Major ITO changes opposed

The Motor Industry Association (MIA) has come out against the roll-up of industry training organisations (ITOs).

Chris Hipkins, the Minister of Education, released wide-ranging proposals on February 13 for vocational education in New Zealand, announcing three proposals for public consultation. 

The proposed reforms include creating one institution combining 16 polytechnics – the NZ Institute of Skills and Technology. The other two are replacing ITOs with “industry skills bodies” and centralising the funding system.

The MIA agrees that at the training provider level, such as polytechnics, there is an urgent need for reform. However, at the programme design and apprenticeship level, that’s to say ITOs, it opposes they need wholesale changes as proposed by the government.

Essentially, the association supports the need to reform parts of the vocational training settings as they currently exist, but stresses not all parts are broken.

David Crawford, chief executive officer of the MIA, says: “While there’s a need to reform the way in which training is provided through polytechnics because this part of the system has been broken for some time, our view is the current ITO model works well. It serves the industry much better than the proposals released by the minister will.

“MITO, the ITO for the automotive sector, is working well for vehicle distributors and their franchised dealer networks. It doesn’t need changing.”