RSLG ki roto o Aotearoa – RSLG within Aotearoa

“Our kaupapa is to support strong communities, strong businesses, and a strong region through our people participating in life-long learning and fulfilling jobs, ensuring a prosperous future for all.” – Nelson Tasman RSLG

As your RSLG, we are required to:

• understand the regional labour market and its role in raising productivity – by highlighting labour supply/demand trends and identifying how changes to achieve a highly skilled regional labour market can add value and increase productivity
• influence local activities that impact regional workforce supply – including schools, employers, training providers, skills hubs, and local economic development initiatives
• inform national direction – so education, welfare, and immigration agencies can act to be more responsive to regional needs
• ensure underrepresented voices in the workforce are heard – by looking at ways to better support and engage with these communities
• play a vital coordination role – in ensuring local, district, and regional labour market initiatives are coordinated, complementary, and aligned to addressing our region’s labour market needs and priorities, as identified in the RWP.

Regional Skills Leadership Groups were born out of the Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE), the most significant change to the vocational education system in 30 years.

Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE)(external link) — Tertiary Education Commission

As we implement this Regional Workforce Plan, we will work closely with the new Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) as they develop better and more responsive skills training that meets the needs of employers, workers, industry, and the economy as a whole. WDCs will set standards, develop qualifications, and help shape the curriculum for vocational education.

Te Pūkenga is the new entity that brings together previously autonomous polytechnics, including our own NMIT. It will arrange and deliver the majority of training, including work-based learning, together with Wānanga and Private Training Establishments (PTE). Industry Training Organisations (ITO) will transition their training functions to one of these (Te Pūkenga, Wānanga or PTE) by 31 December 2022.

Achieving our desired outcomes for the Te Tauihu region will require us to understand our current and future workforce needs. To meet those needs, RSLGs will need to work together with industry, government, and vocational education providers, as well as our communities. Our advice and collaboration with them will help to ensure our region can access the skills training delivery it needs.

Working together, we will:

• enable positive changes in industry productivity, and in sustainable, decent, and rewarding employment for our people and communities
• enable improved outcomes from the vocational education system
• facilitate collaborative opportunities to support regional initiatives and actions, alongside education providers and other partners, in line with the goals of the Te Tauihu Intergenerational Strategy (TTIS).

Informing national direction

Both advise the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC)

The TEC will be required to have regard to overall investment advice of WDCs when making vocational education investment decisions; and give effect to advice about mix of education and training. The TEC will take account of the advice of RSLGs when making tertiary investment decisions.

Vocational education and training delivery

• Wānanga
• Te Pūkenga (polytechnics)
• Private training providers

< Summary of regional actions and national recommendations for 2022 | Our region’s workforce story >