A new report from the Waihanga Ara Rau Workforce Development Council makes a number of recommendations for improvement to the current plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying training model.
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perfect storm has caused unacceptable delays to PGD apprenticeship timeframes, with apprentices currently taking six-and-a-half years to complete a five-year apprenticeship. This, at a time when plumbing businesses are crying out for skilled tradespeople to bolster their teams and help meet heavy workload demands. The transition of The Skills Organisation into Te Pūkenga in October 2022 under RoVE reforms, coupled with Covid-19 disruptions to block course training and a 200% increase in new apprentices since 2020, without equal investment into training facilities and tutors, have combined to create a dissatisfactory situation for apprentices, plumbing companies and the general public that use their services. When members of the industry approached the Waihanga Ara Rau Infrastructure and Construction Workforce Development
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Council (WDC) to voice their concerns, the WDC decided to establish a baseline picture of the current Level 4 training environment by interviewing training providers, employers and apprentices across New Zealand. The resulting report takes a constructive approach, making recommendations where common themes and issues have been identified. It is up to the industry to take ownership and lead the way forward, notes the WDC. Short-term recommendations focus on addressing the immediate issue of ensuring apprentices complete on time. Longer term, the focus is on ensuring a flexible and ‘transformational’ training environment. All recommended actions in the report have been agreed to by the recently formed PGD Strategic Reference Group, chaired by Master Plumbers CEO Greg Wallace. The next step is to implement a project team to work through the priorities.
