He kōrero mai i a Peter Winder | A note from Peter Winder
Kia ora koutou katoa,
Welcome back to Ngā Taipitopito with this first edition for 2023. To all of those in the north dealing with the aftermath of the weather, kia kaha. Keep listening to the advice from local leaders, officials and responders and stay safe.
On Friday, an Arborist apprentice supported by Primary died in the floods in Wairau Valley. This is a tragic loss of life and his whānau, friends and colleagues have our deepest condolences. Support is being provided to his Training Advisor.
We have also been assessing damage caused by the weather to our campuses and offices, including to the SIT MAINZ campus in Māngere which flooded. The substantial damage is likely to mean we will not be able to operate from this site in Semester One, but we will work through this with insurers, kaimahi (staff), ākonga and the building owners. By all reports, other damage is minor but we will continue to keep across it and local teams will provide specific advice where damage has occurred.
Looking ahead, this is a special year, with all business divisions now in the whare and Te Pūkenga having officially become one entity as of 1 January. We are now the country’s largest provider of on-the-job, on campus and online vocational education.
2023 will be a significant year for us.
We are currently ramping up the resources needed to deliver the organisation design we began last year. This will include looking at the timeline we shared last year and providing you with more certainty about when things will happen over the next 6 to 12 months. You’ll find a more fulsome update on this mahi further down.
With the general election announced for 14 October this year, we’re likely to continue to be politically visible. It’s not always easy to see ourselves in the media, but we will continue to be open and transparent with the media and with all of you, and keep working towards the vision for Te Pūkenga.
You would have also seen that the Minister of Education, Hon Chris Hipkins, has been sworn in as Prime Minister. Hon Jan Tinetti, who has held the Associate Education portfolio since 2020 is Acting Minister for us until a new Minister is announced on 7 February.
We are preparing to brief our new Minister on our work right across the motu, but for now, we need to all keep doing what we’re doing – continue supporting ākonga and employers, our people and continuing as planned through our transition activity.
Last week, our leadership team came together for three days of focused discussion and planning for the year ahead. There was a real focus on the values of Te Pūkenga, Te Tiriti and how we maintain continuity of the foundation work that came before.
We also spent some time on the behaviours we expect of each other and how we work as an Executive team. These conversations are important and set the tone for how each of us work with each other, but also with kaimahi across our organisation.
You will be hearing from our Deputy Chief Executives more as they engage with you about their portfolio, including the exciting and rewarding mahi (and some of the challenges) that we are doing for ākonga, employers, iwi and communities.
Ka nui te mihi
Peter Winder
Tumuaki | Chief Executive
Te Pūkenga connects with NMIT through rangitāmiro ceremony
A toki poutangata (greenstone adze) named Te Ao Mārama – world of light – has been gifted to NMIT at one of the last Te Pūkenga unification ceremonies known as rangitāmiro.
Our Tumuaki | Chief Executive Peter Winder and others from Te Pūkenga joined NMIT leaders and iwi representatives at Whakatū Marae in Nelson recently.
The ceremony drew on symbolic Māori rituals of karakia, kōrero and waiata to connect the new Business Division to the national network.
The toki is a symbol of the collective mauri (life force), mana (authority), ihopūmanawa (talent or strength) and pūkenga (skills) between each network member and Te Pūkenga.
The final rangitāmiro ceremony – for Te Pūkenga Work Based Learning (WBL) – is scheduled to take place in early 2023.
Organisational Design and change update
This year, the ODC programme will quickly build on the significant progress made at the end of 2022 and is ramping up resources, particularly in the Design function. The programme team is developing a revised timeframe for 2023 so there will be more certainty as to the impacts of the programme over the next 6-12 months. So, there may be some revisions to previous timeframes as the programme continues to consider interdependencies and lessons from the first functions to go through the process.
Specific change workstream updates:
- People Culture and Wellbeing is well underway with recruitment.
- Consultation for the Finance workstream will begin early to mid-February.
- Digital workstream will now release decisions during the week commencing 30 January.
- Learner and Employer Experience and Attraction and Academic Centre and Learning Systems workstreams are about to begin.
- Ako Delivery workstream is seeking CE and ELT feedback on high level design for the function, as plans get underway to engage more widely in February.
- Further updates on the Strategy and Transformation and the Office of the Chief Executive business divisions will follow in the coming weeks.
Eighth Ako Network
At the end of last year, the Executive Leadership Team agreed to establish a specific ako network to focus on secondary/tertiary transitions, bridging/foundation programmes and trades academies. This followed feedback in Tā tatou huarahi | Our pathway on the need for further discussion.
