Primary industry employers to benefit from clearer training outcomes
“Employers and workers in the land-based industries will see real and tangible benefits from a new approach to providing
a larger pool of skilled people for those industries”, said Ian Boyd, Chair of the Primary Sector Group (PSG) of
industry training organisations (ITOs).
The Primary Sector Group includes seven primary sector training organisations working to improve skill levels in the
land-based industries: Agriculture ITO, Equine ITO, FITEC (Forestry), Horticulture ITO, NZ ITO, Seafood ITO and NZ
Sports Turf ITO. Collectively, these industries employ 220,000 people. Some 35,000 of these people are currently
developing their skills to meet industry requirements and further their careers.
The new approach will harmonise common skill sets across the national qualifications managed by these ITOs. The New
Zealand Qualifications Authority is already focused on reducing the 6000-plus qualifications on its books for that
reason, and this approach will assist that. Reducing duplication across qualifications will benefit everybody,
taxpayers, trainees and employers.
“For employees, harmonising qualifications will mean they can transfer their skills to new jobs or industries more
easily providing them with more career opportunities. Their qualifications and learning will be more widely recognised,
and there will be less need for retraining”, said Mr Boyd.
“For employers, the result will be a clearer picture of what a qualified person has learned, and in the medium term, a
larger pool of people with the skills, qualifications and work experience to work in a range of primary industry
businesses.”
Each ITO will ensure that training for skills specific to their industries will remain. The harmonisation process
focuses on learning areas that have relevance to several industries, and industry specific learning will still be
delivered and assessed in the context of the individual workplace requirements.
Mr Boyd said that skill sets would undergo harmonisation as they came up for review, or as new needs arose. The group is
currently working on a new primary industries qualification for use in schools next year. The area of pest management is
also being reviewed. Both projects will be completed by the end of this year and ready for use in 2011.
ends