Latest news with #VocationalEducationandTrainingSystem)AmendmentBill
Scoop
4 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Supported Learners Carry The Burden Of Minister's Delusion
Minister of Vocational Education Penny Simmonds told the Education and Workforce Select Committee yesterday that she thinks most polytechnics are overstaffed, describing what she considers high staffing levels as 'abysmal'. Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union is pointing to cuts currently proposed to educational opportunities for supported learners as a prime example of the human cost of her delusion. Weltec and Whitieria are proposing to disestablish both of their existing Level 1 Certificates in Skills for Living; and Skills for Learning and Working for Supported Learners. Along with the four full time equivalent staff members, the greater Wellington region will lose the only programmes of this kind for learners with disabilities if the proposal goes ahead. Kaiwhakahaere | Organiser Drew Mayhem says 'there is considerable demand for both these programmes within the community. Student numbers have not decreased. These cuts are purely due to the government's inability and unwillingness to provide a level of baseline funding that will avoid further contraction of the sector before it is in a permanent death spiral.' Te Pou Ahurei | National Secretary Sandra Grey says 'the Minister uses an 18:1 student/staff ratio as a blunt instrument to measure viability but this misses the point of why we need polytechnics. If 12 disabled young people want to gain work skills in Porirua, why wouldn't we fund that? By her reckoning those 12 young people miss out on the future they deserve and 12 businesses miss out on great workers.' 'Furthermore, the Minister's Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill, if passed, will only further destabilise the provision of vocational education, as the bill provides no clarity on what the future of the sector looks like beyond closures and possible privatisation. New Zealanders deserve better. They were promised regional autonomy but instead are having our tertiary providers hollowed out from within.' To have your say on the Bill, click here for the TEU's submission guide, and here to make your submission by midnight tonight.
Otago Daily Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Simmonds taking charge as Te Pukenga gets whacked
Vendetta is the Italian word for "revenge", and it was used quite a lot by Labour in the House on Tuesday. No, not because its MPs were complaining about the National Party's views of Te Pati Maori (which they were), but because they were complaining about that well-known political mafiosi, Invercargill National MP Penny Simmonds. Now, Ms Simmonds has not got a bitter bone in her body, but so far as Labour was concerned, as she got to her feet to begin the work she has been preparing for for many months — the dismantling of Te Pukenga — Ms Simmonds was some sort of conglomeration of Vito Corleone, Tony Montana and Tony Soprano as she sought retribution for the perceived wrongs done to her. "This plan is Minister for Vocational Education Penny Simmonds' personal vendetta," Shanan Halbert thundered. "This is a terrible move from a minister with a vendetta, with no plan, no funding for vocational education," Rachel Boyack said. Ginny Anderson's contribution was somewhat less on the nose — she accused Ms Simmonds of having "a singular purpose" — but you know that she meant the "V" word. So, what was Labour getting so steamed up with Ms Simmonds about? The Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill basically undoes a huge chunk of work which Labour had done while it was in government, to merge the country's various polytechnics into the mega Te Pukenga organisation. The mega merger was, you may recall, the work of one Chris Hipkins, a man of some prominence in Labour's ranks. The creation of Te Pūkenga had laudable aims, such as streamlining procedures and policies and reducing cost duplication. However, its critics — notably the former Southland Institute of Technology chief executive, one Penny Simmonds — claimed it stripped away local autonomy and punished successful polytechnics by using their better bottom lines to prop up less successful polytechnics. After a brutal gangland war otherwise known as the 2023 election, Don Luxon took control of the mean streets of New Zealand and Capo Simmonds was placed in charge of the vocational education sector, making the woman tasked with making Te Pukenga sleep with the fishes. If that be a vendetta, then so be it. "Te Pūkenga will be referred to as the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and will remain as a transitional entity for a one-year period before being disestablished by 31 December, 2026, if not before," Ms Simmonds said. "Each polytechnic will be funded independently and will have local governance and management. For most, they will continue operating at their current campuses across the country. Some polytechnics will be established as stand-alone entities; others requiring additional support will be designated members of a federation or merged, with Cabinet considering their options later." And as for why Te Pūkenga had to be offed, Ms Simmonds slated it as being an expensive failure. "Its push to centralise and standardise polytechnics and work-based learning was wrong, and it cost this country dearly." Ms Simmonds will not have been surprised at the level of Labour's ire, although she may have been a touch dismayed given the considerable amount of praise her first salvo at vocational education reform, a revamp of work-based learning, received when it was announced in April. She harked back to those glory days, saying that those changes were just what apprentices, learners and industry had been calling for — decentralised vocational education with training based around the specific needs of industries. "It [the Bill as a whole is] for all those apprentices, trainees and employers involved in work-based learning who've struggled to get support from an overly bureaucratic and remote Te Pūkenga head office in Hamilton," she said. "This redesign is also for the communities up and down the country who've watched on in frustration as their local polytechnics have been stripped of local innovation and control." She probably got most people on side as soon as she mentioned Hamilton. A more measured assessment of the Bill came from Dunedin Green list MP Francisco Hernandez, who did not even come close to using the "V" word, but certainly raised several cogent objections to Ms Simmonds' proposals. "We have no philosophical objection to the idea that there could be thriving, independent vocational institutions; however, this legislation does not establish that," he said. "However, this disestablishment has been severely disruptive to the hundreds of staff around the country who've been let go; to the thousands more that have had to go through job consultations that have rescoped, descoped and unscoped their roles." Mr Hernandez further asserted that the reforms potentially opened a door for asset sales and privatisation. "It's asset sales and privatisation. That's absolutely what's going on. So, we would like to see guardrails against that," he said. "Let's have some support for thriving, independent polytechnics. Let's actually put our money where our mouth is by supporting funding for them and not disestablishing them." Speaking of scrapping things As foreshadowed last week, Parliament did indeed pass Southland National MP Joseph Mooney's novel notice of motion regarding legal training. To clarify, Mr Mooney sought to overturn a regulation that tikanga Maori be a compulsory component of all compulsory legal subjects. He had no objection to tikanga being taught, nor with the NZ Council of Legal Education having acted within its powers to make tikanga a standalone compulsory subject. However, he and the majority on the regulations review committee found that making tikanga a compulsory part of all compulsory subjects was "unusual and unexpected" and should be disallowed. So did a majority of the House, but not without a heap of scorn from the Opposition benches.
