Te Pūkenga Operating Model engagement – open until 08 November

Te Pūkenga Operating Model engagement
Reimagining world-class vocational and applied learning for Aotearoa New Zealand

Tā Te Pūkenga Tauira Whakahaere: ngā whaitanga nui
Kia kairangi rawa te ako ahumahinga, ringarehe hoki mō Aotearoa

Feedback is open from 18 October to 08 November 2021

Share what you think about the proposed Operating Model. You can read the full detail of the proposed Operating Model at tepukenga.ac.nz/opmodel.

You can share your voice at yourvoice.tepukenga.ac.nz or email  yourvoice@tepukenga.ac.nz.

Check out our other Nest post, listing all the engagement sessions hosted by Te Pūkenga.

Introduction

We’ve been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to reimagine and build a world-class vocational, applied and on-the-job learning system for Aotearoa New Zealand that has our learners at the centre.

This is a summary of our proposed Operating Model. It provides an overview of how Te Pūkenga network is creating a world-class vocational and applied learning system that is accessible for all learners in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the mahi that’s been done to get us to this point.

You’ll also find out how you can share your voice and influence the development of the Operating Model to its final stage.

Key documents:

• Operating Model snapshot
• What the Operating Model means for all staff
• Feedback form: answer the questions and send to: yourvoice@tepukenga.ac.nz
• Longer version of the Operating Model
• FAQs – these will be regularly updated

Operating Model Nest page – you can find all the documents here.

Information from Te Pūkenga about the Operating Model:

What is the Operating Model

The proposed Operating Model describes how Te Pūkenga will operate in the future. It describes the future experience that learners, employers, staff and iwi, hapū and Māori will have and how we, as a network, will advance equity, especially for Māori, Pacific, and disabled learners.

It outlines what we will do and how we could be organised to deliver on our vision, the intent of the Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) and our Charter. The model does not confirm our new organisational design and structure, how we govern ourselves or what our regions are. It provides the foundations to be able to have further kōrero around this in the next stage.

Learning with purpose, creating our futures

The purpose of Te Pūkenga is to provide excellent opportunities for learners and their whānau, employers, and communities to support the needs of Aotearoa now and for the future.

Our vision is ‘Whakairohia he toki, tāraia te anamata | Learning with purpose, creating our futures’.

We are guided by our values:

Manawa nui | We reach out and welcome in

Manawa roa | We learn and achieve together

Manawa ora | We strengthen and grow the whole person

Share your voice

We want to hear what you think about our proposed Operating Model. You can read the full detail of the proposed Operating Model at tepukenga.ac.nz/opmodel.

You can share your voice at yourvoice.tepukenga.ac.nz or email us at yourvoice@tepukenga.ac.nz.

Your feedback will be used to help confirm the final Operating Model which will then guide future conversations with you about our governance structure, regional boundaries and organisational structure.

Our desired outcomes

How successful we are will be measured by how well we meet the expectations of our Charter. Te Pūkenga is grounded in nine outcomes that reflect our Charter:

1. Give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in all that we do.
2. Provide exceptional learning experiences and equitable outcomes for Māori.
3. Be learner centred. Recognise the diverse and unique needs of all learners, with a focus on the unmet needs of Māori, Pacific and disabled learners, and staff, to empower diversity, belonging, and wellbeing.
4. Partner with employers to deliver relevant work-integrated education that meets skills needs.
5. Be responsive and empowering to staff and learners.
6. Become a connected and future focussed education provider driven by innovation, collaboration, research, data driven decision-making and teaching excellence.
7. Delivering regional flexibility and nationally consistent outcomes. Create-barrier free access, mobility across, and clear pathways within the network for learners.
8. Become a sustainable network of provision creating social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing.
9. Focus on efficient and cost-effective delivery across the network

Our partners and our network

We cannot do this alone.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationships are fundamental to the way we will work together to achieve equity.

We will reach out, work alongside and connect with Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLGs), Workforce Development Councils (WDCs), Centres of Vocational Excellence and other regulatory bodies, industry, employers, schools, kura and communities to ensure what industry, employers and community needs is what Te Pūkenga delivers.

We will take what we’ve learnt and achieved together to enhance the best parts of the network and improve upon those parts that aren’t as well supported or won’t get us to the outcomes we need.

This allows us to consistently provide a great learning experience that strengthens and grows the whole person no matter the region or community they’re in, which communities they identify with or which stage they are at in their learning journey.

