Kia ora koutou,
Kei ngā mana, kei ngā reo, kei ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā huihui mai tatou
It was my pleasure to welcome kaimahi (staff) and ākonga (learners) from Wintec and Toi Ohomai into Te Pūkenga last week. We did so with a moving ceremony that acknowledged this important milestone. While I was in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, ceremonies took place at all eight campuses across the rohe.
Watch the highlights video of the hui whakanui here.
Central to the formalities were greenstone adzes known as toki poutangata which were gifted to the two organisations as a representation of the mauri or life force and a way to connect all of the different parts of Te Pūkenga network and our histories through this transition. You can read more about this below too.
I want to take this opportunity to again thank outgoing Chief Executives Dave Christiansen (Wintec) and Dr Leon Fourie (Toi Ohomai) as well as their respective boards. They have led their teams through this change with courage and empathy and have been champions for the work of Te Pūkenga.
I’m excited to have Dave on board as ITP Transition Lead. His work will be so important as we enter a critical phase in this transition. Like Wintec and Toi Ohomai, Dave is taking on the role of tuakana and will help lead others through the change ahead.
Leon will also play a key role, as Wintec and Toi Ohomai Transitional Executive Lead. While Leon wasn’t able to attend last week’s ceremony, he did dial in from Denver, Colorado, where he led the first Te Pūkenga international education delegation.
Alongside International leads from Southern Institute of Technology, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and Toi Ohomai and Education Minister Hon Chris Hipkins, Leon and the team launched Te Pūkenga on the international stage.
This is a sign of the pace and scale of work underway. We won’t be letting up – there’s a lot to do, but a growing team of passionate and dedicated kaimahi rolling up their sleeves.
Hurinoa, e tau ana.
Stephen Town
Chief Executive
Our updates
He tīmatanga hōu – new beginnings for Te Pūkenga
Nā ngā karakia me ngā reo karanga i tākina mai ai he rā hou mō te rangai mātauranga matua o Aotearoa i Kirikiriroa i te hāhātanga o Pipiri.
I runga i ngā tikanga whakamānawa, i pōwhiritia e Te Pūkenga te ‘kōparapara moata’ arā, te mātāmua o ngā Pūtahi Hangarau me ngā Kuratini (ngā ITP) kia uru mai ki tōna kōtuinga ā-motu: Ko Wintec tērā, ko Toi Ohomai hoki tērā me ō rātou ākonga e 24,000 me ngā kaimahi 1,700.
Kia wetekina rawatia ngā āpitihanga katoa, ka tū a Te Pūkenga hei whakahaere kotahi e noho haepapa ana mō ngā ākonga rua rau, rima tekau mano neke atu.
Hei tohu i tēnei tūāhua i whakahaerengia ngātahitia he hui whakanui i ngā papaako e waru katoa o Wintec me Toi Ohomai huri noa i Waikato me Waiariki, tae atu ki Te Moana o Toi me te roma wā tūturu i te tari matua i Kirikiriroa i Wintec Whare.
E ai ki te Pouārahi Māori o Wintec, a Teurikore Biddle (Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Awa), nōna te hōnore ki te ārahi i ngā kaimahi i runga i te tukanga panoni.
Ka tukua e ia ōna whakaaro i tētahi ataata hou mō Te Pūkenga, ‘Early Movers, a kaimahi journey’.
“Ko tēnei te wā kia whakaaroaro anō, kia waihanga anō, kia pohewa anō i te mātauranga ahumahinga i Aotearoa …
“Ko te tūmanako ia ka pēnei ngā tāngata katoa puta noa i te rāngai, ko te wā tēnei mō tātou kia tū hei hoa pai ake i raro i Te Tiriti, kia whakaoti whakatau e taunakitia ana, kia hāngai ngā whakaaro o te ōritetanga ki ā mātou mahi katoa.”
Hei tā te Kaiwhakahaere Mātāmua o Te Pūkenga a Stephen Town he mea arataki ngā ITP manu moata nei, a Wintec me Toi Ohomai, hei whakatauira, hei tuakana hoki mō ērā ka whai mai.
Mā te tuari me te mahitahi, mā te mōhiohio me te mātau e taea ai te auahatanga, e whakatere ake ai hoki ngā ara mō ngā ākonga, e whakapiki hoki i ngā otinga mō rātou.
“Ko te tirohanga roa ia, kia taka rawa ki 1 Hānuere 2023 kua mōhio kē ngā kaimahi 12,000 he aha tā rātou mahi, ka pūrongo hoki rātou ki a wai, ā, koia hei tirohanga roa mō tātou kia pai ake tā tātou mahi i tērā o ngā tau ki mua.
“Ehara i te mea i hē ngā katoa i mua engari kei te kite i ngā huarahi hei whakapiki, hei whakapai ake.”
Kua tohua te Kaiwhakahaere Mātāmua o Toi Ohomai a Dr Leon Fourie māna te tūranga o Kaiarataki Whakawhiti mō Wintec me Toi Ohomai, ā, ko te Kaiwhakahaere Mātāmua o Wintec a Dave Christiansen te Kaiarataki Whakawhiti ITP mō Te Pūkenga. Pūrongo ai ngā tūranga e rua ki Te Pūkenga. Koinei anahe ngā panoni tūranga mō tēnei wā whakawhitinga.
He tīmatanga hōu – new beginnings for Te Pūkenga
Symbolic Māori rituals of karakia and karanga heralded a new dawn for New Zealand’s tertiary education sector in Kirikiriroa (Hamilton) in early June.
In a traditional ceremony of celebration, Te Pūkenga officially welcomed the first ‘early mover’ Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) to its national network: Wintec and Toi Ohomai along with their 24,000 ākonga (learners) and 1,700 kaimahi.
Once all remaining subsidiaries are dissolved, Te Pūkenga as a unified organisation will be directly responsible for more than a quarter of a million ākonga
Hui whakanui to mark the milestone were held at all eight Wintec and Toi Ohomai campuses around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty in tandem with a livestream of the main event at Hamilton’s Wintec House.
Wintec’s Pouārahi Māori (Executive Director Māori, Quality and Academic), Teurikore Biddle (Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Awa), said it was a privilege to lead kaimahi through the change process.
She shares her insights in a new video for Te Pūkenga, ‘Early Movers, a kaimahi journey’.
“This is an opportunity for us to rethink, reshape, re-envision vocational education in Aotearoa New Zealand …
“I would hope that everybody across the sector sees this as an opportunity for us to be better Te Tiriti partners, to make evidence-based decisions and to be equity-minded in everything that we do.”
Te Pūkenga Chief Executive Stephen Town said the early mover ITPs, Wintec and Toi Ohomai, are leading by example by taking a tuākana role, similar to an older sibling.
Through network-wide sharing and collaboration, information and insights will enable innovation, accelerate opportunities for ākonga and enhance learner outcomes.
“The vision come 1 January 2023 is to have approximately 12,000 staff who all know what they’re there to do and who they report to, and that we collectively are starting to share a vision of doing better than we have in the past.
“It’s not that everything we have done is wrong but there are opportunities to build (on) and make it better.”
Toi Ohomai Chief Executive Dr Leon Fourie will take on the role as Wintec and Toi Ohomai Transitional Executive Lead while Wintec Chief Executive Dave Christiansen is now Te Pūkenga ITP Transition Lead. Both roles report to Te Pūkenga. There are no other changes to roles as part of this transition.
Operating Model update: Consultation on our proposed structure
Until now, our country’s Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) and Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) have been separate entities. Te Pūkenga is bringing these organisations together to create a network of work-based, on campus and online learning opportunities that gives learners more choice and flexibility in what, where and how they learn throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
In order to build on the strengths of our network subsidiaries we released our proposed Operating Model in November 2021. This year, we are designing a new organisation structure that delivers the capabilities and capacity we need to fulfil our charter commitments to ākonga, with their whanau, Tiriti partners, employers and our priority communities – Māori, Pacific and disabled people.
Running alongside this is the mahi to transition some TITOs into Te Pūkenga WBL and to bring ITPs directly into our whanau. We’ve already welcomed Toi Ohomai and Wintec and look forward to welcoming all other ITPs ahead of the legislative deadline of 31 December 2022. We also look forward to welcoming Service IQ next month with other TITOs to follow.
Over the next five weeks we will be preparing to consult on the proposed organisational structure and wanted to give you an update on this mahi.
Consultation on our proposed structure
From Tuesday 19 July to Tuesday 16 August, we will welcome your feedback on our draft organisation structure. The formal name of this mahi is “Operating Model: Te Pūkenga Horizon 1 Consultation on Proposed Organisation Structure”.
All Network kaimahi are welcome to share their views through the consultation. This means all Te Pūkenga national office, Te Pūkenga WBL, ITP subsidiaries and TITO kaimahi will be provided with the proposal information and supported to participate in the consultation.
Our proposed structure will bring together Ako Networks (teaching, training, learner wellbeing, and employer functions), and regions into one transformative structure that will build on the strengths of both TITOs and ITP subsidiaries.
Because the proposal is a significant realignment of our network and for some kaimahi, and also proposes direct changes to roles and responsibilities, we will be consulting with you directly on this and welcome your feedback and expertise.
We will share more details about the consultation, feedback, and next steps in future editions of Ngā Taipitopito. First, we wanted to let you know when the consultation is happening, and what we are consulting on.
Consultation and engagement
Consultation is a specific process that asks for and genuinely considers kaimahi views when making decisions around proposing change to someone's employment or transforming a work environment. This consultation process will occur over a four week period from 19 July.
Ākonga, with their whanau, Tiriti partners, employers and our priority communities – Māori, Pacific and disabled people are critical to our success as Te Pūkenga. Te Pūkenga ELT will engage with these stakeholders and champion these relationships throughout our establishment. We are calling this mahi, engagement.
What is guiding this mahi?
Our core principles of giving effect to Te Tiriti, putting ākonga with their whānau at the centre, embedding equity, and meeting the needs of employers and industry underpin how the proposed organisation structure is being developed.
These principles govern all Te Pūkenga mahi, including the Operating Model.
What does this mean?
We will welcome your feedback on our proposed structure in July through to August. Hearing your expertise, insight, views and voice is a key to refine and deliver a structure that sets us up for success.
What support is available?
Your leaders will continue to guide and support you throughout this consultation. The work they do to ensure you have the information and assistance you need to understand and engage with change, will continue.
Te Pūkenga will stand alongside your leaders to supplement this mahi throughout the consultation.
What happens next?
We will work with Subsidiary and TITO Chief Executives, People & Culture, Change and Communications Leads on the details of consultation to ensure appropriate processes and protocols are in place to support you.
We will continue to share information about the consultation and the wider Operating Model mahi through Ngā Taipitopito. Please continue to engage with this important pānui.
Meet Leon Fourie – Wintec Toi Ohomai Executive Transition Lead
Dr Leon Fourie, former Chief Executive of Toi Ohomai, started his new role as Wintec Toi Ohomai Executive Transition Lead role on 1 June, when the two institutes moved into Te Pūkenga as part of the Early Mover ITPs project workstream of the Operating Model mahi.
We caught up with Leon to find out a bit more about him.
Who is Leon?
Born and bred in Durban, South Africa, I spent the start of my working life in the national defence force, leaving with the rank of Major. I then began my education career as a Senior Lecturer for one of the top research universities, before moving into leadership roles within several large universities of technology. I’ve also been a part-owner and director of a private training establishment.
On immigrating to Aotearoa, I lived in Tāmaki Makarau Auckland for many years, before moving to Pāpāmoa where I am spoilt to live currently.
I’ve held various executive roles – mainly with a focus on large-scale higher education transformation programmes. My most recent role was Chief Executive of Toi Ohomai - the result of the merger of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and Waiariki Institute of Technology.
I hold a PhD for the exploration of design and development of a national training programme for local government, and a Masters in Performance Management. I’ve also completed the Senior Executive Tertiary Leadership qualification at Harvard University.
A father of two wonderful adult children, I enjoy spending time with my whānau (they keep me young), our dog Charlie and as an avid fisherman getting out on the water. I also like to think I’m a bit of a handy man around the house, but we will leave that for my wife to confirm!
What will you be doing in your role as Wintec Toi Ohomai Executive Transition Lead?
As the first of the Early Mover ITPs, I will be working to enable Wintec and Toi Ohomai to transition through the ongoing change as part of Te Pūkenga. I will be ensuring the continuity of the existing strategies and relationships, giving strength to Te Pūkenga as well as guiding the current Executive teams.
You’ve just launched Te Pūkenga International Strategy, tell us more!
Last week we launched our new International Strategy at the NAFSA Association of International Educators conference in Denver, Colorado. We were accompanied by the Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins.
The strategy is aligned to the governments International Education Strategy and aims to create more pathways to global citizenship for learners, employers and industry, diversifying markets and creating high value for learners. The strategy puts specific emphasis on giving expression to our Te Tiriti relationship that exists between the NZ government and Māori to improve outcomes for Māori people through delivering partnership, protection, participation and equity.
We have further events planned for the European and South-East Asian markets later this year, and we are now focussing on implementation plans that will give effect to the strategy over our three horizons – 2023, 2026 and 2033.
If you were in the Te Pūkenga talent show, what would your talent be?
Well, I do consider myself a pretty good cook. Maybe, I could whip up one of my signature extra-spicy curries!
Chief Financial Officer appointed
Matthew Walker has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer, a new permanent leadership position in Te Pūkenga.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a role in our Executive Leadership Team that will be critical in helping to lead, shape and establish the finance portfolios for Te Pūkenga.
Chief Executive Stephen Town welcomes Matthew’s skills and background to the role. “Matthew is a highly experienced investment and finance professional with a career spanning 30 years in both private and public sectors,” says Stephen. “He brings a collaborative and pragmatic leadership style and has experience working in complex stakeholder settings, which will be critical to our mahi for Horizon 1 and beyond.”
Recruitment began in late February alongside the Chief Digital Officer role and was finalised last week. Both roles are important for progressing our Accelerating Enabling Functions workstream.
Deputy Chief Executive Operations and workstream sponsor, Vaughan Payne added: “Finance underpins all our transformation initiatives, and this position requires someone who can leverage thought leadership and expertise to transform Te Pūkenga into a financially sustainable unified network.”
Matthew will join us from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency where he has held senior executive roles since April 2020 as General Manager Corporate Support and more recently as Portfolio Director. Prior to this, Matthew spent seven years with Auckland Council where he started as General Manager Financial Strategy and Planning and then moved to Group Chief Financial Officer.
“I’m really looking forward to hitting the ground running next month,” says Matthew. “There is great mahi already underway in Te Pūkenga and it is a privilege to join a team of dedicated and passionate people seeking to improve our vocational education sector for all.”
Matthew will start with Te Pūkenga on 4 July 2022.
Share your feedback on our unified Nursing and Social Work degree programmes
Kaimahi will have an opportunity in June to provide feedback during programme consultation on our Nursing and Social Work degree qualifications.
Over the last year our Nursing and Social Work programmes have been redesigned as we prepare to offer ākonga a single set of degree programmes from 2023. Both programmes are taught across the motu by hundreds of kaimahi who support large numbers of ākonga as they journey with us to become nurses and social workers.What are the benefits of developing a unified programme? Unified programmes offer the ability to celebrate the unique cultural contexts of the learning experiences we offer across the motu, whilst providing more consistency for employers, and the ability for ākonga to more easily change location if this is required.
The process to unify our nursing and social work degree programmes has involved ongoing input from our kaimahi, ākonga, employers, professional organisations, workforce and hapori over the last year. Te Pūkenga will offer Year 1 of the following unified programmes from 2023:
- Bachelor of Nursing (Māori), Bachelor of Nursing (Pacific) and Bachelor of Nursing
- Bachelor of Social Work
These programmes are now moving through a formal Programme Consultation process with our network and stakeholders. This has been timed to ensure we can submit the new programmes to NZQA and regulatory bodies in time for approval to introduce the programmes from 2023.
Kaimahi involved in social work degree programme delivery received information outlining the proposed programme last week. Those involved with our nursing programmes will receive information about the three nursing programmes this week. All of the detail, and forms to provide your feedback, are available on Te Pūkenga website. Kaimahi and industry are welcome to provide feedback until Wednesday 29 June.
Dr Angela Beaton, Academic and Delivery Deputy Chief Executive explains, “The work that has been done to transform these programmes has focussed on ensuring we are putting ākonga at the centre. Our programme development groups have had a relentless focus on equity with a desire to honour and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
“With the creation of Te Pūkenga we have a unique opportunity to shape and strengthen the workforce of tomorrow and the future is exciting. I want to acknowledge the tremendous work that has been done, involving many from across the network, to get us to this point.”
“We know the introduction of the unified programmes for nursing and social work is a significant step. Kaiako who teach these disciplines will be supported as we introduce our unified programmes. As we bring together our nursing and social work kaimahi across the motu, opportunities for greater collaboration and sharing of best practice will be enhanced.
If you’re involved with teaching nursing or social work please make sure you share your thoughts on the unified programmes. The programme development team looks forward to receiving your feedback.
Stars align for Te Pūkenga webinar
Our kaimahi and ākonga will have an exclusive educational experience in celebration of New Zealand’s first national holiday for the Aotearoa Pacific New Year.
Read more about it here.
