Industry Training - upskilling your employees

Let's talk industry training

Few people know that employers are the largest tertiary provider in New Zealand. Around 25,000 businesses are currently involved in upskilling over 145,000 apprentices and trainees and yet we still need more! Employers who take on apprentices and trainees are not only investing in the next generation of leaders by creating a skilled workforce, but they are also helping create a thriving economy for New Zealand.

Workplaces make fantastic classrooms. But the benefits of vocational training are not just limited to the learners. Employers who train their staff are more likely to retain their staff. And it makes sense that educated, trained workers are more productive and show increased company loyalty. Win-win.

The Industry Training Federation represents New Zealand's 11 Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), who are at the heart of the workplace training system. They are all working to address skills shortages which span our primary industries, social and community services, retail and service industries, construction and infrastructure, creative industries and manufacturing and technology.

And they all need more employers to help their trainees and apprentices gain the skills they need to succeed.

Lifelong learning in the workplace

Changing career structures, new technology and jobs that don't yet exist mean people must continue to upskill throughout their working lives. Industry training opens the way or thousands of people, who are already part of the workforce, to upskill or change direction without having to stop earning.

Work-based education and training, where employers and ITOs work together to develop skills for the existing workforce, is the best way to boost productivity and respond to changing industry demands.

Frontloading skills into young people will not be enough to meet the challenges of the future of work. Boosting investment in workplace learning ensures your team is ready to meet the challenges posed by rapidly changing technologies and shifting skill requirements.

Industry Training €“ saving the taxpayers $$

Put simply, industry training is the most cost effective form of gaining tertiary qualifications. On-the-job education is co-funded and supported by business. Employers put their own money and resources into helping staff develop the skills and services their industry needs. Yet it seldom gets the credit it deserves, hidden away from public view.

All our 43,000 apprentices and 106,000 industry trainees are given the chance to "earn and learn" by the willing employers who hired them.

We long suspected New Zealand's current tertiary funding system was skewed towards campus-based learning. But because the Ministry of Education reports data and statistics on industry training separately from other forms of tertiary education, it has been hard to compare the real cost to taxpayers of the different types of education and student support.

So, we brought all the information together, crunched the numbers, and had our analysis and assumptions tested by the respected economic research firm BERL (just to make sure we really knew what we were talking about!).

We now have a transparent picture of the total investment in tertiary education. And, the results speak for themselves.

The research found that (in 2016):

• The government spent $1.23 billion on universities to provide their facilities, staff and tuition, and an additional $680 million on loans and allowances - a total of $1.92 billion, to support 146,000 domestic university students.
• In comparison industry training received just $171 million, to support 147,000 trainees and apprentices €“ just six percent of publicly funded tuition and training subsidies.
• The industry training system qualified 306 people for every $1million of government investment. For the same level of investment, polytechnics only qualified 51 people and universities 19.
• Industry training delivers the highest number of qualifications per year of any part of the system - 52,485.
• In comparison universities delivered 36,085 qualifications, and polytechnics 45,650 qualifications.
• Each year, the government spends twice as much on student allowances as on industry training. Plus, every dollar lent through the student loan scheme ends up costing the taxpayer 40 cents €“ which adds up to around $700m a year.

This research proves that developing vocational skills directly through workplaces comes at a much lower cost to the taxpayer than developing skills outside the workforce, in institutions.

At a time of critical skills shortages, trainees and apprentices are not looking for work, they are already employed in the industries in which they are training. They are improving the productivity of the existing workforce, they are gaining the right skills, doing the real thing.

Want to know more about how industry training can help your business? Visit our website for more information www.itf.org.nz and help upskill our future.