Skills for Good - May 2023: Apprenticeship Boost extended, Video for new apprentices and more

Tēnā koutou

The creation of a cohesive and national network of provision via Te Pūkenga continues to gather steam. Across the earlier part of this year, we have seen national structures formed for the people & capability, digital and finance functions, and expect to see national structures emerge for remaining functions across the remainder of 2023. To date, this has largely resulted in changes to reporting lines, and as has been the case throughout our transition into Te Pūkenga, our employer and learner activities continue business as usual. As an ITO, we were historically restricted in our ability to directly support learners (‘deliver training’), but with the RoVE changes and our transition into Te Pūkenga, these restrictions have been lifted, and we are running increasing numbers of kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) hui with learners across the motu. I encourage your kaimahi to embrace these learning opportunities – they are a great opportunity to discuss challenges they may be facing with their training, ask questions, and make real progress on their training programme.

As a result of changes resulting from the expiry of the Targeted Training & Apprenticeship Fund (TTAF) and the introduction of the Unified Funding System (UFS), we continue to receive many enquiries relating to international enrolments and visas. As immigration settings for the sectors we support are in a state of change, we will continue to update our website with relevant information, but where the query relates to visa types, we encourage you to seek the advice of a licensed immigration advisor.

As detailed further below, we were pleased to see the extension of the Apprenticeship Boost fund announced in the 2023 Budget. This is great news for our employers, and a welcome financial boost I’m sure.

Ngā mihi nui

Rod Bentham
Executive Director
Te Pūkenga, trading as Careerforce

Having only launched our apprenticeship programmes in 2016, Careerforce now has 2,666 apprentices currently enrolled across our apprenticeship programmes. Accordingly, we were excited to see the extension of the Apprenticeship Boost fund to the end of 2024 as part of the Government’s 2023 Budget. This is great news for employers as this effectively provides a $500/mth wage subsidy per apprentice (across their first 2 years), and was due to wrap up at the end of 2023. For more information about Apprenticeship Boost including eligibility or how to apply, please go here.

We hope to share the topline report for our sixth annual employer survey via next month’s Skills for Good newsletter. In the meantime, we can share a few snippets.

When asked what you consider to be the top barriers to your staff completing their training, ‘lack of time’ again came out as the most significant barrier, and by some margin. This is consistent with what our learners say when asked the same question. We appreciate the workforce pressures you continue to face, but providing study time for your staff would help to address the single largest barrier to them progressing with their learning. We are also running an increasing number of 'Achieve study hubs' across Aotearoa, and encourage your learners to participate in these.

When asked what you considered to be the most significant workforce challenges/changes facing your organisation over the next 12 months, and consistent with previous years, lack of staff continues to be the most significant challenge, and again by some margin. We are continuing discussions with Te Whatu Ora to see the Life Changing Careers campaign extended to help attract new people into our sector. We also encourage you to continue listing your workforce vacancies on our Jobs for Good portal. It’s free, and easy, to list your vacancies.

We’ve launched a new video resource for newly enrolled apprentices, that we hope will help them get settled into their apprenticeship programmes.

Featuring two of our Wellington-based Careerforce Apprenticeship Advisors, this four-minute video provides new apprentices some tips on approaching their training plan, getting familiar with Aka Toi, how to answer questions at level 4, and where they can find support. A link to watch the video is included in the same email as the apprentice’s Training Plan and other onboarding details.

You can watch ‘Getting started with your apprenticeship’ on our YouTube account.

Survivor of domestic violence and abuse, Adele Keefe now encourages and supports other wāhine to heal and grow while embracing her own new passion for learning.

Leaving school at 14 with poor reading and writing skills, Adele has conquered her literacy concerns, founded a charitable trust, and published a book. She is now completing her first qualification – the NZ Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 3) Support Work, with Careerforce.

Until recently, Adele’s training consisted of her life experiences. “Now, doing the Careerforce programme, this is the first time I have studied. The learning is about acknowledging what I know and do, building on that, and getting a formally recognised qualification for it,” says Adele.

Much of Adele’s wisdom come from a brutal life journey. Twenty years in an abusive relationship and with a drug addiction, Adele fled from Hawke’s Bay to Nelson to start her new life.

Strengthened by her own journey, Adele is now paying it forward by extending that same support to others in need and finding that people relate well to her.

Here's a reminder about programmes/programme versions that will be closing on 31 December 2023.

Health & Wellbeing Level 3 version 1 programmes – version 2 programme available

Health Assistance
Support Work
Orderly Services
Newborn Hearing Screening
Vision Hearing Screening
Dental Assistance
Stop Smoking Practitioner Programme (part of Support Work)

Dementia (LCP) v1 – version 2 programme available

Health and Wellbeing Level 4 Advanced Support (70 credits) – no version 2 programme available
Apprenticeship programmes or programme versions - new versions and programmes available

NZA in Community Work Version 1
NZA in Community Facilitation – Disability Support
NZA in Community Facilitation – Diversional Therapy
NZA in Community Facilitation – Youth Work
NZA in Mental Health and Addiction Version 1
NZA in Social Services
NZA in Community Facilitation
NZA in Community Facilitation – Teacher Aid
NZA in Peer Support Work
NZA in Brain Injury Rehabilitation Support Version 1
NZA in Healthcare Assistance for Aged Care complex

It is recommended that learners complete their assessments by 1 November 2023 so that marking, any necessary resubmissions, and results reporting can be completed by the Assessors before 31 December 2023.

For more information:
For Level 2 and 3 programmes, and Advanced Support, please contact your Careerforce Workplace Advisor.
For Apprenticeship programmes, please contact your Careerforce Apprenticeship Advisor.

The standard expectation is that assessments are marked within 10 working days. Unlike assessments submitted via our Aka Toi e-learning platform, we have limited visibility of assessments completed via paper-based learning and assessment. As a result, we have created a new capability where trainees can report overdue assessments via iportal, where they have not heard back from their assessor within 15 days of submitting an assessment.

Careerforce are fully aware of the workplace pressures our assessors are under, and the work that our extensive network of assessors do is hugely appreciated. This form simply allows us to become aware of instances where additional support may be needed in the workplace, or even situations where a workplace assessor may have left the workplace.

Trainees without access to iportal can sign up, by visiting iportal and registering a new account. We encourage you to remind your learners to register, if they haven't already. Iportal also gives them access to their own training progress reports, and access to learning and assessment resources via the Resource Library. If you have any questions, please contact the Assessor Operations team.