Our team has grown!

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.

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?

Projects

In-person clusters kicked off in Term 2. As always, we get to see some great projects. Check some out below:

Students from Whangamata College built the classroom that the Coromandel cluster was held in.

Napier Boys’ High School has taken a standard Level 2 ‘non-consent building’ and added pitched rooves, weatherboards, boxed corners, and verandahs – transforming these playhouses into an ideal Level 3 project.

Additionally, at Level 3, ākonga have the opportunity to develop their own bedside table. What makes it a Level 3 project? This one has turned legs, curved elements, a routered top, and, on the reverse, a CNC element that the ākonga designed themself.

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.

Get in touch

As always, the Waihanga Ara Rau Assurance Team are here to help with any queries at moderation@waihangaararau.nz. Let us know if there’s anything in particular you would like included in upcoming issues of Te Pae Tawhiti.

Ngā mihi nui