Message from Te Pūkenga Acting Chief Executive
Kia ora koutou
I want to start by acknowledging that for some of you, my message on Friday 21 October about our financial position caused stress and anxiety. I am sorry for that. My intention was, and continues to be, to be honest with you as soon as practical. I reiterate my message to you to please be kind to yourself and each other – we will each move through change at different paces and with different responses. I know many of your leaders have also been in touch with division-specific information and I encourage you to focus on these trusted sources and known information.
I expect the media scrutiny, of our finances, and establishment will continue. Coming together as a Network has significant benefits, and equally significant accountabilities. We are connected to every whānau in Aotearoa, and with that comes the scrutiny of backyard barbeque conversations, politicians, and national media interest. This scrutiny is entirely proportional to our scale. We have roughly a quarter million ākonga learning with us across the motu, and an extraordinary number of relationships and partnerships in Aotearoa and abroad. With this scale, and our public funding comes an equally large need to be accountable. In scaling up the network of vocational and applied education we are also scaling up the need to respond to this level of scrutiny.
While personally it may not always feel this way, this is part of a healthy debate and something we should not shy away from, but rather meet with transparency and accountability.
This means that we will continue to give media a sense of the complexity of the issues they ask about, to own up when we haven’t delivered and to share the many positive achievements and successes. Your local communications teams and leaders continue to play an important role in doing this.
It’s also worth remembering that the media, the public and all of us tend to glance over the good news and focus on the less good. Media across the motu were happy to publish our deficit when it was $110m but until this week, they hadn’t covered the savings we’d made to reduce the deficit to $63m. And equally they aren’t covering stories of ākonga in workplaces gaining extra skills and confidence, of online learning supporting a return to the workforce or in person training supporting the success of ākonga and whānau across Aotearoa.
With this in mind, I wanted to highlight a few of the wins I’ve seen across the Network in the last couple of weeks:
- MIT held a blessing ceremony for the new Bachelor of Education (Primary, Pasifika) qualification
- Service IQ were voted a clear leader in the Outstanding Supplier category at the Restaurant Association Canterbury Hospitality Awards
- Otago Polytechnic learner had a TikTok assignment go viral
- Our Interim Learner Advisory Committee were finalists in the 2022 Spirit of Service governance award. You’ll see a photo of some of the committee members with Education Minister, Hon Chris Hipkins.
And congratulations to Jamie Smiler, Senior Academic at WelTec and Rachel Dibble, Senior Lecturer at Otago Polytechnic – two awardees at the recent Ako Aotearoa awards.
These are the things we can draw on when the media commentary doesn’t align with the passion, dedication and hard work we see across the Network.
Ngā mihi
Peter Winder
Acting Chief Executive
Our updates
Chief Executive announcement
Today you will see the announcement for the expressions of interest for Chief Executive of Te Pūkenga.
In order to continue with the integration and transformation of vocational education in New Zealand, the appointment of the Chief Executive will be for a fixed term to the end of 2024.
Reporting to Te Pūkenga Council Chair, the Chief Executive will lead the transformational change and drive the future of vocational and applied education and training, whilst also developing a common and strong sense of purpose with employers, iwi, hāpu, community and industry that is focused on both current and future needs.
You will also recall the feedback on the confirmed executive structure about joint leadership of Te Pūkenga received during Tā tatou huarahi | Our Pathway. Any joint leadership will require legislative change to formalise that. The Council has undertaken to consider how best that might be approached and the nature of the parties involved in a decision to propose legislative change or how joint leadership could be enacted. That work will be undertaken in mid-2023 with a report and summary of options to the Minister of Education towards the end of 2023.
E rere te mānuka, hopukia | Facing the challenge of change
“Nōku i wehe atu i Tauranga, 18 ōku tau ... ka kī mai taku whanaunga ki au – haere koe ki tērā wāhi, akongia ngā mātauranga kia mau ai, ā, hoki mai me aua mātauranga hei rākau mō tō iwi ... Inā hoki, ka taea e au te kī nāku i rite taua moemoeā.”
