Skills For Good - January 2019

Welcome to 2019

I have now been in the CEO seat for just over a month, and while excited about the opportunities ahead, I am equally conscious of the challenges we face in realising these, and of those facing the sectors we work with.

Over the last six months, we have expended significant effort in developing our strategy, which will allow us to deliver upon our purpose of enabling the workforce to enhance people’s health & wellbeing. With this in mind, one of my key priorities is to get out and about with our employer partners, and hear from you first hand - what’s working well, and what could be improved.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the skies are blue, but instead of lazing in the hammock or going for a swim, you’re back at work (or maybe you didn’t get a break in the first place). Many New Zealanders are already feeling the effects of the ‘back-to-work blues’ and, just a few days into the year, are finding stress levels are rising.

We'd like to take the opportunity to share this great resource provided by the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand: Minimising and managing workplace stress

Almost 300 stakeholders took part in the consultation phase that took place between July and December 2018 to inform the Careerforce Qualifications Pathway Review (QPR) of the New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing qualifications at Levels 2 to Level 4 Advanced Support. The review is a requirement of NZQA for all qualifications listed within the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF) that ensures they remain fit for purpose, meet the skills required by the sectors and provide meaningful pathways for graduates.

The QPR focused on identifying the extent to which stakeholders agree or disagree to the detailed specifications of the qualifications in relation to their workplace needs, covering the:

Recommendations for the health and wellbeing qualifications to be released
The online consultation responses and the stakeholder engagements demonstrate a strong level of agreement with the current specifications of the New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 2) and the New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 3). We are expecting minor changes to these qualifications. However, stakeholders expressed uncertainty towards the current Level 4 Advanced Support qualification, and that has prompted significant recommended changes.

“As a cleaner, you sometimes feel that you’re at the bottom of the hierarchy. Sometimes it’s nice to have that formal qualification to give you a boost.”

Haley Taylor has worked for Laura Fergusson Trust (Wellington) as a facilities cleaner for over ten years and loves it. She enjoys the environment and the flexibility suits her lifestyle. “It’s really rewarding. I am able to make a difference to the clients.”

Ten years ago, Haley would never have dreamt she would be qualified to supervise a team of five cleaners. Now she is embarking on a New Zealand Diploma in Business (Level 5) Leadership and Management qualification, that could take her one step closer to management.

We've always recognised that administration staff, supervisors and managers at all levels contribute to successful outcomes. We at Careerforce want to support them in empowering their teams and leading them to achieve their objectives. We'd like to enable them to make the right decisions for their organisations through modern business practice tools and strategies.

We've designed a suite of business and management programmes from a Level 3 Certificate in Business right through to a Level 6 Diploma in Business. This means you can build the business and management capability of many of your staff with Careerforce's NZQA approved business qualification programmes.

These programmes were developed in direct response to demand from people like you in the industries we support. More information about our Business programmes can be found below:

Trainee achievement
Last year Careerforce undertook some significant research into trainee success factors. We found that early achievement of credits was critical to a trainee achieving their qualification.

91% of trainees who achieved more than 3 credits within the first 4 months of training went on to complete their qualification. This compares to the 60% of trainees who did not achieve a credit in the first 4 months of training who withdrew from the programme.

We recognise that our efforts need to be focused on supporting workplaces to provide successful onboarding and encouraging early trainee achievement. We found that trainees were more likely to be engaged early when they understood what they were required to do, when tasks were familiar and integrated into their daily routine and supported by workplace observations and assessment that reinforced their existing abilities.

A series of 10 credit start-up packs have been developed for the:
NZ Certificate in Health and Wellbeing Level 2 (Disability and Aged Care sector specific). Similar packs are being developed for the Level 3 and Level 4 programmes.
Careerforce Workplace advisors (CWAs) will be releasing these to the sectors for implementation this month.

Timely and accurate registering of results
Ideally assessment results should be reported as soon as possible after the assessment takes place. When loading the assessment result into iportal, it is important to load the actual date of assessment – not the date of loading the result.

This could be the year to focus on collaboration in your organisation, or even across organisations. You can also apply that concept when training your staff. Some people learn better and get more motivated working in a group. Getting together as a group allows for discussions, sharing of ideas, encourages problem-solving and identifying best practices.

In a research report published in 2017 by Ako Aotearoa titled Pacific learner success in workplace settings, small learner support groups have worked well for Pacific learners. The research team did two pilot programmes that they consider to be most appropriate and applicable to workplace training: Peer Mentoring and Study Groups.

Rest homes in the Wairarapa also shared their experience in setting up a cross organisation study group and the benefits they've seen.

Assessment is a key part of the training cycle and the assessor plays a vital role in maintaining the quality of Careerforce supported qualifications and programmes.

As such we’re excited to introduce an Assessor Development Pathway for this important group. The new pathway features ‘Initial Assessor Training’ which needs to be completed by anyone wishing to become a Careerforce registered assessor. This includes 4098 unit standard training and is now the only pathway Careerforce assessors should follow.

The ‘Initial Assessor Training’ is linked to the Assessor Development Pathway. Here are some of the benefits:

The Careerforce REAL model is integrated into the Careerforce Initial Assessor Training, reducing the need to take an extra day out of the workplace.
Sets up the assessor to better support trainee assessments.
Develops skills using the MyPath online Learning and assessment platform.
Helps the new assessor become comfortable and confident with assessing.
Supports assessor in early stages of the moderation cycle.
Provides a pathway to a nationally recognised qualification.
Completely free to workplaces*

Assessors who recently completed their 4098 training with external providers still need to attend a Careerforce REAL workshop as part of their registration process. This helps to contextualise the 4098 unit standard training and guide them through Careerforce expectations. For details of REAL assessor training, contact: assessor-admin@careerforce.org.nz

The process for any new Assessors is outlined on the Careerforce website
Anyone interested in the Development Pathway can contact: Rick.sloman@careerforce.org.nz

*provided that training is completed

In each issue of Skills for Good, we will continue to publish the latest 'Pay Equity and Qualification Equivalency' updates.

As part of both the 2017 aged care and support pay equity settlement, and the 2018 mental health and addiction support worker settlement, workers can qualify for pay equity via either job tenure, or level of qualification. Careerforce was given responsibility for determining qualification equivalence, and to date, have assessed a number of New Zealand and overseas qualifications.

The most recent qualification decisions are available here. Please also check our website for all equivalency decisions.