CATENZ—eNewsletter #13

Kia ora koutou katoa,

I hope term 3 has started well for you. It is hard to believe it is already week four.

On the 31st July I ran the Gateway online conference. We had over 383 registrations and 20 different presenters from a range of backgrounds. Thank you to all those who attended, both presenters and delegates. I would greatly appreciate it if you could complete the post-event survey. The feedback from this will be used to plan next year's conference. Please see the link below to do this. We are currently in the process of collating the presentations of speakers. You will find a link below to view these and we will continue to add to them.

Kia pai tō rā.

Tara Heta
Kaiārahi CATE NZ
kaiarahi@catenz.org

Last Year Fees Free
We have been provided with initial information regarding the change to last year fees from 2025. Information will be made public in September (no exact date given) by TEC. The main points to communicate at this stage to students are:

All students will likely need to provide their IRD number to the tertiary provider at the time of enrolment.
All students will need to pay for their fees themselves or via a Studylink loan if they are eligible from their first year of study.
A reminder that a Studylink loan application requires a verified Realme login before the application process can be started.
Students will only be able to claim fees free for one qualification. They cannot choose which qualification they use the fees-free for, it will be the first qualification completed.
Qualifications that are .5 efts or more are eligible for last year fees free.
There will be no carry over of unused fees free from one qualification to another like there is with the current system. So, if a student completes a 6 month (.5 eft) qualification that costs $5,000 this is the only course that can be claimed for fees free. Subsequent qualifications will need to be paid for themselves or via Studylink loan even though they have not used all of the $12,000 and 1 eft.
Students will need to apply themselves via the IRD website (new digital form etc will be created) the year after completing their qualification, and this will either be refunded to Studylink or the student's bank account (no other bank account can be used).
Stackable micro-credentials will not be eligible for fees-free even if they add to more than .5 efts.
TEC is still working on the settings for students who have been a NZ resident for less than 3 years. For example, if they enrol in a 3-year bachelor's qualification, at what point do they need to have been a resident for 3 years to be eligible for last year's fees free? Details will be announced in September.

CareerWise platform—overview and new features
Join us for a discovery session on CareerWise! We'll start with a quick overview for schools new to our platform and discuss our new 'Connections' feature, which is gradually rolling out. We're conducting case studies with a few schools and have collaborated closely with Leigh Grey and the Ministry of Education on this feature.

'Connections' addresses the National Education Learning Priorities by helping schools better connect with their communities and organisations nationwide. It includes a built-in reporting tool to track your school's progress in achieving the NELPs. While it's designed for whole-school use, we understand it may need to start being utilised by the careers team first.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn more about how CareerWise can benefit your school! Q&A welcome at the end.

Wednesday 4th September at 12pm.
Please register here.

Around the Regions
Auckland CATE ran a PD day for members on Wednesday 7th August called Adapt and Thrive: Careers in Tech. We had presentations from a range of speakers from the Tech industry. As part of this day we had a fantastic panel of people working in the industry as the final session. These included Brooke Preston from Auror, Chanelle Butters from Datacom, Melissa Kow from Kordia and Carol Brown from Databricks. When asked “what piece of advice would you give to students still in school or studying to prepare for a career in technology?” Their answers included:

Try everything
Don’t feel pressured to have it all figured out
Give any opportunity a go
Try not to have imposter syndrome
Keep learning
Build your network
Your first job is never going to be your last
Find a company that aligns with your values
Explore as much as you can
Be comfortable with the unknown and operating in the grey

Thanks to all of our presenters and those who attended.

‘We Belong—Women Pioneering The Future in Construction’
BCITO are proud to be collaborating with NAWIC to celebrate 131 years of Women’s Suffrage throughout the motu.

The “we belong” event will see a BCITO apprentice feature on a live panel discussion discussing their apprenticeship journey.

These free events will run on the same evening in every region, Register with your local chapter here

Please share this event with your apprentices/akonga, family, friends, community groups and whoever else you think may benefit from attending.

Please find a poster which can be printed and displayed—here

Date: Thursday 19 September, 2024
Time: 5.30-7.30pm

Come along to this year’s Suffrage-themed We Belong event to:

Hear from a BCITO apprentice leader, about their journey so far and why they chose construction
Connect with other women in construction and hear various stories
Be encouraged and inspired about your own career path in construction
Be inspired to continue to be or be part of the change for future generations.

The Jobs Report
The Jobs Report is a quarterly report that tracks Australian & New Zealand job opportunities and trends by industry, occupation, and employment type.

The report shows that there are less than half the number of job postings on New Zealand’s job boards compared to mid to late 2022. Auckland experienced the most severe decline, with an 18.6% drop this quarter and a cumulative 47.9% decline over the past year. Wellington faced a similar fate, with a 48.2% cumulative decline.

The Education and Training sector experienced a 14.7% increase in job ads, making it the best-performing industry despite a 12.6% contraction over twelve months. You can find out more and see the report here