Reform fears ‘scaremongering’

The Government has been warned that changes to vocational education will see industries hire fewer apprentices and fewer people enter training.

But Education Minister Chris Hipkins says this is ‘‘scaremongering’’.

Government plans to overhaul the sector include merging 16 polytechnics into a single, centralised New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, and the creation of a unified funding system to encompass provider-based and work-based learning.

It also wants to redefine roles of industry training organisations (ITOs) to instead establish ‘‘industry skills bodies’’.

During consultation on the proposals, industry leaders said it would damage the sector and potentially affect consumers as the country’s skills shortages became exacerbated.

The National Party’s tertiary education spokesman, Shane Reti, said the polytechnic reforms would disadvantage people wanting to study lower-level workbased programmes, and the number of people in vocational education would decrease.

The sector as a whole lost $53 million in 2017, and four polytechnics – Greymouth’s Tai Poutini Polytechnic, Wellington’s Whitireia and WelTec, and Unitec in Auckland – together got $100m in Crown bailouts last year.

‘‘The reforms will ensure that there are more apprenticeships and on-the-job training,’’ Hipkins said yesterday.

The system was not able to keep up with demand, leading to ‘‘huge skills shortages’’, he said.

However, Industry Training Federation chief executive Josh Williams said the changes would force employers to work around education providers to upskill onthe-job learners and apprentices.

ITOs kept workers in touch with the ‘‘real needs’’ of employers but the reforms could push students out of the workshop and into the classroom more often.

‘‘That will make our workforce less resilient, less portable, and less able to compete globally,’’ Williams said.

Rutherford & Bond Toyota Wellington workshop manager Strat Campbell began as an apprentice for the firm 18 years ago. It had worked with MITO – an industry training provider – for as long as he could remember.

Whatever happened, he said, employers should be given more information on the changes that were ahead.

With its multiple dealerships, there were at least 15 apprentices in training across those capital businesses. ‘‘Once they’re qualified, they know how we run our business,’’ he said.