FROM THE GROUND UP

Our apprentice column provides an opportunity for PAC members to share their views, experiences and ideas, while providing insight for builders who employ them. This month’s question is:

Q. Are you concerned about the polytech shake-up?

Name: Troy
Location: Taranaki

I’m not aware of any of the changes to polytechs, as nobody has communicated anything with me and I haven’t seen any news online. None of my peers are really talking about it either, even though I’m in my first year and it looks like the changes will impact me in my last year.

I’m with BCITO and I’ve been there for my full apprenticeship. To be honest, I feel like it’s going alright. I definitely enjoy the hands-on learning the most and I’m glad I get to do heaps of that this year.

I hope the transition doesn’t change much, as I feel like I’m getting the right mix of on-site learning and classroom stuff to get me to where I need to be and I don’t want that to change.

I’m not sure what the impact of the change will be moving forward, but I’m pretty relaxed about it and looking forward to finishing my apprenticeship.

Name: Ashley
Location: Taranaki

I did hear something on the news about the changes but I’m not too sure about how it will affect me. To be fair, my assessor thinks I’ll be fully signed off by Christmas, as I’m in the third year of my apprenticeship and I don’t think the changes will be through by then.

Presumably, all the polytechs will be grouped together and training will be standardised across the whole country, which I think is a good thing. I know some other apprentices, who are with different organisations, and they all have slightly different methods. For example, I’m with BCITO and I’m on site all the time now but I reckon some classroom work would be beneficial to help us through our paperwork. I know that other training organisations offer more classroom time.

One thing I do know is that BCITO and WIT (Western Institute of Technology) will be a part of the new organisation. I got an email from the polytech about it the other day, but they didn’t really go through what the practical implications will be.

When I heard about the change, I wasn’t too fussed. Everything seems to be getting a rebrand at the moment but as long as the training is still good enough, I don’t really see the downside.

Name: Aidan
Location: Horowhenua

To be honest, I was a bit surprised when I heard the news. I’m with BCITO and I haven’t been informed about the change to polytechs, but I’m not too worried about how it will impact me.

In my day-to-day, I don’t have much to do with BCITO as I’m onsite learning. The only time I get in touch with them is when I submit my theory work online. At that stage, if BCITO needs more information, they send me a message via my training app, or they’ll contact me if they want to do a site visit.

As far as the changes go, I don’t have any concerns with them and I don’t think it would shake up too much of my learning – but then why would you try to fix something that isn’t broken? Personally, I wouldn’t want to do less practical training, as I learn best when I do things with my hands.

As BCITO is such a large training provider, I’d hope the new organisation would adopt a fair amount of existing practices, so that things don’t change too much.