Ka huri te wā, ka huri te ao, ā, ka hua ake tētahi āhua, ā, kāore i tau atu i tā Tangaroa Walker (Ngāi Te Rangi) me āna kōrero whakahihiri mōna i pare atu ngā taupā, me tāna i mahi ai hei whakarite huarahi, ko ia hoki te taurima o ngā Ihopūmanawa.
Mātahikia te ataaata mōna i konei.
Ka whakaatu mai a Tangaroa i āna anō akoranga e tutuki ai ōn whāinga, ā, nā aua pūkenga, mōhiotanga ōna i puta ai ia i te ao pakihi i ēnei rā. Nā te whakaaro auaha, i kukume ai te hinengaro, ā, kua whakatinanahia ōna moemoeā i roto i āna mahi, ā, kua whanake te kura, kua tipu ia hei tangata, hei oranga anō mō tōna whānau me ētahi atu rangatahi.
Ko te whakatūhanga o Te Pūkenga he tauira pai whakahirahira o ngā huarahi tērā e tipu, e puāwai i tēnei ahakoa ngā piki me ngā heke o te wā. I a tātou e mahitahi nei i runga i te kaupapa kotahi, ka taea e ngā kaimahi te kuhu ki ngā kaupapa ā-kōtuinga whānui, te tono i ētahi tūranga hou ka whakaritea mai me te whai ki te hanga i ngā huarahi hou hei tuku ihotanga, arā, ko te mutunga iho he rāngai mātauranga, mana ōrite, tuwhera ki te katoa.
I mau rānei i a koe ngā kōrero Ihopūmanawa o nā tata nei? Mātakihia i konei.
Ko Hana O’Regan e kōrero ana mō tōna ōna hīkoitanga: Hana O'Regan
Ko Jack Thatcher me āna kōrero: Jack Thatcher
E rere te mānuka, hopukia! | Facing into the challenge of change
“When I left Tauranga at 18 ... my cousin said to me – go down there, learn all that knowledge and bring it home to your people ... It’s cool to be able to say that I lived up to that expectation.”
Change brings opportunity and we love how talented Tangaroa Walker (Ngāi Te Rangi) shares his inspiring kōrero on overcoming adversity and creating opportunities as our fifth Ihopūmanawa profile.
You can watch his video here.
Tangaroa reveals how he learnt to hustle to achieve his goals as a child, and that this ability continues to help him in business today. Through thinking outside the box and cultivating the right mindset, he has brought his vision to life and is using his mahi to make a better life for himself, his whānau and other young rangatahi.
The establishment of Te Pūkenga is a great example of how there are opportunities to flourish in times of change. As we collaborate to unite as one, kaimahi can join network-wide projects, apply for new roles as they are created and continue to innovate to build a legacy of a more accessible, equitable vocational education sector.
Did you miss our most recent Ihopūmanawa profiles? You can watch them here:
- Hana O’Regan talking about her journey: Hana Merenea O'Regan - YouTube
- Jack Thatcher talking about his journey: Jack Thatcher - YouTube
Share your thoughts on our transition
On Thursday 3 November, all permanent and fixed term kaimahi within our ITP will receive an email from AskYourTeam inviting you to complete Aromātai Kaimahi, our short employee survey focused on how change is progressing within Te Pūkenga. Kaimahi within Work Based Learning have already been sent a link for their survey, which will close on Friday 28 October.
Aromātai Kaimahi is an opportunity for you to let us know what’s working well and where we need to focus our improvements as we bring our network together into Te Pūkenga. Our Acting Chief Executive Peter Winder and other senior network leaders will listen to your feedback and use it to inform the next steps and decisions made for our transformation journey.
