Real Skills # 40

Real Skills is the newsletter of the Industry Training Sector - industry-led skill development.

Wednesday 18 July
In this issue
• Last chance to register for ITF Conference
• Academic staff leave
• Industry Skills Leadership at the ITF Conference
• Skiing with Skills Active
• Celebrating trainee success
• Watch out for Sam's Cakery
• Gateway to success
• BCITO Employer Development Grants
• Glenn's Qualification
• Just like Sunshine Cleaning

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Last chance to register for ITF Conference
Here at the ITF, we're in count down mode towards our annual conference in Wellington in two weeks.
Registrations close this Friday so get in quick for your chance to attend this great value conference.
Keynote speakers from industry, government, and communities; ten concurrent workshops with a focus on sharing good ideas; and plenty of opportunity for discussion around the review of industry training and what that might mean for industry and the vocational education and training sector.
Download the full programme here or register here.

Academic staff leave
If the term 'Academic Staff Leave' conjures up pictures of hallowed halls and libraries, then think again.
For CPIT tutor Andrew Massie it meant hitting the streets of Christchurch for five months to spend time with workers and gain a better understanding of the Cable Jointing and Line Mechanic Trades.
His experience is being used in the development of unit standards and course material. And with a couple of large earthquakes during the period there was certainly a lot of unprecedented repair work to document.
Andrew will be sharing his journey at the ITF Conference as part of the presentation powered by Pecha Kucha - 10 speakers, 20 images and 20 seconds per image. Or if you can't wait for that, check out the blog he wrote about it here.

Industry Skills Leadership at the ITF Conference
Industry Skills Leadership is one of the three core roles of ITOs. But beyond a few lines in the Industry Training Act, there's little guidance given to ITOs on how to fulfil that role.
In a workshop at the ITF Conference, staff from two ITOs will give insights to how they are approaching their Industry Skills Leadership responsibilities.
Glen Keith from HSI will share a model for developing sector skills strategies while Martin Draper from ETITO will show how it is is reshaping its industry leadership and engagement strategy using a combination of tools, forums and research.

Skiing with Skills Active
At Skills Active, the ITO for the recreation, sport, and fitness industries, they're understandably proud of a recent 'transformational change' award to NZSki.
Skills Active works in partnership with the ski-field operator to support its training needs. The company has credited its dramatic improvement in staff retention, from 30% to 63%, to its professional training programmes.
NZSki runs Coronet Peak, Mt Hutt and the Remarkables ski fields. It employs 40 full timers and up to 1200 winter staff across the three ski fields.
James Coddington, the CE, was interviewed on TV One's Breakfast show about this achievement, and the interview can be seen here.
He told Breakfast the company's track record of low staff retention used to cost a lot in 'very, very expensive' training each season.
'So we focused on looking after our staff, and ensured that we could bring as many of them back as we could by focusing on professional and personal development,' he said.

Celebrating trainee success
There's been a number of celebrations around the country as ITOs make awards to their top trainees.
Label printer Gareth Hilton is this year's top print apprentice. His ambition is to first gain a management position and ultimately own his printing company.
Dairy Trainee of the Year Nathan Christie outlines here how his training is helping his farming ambitions.
And Tangaroa Walker, who has won the inaugural Ahuwhenua Young Māori Trainee/Cadet of the Year Award aims to own his own farm. This new award was created to encourage young Māori, aged 16 – 25 years, into leadership roles while supporting them on their learning and career pathways as well as encouraging their personal development.

Watch out for Sam's Cakery
Sam Heaven is New Zealand's rising young baker of 2012.
The 14-year-old from St John's College baked his way to glory in a competition run by Competenz and the Baking Industry Association of New Zealand in a collaborative effort to promote baking as a career pathway for youth.
And Sam is certainly keen for a future in the baking industry:
“I want to do my apprenticeship and become a qualified baker when I finish school. I think this is a great trade to have,” says Sam.
“My goal is to have my own ‘Cakery’ so I can bake cakes that people from all over New Zealand will want to buy.”

Gateway to success
ETITO is putting effort into increasing the number of successful Gateway placements in the electrotechnology industry and it's reaping rewards.
ETITO's Ross Petersen says it sees Gateway as a great tool to support a strong future workforce for the industry and it's been channelling its resources to ensure that Gateway co-ordinators have a good understanding of industry needs and put forward the right students.
That's seen a rise in the number of successful placements - those that have the capability and complete their gateway programme. Ross says more than half the successful placements in the last year have resulted in apprenticeships and the majority of those that do not get apprenticeships are because the student decides the industry is not for them.
"We regard that as a success too as it means they've discovered our industry is not for them before anyone has invested too much in their training." Read more

BCITO Employer Development Grants
The Building and Construction ITO (BCITO) has begun to distribute grants to employers to help with their own training and development.
Any employer of current BCITO trainees can apply for the grants of up to $3450.
"This is a great way to help upskill New Zealand's building industry, increase productivity and gear up for future demand. We hope employers will see the value in the grants and utilise this opportunity," says BCITO Chief Executive Ruma Karaitiana.
Simon Brown, of Waiuku's Simon Brown Builders is using his grant for business coaching.
"It's been fantastic, and really eye-opening. I am in partnership with my son, and our business coach is really getting us working and channelling our energy in the right direction," he says. Read more

Glenn's Qualification
Our Industry Training trainee case study Glenn Leenderts is busy preparing for his second assessment and learning new ways to do things based on best practice.
In the meantime, we're taking a look at how the qualification he is working towards was developed. It's a great example of ITOs working together to provide relevant skills and training for their respective industries. Read more

Just like Sunshine Cleaning
Seen the movie Sunshine Cleaning and its gory cleaning scenes? Well it's not just in the movies.
This stuff story outlines training in New Zealand for forensic cleaning and the development of standards with the Building Service Contractors ITO.

ENDS