Construction and infrastructure workforce set to benefit from agreement between Waihanga Ara Rau and Te Pūkenga

Chief Executive, Waihanga Ara Rau, Philip Aldridge, and Acting Chief Executive, Te Pūkenga Peter Winder, recently co-signed the Terms of Reference for a shared industry engagement framework.

This framework sets out the approach, relationships, and levels of engagement with industry groups and employers. It also forms part of an agreement that clarifies how these entities, established as part of the new vocational education system, will work together. It respects the roles they each hold and provides industry with a clear framework for a strong voice.

As the voice of construction and infrastructure in vocational education, Waihanga Ara Rau uses feedback from industry to ensure that the education sector has the qualifications and skills standards industry needs. This framework takes this principle a step further by making it easier for industry and employers to communicate what they need and for Te Pūkenga and Waihanga Ara Rau to reflect industry view in the way training is delivered.

“It’s important we meet the skills and workforce needs of Construction and Infrastructure. Our partnerships with industry and our feedback to the education sector means industry has people with the right skills and people from all walks of life enjoy rewarding careers in our sector,  “Skills shortages in construction do not appear to be diminishing any time soon and attracting more rangatahi (school leavers) and pakeke (career changers) to the industry and into vocational education programmes will take a team effort,” Philip Aldridge, Chief Executive, Waihanga Ara Rau said.

“The agreement is a great outcome and demonstrates how the entities established under the Reforms of Vocational Education (RoVE) are working together at a systems level,” says Mr Winder.

“The partnership with Waihanga Ara Rau respects the roles each entity has and provides industry with a framework for a strong voice. We need to make it easy for industry and employers to tell us what they need – and for Te Pūkenga and WDCs to reflect what’s heard in the ways we train and the skills we assess.”

“Our challenge – and our opportunity – is to work together with industry, employers and the wider system to fundamentally broaden our thinking to meet learner and employer needs.”