The connecting services to improve success for learners, their whānau, and employers

We have listened to the needs of learners, staff, and employers and through them developed a set of ideas for potential services that could remove barriers to learning and connecting with employers.

Our service concepts build on what currently works well to scale and provide opportunities to change the way we deliver services to all learners, especially Māori, Pacific and disabled learners and also adult and second chance learners.

We expect service concepts may change over time as we grow and develop as a network. Each service or tool is supported by different functions that work together to deliver the service, experience and support Te Pūkenga requires to improve outcomes, especially for Māori, Pacific and disabled learners, and their whānau.

Proposed future experiences based on co-design and network insights

These proposed future experiences are based upon data and insights gathered through Te Pūkenga research in 2019 and 2020. As we further develop our outcomes framework, and reflect more on how we measure success, these experience statements will become target objectives to move towards.

Ngā ākonga katoa | All learners

From 2023 all our learners will be able to: access a greater range of learning options and an online careers pathway platform; see their voices heard and actioned in operational plans; access more wellbeing and mentoring services; have meaningful connections and interactions from their very first days creating a sense of belonging for them and their whānau; access information on enrolment to be more inclusive of our diverse learner cohorts.

Over the coming years we will continue to increase learning and proactive personalised holistic support services that are whānau-centred. The learning environment, will reflect our Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationship. Māoritanga during the learning journey will become common place with increased access to learning on kaupapa Māori spaces. Transitions from secondary to tertiary and into the workforce will be seamless and supported. Innovative and accessible digital platforms will be available and all staff will be culturally skilled and disability confident. Learning spaces will be adapted and designed to be accessible, welcoming and reflect our cultural diversity.

Ō mātou tāngata | Our People

From 2023, Te Pūkenga ako networks will begin to support staff to strengthen connections across the network, especially in their own area of expertise. The network structure will be known, and staff will increasingly operate in a network environment. For academic staff, this means starting to deliver unified programmes, share resources and work more closely together on delivery, development and moderation activities and challenges.

With renewed emphasis, we will support our people to enhance their cultural and teaching and learning capability and, as a workplace, Te Pūkenga will be inclusive, culturally diverse and culturally aware. Systems, processes and practices will be integrated over time.

The national staff advisory committee will be chosen by staff for staff. Leadership and capability building programmes support our people with the right skills and attributes required for the future.

Collectively, we will measure our performance around learners and whānau, with a focus on learner success.

Ngā Hoa Tiriti o Waitangi | Te Tiriti o Waitangi Partners

Within the next two years consistent Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership and engagement approaches emerge within each rohe and nationally. As the partnerships gain strength Te Pūkenga will partner to customise solutions and co-create a process for determining shared priorities and gaining assurance on implementation. Opportunities will develop to make decisions in Mātauranga Māori and Taonga Māori protection, benefit and use activity. Longer-term Tino rangatiratanga – agency and authority – over the education of Māori learners is enabled through genuine partnerships in the governance, management, and operations of Te Pūkenga.

Ngā kaitukumahi | Employers

From 2023 employers and industry are true partners in delivering a quality learning experience valued by all and attracting more employers to become involved. From the very beginning we will ensure there is no disruption to what works well in the current system, and we will continue to work with businesses and industries to identify issues and trends that impact them and share these across every level of engagement.

A co-designed toolkit will be available to assist employers to teach a diverse range of learners in an inclusive work environment. As we develop as a network, we will customise solutions that fit with individual business needs. A broad range of integrated products, support options and learning tools will be enabled to meet teaching/training needs. This means easier retraining and upskilling options for staff as the system is more flexible and responsive to individual needs. In the longer-term work-based learning is fully integrated within a range of flexible learning options that fit the rhythms of different workplaces. We will leverage naturally occurring evidence of learning in everyday work and draw on digital and work-integrated approaches that together support the acquisition of knowledge and practical skills in new and different ways, and the associated assessment of this learning. A broad range of learning/teaching tools are available including Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence.

Our proposed Operating Model

Our proposed Operating Model puts learners and their whānau at the centre.

The model presented here is not a traditional education delivery model. We needed to find a new way to bring the system and our people together to deliver high quality teaching and learning and support in new and better ways.

In designing our Operating Model, we have heard from across our network that not all our learners and staff are currently enabled to succeed to their full potential.2 The model provides teaching and learning experiences that create clear pathways to learning that grows people beyond what they thought was possible.

The model describes the weaving of functions to achieve our outcomes.

It describes how we will connect with Workforce Developments Councils (WDCs), Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLGs), Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) and Government agencies such as TEC, NZQA, MBIE and MoE to drive national impact and change.

