Careerforce Te Pūkenga (Careerforce) celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019 and has supported thousands of people with life-changing qualifications since its inception. Each year, it supports nearly 20,000 people across Aotearoa in workplace-based learning programmes and works with over 2,000 employers.
For most of this time, it also had responsibilities for standard setting and skills development. However, these recently transferred to the newly established Workforce Development Council, Toitu te Waiora, due to the Reforms of Vocational Education (RoVE). Through its longstanding partnerships with industry, Careerforce has established an intimate understanding of the sectors it supports and their challenging operating environments. Most importantly, it understands its workforce development challenges and creates tailored training plans where employers maintain control over their staff training, ensuring that it continues to meet its organisation's changing needs.
In September 2022, due to RoVE, Careerforce transitioned as a business division into Te Pūkenga, the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology.
"It's exciting times for Careerforce and the employers and learners we support," said Rod Bentham, Executive Director of Careerforce Te Pūkenga.
"As an Industry Training Organisation, we were limited in our ability to support actual training delivery in the workplace. Now, as a provider within Te Pūkenga, these shackles have been removed, and we are exploring new and innovative ways of supporting learners through their training programmes.
"We can also leverage Te Pūkenga's scale and nationwide infrastructure to continue to improve learner supports and outcomes."
Careerforce has a dedicated field team of 70 nationwide staff with extensive sectoral experience and knowledge. These 'on-the-ground' training specialists work closely with employers and learners to support the completion of nationally recognised NZQA qualifications. They also support a nationwide network of over 800 workplace-based assessors, a critical cog in the success of workplace-based learning. These assessors observe and assess competency in the workplace, ultimately ensuring that the quality of the training meets their organisational standards and any statutory requirements.
Within aged residential care and across 2022 alone, Careerforce enrolled over 4,000 new learners, and nearly 4,000 learners completed a qualification and has forged a reputation as the clear provider of choice to the aged care sector. Careerforce supports the development of a trained and competent workforce, which is critical to addressing the increasingly challenging workforce issues facing the aged care sector.
"We are passionate advocates for skill development in the aged care sector and have built our reputation on continuous improvement of our offering to ensure that it meets the ever-changing needs of our ageing population and ultimately improves the care that they receive," said Stephanie Clark, General Manager for Employer Services at Careerforce Te Pūkenga.
Across 2022, Careerforce also launched its Apprenticeship in Advanced Care and Support, warmly received by the aged care sector as it attracts the Government's $500/mth Apprenticeship Boost wage subsidy (as does its Apprenticeship in Diversional Therapy). It already has over 400 learners working in aged residential care nationwide completing this apprenticeship programme.
"We know that the work-based learning model is very effective for the over 2,000 employers we work with. It also works for their staff as it is very practical based, and in many instances, formally recognises the skills and competencies they already have," said Bentham.
A key distinction is that workplace-based training programmes are competency-based, and learners can work at a pace and place that meets their own development needs. Typically, staff do not need to leave the worksite, and the learning is done within their day-to-day work - they are 'earning and learning' and not incurring student debt.
"We are proud of our relationships with the aged residential care sector built over many years.
"We listen, and we adapt, reflected in the very high and stable levels of satisfaction and enrolments from the sector. While our name may be changing, and we are now part of a larger organisation, the one thing that won't change is our absolute dedication to our employers and learners", Bentham concluded.