Known as Foundations and Pathways, this eighth ako network supports our Te Pūkenga priority focus on traditionally underserved learners (Māori, Pacific people and the disabled) and has a clear impact on equity and improving outcomes for ākonga and their whānau. This network sits within the Academic Centre and Learning Systems workstream, led by Dr Megan Gibbons.
The addition of this eighth ako network aligns with the need for Te Pūkenga to support alternative education opportunities that better meet the needs of ākonga, an action from the Ministry of Education’s Attendance and Engagement Strategy, released in June 2022.
The seven other confirmed ako networks are:
- Services
- Construction and Infrastructure
- Mātauranga Māori
- Manufacturing, Engineering and Logistics
- People, Food and Fibre
- Creative, Cultural, Recreation and Technology
- Community, Health, Education and Social Services
Recruitment
Good progress has been made on recruiting the Ako Delivery Regional Directors with interviews being scheduled. We expect to commence interviewing in February.
In parallel we have advertised the Ako Leads for Academic Centre and Learning Systems. While this is ahead of the full structure design, they are roles that are consistent with previous decisions.
Network-wide intranet is almost here
Soon all kaimahi (staff) across Te Pūkenga Network, will have access to Te Whare, a network-wide intranet.
Te Whare is not intended to replace existing network intranets and internal platforms, but to complement them and provide a place for consistent information.
An intranet is a significant step for Te Pūkenga kaimahi. We’re now all in Te Pūkenga whare and Te Whare will mean we all have access to the same information, tools and templates.
To access Te Whare, you will need to log in with your division email address and password. This should only be required for the first time you access Te Whare. Te Whare also uses multi-factor authentication (MFA). For those who do not use MFA as part of existing systems, you will be directed to set up MFA. You will only need to set up MFA once.
A link to access Te Whare will be sent to all kaimahi in the coming weeks.
Te Pūkenga CQI policy goes live
Te Pūkenga has launched a new policy that sets out our commitment to ensuring quality assurance practices that embed the principles of Te Pae Tawhiti: Te Tiriti o Waitangi Excellence Framework. Te Pae Tawhiti influences our planning, implementation, reporting, and review based on five core principles of CQI:
Māori learners at the forefront.
- Systems approach to improvement is holistic and integrated.
- Improvement is continuous and evaluative.
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi excellence is embedded.
- Focus on performance.
“These principles are designed to guide us in how to engage in CQI and enable quality practices that will ensure educational excellence and equity for Māori.” Says Dr Megan Gibbons, Deputy Chief Executive Academic Centre and Learning Systems.
Each Business Group, sub-group, region, team and Ako network of Te Pūkenga is expected to uphold these core principles and outline how they will advance Te Tiriti o Waitangi excellence as part of their key performance indicators on an annual basis.
“This is a significant milestone for Te Pūkenga as one of our foundational policies and the binding weave of our kete (flax kit) of tools that will assist us in becoming a Tiriti honouring organisation.”
The Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) policy is now live on our website here.
Latest update from our Interim Kaimahi Advisory Committee
Here is a summary of the latest meeting of our Interim Kaimahi Advisory Committee (IKAC), including topics covered and next steps.
December 2022
In December, IKAC covered a variety of topics including:
- organisational structure and the delegation of authority at appropriate tiers
- document resource management and how workflows may contribute to cross-organisational communication
- an update on the Māori capability framework.
- an update on programme unification.
We also were introduced to Teresa Pollard, Chief Digital Officer who gave an update on the Digital and People, Culture and Wellbeing consultations.
We look forward to meeting newly appointed Executive leaders early in 2023, and will be following the kaimahi tranches into Te Pūkenga with the Finance business group following People, Culture and Wellbeing and Digital.
We will continue to revisit the development of the committee's functions as the organisation structure and regions unfold. This includes roles and descriptions, representation criteria and the election process for later in 2023.
We will be providing feedback on the draft Outcomes and Performance Measurement Framework and how it might be used for building Te Pūkenga culture and ways of working.
The committee has requested a professional development (PD) plan from the ELT team, as more areas of PD appear in the frameworks and initiatives from Te Pūkenga. It will ideally outline priorities for kaimahi in the first month, first six months, first year and so on.
What is the Interim Kaimahi Advisory Committee?
A diverse group of kaimahi that meet approximately once a month. Each member of IKAC has been elected by kaimahi at their division or has been appointed by a sub-committee to ensure representation of kaimahi across the network. IKAC advises Te Pūkenga Council on strategic matters that affect kaimahi and develop election and representation processes and job descriptions for the future permanent kaimahi committee who will be elected in late 2023.
For more information: www.tepukenga.ac.nz/about-us/governance/
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