Kia ora koutou

Naumai ki te ‘Paipa Kōrero’ - ngā pānui tuarua ā te Kāhui Aromātairua mo te tau 2024!
Welcome to the Quarter 2 Assurance Team Newsletter for 2024!

This edition discusses changes to our Consent to Assess application form, updates on our projects and webinars, the Vocational Education Summit held in April, and some of our QSP projects.

We also spotlight our new team member, Nikki Laby, and our returning kaimahi, Terri Waerea.

Improving our consent to assess application support process

We’ve updated our application form for Waihanga Ara Rau support for consent to assess.
Changes have made the application form much more user-friendly. It is a challenge to have a generic application form that covers vastly differing criteria across all the qualifications and unit standards that we oversee. The changes gather information common to all applications and make it clear that this will be an initial submission and that further information requests are likely. This is based on the requirements of the Consent and Moderation Requirements document (CMR) relevant to the particular application.

CMRs are also being reviewed to simplify them. As we seek industry-based opinions and advice, there may be opportunities to contribute to this review project. We will communicate further details in upcoming editions.

FIND OUT MORE

Assurance projects and webinars

We are working on several important projects this year, as highlighted in our special edition Quality Assurance Update. In the coming months, we'll also be running free webinars to provide you with the latest knowledge and insights.

We’ve got plenty of webinars still available, covering topics such as:

Good assessor practice
An introduction to the compliance training project
Tools and guidance for Mātauranga Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (three further sessions available!)

FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER TO ATTEND

If you missed it, you can watch the first webinar in our tools and guidance for Mātauranga Māori now below:

Vocational education summit – Waitaha Canterbury

Last month, the Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) attended the TENZ teacher-only day vocational summit hosted by Kaiapoi School. At the summit, the future of pathway-focused learning took centre stage. We discussed the evolution of vocational education, from unit standards to skills standards, and explored how these changes are shaping the workforce landscape.

Teachers had the opportunity to engage with WDCs, industry leaders, educators, and policymakers. They shared insights, best practice and innovative approaches to vocational training.

Workshops, interactive panels and networking sessions were designed to empower attendees with the tools and knowledge needed to advance vocational education.

New Core Construction Skill Standards

We are working with industry to create a set of Core Construction skill standards that describe skills they value. These standards will be common across a range of construction qualifications and micro-credentials to support learner pathways into, through, and across construction trades.

We consulted with a range of tāngata whai mana (interested parties) throughout April and May. This included business owners, tradespeople, association representatives, and education organisations from a range of construction trades across the motu (country). We would like to thank everyone who participated in the development process to date.

The project’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) met on 4 June and considered feedback received during the initial consultation phase to help shape the first draft of the skill standards.

We are excited to share the first drafts of the Core Construction skill standards and invite your feedback. You can provide feedback on any or all of the skill standards any time before 5 pm on Wednesday, 3 July.

VIEW DRAFTS AND GIVE FEEDBACK NOW

BCATS skill standards to be graded

As part of the development of BCATS skill standards to replace the current unit standards, the decision was made to include achieved, merit, and excellence grading.

Some of the benefits of achieved, merit and excellence grading for the BCATS skill standards are:

the opportunity to contribute to NCEA certificate-level endorsements
allowing learners to demonstrate flair in their project work
encouraging a wider group of learners to engage in construction and allied trades skills, particularly those who may have previously chosen not to enrol in BCATS courses due to only receiving ‘achieved’ grades.

We will be working closely with BCITO as they refresh their resources and assessment material to reflect these new BCATS skill standards.

FIND OUT MORE

Meet our newest team members

It’s been almost 30 years since I started working in Learning and Development and quality assurance.

Starting as a Clinical Nutritionist, I was an educator for nonprofit organisations, maraes, and businesses that asked me to support in-house training. Years in customer service roles put me in good stead for a pilot tertiary youth programme with Academy NZ called Natural Beauty, where I designed the curriculum. This course had a waiting list for four years. Gosh, did I need anti-wrinkle cream after that job?

PTE, MySkill, an entity of Healthcare NZ, was where my professional career grew for the next 11 years. As a Trainer/ Assessor for levels 2-4, I supported resource development and moderation.

I then moved to a new world with Axiom Training, PTE, which specialises in commercial and tertiary programmes, including transport licensing, health and safety, civil and infrastructure. As the Quality Assurance Manager, I looked after moderation, trained new trainers/assessors who came from the industry, and vast compliance.

Working collaboratively with providers is what excites me about my new role.

Outside of work, I love re-energising in nature, exercise, and gardening, and what nutritionist wouldn’t love eating?

It's fantastic to be back at Waihanga Ara Rau! After departing in late 2023 to broaden my QA knowledge at another WDC, the time had come to rejoin Waihanga Ara Rau and continue my mahi.

I have 20 years of experience in vocational education, with the majority of that time spent working with trades apprentices. From an Apprentice Co-ordinator with the NZ Defence Force to an Area Account Manager with the Skills Organisation.

I believe in a healthy work-life balance. Away from work, my family and I keep busy with dance, running, swimming and cycling. Any other spare time is spent getting stuck into our lifestyle property in beautiful rural Pahiatua.

Useful links
Ngā hononga ā-ipurangi

We are often asked where various templates, documents and websites can be found. Here are some you might find helpful: