AgITO helps 4,500 trainees gain NCEA qualifications

AgITO helps 4,500 trainees gain NCEA qualifications

Agriculture ITO’s (AgITO’s) ground breaking literacy and numeracy project has assisted nearly 4,500 agriculture industry trainees to gain their NCEA qualifications since its inception five months ago. The project is making a big impression on the self esteem and confidence of the trainees involved.

“It’s awesome,” trainee James McDiarmid says when asked how earning his NCEA qualification through AgITO makes him feel.

Originally a city dweller from Auckland, James is now the assistant herd manager of a Takapau dairy farm in the Hawke’s Bay. Bouts of illness meant he left school without a qualification, but his participation in AgITO’s literacy and numeracy pilot project has enabled him to earn his NCEA Level 1 and 2 qualifications.

James attended a specially designed block course where he completed theory work towards his National Certificate in Dairy Farming, Milking, Level 3, and his Level 2 Staying Alive certificate, as well as his NCEA.

“I had to do a few assessments – a couple of maths papers and a couple of English papers at the course,” he says.

“They were always there to help if we needed it. The tutors thought outside the box and were very open minded and experienced.”

He has special praise for his AgITO training adviser, Mia Jane, and project leader, Gloria McGirr, AgITO Literacy Adviser. “They pushed us,” he says. “They’re very good at what they do.”

Around 15 percent of people leave school without any NCEA qualifications. AgITO is the first organisation to begin taking steps to positively influence this statistic in its industry and help their trainees succeed. The industry training organisation has developed a new initiative to retrospectively enable their trainees to gain their NCEA qualifications.

“Agriculture has mistakenly been seen as a low skilled industry, when it is in fact a dynamic, sophisticated industry that increasingly requires skilled and highly trained staff,” Mike Styles, AgITO literacy, language and numeracy adviser, says.

“Many farm staff must gain higher qualifications in management and supervision in order to move up. Research evidence is conclusive – people without the literacy and numeracy skills to engage in ongoing learning are excluded from promotion at work and participation in society more widely.”

Many people who leave school without a recognised qualification have passed vocational units but are missing the literacy and numeracy credits required to gain their NCEA qualifications. It is this fact that has allowed AgITO to pioneer a program to assist trainees in the agriculture industry to achieve their missing literacy and numeracy credits, enabling them to gain their NCEA Level 1 qualification. Many of these trainees also have sufficient credits to qualify for NCEA Level 2 and 3 as well.

“We saw the impact on people’s confidence and self esteem the lack of school qualifications has,” AgITO chief executive, Kevin Bryant says. “In some cases people have been told they aren’t smart enough to achieve. Restoring this confidence means they can take a larger role in our industry, stay longer and go further, knowing they are capable of succeeding in their chosen career pathway.”

Mike Styles believes that many people who were not motivated in a school setting are much more motivated in a setting where the learning has a vocational context; and James McDiarmid agrees.

“I’m from the city where they don’t push farming at all,” James says. “It’s the context AgITO presents it in and why you want to do it that makes it more interesting and worthwhile.”

Qualifications are becoming increasingly important in the agriculture sector, Mike adds. “If three people apply for one job, the successful candidate is likely to be the one with some qualifications alongside his or her name. NCEA is crucial to this,” he says.

Gloria McGirr is proud of the fact that NCEA is now part of the agriculture framework. “Trainees will not only gain our industry qualifications but will be guaranteed the support they need to achieve NCEA Levels 1 to 3,” she says.

“We’re receiving feedback from employers about attitude improvement, more care being taken when filling in charts or diaries and money being saved because calculations are more accurate as a result of this programme.”

There is little downside to this initiative, Mike Styles confirms. “Trainees gain qualifications and confidence in their own learning abilities, farmers gain employees capable of better performance on the farm and AgITO gains trainees who are more able to participate in ongoing training.”

In the five months the project has been active, AgITO has been able to assist nearly 4,500 trainees to gain their NCEA qualifications. The delivery of these certificates is an event Gloria and Mike are greatly looking forward to.

“The impact of this initiative is enormous,” Mike says. “Trainees who were convinced they were not capable of learning are being shown that they are through the training they do with AgITO. They can now proudly claim the same achievement as their peers who gained these qualifications at school.”

James McDiarmid wants others in his industry to take up the opportunity to gain their NCEA through the ITO. “I’d push it,” he says. “I’m more confident now and I hope people open their eyes up to what they can achieve.”

ENDS

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