Waipā campus senior academic staff member in forestry and wood manufacturing Kerry Parker will keep his tutoring job at Toi Ohomai this year. Photo / Megan Wilson
Waipā campus senior academic staff member in forestry and wood manufacturing Kerry Parker will keep his tutoring job at Toi Ohomai this year. Photo / Megan Wilson
A Rotorua tutor’s job has been saved and 48 students can continue their timber machining apprenticeships after changes were made to a proposal to disestablish them.
Students doing the New Zealand Certificate in Timber Machining (level four) apprenticeship programme at Toi Ohomai’s Waipā Campus will continue their trainingon-site this year. Next year, qualifications will be moved to “on-the job”, Toi Ohomai has confirmed.
However, one industry manager says a lack of on-site training “could hold back timber manufacturing in New Zealand”.
The Rotorua Daily Post reported in November that the Bay of Plenty tertiary institution had proposed to disestablish the “invaluable” apprenticeship programme.
Its tutor of 17 years, Kerry Parker, said at the time students had called him “in tears” after learning of the proposal and he feared “we won’t have quality timber machinists” if it went ahead.
Toi Ohomai said expectations were for institutes of technology and polytechnics to become “financially viable” as the Government worked towards disestablishing Te Pūkenga and forming a new vocational education structure.
A decision was expected to be made in December but was deferred.
Courses to continue alongside industry training partner
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology Tumu Whenua executive director Kieran Hewitson told the Rotorua Daily Post it was reviewing all aspects of the organisation as it moved towards being “financially viable”.
“We have been consulting with kaimahi [staff] on multiple change proposals, including the saw doctoring and wood manufacturing programmes, and have appreciated the considered and thorough feedback we received from both kaimahi and our external stakeholders.”
Hewitson said Toi Ohomai delivered saw doctoring and wood manufacturing block courses at its Waipā Campus on behalf of its work-based learning partner, Competenz.
Competenz is a business division of Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, and one of New Zealand’s work-based learning organisations.
“While Toi Ohomai will no longer be delivering the block courses, we have been working alongside Competenz, to ensure the continued delivery and consistent tutorage of these courses,” Hewitson said.
Hewitson said ākonga (learners) would still be taught these block courses at its Waipā campus throughout 2025 by Competenz, which would shift the delivery of these qualifications to learners “on the job” from 2026.
Parker said 48 students had signed training agreements with Toi Ohomai “so they had to teach them out”.
“I’m extremely pleased for my students to have that opportunity. I can’t teach them all out in one year, so it is going to have to continue into 2026.”
He said the disestablishment would have been effective from December had it gone ahead.
“I’m pleased where we’re at from where we were.”
Waipā campus senior academic staff member in forestry and wood manufacturing Kerry Parker will keep his tutoring job at Toi Ohomai this year. Photo / Megan Wilson
Parker said help from industry and the media had “definitely made a difference” but there were still “so many unknowns”.
“We’re good for this year and then hopefully we can make a plan so that we can keep pumping out apprenticeships and keep people in jobs.”
Training on campus ‘preferred’
Hume Pine manager Craig Peters said the training on campus at Toi Ohomai had “always been our preferred training delivery method”.
“The networking and ability to focus on training outside of the work environment more than makes up for the trainee being away from work.”
He said trainees were exposed to different production methods and products “that they would otherwise not see during on-the-job training”.
“It will be a shame to lose access to the excellent training provided by Toi Ohomai, and this lack of training could hold back timber manufacturing in New Zealand.”
In response to Peters’ comments, Toi Ohomai said it acknowledged there was still demand for block-course delivery.
“We have been working with industry and stakeholders to explore how these could continue as an industry-led delivery model.
“Toi Ohomai remains a willing partner and we will continue these conversations to ensure the best outcomes for both ākonga and industry.”
What will ‘on-the-job’ look like for learners?
Competenz general manager Diane Lithgow said Competenz delivered saw doctoring, sawmilling and timber machining qualifications to 160 learners nationwide - 88 of which had accessed block courses at Toi Ohomai last year.
Lithgow said Toi Ohomai had confirmed it was withdrawing from the delivery of forestry and wood manufacturing qualifications, but would continue to deliver block courses in 2025 for active learners.
“Competenz are working with employers so that they can continue to access manufacturing qualifications through our alternate delivery models in 2026.”
Lithgow said the “on-job” model was where training was finished on-job by the employer and assessment completed on-job by a workplace or contracted assessor.
“We are currently expanding our contract assessor pool to ensure effective delivery in 2026.”
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
