Have Your Say On The Education And Training (Vocational Education And Training System) Amendment Bill
The bill seeks to redesign the vocational education and training system to restore regional decision-making. It also aims to increase industry involvement in vocational education and training. The bill would do so by amending the Education and Training Act 2020 to:
• disestablish Te Pūkenga—New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (Te Pūkenga)
• re-establish a network of regional polytechnics
• establish industry skills boards to replace workforce development councils.
The bill would propose a framework within which new polytechnics and a Polytechnic Federation Committee can be established, as well as framework to establish industry skills boards. The frameworks would set out the characteristics and functions of the new entities, the process for their establishment and disestablishment, and the technical elements necessary for them to function. The bill would also enable Te Pūkenga to remain as a transitional entity for unallocated programmes and activities for a 1-year period after commencement.
Make a submission on the bill by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 18 June 2025.
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Otago Daily Times
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RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Polytech bail-outs lie ahead, Te Pūkenga warns
Nelson's mayor says the creation of Te Pūkenga has been bad for local polytechnic Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT). Photo: Supplied / NMIT Te Pūkenga's managers have warned MPs the government will have to bail out struggling polytechnics despite its reforms. Meanwhile, Nelson's mayor Nick Smith appealed to the government to save the region's polytechnic from inclusion in a federation of weak institutions. Appearing before the Education and Workforce Select Committee the mega-institute's chief financial officer James Smith said the changes, which included disestablishing Te Pūkenga , would leave in place a volume-based funding system. He said that would lead to the institutes making the same poor investment decisions that prompted the creation of Te Pūkenga as a means of ensuring their long-term viability. "The system remains a simplistic, inefficient volumetric system with no ability to adjust price based on scale. We expect that these issues will persist under the structural changes enabled under the bill. We also expect because of this that the government will be relied upon for further ad hoc financial support for ITPs (Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics) in the future," he said. Smith said "unhealthy race to the bottom behaviour" was likely to re-emerge and polytechnics needed stronger incentives to collaborate with one another. He said the government's Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill also watered down institutions' obligations to underserved learners such as Māori and Pacific communities. "This tempering of obligations, along with reductions in targeted funding for these learner groups from 2026 will maintain or worsen the current education disparities that exist in the tertiary education system," he said. Drew Mayhem from the Tertiary Education Union also cast doubt on the long-term viability of the government's plan. "Splitting out the work-based learning component and putting it in direct competition with the polytechnics that you're trying to stand alone, that's not sustainable," he said. Nelson mayor Nick Smith told the committee the creation of Te Pūkenga had been bad for the region's local polytechnic, the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT). Nelson mayor Nick Smith. Photo: Supplied / Nick Smith He said his greatest fear was that NMIT would be among the former polytechnics placed into a federation rather than being allowed to stand-alone after Te Pūkenga was disestablished. Smith said he had heard that NMIT was "on the margins" of inclusion in the federation and wanted government to consult with mayors and iwi before making that decision. He said he was not expecting NMIT would emerge with all of the $20 million in cash reserves that it took into Te Pūkenga , but understood about $9m remained. Smith said that money should be transferred to the re-established institution. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
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Apprenticeship and training changes 'fundamentally flawed', industry groups warn
Civil Contractors NZ chief executive Alan Pollard said the reforms were about cutting costs and protecting unsusustainable polytechnics. Photo: Supplied Industry bodies say the government's overhaul of apprenticeship and workplace training will short-change employers. Organisations representing groups including dairy farmers, mechanics, and roading and infrastructure companies warned Parliament's Education and Workforce Select Committee on Thursday the changes would not give them sufficient say over skills training and qualifications for their employees. They said the government's Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill would give the government and its agencies authority over standard-setting and qualification development, but that power should rest with industries. The bill would replace mega-institute Te Pūkenga and standards-setting Workforce Development Councils with stand-alone polytechnics and Industry Skills Boards next year. Some of the industry bodies told the committee replacing the councils with boards receiving half the level of government funding was a mistake. Civil Contractors NZ chief executive Alan Pollard said the decision was "fundamentally flawed". He said the government's reforms were about cutting costs and protecting unsustainable polytechnics. They were also critical of plans for the workplace-training organisations currently in Te Pūkenga to come under control of industry skills boards for up to two years before becoming independent training providers. Motor Trade Association head of advocacy James McDowall said the former Motor Trades ITO should be shifted directly from Te Pūkenga to an industry-controlled charity. Business NZ education and skills manager Rachel Simpson told the committee the legislation risked "knocking the knees out" of the VET system. Simpson said the system was already failing to provide workers with the skills industry needed, which represented wasted investment. Recreation Aotearaoa chief executive Sarah Murray said high-cost but important programmes such as outdoor leadership would remain under-funded and at risk under the government's changes. Ringa Hora, the Services Workforce Development Council warned that disestablishing the councils at the end of the year and replacing them with industry skills boards with half the government funding was unworkable. Toi Mai the workforce development council for sectors including arts and technology said the VET system already did not meet the needs of those sectors. It warned the bill would entrench a system for a world of work that was already being left behind.
