Kia ora koutou
The beginning of April marked the first anniversary since Te Pūkenga was established. Over the past year, everyone connected with Te Pūkenga has worked incredibly hard to make significant progress in the transformation of vocational learning in Aotearoa.
Our collective strength has shown how much we can achieve. I’m confident that progress will continue to be made in the coming year.
I also welcome the appointment of our new Council Member Tagaloatele Professor Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop CNZM. Welcome to our Te Pūkenga whānau.
Work is also continuing to ensure Te Pūkenga is a Te Tiriti-honouring organisation. This includes building systems and processes so that decision making occurs in discussion with our Te Tiriti partners. We're continuing the korero on our equity framework, Te Pae Tawhiti, with a series of hui with subsidiaries, starting this month. These hui will take place around the country over the coming months as we work through the next stage in the review process. We look forward to sharing more on the themes and next steps from this shortly.
Many people have already contributed to the operating model co-design process. Throughout March 2021, we received valuable feedback through Our Journey. Over 400 ideas and 500 comments were shared and these have helped us move forward. As part of the next step, we’re now seeking your feedback on a number of service concepts. These are open for feedback until Friday 23 April. The nature of co-design means we will continue to seek your input as we refine the way Te Pūkenga will work and I encourage you to engage with this process.
Finally, last month the Minister of Education confirmed a plan to establish a work-based learning subsidiary as part of our Te Pūkenga network. This will support those Transitional Industry Training Organisations (TITOs) who choose to transition into Te Pūkenga to do so, once their Transition Plans are approved by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) Board.
The rest of 2021 is shaping up to be just as busy as the first quarter was. I hope you all took the opportunity to relax over the Easter break and spend some time with your whānau and friends.
Ngā mihi
Stephen Town
Chief Executive
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