The Northland Transpower transmission tower
RNZ reports that Transpower did not follow standard practice and did not provide sufficient training on the job (Midday Report, Wed 25 Sep),
There is a disturbing parallel currently taking place in vocational education. Learning on the job is the. mantra of Te Pūkenga, the umbrella organisation of polytechnics and ITOs.
Te Pūkenga relies heavily on shipping students out to work-sites, for industry and businesses to “train” the learners. There is a real question whether such enterprises have the time, interest and ability to train novices properly.
But a major issue confronting learning on the job is that trades and professions are becoming increasingly complex, and the world is becoming more demanding and threatening – climate change, new technologies, AI, ethical issues, pressure on resources, coercive employment practices, corporatising.
Staff in the polytechnics insist that there simply has to be intensive, comprehensive and thorough education off-site.
It’s not that staff don’t want on-site experience for their students. They have always supported practicums and practical experience as in nursing, house construction, engineering, health technology.
But they want to avoid proposals like this story from a QPEC Forum in June 2021. A polytechnic lecturer reports a question from an industry contact:
Why are you teaching your students everything about plumbing – hot water, fluid pressure, all that? All we need is for our students to join pipes, because that’s our main activity, as the biggest employer.