2021 will be another big year for RoVE

2021 will be another big year for RoVE

Last updated 4 February 2021
Last updated 4 February 2021

Kia ora koutou

We are well into the ‘rubber hitting the road’ phase of the RoVE programme. In my December column last year I detailed how RoVE had progressed in its first full year of development and implementation work.  Well this year will be even bigger.

Many of you will, hopefully, be participating in the current consultation to provide feedback on the proposed Orders in Council for our Workforce Development Councils (WDCs). I understand the zoom information sessions have gone well with lots of questions asked and answered. Consultation closes tomorrow and I hope we get a high number of submissions. 

The RoVE team is now setting up a new unit to help the WDCs get established and has appointed Julian Moore to lead this team. He will deliver the work to establish the six WDCs by the middle of this year, and support them as they form into working organisations. This will include the recruitment and appointment of the six Councils.

In this newsletter Te Pūkenga are asking for employers to take part in reference groups that will contribute to the co-design of their future operating model. This is a great initiative from Te Pūkenga and I encourage anyone who wants to make sure the system works better for all New Zealand businesses to take part. To deliver their new operating model this year is a big piece of mahi and will involve extensive conversations, workshops and a full consultation process. They will continue to keep the sector updated on their progress and opportunities to participate.

The team responsible for developing the new Unified Funding System is continuing to gather input and advice from the sector to make sure it will support learners and employers in ways that best meet their needs. This year, the team’s focus will then move into developing and testing operational design and transition options.

We will continue to work closely with the eleven transitional ITOs to support their transition planning and the development of robust transition plans by September 2021.  This involves connecting with other parts of the system – such as providers and WDCs – to ensure continuity of service and minimal disruption to learners and employers over the transition period. I am also pleased to see discussions with providers (Te Pūkenga, PTEs and wānanga) on their future role with arranging training are underway.

There continues to be a huge amount of interest in how RoVE is going, so this year the RoVE team is planning to conduct a series of information sessions and hui to update everyone on progress and next steps. More detail including dates and locations will be provided in the next couple of months but the format will be contingent on any changes to our current CoVID-19 environment.

Thanks everyone for your continued interest and involvement. As the Government directs many resources to the here and now challenges posed by COVID-19, including providing support to the education sector and industry, we remain utterly focused on implementing what are the biggest changes in vocational education in 30 years.

 

Best regards,

Chris Hipkins