Ara Institute ofCanterbury was formed at the beginning of 2016 through merger of Christchurch
Polytechnic Institute of Canterbury (CPIT) and Aoraki Polytechnic. The name Ara
was’ selected to reflect one of the objectives of the institute, to be a
pathway for learners into initial work and continually beyond the attainment of
the first tertiary initial qualification.
Today, the first staff
day for Ara begins at 10am to allow all staff to travel to Christchurch from
South Canterbury for the event.
The programme begins
with the new Ara promotional video showcasing the Canterbury landscape followed
by inspiring Te Reo welcome from Hemi Hoskins, HOD for Humanities. The chanting
of Ara waiata is then completed. The MC John West who is Ara project director
for organisational transformation follows with welcome, housekeeping and
overview of the day’s objectives. An icebreaker activity to get to know each
other in our assigned tables start off a busy day.
Jenn Bestwick, Chair
of the Ara council and Kay Giles, Ara CE than officially begin the day with ‘a
call to action’ and the viewing of a video ‘Ara – the Future starts now’. Jenn
welcomed staff, now standing at 1100 permanent staff. She set the scene by
providing background on formation of Ara, the two councils’ work on forming a
shared agenda and some ideas for the way ahead. Importantly, advocated the need
to embrace change and continual improvement to ensure our learners’ educational
outcomes are met. Kay spoke on transforming tertiary education in the Canterbury
region. She presented on background to assist with the thinking to contribute
to the Ara strategic plan. We are about to complete transitional stage and move
into the transformational stage (to June 2018) before we shift into a
consolidation stage to end in 2020. Provided rationale of Ara vision and
unpacked strategies identified to inform Ara going into the future. Provided
list of transformation focus areas. Introduced Ara Te Kahui Manukura, the
leadership team. Detailed the expectations for staff to engage with the
transformational agenda – to understand Ara vision, provide input to strategic
plan, consider the resources and capabilities required and start to plan
actions that will take us there. Video of stakeholders from industry, community,
local government and students providing views of Ara’s future trajectory. Strong
call to assist with regional capability building through access to learning
beyond the main Canterbury centres, for people who need upskilling while still
at work. Byline – the future is everywhere.
Group work begins with
group activity to provide suggestions and input into the drawing up of the new
Ara strategic plan. The brief is to reflect on the challenges and opportunities
of the future and for participants to use their imaginations and come up with
creative ideas to contribute to the strategic plan. We are asked to pick two
dimensions from customers, products, processes, engagement, capabilities and
sustainability; think about and discuss and use some questions provided to come
up with suggestions.
After lunch, an item
from the Court Theatre Jesters to get thing moving along into the afternoon.
Then, Diana Law,
Manager for Student Well-being introduces another group activity to work on Ara
guiding principles. Here the activity is to think of three words that symbolise
the principles, values, qualities and behaviours which will underpin our practice
and ensure successful implementation of the strategic plan. Our group discuss
various approaches and settle on aspire, relate and advance – to assist
students to reach their aspirations through
valuing relationships with them,
industry and the community with the ultimate goal of advancing students’ capabilities.
Ara awards for 2015
are the presented for excellence in teaching in 5 categories with 2 winners in
each:
New to teaching: Bernadette
Muir and Kylie Short
Excellence in teaching
through collaborative practice: Wendy Clarke
Excellence in teaching
through integration of technology: Sue Deuchar, Mandy Gould and Steve Tomsett
Leadership in teaching
and learning: Lee Ann Powell, Raewyn Tudor
Also organisational awards in the following:
Great Leader: Susan
Woods
Star Player: Leonie
Rasmussen
Team Player: Rimi
Ellis and Marion Peawini
Sustainability: Pacific
trades for Christchurch pilot project (Villi Burrow, Mick Cooke, John Kerrigan
with David Dixon and Mark Hamilton)
Congratulations to all.
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