When we checked in with you in February, you shared lots of great feedback. Here are a few of the things we’ve worked on since:
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You said you would like |
We responded with |
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Simple, varied communication |
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Opportunities to build your connection with Te Pūkenga |
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Wellbeing and leadership activities |
We piloted Synergy Health, our personalised online wellbeing platform Following positive feedback and uptake from you, we were excited to be able to extend Synergy Health to all kaimahi recently We’ve seen kaimahi across the motu take part in physical challenges, battle it out in team quizzes, accessed benefits and more through this platform |
You have also let us know that clarity around how transition will impact your team, your role and your reporting lines are priorities, and we acknowledge we are not as far through design mahi as we had planned. Recently we shared timelines for transition by business unit, and we look forward to supporting you with more information on design mahi and transition in the coming months.
We know there is much more to do, and our focus is guided by your contribution to this survey. Aromātai Kaimahi is confidential and anonymous, and we encourage everyone to be open and honest in their responses.
If you haven’t received your link by 4 November, please contact support@askyourteam.com.
Changing world calls for culturally capable workforce
Te Pūkenga is championing an innovative approach to support, grow, nurture and enhance the Māori cultural capabilities of staff.
The Partnerships and Equity team recently unveiled an initial prototype of a unified Māori Cultural Capability (MCC) development framework and have been soliciting feedback from key groups across the network.
As part of Te Pae Tawhiti self-reflective reporting, Te Pūkenga subsidiaries, Work Based Learning and National Office have consistently identified the critical need for staff at all levels to develop strong Māori cultural knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Deputy Chief Executive Ana Morrison says the MCC framework champions the development, delivery and continuous improvement of learning systems in the pursuit of highly culturally capable staff.
The prototype will be used to inform some of the key People Culture and Wellbeing processes in our establishment and unification stage between now and July next year.
“We live in a changing world where the skills, knowledge and behaviours that we need to teach and respond to ākonga (learners) are different – our kaimahi need to be prepared to grow in a way that supports this new world,” Ana says.
“A culturally capable workforce creates a vocational education organisation which supports and enables equitable opportunities and outcomes for Māori learners and their whānau.”
The MCC framework will inform the development of systems, policies and processes such as recruitment, induction and onboarding, learning and development, and remuneration, recognition and rewards.
A final version of the framework will be ready for full socialisation across Te Pūkenga by July 2023.
Ko tātou tēnei | This is us – photo competition
As part of our journey to become one organisation, we want to capture the beauty, history and uniqueness within our network. We want to see the images that celebrate the people and places that are now part of Te Pūkenga.
Throughout the month of November, we’re holding Ko tātou tēnei | This is us – a photo competition for all kaimahi within our network.
The competition will be hosted on our wellbeing platform, Synergy Health.
There are three categories you can submit your photo(s) to:
- Manawa: In this instance, manawa means heart. Share a photo that captures the heart or āhua/character of your organisation.
- Community/Place: Our communities are important to our mahi, our ākonga, and our sense of belonging. Share a photo that embodies the connection your organisation has with your community.
- One from the archives: Share a photo taken over the years which shares the unique history of your organisation.
Photos can be submitted by individuals or a group.
You’ll have the opportunity to ‘like’ your favourite entries. The six photos with the highest number of likes in each category will be shortlisted. A panel of network representatives will judge the shortlisted entries in January 2023. Their top three entries will be given to Te Pūkenga Executive Leadership Team to select the final winners.
Head to Synergy Health for details on how to enter. If you haven’t visited Synergy Health before, enter company code ‘education’ when you register. Entries will open from 1 to 30 November.
Calendar sharing extended to WBL
The free/busy availability of WBL colleagues will be available using MS Outlook Scheduling function
Throughout this year, new functionality enabled those in ITP subsidiaries and Te Pūkenga to see the free/busy availability of colleagues using MS Outlook Scheduling function. This is now being rolled out to include the current business divisions of Te Pūkenga Work Based Learning.
This work has been developed via the Digital Ecosystem Security & IAM project and delivered with input from the security practitioners’ group.
To check the availability of network colleagues, create a Meeting in MS Outlook or Teams and add the email addresses of those you wish to meet with. Click on ‘Scheduling Assistant’ and you will see when colleagues are available. In Teams, you will also see suggested times.