Construction Sector Accord part of the consortium to lead Construction Centre of Vocational Excellence

The successful consortium included the Accord, MIT, Unitec, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Ara Institute of Canterbury, BCITO, The Skills Organisation, New Zealand Construction Industry Council, Vertical Horizonz and Connexis.

CoVEs will play an important role in the new vocational education system - driving innovation and excellence in vocational education by strengthening the links between industry and communities.

The ConCoVE, one of the first to be established, will focus on how construction-related vocational education can be applied to help fix the industry's long-standing skills challenges.

The Accord's People Development Workstream leads Graham Burke and Bill Newson are pleased the consortium will be leading the way.

"We are very excited to be representing the Accord in the consortium chosen to lead the Construction CoVE. There has been a collaborative effort between the consortium partners to develop a proposal which reflects Accord goals, including raising capacity and capability while improving diversity and providing clear career paths across the industry," says Graham.

"The ConCOVE is taking on some of the big issues the sector has faced for a long time. How to increase the number of people in training and the quality of training; how to broaden the diversity of people working in the industry and improve outcomes for Māori, women and other priority groups.

"ConCOVE is also looking to the future and how we can adapt to disruptive technologies and use training in the fight to reduce carbon and waste in construction."

ConCoVE will initially undertake five key projects designed to address significant factors in workforce development and directly align to the programmes in the Accord's Transformation Plan:

• Disruption – preparing industries to manage disruptions to the nature of work brought about by new technologies and develop training solutions.
• Learning Framework – reform entry-level training to decrease the time it takes workers to become engaged in meaningful employment
• Retention – improve workforce productivity and retention by developing career support services including training, mentoring and networking.
• Diversity – provided tested strategies and models for stakeholders to grow workforce diversity, particularly in relation to Māori, Pasifika and women.
• Sustainability – help the industry respond to increasing demand for environmentally sustainable practices.

The CoVE will be hosted at Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) and will involve industry representatives, researchers, providers and other relevant groups working together to share best practice and knowledge.