Street: launch of the Skills Strategy consultation
Hon Maryan Street
Associate Minister for Tertiary
Education
29 April, 2008
Speech
The launch of the Skills Strategy consultation process
Speech by Associate Tertiary Education Minister Maryan Street at Rutherford House, Wellington
Good morning everyone. I would
like to add to the comments made by my Skills Strategy
co-chair, the Honourable Pete Hodgson, by giving you a sense
of the key issues being examined through the New Zealand
Skills Strategy.
Previous work on skills has generally focused on the “flow” of workers out of education and training. This is the first work with a focus on the “stock” of existing workers – as 80% of the workers we will have in 2020 are already working, it is critical that we make the most of their skills.
The discussion paper proposes four priorities for action over the next year.
The first priority is working with employers in a concerted effort to lift the literacy, language and numeracy skills of the estimated 1.1 million New Zealanders who have skills below those needed to participate fully in a knowledge society.
While increases in literacy, language and numeracy skills will not in isolation lead to transformation, transformation will be impossible unless a much larger proportion of the workforce have a much greater capacity to move into higher skill jobs.
The second priority is supporting firms to attract, develop, use and retain skills across their whole workplace. This includes a focus on developing the leadership and management skills of the people running New Zealand businesses, and supporting workplaces to take a whole-of-workplace approach to skills development.
We also think there is a need to work together to make sure the supply of skills through the tertiary education system is well matched to the needs of industry.
A stronger relationship between supply and
demand is a key focus of the new tertiary education system.
But the success of the Tertiary Education Strategy relies on
action from all involved. Students need to make informed
decisions about what to study, tertiary education
organisations must focus on excellent and relevant tertiary
education, and industries and firms need to provide good
information about the skills and knowledge they need.
The industry training sector – represented by Industry
Training Organisations and the Industry Training Federation
- also has a critical role to play as a conduit between
firms and tertiary education organisations in relevant
industries.
Last – but by no means least, the strategy
also focuses on ways to ensure that young people who are
already in work are supported to continue to develop their
skills so that they can drive New Zealand’s prosperity in
the decades to come.
This work will complement the
Government’s Schools Plus initiative that sets a goal for
all young people to be in education, training or structured
learning, relevant to their needs and abilities, until the
age of 18.
Work to be progressed through the Skills
Strategy and Schools Plus will enable all young people to
reach their potential and ensure that New Zealand has the
skilled workers it needs in the future.
Ladies and
gentlemen, I thank you all for coming here today. I also
want to
thank all our partners in the New Zealand Skills
Strategy. But the hard work
starts now! The Skills
Strategy is based on an understanding that the
significant improvement in skills development and use
needed to transform
the economy is going to require
co-ordinated action and commitment from all of
us.
Please join with us in developing the 2008 plan of action.
Thank you.
ENDS