This is our final pānui before we are disestablished on 31 December as a result of the Government’s reform of vocational education and training (VET).

On behalf of the Toi Mai Board, senior leadership and kaimahi, we want to express our heartfelt thanks to our industries, providers, learners and government agency partners for your endorsement of our mahi over the past four years.

It was not easy building a new workforce development council from scratch and servicing many industries that were new to vocational education.

The VET system Toi Mai encountered in 2021 had scant understanding of the skills and workforce needs of most of our cultural, creative, recreation and technology industries. There was poor data coverage and invisibility of many creative occupations, industries and pathways. Neither Ngā Toi Māori nor game development were officially recognised as an industry or an occupation.

Most of our industries did not have apprenticeships. The vocational education system was not geared up to meet the work-based learning needs of the gig-based, self-employed workforces that dominate our sectors.

Since our establishment in 2021, we have built evidence-based data, developed industry partnerships, created new and innovative qualifications and worked out ways to facilitate work-based learning within the current VET system constraints.

We are delighted to have contributed to the development of several new work-based pilot programmes , including in the screen, journalism and AI software development sectors.

We have proven industry-led, evidence-based coordination works. When industries have a voice in their own workforce development, real progress happens.

Since the Government VET reforms were introduced in August 2024, we have also worked hard to ensure all our sectors are covered by the new Industry Skills Boards (ISBs) that are replacing the Workforce Development Councils from 1 January 2026. It was a real win when strong industry advocacy saw technology and creative sectors allocated to an ISB and not the New Zealand Qualifications Authority as was originally proposed.

There is still so much work to be done to make sure our industries are getting the skills they need. We have passed our insights, workforce development plans and research to the new ISBs, government agencies and industry, in the hope they can carry our work forward. They will also be available to download here on our website until the end of 2027.

To wrap things up in true Toi Mai fashion, here is a special message from Dr Claire Robinson, Te Tumu o Toi and Tama Kirikiri, Poumatua:

Want to know more?

Check out the summary of achievements from 2021–2025 (excerpt from the final Toi Mai progress report).