Just as importantly though, the model describes how we will also deliver impact meaningful regional impact that is unique to our communities. The model has two parts, a functional element and a service element, which describe what we will do and how we will create that future experience and outcomes. It’s underpinned by ako networks and regional collective impact.

Our proposed Operating Model outlines our end-state view but will require a staged approach to get us there. The approach will allow time for any capability uplift and reflects our priority to transition and transform educational services in a smooth and efficient manner.

The functions needed to reach out and welcome in

Our proposed Operating Model describes the future functions of our network and how they are grouped to transform the way vocational education is delivered in Aotearoa New Zealand. Each function and how they work together will be a critical part of the network. It is important that we understand what we need to do (the function) before we decide on the form it will take (the organisation’s structure).

Our weaved model groups functions into three areas:

1. Strategic functions interact with and support other parts of the network and system to form strategic insights and embed the network’s strategic direction. Strategic functions identify opportunities for innovation, measures the impacts of initiatives and interventions, and the network’s performance.
2. Enabling functions sustain the other functions and the information flows between them to enable quality, certainty, and consistency across the network. Bringing together these core enabling functions also drives efficiencies and reduces duplication within the network.
3. Teaching, learning, support and navigation functions for successful learner and employer journeys – these are functions that determine how we interact directly with learners, their whānau, and employers to deliver high quality education and effective holistic wellbeing support and empowerment.

Ako networks

Ako networks are formal networks of teams who come together to use their knowledge, skills and competencies to support delivery of vocational and applied education, including degree and postgraduate programmes.

Some ako networks align to specific industries, vocational pathways and the Workforce Development Councils to deliver teaching and learning, and support the application of work-based skills across the country, for a specific group of qualifications or credentials. Others will cover aspects of delivery such as practice with potential for learner support and engagement, services data and insights, accessibility support, equity and Te Pae Tawhiti – Te Tiriti Excellence.

By working together in new ways, we will empower staff to drive excellence in moderation, and quality assurance, undertaking formal capability development together, and enhancing and maintaining curriculum and resources. These groups will include members from a range of other organisations – such as Workforce Development Councils, Centres of Vocational Excellence, industry, employers and Māori partners – that come together for certain activities to ensure Te Pūkenga stays connected as a network and relevant.

What is transformational about this model

This operating model represents significant change. It describes how we will work differently and how we will:

• Move to a connected, national network – away from a competitive system that separates work-based learning, campus learning and online learning.
• Unify delivery, creating national consistency with regional flexibility. This ensures programmes are portable and consistent and enables seamless learner and employer movement across the country and between the workplace and other modes of learning.
• Bring our people together across the country to integrate teaching and learning within the workplace and other settings. To share knowledge and increase depth of capability across disciplines and specialist support areas. With WDCs hard wire collaboration for rejuvenated qualification development into the system. The mix of what, and how much is delivered in different regions, will be informed by RSLGs.
• Give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi at all levels; improve Māori-Crown education and employment partnerships; and prioritise Māori economy and business needs.
• Orient to the learner journey, so the way we teach and support our learners and their whānau reflects their needs at every stage of their journey. Embed the voices of learners, their whānau, employers and staff and act on them. Activate support mechanisms for employers as training providers.
• Enable new and strengthened functions that drive strong collaboration across the network. Uplift our cultural and teaching and learning capability. Provide clear strategy and direction and be responsive to the needs of our staff, our different communities, regions, and learners.
• Commit to creating impactful change by partnering to enhance societal outcomes regionally and nationally.
• Remove unnecessary duplication of functions and delivery via consolidation, driving efficiencies, improve cost controls and capital management within the sector; and share accountability through the entire network by providing an inclusive, accessible and equitable teaching and learning environment.

How you can get involved

Engagement on the Operating Model which brings together service and functional design to describe how Te Pūkenga will operate in the future.

October to November 2021: Engagement on the Operating Model which brings together service and functional design to describe how Te Pūkenga will operate in the future.

October to December 2021: Engagement on governance structure and regional boundaries.

February to April 2022: Consultation on:

• organisational structure options, directorates and units, teams and role descriptions
• Operating Model, detailed design of the functional model, the capabilities required, and how the functions work together
• national and regional governance model, key processes, accountabilities and performance framework.

You can share your voice by:

Visiting: yourvoice.tepukenga.ac.nz

Emailing: yourvoice@tepukenga.ac.nz

The proposed Operating Model is available at tepukenga.ac.nz/opmodel

Engagement is open from 18 October to 08 November 2021