News from Waihanga Ara Rau
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Kia ora
Nau mai ki te ‘Paipa Kōrero’ - ngā pānui tuatoru ā te Kāhui Aromātairua mo te tau 2024! Welcome to the Quality Assurance newsletter for Q4 2024!
As another year draws to a close, it gives us the opportunity to reflect on what has been achieved.
I want to start by thanking all providers and secondary schools we have engaged with over 2024. They say you can’t establish a partnership without first establishing a relationship. The collaborative relationships you have helped us develop over the past three years are now truly developing into long-term partnerships that are important for the continual improvements we can all make to the vocational education and training system.
You have allowed us to try some stuff; some of it has worked, and some of it hasn’t, but it has allowed us to change and adapt in a safe environment. Thank you.
Some of the highlights this year have been:
- Undertaking the Compliance Project. You can read more about this project below. This is a project that will continue into 2025.
- The review of our CMR, from 11 to one, which has now been submitted to NZQA for approval.
- The development of skill standards in the BCATS area that the qualifications team has led is particularly exciting due to the introduction of awards (Achieved, Merit, Excellence) for these standards.
- Working alongside providers and secondary schools collaboratively to improve the outcomes for all ākonga and our industry sectors.
- Our internal development achieved through reflection to identify themes from all our work. This has led to several online webinars, including assessor practice and an introduction to skill standards.
- A successful monitoring report from NZQA indicates we are meeting our obligations as a standard-setting body.
These are just a few highlights to round out the year. Again, thank you for allowing us to work alongside you to improve the sector as a whole. Have a well-deserved break with family and friends as we look forward to 2025.
Mike Grumball, GM Assurance
Assurance projects & webinars
We’ve been busy with our projects and webinars over the last few months. Here are some highlights:
Compliance Training Project
This year, Waihanga Ara Rau has been working hard to understand how compliance training is being delivered and how the outcomes are meeting industry expectations.
We are pleased to share the project report, outlining further details, recommendations, and next steps.
CMR Review Project
The reviewed CMR has been submitted to NZQA for approval. While we don’t have a timeframe for final approval just yet, we will let you know as soon as we do. Thank you for your feedback and support to help align the CMR with current moderation practices and remove overlap for some of the sectors by condensing the 11 current CMRs into one.
Assessor Practice Webinar Guidelines
We are excited to share the Assessor Practice Webinar Guidelines. These are based on the Assessor Practice webinar held earlier this year.
Introduction to Skill Standards
We’re often asked about skill standards and what these mean for providers and industry. To answer some of your questions, we’ve been running an ‘Introduction to Skill Standards’ webinar at various times in November. This includes:
- what is included in a skill standard
- programme guidance
- what skill standards mean for assessment & moderation.
Attend our final webinar on Wednesday, 4 December, 1-2pm. Register to attend.
Showcasing Kaiapoi High School’s building course
Supporting schools is an important part of our mahi. We do this by visiting schools, organising and running cluster moderation events, and carrying out desk-top moderation.
Last year, Kaiapoi High School kindly hosted one of our moderation cluster meetings, and while we were there, we had the opportunity to see some of the fantastic projects from their building course.
Building pathways project
The overarching goal of the building pathways project is to support flexible pathways into and through the building trades. This goal is made up of four workstreams:
- Core construction skill standard development
- Carpentry skill standard development
- BCATS qualification review and skill standard development
- Building clusters investigation – we are seeking insights from on-site construction to understand what skills can be successfully packaged to support worker/ākonga skill development and achievement.
Cranes review progress
Review of the cranes qualifications and development of skill standards is almost ready for wider industry and providers to provide final feedback. A team of industry experts has undertaken this work over the last two years to ensure they meet current and future needs.
ConCOVE Tūhura “The Good Practice Project” for skill standards
This toolkit contains six ‘good practice’ guides on skill standards. These are principle-based guides for those who develop qualifications to those who implement (deliver, assess and moderate) them in learning programmes.
These guides focus on good practice principles rather than rigid rules and are designed to help adapt to the change to skill standards-based programmes.
Waihanga Ara Rau has been closely involved in the research to support these, and they reflect the collaborative approach that we are applying to the implementation of skill standards. The guides will be available from the ConCOVE Tūhura website early December.
Waihanga Ara Rau have created a DEIB Kaimahi Champions Team
‘DEIB’ stands for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. The purpose of this team is to contribute to more equitable outcomes for ākonga (learners) who are in training, as well as people who are working in Construction & Infrastructure.
What success stories do you have about ākonga who have been supported well? We would love to hear the great things you are doing to help ensure fair and equitable outcomes for ākonga who have been traditionally underserved by the education system. I.e. Māori, Pacific Peoples, disabled and neurodivergent peoples, rainbow communities, women, and those with learning and/or mental health challenges.
Waihanga Ara Rau Careers Pathways
Seeking Education to Employment or Work Integrated Learning initiatives in Construction and Infrastructure
We're currently seeking case studies, initiatives and success stories (no matter how big or small – it all makes a difference!) from your school or community that assist ākonga in transitioning into the Construction & Infrastructure workforce. Your examples do not have to identify ākonga themselves. If you have any you would like to discuss, please email Kelley Marra, Senior Pathways Advisor or complete this form.
Careers Pathways in Construction and Infrastructure – newsletter for Career Practitioners
As part of our growing engagement with schools and ākonga, we have developed quality careers information for schools and the wider careers network.
This newsletter is designed to provide detailed information to career advisors on recent news, events and opportunities for ākonga to enter the Construction and Infrastructure industry.
We hope you find this useful and ask that you pass this on to your school’s careers advisor or any other contacts who might find this useful to share with ākonga. Please send through any feedback or ideas you have for the next edition to Kelley Marra.
Meet our people
Originally trained as a food technologist, I started my career working in a QA team as the Quality Co-ordinator for a pet food company in Tairāwhiti many (many!) years ago. Since then, I’ve had various stints in food manufacturing, quite a few years working for ITOs, followed by almost a decade in learning and development. I joined Waihanga Ara Rau in July 2022, to support the PGD Project, before my current role in Assurance.
It feels like I’ve come full circle to again be part of a QA team. The team works really hard to establish and foster relationships with providers and schools and has done some fantastic mahi with our various projects this year. It’s great to be able to support these activities from a ‘back office’ perspective, and I’m excited to see what we’ll achieve in the coming months.
Outside of work, I’m an active relaxer, so I am often on the go, helping my indoor netball team have the odd win, walking the dog and/or with my friends, yoga-ing, or creating my next experiment in the kitchen for my family to enjoy.
Thank you and happy holidays!
As we move towards the holiday period, all of us at Waihanga Ara Rau thank you for all your mahi during 2024 and wish a safe and happy holiday period to you, your whānau and loved ones.
This can also be a good time to ensure that health and safety practices and equipment are up to date at both work and home. We have found this amusing but serious poster as a stated free download to illustrate health and safety (qhse.co.nz). How many challenges can you find? We have identified at least 20.
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:
