Kia ora koutou,
Kei ngā mana, kei ngā reo, kei ngā ringa raupā hurinoa e whakatairanga ana i te ao o te ākonga kia eke, kia angitū – nei ahau ka mihi.
This week Te Pūkenga Council met to consider two Early Mover Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs). You may remember that Early Mover ITPs is one of four workstreams within the Operating Model work. It involves change-ready ITP subsidiaries moving into Te Pūkenga ahead of the development of functional designs.
Today, myself, and the CEs at Toi Ohomai and Wintec, shared with their teams that they will formally dissolve and move, as they are, into Te Pūkenga on 1 June 2022. We’re now sharing this with everyone in the wider network.
Toi Ohomai and Wintec have decided they are ready to make this early change and have the support of their Boards and Te Pūkenga Council. Over the next six weeks, we will be working closely with them to identify all of the impacts of transition so we can smoothly move both organisations into Te Pūkenga.
This does not pre-empt decisions around the Operating Model, nor the wider regional structure of the sector. Equally it does not mean Wintec and Toi Ohomai kaimahi are in any way advantaged or disadvantaged with regard to ongoing Operating Model changes. It does mean we can refine the process for bringing other subsidiaries into Te Pūkenga. Further integration by additional subsidiaries into Te Pūkenga ahead of 1 January is still being considered. We have learnt from the transition of Industry Training Organisations into Work Based Learning Limited, which we are applying where possible.
Existing Toi Ohomai Chief Executive, Dr Leon Fourie will take on the role as Wintec / Toi Ohomai Transitional Executive Lead and existing Wintec Chief Executive Dave Christiansen will take on the role of Te Pūkenga ITP Transitional Lead. Both roles will report to Te Pūkenga and will be provided with support by Te Pūkenga management and Council through the establishment of an interim reference group consisting of two Te Pūkenga Council members and two Māori members to enhance our Te Tiriti relationships.
This early move will not affect the current brands, campus or building names. Along with the rest of the ITPs Toi Ohomai and Wintec recently began co-branding with Te Pūkenga and this brand transition will remain in place.
You can find further information here.
Nō reira, tēnā huihui mai tātou,
Stephen Town
Chief Executive
Our updates
He whakataunga mana taurite mō te anamata | Next gen solutions for equity
Tokona Te Raki is an innovation agency and lab that sits under the mana of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu who Te Pūkenga is excited to have as a key Māori innovation partner.
He umanga auaha a Tokona Te Raki i raro i te maru o Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu kua piri mai hei hoa ki Te Pūkenga i roto i āna mahi auaha Māori.
Rich insights gained through third Aromātai Kaimahi survey
In February we held Aromātai Kaimahi, our survey asking you to share how you’re feeling about the transition to Te Pūkenga. Almost 4,500 of you completed the survey, which is just over half of our ITP whānau.
Director of People, Culture and Wellbeing Keri-Anne Tane shares her thanks to those of you who took the time to share your views. “This was the first time we’ve sought comments through Aromātai Kaimahi and we are delighted to have so much rich feedback to review within Te Pūkenga and in partnership with our local leaders across the network. These opportunities to kōrero are important. It enables us to respond and make changes where they matter the most.”
We’ve gone through your feedback and summed it up in some key insights:
- We need to support you more to see yourselves in the future of Te Pūkenga.
- Awareness of reasons for change, and the desire to embrace change has lifted since our last survey.
- As time moves on, your expectation of detail on what the transition means for you and your teammates is increasing.
- There is a strong appetite to connect with Te Pūkenga leadership and to hear from them about their vision for Te Pūkenga.
You gave us a lot to work with and we will keep you updated with how we are responding to your feedback over the coming months. To start, here’s a few things that we’re working on:
| You said you'd like | How we are responding | Watch this space for more |
| Hear more from leadership | We've recently launched Te Turuturu –an opportunity to regularly connect with our Academic Delivery and Innovation leadership team. |
More time together in other forums like Te Turuturu. Videos introducing our Te Pūkenga leadership team (including a tour of Vaughan's farm coming soon) |
| Simple, varied communication |
We're continuing to improve our Ngā Taipitopito newsletter, including: |
More videos sharing our mahi. An intranet for everyone in the network to access, learn more about Te Pūkenga, and start to get to know each other across the network. |
| Wellbeing activities and support | We're working with local wellbeing and safety leads to pilot a new wellbeing platform – more information coming soon! | Following the pilot, this platform will be launched to the network alongside webinars with information on how you can manage your wellbeing through change. |
Te Pūkenga International Strategy
A single Te Pūkenga International Education Strategy has been approved, moving our international efforts from competitive to collaborative.
The strategy is aligned to the Government’s 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 is focused on developing a single brand, tailored to international markets and different sector stakeholders, which will support long-term sustainability and regional growth.
An Implementation Plan will be developed, aligned with Te Pūkenga Operating Model, to give effect to the strategy over our three horizons – 2023, 2026 and 2033.
More information is here: Te Pūkenga International Strategy
NZDF and Te Pūkenga enter a new vocational education agreement
New Zealand Defence Force and Te Pūkenga have signed a relationship agreement that draws together the training and education previously provided to NZDF by a number of Transitional Industry Training Organisations (TITOs) and Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs).
It will see both organisations working together to provide world-classing training and qualifications to Defence personnel, and support the NZDF’s continuity of training and education services as the Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) continues.
As the largest user of vocational qualifications in Aotearoa New Zealand, NZDF personnel complete more than 4,000 vocational qualifications annually.
State of the tertiary education sector survey 2022
Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union (TEU)
The Tertiary Education Union is conducting a survey is for all employees working in the tertiary education sector in Aotearoa, including anyone working in Te Pūkenga (including ITP subsidiary or work-based learning division). You do not need to be a union member.
The results of the survey will be used to share the experiences of workers in the sector with Ministers and employers. The survey takes 30-40 minutes to complete and closes 16 April.
Please select the survey link below that best aligns with your main job in Te Pūkenga.
Professional, general or allied survey
Select this link if your role is considered by your organisation to be professional/general or allied.
State of the Sector Survey 2022 – Professional/General or Allied Staff
Academic survey
Select this link if your role is considered by your organisation to be ‘academic’. This will include all academic staff positions, clinical educators, researchers, research assistants, teaching fellows, tutors, and workplace assessors.
State of the Sector Survey 2022 – Academic Staff
Free Code 101 workshops
NZQA will be facilitating free Pastoral Code 101 workshops for tertiary providers on the second Tuesday of each month throughout the year. We encourage anyone who did not attend last year, and any new staff members to join these.
The next workshop will start on Tuesday, 12 April 2022 at 9am. You can register via the link here.
Please note: If minimum attendance/registration numbers (10) are not met, registered attendees will be invited to attend the next scheduled workshop.