Skills for Good - December 2024: Māori learner celebration, reduced fees and more

Tēnā koutou

In this, our last update for 2024, we are sharing our 2025 pricing – the most notable change is the reduction, by over 50%, in our enrolment fees for our Level 2 and 3 Health & Wellbeing, and Cleaning programmes. This is for our employer-led enrolments, and acknowledges your commitment to, and investment in capacity to support your learners. Careerforce-registered workplace-based assessors are an absolutely critical cog in the success of workplace-based learning.

I recently had the privilege of attending our first ever Māori ākonga celebration of success in Waikato earlier this month. A key feature in the success of the ākonga attending was their shared acknowledgement of the importance of the additional support provided by our Rōpū Taupuhipuhi Āmio support team, notably in the form of wananga and noho marae across Aotearoa. Check out the video.

As I mention each December, while we have the luxury of closing our offices over the holiday period, we are always very conscious that for many of our employers and learners, this is not the case. We acknowledge and appreciate all that you do across this period, and indeed throughout the year, as I am sure the families and friends of those whom you support do also. We sincerely hope that you are still able to engage in some festive fare and relaxation over the holiday period.

Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete ki a koe

Rod Bentham
Executive Director, Careerforce

Over 2024, Careerforce is proud to have celebrated our 30 year anniversary. That's 30 years empowering individuals through education and career development. We've supported tens of thousands of learners in securing life-changing careers, a milestone we hold with great pride.

Over the 30 years Careerforce has continually refined our on-job training programmes, ensuring they align with the evolving needs of both employers and industry. Our deep understanding of our sectors, employers, and learners is central to our ongoing success.

Māori graduates recently gathered at Te Papa o Rotu Marae at Whatawhata, near Hamilton for a Celebration of Ākonga Māori Success, a special event recognising the achievements of 36 Careerforce Māori learners who proudly graduated with NZQA recognised qualifications.

Hosted by Careerforce, the evening was to celebrate graduates from across the Northern region, who had completed programmes ranging from Level 2 certificates to Level 5 diplomas.

The event celebrated not only the graduates' hard work and dedication but also the support of their whānau, employers, and colleagues. Careerforce Executive Director Rod Bentham commended the graduates for their significant contributions to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable communities.

“It was a privilege to share in their success and witness the immense pride of their whānau,” says Rod. “We heard about the motivations that helped them persevere and the challenges they overcame in balancing work, whānau, and study.”

He also acknowledged the critical role of employers and workplace assessors in supporting work-based learning. “Employers invest significant effort into guiding learners, and workplace assessors are invaluable. Without them, achieving these qualifications would be nearly impossible.”

After careful consideration, we have reviewed our Careerforce programme pricing for 2025*. You can find the full domestic price list here. The most significant change sees enrolment fees for our most popular Level 2 and Level 3 Health and Wellbeing, and Cleaning programmes reduce over 50%, from $200-$230 currently, down to $95 (incl GST). This only applies to employer-led enrolments, where employers support their learners with assessment.

International enrolment fees will increase slightly for 2025, as these fees are linked to TEC funding rates. You can find the full 2025 international price list here.

*Any training agreements with a participation start date from 1 January 2025 will receive 2025 pricing.

Please also note that earlier this year, the Government confirmed that all Careerforce apprenticeship programmes are covered by the extension of Apprenticeship Boost through to June 2028. From 1 January 2025, Apprenticeship Boost provides a $500 (exclusive of GST) per month subsidy to employers of eligible first-year apprentices, a total of $6000 excl GST for each apprentice. For more information, please go here.

I recently starting a role as Apprenticeship Advisor in Auckland and have been enjoying starting to connect with people who are working through their apprenticeship.

I have a background of working in the health and wellbeing sector in a range of roles for over 30 years. Originally I trained as an Occupational Therapist and have had opportunities to work with children, in aged care, and predominantly in mental health. More recently, my roles have focused on training and supporting kaimahi and as part of my own learning in this area, I have completed more training in supervision, adult education and Mental Health First Aid.

I have a real passion for supporting people who work in the health and wellbeing sector to develop skills, confidence and resilience so that they can provide meaningful person centred support. The way this learning can add to peoples lives outside of the work setting is an added bonus to me.

Working alongside people who are juggling the challenges of studying while working is inspiring and I see my role as being able to support people during this. I believe that the benefits of work based learning are significant and am excited to be part of the Careerforce team who do this so well.

I am excited to join the Careerforce whānau as an Apprenticeship Advisor, in the Waikato.

I am a Registered Social Worker and previously practiced at the Waikato Hospital Older Persons and Rehabilitation (OPR) wards and outpatient clinic. Recently I was in a Kaiārahi role in community social work including youth, family violence, mental health, and whānau support.

In 2021 I completed my Diversional Therapy apprenticeship with Careerforce which was a journey I thoroughly enjoyed. At the time I was working in the aged care sector throughout hospital, rest home and dementia level care as a Diversional Therapist.

The Workforce Futures Fund* | Tahua Rāngaimahi Anamata will open for applications from 10 February to 14 March 2025. They recently released an update encouraging organisations who have read the criteria and who are eligible to apply, to discuss their proposal, prior to putting together an application. You can get in touch via admin@workforcefuturesfund.nz.

