Stellar year for Industry Training

Stellar year for Industry Training

“It’s been a stellar year for industry training”, said Darel Hall, Executive Director of the Industry Training Federation, in reaction to today’s release of the Industry Training 2003 report by Associate Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey

“The workplace is increasingly a learning space that leads to the right skills for employers and employees. More productive workplaces are a key to economic and social well being. Industry training is a key part of increasing skill to be more productive.

“Young people are starting to come back to industry. In four years we’ve doubled the number of young people in industry training from 6,507 to 12,181. The Modern Apprentices programme has been a key catalyst for that change.

“Industry Training delivers to industries as diverse as pharmacy, crane operations, painting, social services, horticulture, mechanics, security, hairdressing, and engineering.

“Industry Training is a key way of reducing skills shortages within industry, and has an impact throughout New Zealand.

“The 2003 results show that more employers are using more industry training to get the results they need. We know from the research we did with Business New Zealand last year that higher performing organisations train more. We also know that organisations that know about industry training report that industry training makes an effective contribution to meeting their skill development and/or employment needs of their enterprise.

“It is good to celebrate these stellar results as we strive towards the targets of 150,000 trainees by 2005, and 250,000 trainees by 2007”, Darel Hall said.

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