Tutors empowering the workforce

Edvance programme manager Lynne Whitaker and general manager Lynda Rewita.

Peter Robieson set up Edvance, a workplace training company, after realising from his experience as an engineer that many people entering the workforce lacked the basic skills to cope with everyday business tasks.

Since 2007, Edvance has worked primarily with Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funding to provide courses on a range of basic literacy and numeracy skills to make workplaces more efficient.

Starting in Tauranga, Edvance now provides services on a national basis, said Edvance general manager Lynda Rewita.

"We look at all the things that are reducing workers' ability to have better production," she said.

Ms Rewita cited the results of the last Adult Literacy and Life Skills survey in 2006, which found that up to 40 per cent of the New Zealand workforce faced basic literacy and numeracy skills. The survey measured the prose and document literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills of a sample of respondents from participating countries. Although the survey had not been updated, Ms Rewita said Edvance's experience suggested there was still a strong need for workplace training.

TEC controls the $3 billion tertiary education budget, which includes provision of a number of funding sources for Educational Training Organisations such as Edvance to upskill workers.

Edvance holds the highest New Zealand Qualifications Authority certification of Category 1, she said. While the TEC budget for individual providers varied from year to year, Edvance had continued to grow, she said, with some smaller competitors dropping out of the sector, in part because the certification process was quite costly.

The workplace training courses were free, provided they were done during work time. Employers just paid incidental expenses, plus the cost of the workers' time while they were being trained.

Edvance programme manager Lynne Whitaker said the Government recognised the New Zealand workforce needed to be better skilled.

"We train them in their workplace, on their workplace documents in, amongst other things, numeracy and literacy, written and oral communications skills, all the things that will enhance their performance in the workplace."

After setting up Edvance, Mr Robieson also saw an opportunity within the police to upgrade literacy skills to enable new candidates to prepare for the psychometric tests they needed to pass to gain entry to the Police College in Wellington.

Edvance has since expanded the programme to the armed forces, fire brigade and Corrections Department.

The company now planned to apply for funding to carry out Student Achievement Component training, which was aimed at providing a first qualification for workers.