In the first grant round, they are prioritising innovative projects that have a large impact on a workforce, or workforces from multiple industries. $15m is available across the life of the fund and there is no set amount to distribute in the first round. Distributions will reflect the nature of the applications. They are recommending that you take your time to develop project proposals, and will not grant in such a way that disadvantages those who do this. The second grant round is scheduled to open in August 2025.

*The Workforce Futures Fund is operated by CSSITO, and was established with reserves from Careerforce’s trading activities as an Industry Training Organisation prior to its transition into Te Pūkenga.

On 3 February 2025, we will be launching the refreshed New Zealand Certificate in Youth Leadership (Level 3), replacing the current Youth Work Level 3 programme.

Key changes in the new programme:

Updated resources, and new unit standard versions for;

- 28522v2 - Human Development Theory

- 32418v2 - Te Tiriti o Waitangi

New Job Aid supports.

Assessment videos to support ākonga with the assessment (Aka Toi only).

New design of documents for assessments and learning guides.

32419 (Māori values) has been removed as an elective from the programme, meaning all unit standards become compulsory.

The credit value increases from 43 to 44.

The duration of the programme will remain 8 months.

From 27 January 2025, any new enrolments will be held and enrolled into the New Zealand Certificate in Youth Leadership (Level 3) from 3 February 2025.

To view the full communications regarding the enhancements to the Youth Work Level 3 programme, click here.

At 16, Claudia Fraser attended a Blue Light Youth Camp which has ended up having a profound impact on her future career path.

Blue Light is a charity organisation which delivers a range of programmes with the aim of helping the Police to achieve its youth and community objectives.

While on this camp, Claudia was paired with a Youth Work Mentor, “she really inspired me to get out of my comfort zone and showed me that I had more capability than I thought”.

Seven years later, Claudia found herself working for Blue Light as a Youth Work Mentor herself, where she gained her New Zealand Apprenticeship in Youth Work through Careerforce.

Since completing her qualification, Claudia has moved into a Section Commander role within the Youth Development Unit (North) in the New Zealand Defence Force. In this role, she facilitates the Limited Service Volunteer courses which are 6-week camps for young adults who are on the Job Seeker benefit. Claudia facilitates lessons and mentors the 18-24 year olds, coordinating a mixture of activities to get them out of their comfort zone and helping them to gain life skills.

Twenty-nine Pathways staff recently celebrated achieving their Level 4 Apprenticeship in Mental Health and Addictions Support through Careerforce at an emotional graduation at Wintec’s campus in Hamilton.

The ceremony brought together graduates from Auckland, Waikato and the Midland regions with friends, whānau and colleagues, to honour the graduates' dedication to learning and their commitment to providing exceptional service to the people they support.

Pathways is a leading provider of community-based mental health and addiction support services across 13 regions in Aotearoa. It empowers tangata whai ora (people seeking wellbeing) and taiohi (young people) to live full, meaningful lives.

Pathways Workforce Development Lead, Amanda Purdie manages the learning and development of some 1,000 kaimahi and shared her passion for empowering the Pathways workforce.

"I love creating frameworks that help people understand their career possibilities while gaining the skills and knowledge to excel.

“Supporting them also means equipping their leaders to guide frontline kaimahi and provide opportunities for growth."

In 2022, we commenced a withdrawal survey with our learners who are not successfully completing their learning journey. The intention of these surveys is to better understand their experience through their learning journey, and what worked and didn’t work.

We have now received over 2000 withdrawal survey responses, and have recently completed our second comprehensive withdrawal report. There are some important learnings that we wanted to share with you.

Nearly half of withdrawees felt that additional support could have helped them, and the main supports they felt that their employer or Careerforce could have done include:

Regular support from their assessor
Access to group training sessions
Setting up support via a buddy or mentor
Dedicated study time from their employer (42% of withdrawees cited ‘not enough time for study’ as a reason for their withdrawal)

Learner withdrawals are a disappointing outcome not only for the learners concerned, but also for you as employers, and for Careerforce, as we have all invested in trying to support these learners through their training journey. We encourage you to consider the learner feedback above, and what additional supports you could put in place to support improved learning outcomes at your workplace.

The Careerforce offices will be closing across the holiday period. Offices close at midday on Tuesday 24 December, and will re-open on Monday 6 January 2025.

For those of you with learners using Aka Toi, our online learning and assessment platform, this will be available for them to continue their learning during the holiday period. Learners can still work on their assessments over the holidays and submit them to their assessor for marking. Careerforce support won’t however be available from midday on 24 December 2024 until Monday 6 January 2025.

Find out more about:

Manaaki Fund for learners >>More
Achieve Study Hubs >>More
Free Wellbeing Support for Learners >>More
Careerforce forms - Please ensure you use the latest forms >>More
Apprenticeship Boost >>More
2024-25 Prospectus >>More
Jobs for Good - you can list your vacancy for free >>More
Free Counselling for all Careerforce | Te Pūkenga learners >>More
Te Pae Ora - Wellbeing hub for learners >>More
Careerforce Qualification Programmes >> More
Gateway and Vocational Pathways >>More
How to contact your local Careerforce Workplace Advisor >>More