Scoop
21-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Have Your Say On The Education And Training (Vocational Education And Training System) Amendment Bill
Press Release – The Education and Workforce Committee The bill seeks to redesign the vocational education and training system to restore regional decision-making. It also aims to increase industry involvement in vocational education and training. The Education and Workforce Committee is calling for submissions on the Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill with a closing date of 11:59pm on 18 June 2025. The bill seeks to redesign the vocational education and training system to restore regional decision-making. It also aims to increase industry involvement in vocational education and training. The bill would do so by amending the Education and Training Act 2020 to: • disestablish Te Pūkenga—New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (Te Pūkenga) • re-establish a network of regional polytechnics • establish industry skills boards to replace workforce development councils. The bill would propose a framework within which new polytechnics and a Polytechnic Federation Committee can be established, as well as framework to establish industry skills boards. The frameworks would set out the characteristics and functions of the new entities, the process for their establishment and disestablishment, and the technical elements necessary for them to function. The bill would also enable Te Pūkenga to remain as a transitional entity for unallocated programmes and activities for a 1-year period after commencement. Make a submission on the bill by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 18 June 2025.
Scoop
21-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Have Your Say On The Education And Training (Vocational Education And Training System) Amendment Bill
The Education and Workforce Committee is calling for submissions on the Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill with a closing date of 11:59pm on 18 June 2025. The bill seeks to redesign the vocational education and training system to restore regional decision-making. It also aims to increase industry involvement in vocational education and training. The bill would do so by amending the Education and Training Act 2020 to: • disestablish Te Pūkenga—New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (Te Pūkenga) • re-establish a network of regional polytechnics • establish industry skills boards to replace workforce development councils. The bill would propose a framework within which new polytechnics and a Polytechnic Federation Committee can be established, as well as framework to establish industry skills boards. The frameworks would set out the characteristics and functions of the new entities, the process for their establishment and disestablishment, and the technical elements necessary for them to function. The bill would also enable Te Pūkenga to remain as a transitional entity for unallocated programmes and activities for a 1-year period after commencement. Make a submission on the bill by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 18 June 2025.
Otago Daily Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Bill passes first reading to disestablish Te Pūkenga
Penny Simmonds. Photo: supplied Legislation to disestablish New Zealand's centralised vocational education and training system passed its first reading in Parliament yesterday. "Today, we've taken a major step forward toward a vocational education and training system that works for learners, employers, industries and local communities," Vocational Education and Training Minister Penny Simmonds said. "The Bill, which has passed its first reading, will return decision-making to where it belongs — in the hands of regional polytechnics and industry. "This is a common sense reset that ensures polytechnic education and training is responsive to regional needs and work-based learning for apprentices and trainees is led by the industries that rely on it." The Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill proposes a structural reset of vocational education, focusing on two key priorities: restoring local decision-making for polytechnics, and giving industry greater leadership in standard-setting and work-based learning. Among the key changes in the Bill are: • Disestablishing Te Pūkenga and creating a network of regional polytechnics, which will operate as standalone institutions or within a federation. Te Pūkenga will remain as a transitional entity for one year to manage unallocated programmes and activities. • Replacing Workforce Development Councils with new Industry Skills Boards, effective January 1, 2026. These statutory bodies will be governed primarily by industry representatives and responsible for setting standards, undertaking workforce planning and advising the Tertiary Education Commission on relevant funding matters. • Transferring work-based learning functions from Te Pūkenga to Industry Skills Boards for up to two years, allowing time for new delivery arrangements across polytechnics, private training establishments and Wānanga to be developed. •Amending training levy provisions to enable Industry Skills Boards to levy industry members, subject to industry support. Ms Simmonds said implementation would take up to two years, with the first group of polytechnics and new Industry Skills Boards in place from January 1. — APL
