Plans for 2022

Looking forward to another busy year. Covid-19 continues to be the unknown factor which will have an impact. Aotearoa NZ is set to open its borders to international travellers on 30^th April. Across the xmas and new year break, cases of the omicron variant has increased in many Northern hemisphere countries and in Australia. The ‘open’ border between NZ and Australia, set to begin mid-January, has been delayed to the end of February. It looks like the border opening may also be delayed.

From the beginning of the 2022 academic year, all colleagues and students will be required to be vaccinated for entry on to the campus. Given that over 95% of kiwis are vaccinated, there will only be small numbers of colleagues and students affected. Issues of equity and access to education means the institute must have plans in place to support all colleagues and students, regardless of their vaccination status. The work towards achieving this will keep my team busy as we start back at work for the year.

Apart from the effects of the pandemic, two other changes, one already in place and the other to occur beginning of next year, have consequences on my work.

Firstly, my line management is now through the People and Culture Division, instead of with the Academic division. There are 3 departments in P & C, Health, Safety and Wellbeing, HR and People and Capability. Learning design with learning technology and learning resources as part of Ara Whakapiki Ako (AWA) is now part of People and Capability along with teacher education and organisational capability. All of this re-jigging makes sense to ensure there is better cohesion across the support we offer our colleagues across the institution.

The other major factor is the amalgamation of all polytechnics and industry training organisations into Te Pūkenga. Details of the operating model or organisation structure etc. will be released early in the year. So a clearer picture of how things will work across the entire organisation will emerge. For the moment, Te Pūkenga capability development will be centrally managed. There should be major changes in the run up to next year.

On the research from, the edited book “Reshaping VET in Aotearoa NZ” is scheduled for publication by Springer. Co-editorship of the International Journal of Training Research continues with Professor SarojniChoy. We now have four associate editors as well, Professor Liz Atkins (UK), Dr.Benjamin Chan (Hong Kong), Professor Laurent Filliettaz (Switzerland) and Dr. Jason Skues (Australia). This will help us spread the load and maintain better oversight of the journal.

There will be a journal article to write, along with planning towards a book on ‘learning design for practice-based learning’. There is some work to be done as I need to become conversant with the extensive literature in the learning design area.

Let's hope this year sees the tail end of the pandemic.Whatever transpires, the year ahead will be busy and interesting :)