Clear focus for sustainability in 2022
One of the eight overarching outcomes of Te Pūkenga is to embed sustainability across our operations in a way that can integrate and support the overall strategic plan of our organisation. We are also faced with challenges and opportunities from the Government, who are striving for a low emission future for Aotearoa New Zealand.
We began our journey in 2021 by completing a sustainability stocktake report with our Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) to better understand where we are today. This report, along with the government’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025, provides us with a clear focus for 2022 and beyond. There is much mahi to be done to ensure we stay on track – here’s an overview of what we have planned.
- Developing our sustainability strategy and implementation plan
To understand how we will achieve our sustainability outcome, we need a plan. Given the scale and complexity of our network, we will use a design-based cocreation approach to ensure all aspects of sustainability (environmental, social, cultural, and economic) have been considered. We will kōrero with many groups, both inside and outside of Te Pūkenga, throughout this process. We’d like to hear from you too – see how to get involved below. We expect to present a draft strategy to Te Pūkenga Council in July. - Establishing a sustainability forum
We need people to champion our sustainability mahi, so we’re bringing together a group of passionate ākonga and kaimahi from ITPs and Work Based Learning (WBL), in addition to industry and Pasifika representatives. To encourage a sustainability approach founded on matauranga Māori we are proposing a co-management model. The forum will lead the development and implementation of our sustainability strategy and framework, develop sustainability guidelines, and provide guidance to Te Pūkenga Council, our Executive Leadership Team and our people. The sustainability forum will start meeting in June 2022. - Calculating and reporting on our carbon footprint
The assets in our network are scattered across over 95 sites containing more than 1,200 buildings. There are at least 40 gas and five diesel boilers, and in 2020 our network used over 54 million kWh of electricity and more than 14 million KWh of gas. We’ve already successfully replaced the two coal boilers in our network with wood chip boilers – an awesome achievement. To report and manage our energy and emissions, we have secured a third-party automated system to consolidate data directly from suppliers and reduce time and cost barriers for our network. This will be done in four stages between 2022 and 2025, and work is already underway for stage one to calculate our network carbon footprint and prepare an emissions reduction plan. - Transitioning our vehicle fleet
There are over 1,100 vehicles in our fleets across the network. Fewer than eight percent of our fleets are currently plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) or standard electric vehicles (EV). We will transition our fleet to zero emissions in two stages, starting with a baseline assessment of our current fleet to understand how vehicles are used and what ‘quick win’ changes we can make now.
We look forward to sharing the progress we make on this mahi.
Get involved
We encourage you to share your thoughts on the direction that our sustainability strategy should take. Please answer the following questions and send them to sustainability@tepukenga.ac.nz:
- If Te Pūkenga become a sustainable organisation, what would it look like? What is our vision for sustainability?
- What are the barriers to us achieving that vision? What might be the barriers that you face personally in making this vision a reality?
- What levers are available to help us achieve that vision? In what ways could you most contribute to making this vision a reality?
Ara Poutama Aotearoa and Te Pūkenga enter new partnership agreement
Ara Poutama Aotearoa (the New Zealand Department of Corrections) and Te Pūkenga signed an agreement in March to offer the people in the management of the organisation and its staff a new generation of progressive vocational education opportunities. Ara Poutama Aotearoa offers learning opportunities to kaimahi and the people in its management and Te Pūkenga is part of delivering this through its network of 15 subsidiaries and business divisions. From January 2023 onwards, it is expected that around 85 percent of training and education within the prison system will be delivered by a unified Te Pūkenga.
People, Culture and Wellbeing strategy roadshow continues
Didn't make it in person to our roadshow? Find out how you can share your thoughts online through to the end of June.
People, culture and wellbeing strategy roadshow.
New sustainability competition calling for applicants
Smart Aotearoa – Sustainable Development (SASD 2022) is a new competition event launching this year that aims to showcase important sustainability mahi being done across the motu.
Contributions are welcome from tertiary institutes, communities, schools and companies across Aotearoa. The competition criteria covers many areas of sustainability like construction management, healthcare, energy, environment conservation, education, gender equity etc. You can find the complete list on their website.
The event is organised by a dedicated group of people who work in the sustainability sector, many of which are from our network.
This is an exciting opportunity to engage in sustainability practices and showcase the mahi you might already be doing in this space. The winners will receive financial prizes and opportunities to attend AI technology and sustainability workshops.
Entries close on 2 September 2022. Find out more information about applying on their website or by emailing info@smart-aotearoa.org.