Apprenticeship Journey - September 2025: Career path to leadership, meet the wellbeing team, is a diploma the next best step?

From Support Worker to Service Manager, Tegan Coote is now pursuing a leadership qualification to make an even bigger impact. Driven by personal mental health challenges and a passion for helping others, Tegan began her mental health support career in 2015 with PACT in Invercargill, where she later completed an apprenticeship with Careerforce.

Now, she is seven months into her Level 5 Diploma in Business (Leadership and Management) qualification, also supported by Careerforce.

During her apprenticeship, Tegan worked one-on-one with young people recovering from, or affected by mental illness for the Southland branch of PACT. The organisation provides support for people recovering from mental illness or with intellectual disabilities.

Tegan was keen to learn more about herself as a leader. “A colleague mentioned that she had found parts of the Diploma really beneficial for her role,” says Tegan. “My manager also mentioned it to me and I really like the style of Careerforce learning. It’s based on what you do and then applying what you do and how you work.”

The Diploma is a 20-month part-time work-based learning programme designed for leaders and managers who are seeking to expand their leadership and management toolkit within their own work-based context. A leadership and management coach is provided for the duration of the programme.

Contact us for more information about completing the Leadership and Management Diploma via work-based learning.

Read more about Tegan and her journey >

What is a Job Aid Resource?
Its main purpose is to support the learning of a learner. It's a printable, one-sided document that summarises the main points covered in the module - a resource for learners to refer to at any time during their learning and beyond.

Learners can also share it with their colleagues or post on the staff noticeboard.

Printing options available:
Two versions available, in black and white, or colour.

Example in Aka Toi
Course: APP101b: Approaches to service delivery models-Marcomms

Where to find Job Aid Resources?
In the He rauemi anō | More resources section on the landing page of each module. See below:

To be communicated to clearly
Your assessor, employer and Careerforce have a responsibility to communicate with you as you go along your training journey. You’ll receive quarterly emails from Careerforce to help you track your progress.

To be informed
You have a right to be informed of all types of support available to you, including your training progress, and your assessment results.

To be provided with resources
Careerforce provides learning and assessment resources. Your employer is encouraged to supplement your learning with workplace materials, e.g. policies and procedures, and health and safety manuals.

To be assessed fairly
If you are not satisfied with an assessment result, speak to your assessor. You are also welcome to contact Careerforce for support.

To be awarded a certificate
After completing all your assessments, you will be sent a formal certificate from Careerforce that recognises your achievement.

As a learner, you have these responsibilities:

To be organised
Manage your work and training commitments as best as you can and complete within the timeframe agreed between yourself, your assessor and employer.

To be engaged
Let Careerforce and your employer know if you need additional support or have any questions or concerns which could prevent you from finishing in the agreed timeframe.

To be committed
Keep us informed if you no longer wish to continue with your training, would like to ‘pause your training’, or decide to leave your workplace and would like to talk about other options on how to continue your training programme.

Kia ora koutou
We’re Danny Fearon and Avril Hunt, your Wellbeing Advisors at Careerforce. Our role is to walk alongside learners who may be finding things tough – whether that’s with study, work, or life outside of learning that might be impacting your learning.

We know wellbeing means different things to different people. Challenges might include stress, health issues, whānau challenges, bullying, or grief. Sometimes it just helps to talk with someone in a safe, confidential space.
We’re here to listen and support you, and to help you find practical ways forward. Support is flexible: by phone, text, email, Microsoft Teams, or face to face (depending on location).

Complete a self-referral form here or email us with any questions at wellbeingsupport@careerforce.org.nz

You can also access free confidential counselling through Vitae, a professional employee assistance provider, available 24/7 https://vitae.co.nz/Te-Pukenga-wbl/

Academic integrity means being honest in your studies. It’s about making sure everyone has a fair and respectful learning environment. This includes doing your own work, giving credit to others when you use their ideas, and following the rules when completing assessments. Being honest in your work helps protect the value of your qualification and supports success for everyone.

To support this, we’re introducing a new software tool (Copyleaks) that helps us identify any potential issues with assessments. This tool is built into our online learning platform, Aka Toi, and will assist us in detecting things like plagiarism or work that may not be the learners own work.

As an Aka Toi learner, you will be asked to confirm that you understand and agree to this when submitting assessments. From 1 September, when you go to submit your next assessment, you will see this tick box:

For most learners, this won’t change anything. If you’ve done your own work, there’s nothing to be concerned about. This is simply one of the steps we’re taking to continue upholding the integrity of qualifications that we award. If anything concerning is found, your assessor will discuss this with you. You’ll be supported through the process and given a fair chance to respond.

If you have any questions about academic integrity or what this means for you, please refer to this page on our website here. We’ve also developed a list of
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Copyleaks, which you can view here.

If you’re ever unsure about what’s expected, or how to reference something, it’s always best to reach out to your assessor.

Have you considered what you'd like to do when you finish your current apprenticeship programme? Are you keen to broaden your knowledge via further work-based learning programmes? It's never too early to think about what to study next.

For those of you coming to the end of your Level 4 Apprenticeship, this is a good time to consider if a Level 5 Diploma is the next step for you.

The Level 5 Diplomas we offer are:

The Diploma in Business (Leadership and Management) Level 5 >>More
The Diploma in Health and Wellbeing (Applied Practice) Level 5, offered in 14 different specialisations/contexts: >>More

Contact your Apprenticeship Advisor if you'd like to chat about what to do next.

Level 4, Credits: 10, Expected duration: 2 months
A support worker who completes this Micro-credential will be able to recognise signs of physical problems and carry out specific tasks within the support worker role while supporting a person with an existing or co-existing mental health challenge or addiction issue.

Remember, to enrol in your next Careerforce programme, it is important that you have the support of your employer.

Visit our website for more information, or if you'd like someone to get in touch, simply complete the short enquiry form, or talk to your manager.