A milestone moment was reached last week for our Industry Standards team as they kicked off the first fully Hanga-Aro-Rau-led qualification review.

While the team has been hard at work since inception on 04 October 2021, their mahi has been picking up and completing reviews already in train from the former Transitional Industry Training Organisations. The Collision Repair (CR) and Automotive Refinishing (AR) qualification review will be their first to be run from start to finish.

Originally slated for 2020, this review was put on hold as further consultation was required, and the Review of Vocational Education (RoVE) was being finalised. On Wednesday 26 January 2022, they recommenced the CRAR qualification review with the original review group participants.

From initial feedback, the tīma determined the qualification structure was disadvantaging some employers and learners, particularly smaller single process operators working in either CR or AR with a learner completing either qualification on-job. They found a purely CR operation does not have the ability to deliver all the Level 3 AR requirements and vice versa. This inability to deliver certain requirements means the learner cannot progress. The team are also looking to bring the qualification in line with overseas practices and the qualification structure of Australia.

The initial meeting was to determine either a new or refined structure. To assist, the review rōpū was supplied with an industry snapshot which included all the feedback to date, Infometrics data, NZQA usage reports and more. A new overall structure was agreed upon, with future sessions to focus on content requirements.

The meeting was also a great learning opportunity for this growing team, giving the three recently joined Qualifications Developers first-hand exposure and training for review sessions.

If you’re part of the collision repair and automotive refinishing sectors and would like to know more about, or participate in, this qualification review, please contact us.