NZ forestry apprenticeships available againFriday 2 May 2014 Competenz is pleased to advise that enrolment into our forestry apprenticeships are now available again following a brief hiatus as we aligned our apprenticeship programmes with the new national apprentice funding rules announced by the government last year.As part of Government reforms to industry training, the Modern Apprenticeships programme and other apprenticeship-type training programmes were replaced by a single nationwide scheme called New Zealand Apprenticeships. This came into effect on 1 January 2014. The key change as it applies to forestry apprenticeships is that there are now no age restrictions. i.e a worker can enter an apprenticeship at any age. This means that older people with previous forestry experience can be enrolled as apprentices. Each Competenz forestry apprenticeship (listed below) can now be undertaken over a normal duration (the average expected duration period for novice apprenticeships is around four years) or under a “fast-tracked” shorter duration timeframe for those workers with previous experience. Silviculture The updated New Zealand Apprenticeship rules also specified a higher threshold for achievement to a Level 4 qualification. As a result, Competenz has reluctantly withdrawn its Silviculture apprenticeships as the programme was not able to meet the new criteria. However, Competenz still offers training support for Silviculture via enrolment in the normal National Certificate programs. Harvesting Currently there are restrictions that prevent Competenz from signing trainees into more than one National Certificate program at any one time. Our New Zealand apprenticeship programme allows the achievement of level 3 and level 4 qualifications in multiple tasks recognising that many harvesting workers carry out more than one role within a crew. Competenz is also pleased to confirm that applications are still being accepted for the government’s Apprenticeship “Reboot” subsidy initiative. To lift participation in apprenticeships, new forestry apprentices and employers who are signed up before 30 June 2014 will be able to apply for a $1,000 subsidy each towards the cost of tools and off-job course costs. To be eligible apprentices must have signed a new industry training agreement commencing between 6 March 2013 and 30 June 2014 and have been actively training for at least 90 days. (NB other eligibility criteria apply). With the current pricing of a forestry apprenticeship ranging between $1,800 and $2,200 (depending on which apprenticeship programme chosen) we are encouraging our clients and apprentices to take advantage of the scheme while it still exists. For more information please contact your local Forestry Account Manager or phone 0800 5261800 and select “Forestry”. |
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