EMA urges collaboration for effective vocational education reform
Opinion by Joanna Hall
Joanna Hall is the Advocacy & Stakeholder Engagement Lead of Employers & Manufacturers Association (EMA).
THE FACTS
After years of sweeping reforms, financial pressures and structural upheaval, New Zealand's vocational education and training (VET) system stands at a critical crossroads.
The Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill now before Parliament offers an opportunity to rebuild confidence, lift quality and finally deliver
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsroom
2 hours ago
- Newsroom
Conversion ban leaves question mark over forestry's growth prospects
Legislation limiting controversial farm-to-forestry conversions has made a major step forward – but forestry and farming figures are divided on what impact it will have. On Wednesday afternoon, the Environment Select Committee reported back to the House on the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme—Forestry Conversion) Amendment Bill.
NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- NZ Herald
‘You are surrounded by Gordon Ramsays, and you become Gordon ... otherwise you get trampled': TV chef Mike Van De Elzen
On the Money Talks podcast this week, Van De Elzen talks about growing up in Henderson, starting out in hospitality and the path that took him to the top of the chef game in London. It was a path that almost broke him. He got his big break in London in the early 2000s at a restaurant called Bank, which was 'the busiest, most-talked-about restaurant in London', he says. 'I wanted to work there because it was the hardest. And if you survive there, then you'll make it anywhere. So I started working there as a sous chef and made my way up to senior sous chef. I was in charge of 140 chefs.' Van De Elzen worked relentlessly day and night for a full year. 'It's so full-on. And you are surrounded by Gordon Ramsays, and you become Gordon yourself, because otherwise you get trampled upon.' 'I didn't see day. I didn't see night, I didn't see my wife. I worked for an entire year in this restaurant, and the only day it closed was Christmas Day.' That day off turned out to be the trigger for a complete breakdown. 'We went to a friend's place for Christmas lunch and he said: 'Hey Mike, can you just check the turkey in the oven?' 'I said 'No problem' and I went into the kitchen, opened up the oven. The turkey was completely raw.' 'Something just broke inside me. 'I felt really, I felt sick. I couldn't stand. My wife took me home and I slept for four days.' On the podcast, Van De Elzen talks about his return to New Zealand, setting up restaurants and breaking into TV. He shares his passion for educating young people about food and talks about his battle with cancer in 2018. Listen to the full episode to hear more from Money Talks is a podcast run by the NZ Herald. It isn't about personal finance and isn't about economics – it's just well-known New Zealanders talking about money and sharing some stories about the impact it's had on their lives and how it has shaped them. The series is hosted by Liam Dann, business editor-at-large for the Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003. Money Talks is available on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Former minister hits out at carbon farming of pines
A tree industry expert and former minister of forestry has condemned "lock and leave" carbon farming, but says you still can not tell farmers what to do with their land. Former Labour minister Stuart Nash said in his time with the portfolio he had a dream for how the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would benefit the country. "With the ETS, for the first time ever there's been an economic incentive to plant up land that should have never been cleared in the first place," he said. But forestry conversions, since the incentive was introduced, where dense pines were planted with no plan to harvest the mature trees, were not good, he said. "You will end up with an ecological disaster in between 80 and 100 years," he said. He understood that some legislation was developing to help restrict the planting of pines, but said you still can not tell farmers what to do with their land and their money. "I don't know if that's the right route," he said. "Farmers get pretty p..... off ... because what it does mean is, their farm which may be worth, $10 million to a forester is now only worth $7m." The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme-Forestry Conversions) Amendment Bill passed its first reading in June. It proposed restrictions to the quality and proportion of arable land that could be planted in trees. Mr Nash had a masters degree in forestry science and previously worked for construction, paper and forestry giants Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher Challenge. His ideal for carbon farming was that pines would be planted low density, for no longer than 50 years, while at the same time seeding natives. Then after 50 years, the ministry would allow the grower to collect carbon credits of the native forest as the pines died off. In this ideal situation, carbon farmers would not be allowed to collect credits or money on pines past that 50-year cut-off. He said research by the sustainability charitable trust Pure Advantage showed that Mānuka could be a just as fast growing and carbon-absorbing alternative to pines. While he was the minister, he said the research needed more time to cook and the good thing about pines were that they were the most hardy. "It's the over-boiled Brussels sprouts of the trees," he said. "Not many people like it, not many [bugs and diseases] like it [either]." Coming from Napier, he had seen the devastation Cylone Gabrielle and Cyclone Hale had on the east coast of the North Island in 2023. This was where trees on farms would have come in handy, he said as roots made the ground more hardy, and would have prevented slips and other soft ground corrosion after the floods. A lot of New Zealand land should never had been cleared for farming and he said it was expensive to plant hilly, non-productive land, without incentive. He said despite seeing the benefit of forests and the ETS for the land, he by no means wanted to see highly productive farms and soil turned into carbon farms. "I'm really loathe to tell farmers what they should and shouldn't do," he said. "But I'm very happy to tell carbon farmers what they should do."
