The Government’s proposed Vocational Education and Training (VET) Amendment Bill won’t deliver the skills New Zealand industries need, particularly the creative and digital technology industries that could underpin the country’s economic growth.

Speaking today before the Education and Workforce Select Committee considering the draft Bill, Te Tumu o Toi | Toi Mai Chief Executive Dr Claire Robinson said the legislation risks entrenching flaws in a VET system that wasn’t built for the industries that will likely underpin New Zealand’s economic future.

“Industry after industry tells us they cannot use the skills graduates bring. For example, only six percent of graduates from screen-related qualifications end up working in the industry they trained for, and half our tech workforce is on a visa. That’s not the fault of learners or employers – it’s a system failure and a national risk.

“New Zealand needs a skills system that can keep up with technology, global competition and the changing shape of work but the proposed legislation won’t deliver that.”

Dr Robinson told the Select Committee that current VET system flaws remain unchanged by the draft Bill. These include incentives that focus on attaining funding and awarding qualifications not developing useful relevant skills, and that fund long courses over short-form, targeted industry-delivered learning.

“The Bill is a step in the right direction but not the leap we need. If we tinker at the edges of a slow, fragmented system, we risk locking in the very problems we say we want to solve. Reshuffling polytechs and industry skills boards on the margins risks rearranging the furniture and calling it transformation.

“Toi Mai is not opposed to VET reform, on the contrary, we’re asking the Government to go further to create a system that delivers skills for learners, capability for industry and better value for the taxpayer. Unless we act boldly, sectors like the creative and IT industries that Toi Mai represents will grow, just not in New Zealand.”

Toi Mai is calling for:

• A national skills strategy to train people for the industries New Zealand wants to grow
• A single national skills agency to ensure a coordinate and responsive VET system
• A funding system that supports work-based learning for all forms of work and self-employment, not just legacy industries like construction and agriculture.

“New Zealand faces a choice – build a skills system that responds to the world we’re moving in, or entrench one built for a world we’ve already left behind.”

Watch the full video of today’s presentation to the Education and Workforce Select Committee.

Read the Toi Mai written submission.