assist industry with the ever-growing need for housing especially in the Auckland region,” notes Wilson.

“Seeking to be part of the solution to both issues—qualified staff and housing demand—NZMA embarked on this one-ofa-kind partnership with the marae.

“Partnering with the Hoani Waititi Marae Trust to further enrich the educational offering on the marae and empower the communities it serves, NZMA will help locals gain in-demand trades qualifications for employment while sustaining the marae.”

While on site, all students are required to adhere to tikanga Māori protocols, particularly when tangihanga are held on the marae.

Cultural immersion

The trust will also give all NZMA staff and students at the campus free access to maraebased learning programmes such as Te Reo Māori language classes, marae experience, ahuatanga Māori (Māori tradition), tikanga Māori (Māori custom), kapa haka, and cultural competency education as part of the alliance.

Eynon Delamere, chairman of the marae, says the partnership is part of its strategy to provide educational opportunities for Māori and the wider community.

The first run of the three classes attracted a cohort of more than 65 students, with 74 per cent male, 25 per cent female, and one per cent other.

Māori account for 51 per cent of the intake, NZ European or Pakeha 11 per cent, and other ethnicities represented by the students include Tongan, Fijian, Samoan, Indian, Cook Island and Chinese.

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