Opportunity Training.
Opportunity Training.
Skills build futures.  

The Charter

The Mission Statement

To maximize the effectiveness of tertiary education and training through the development and strengthening of systems and qualifications that lead to workplace safety, job security and wealth creation for our stakeholders.

Our Vision

  • To serve our industry sectors with excellence
  • To champion safety in the workplace
  • To provide leadership to our stakeholders to lift standards through training
  • To be innovative in our approaches to increase the penetration of training
  • To continually strengthen and improve the quality of our training initiatives
  • To widen our influence to industry sectors where we believe our involvement can make a valued contribution.

The Special Character of Opportunity - The Training Organisation

Recognition

Opportunity - The Training Organisation is recognized under the Industry Training Act 1992 as the ITO managing the training needs of organisations and individuals focused on using cranes and similar equipment and performing related tasks.

Recognition is granted up until October 2007.

Under the Act, the ITO has a particular statutory function to:

  • Set standards and register qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework that meet the needs of the industry
  • Manage training arrangements that enable employees in the industry to achieve these standards and qualifications
  • Provide leadership to the industry on skill and training matters.

Additionally under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 and associated regulations, Opportunity Training is tasked with the certification of particular safety related competencies for personnel where this is a statutory requirement.

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Uniqueness

Opportunity Training's special character as an ITO is closely linked to types of equipment deployed in industry (e.g. cranes), to the specialty skills involved in their use and related tasks, and to prevailing safety regulations.

  • The stakeholders are geographically dispersed throughout New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
  • Stakeholders are diverse in nature and we provide services to a variety of industry sectors.
  • Stakeholders are individuals and enterprises ranging from owner operator businesses, through Government Departments and SOE's, to large multi nationals.
  • The common denominators are the types of equipment and work methods used, the associated risks and the specialty skills required rather than industry outputs.
  • The skill sets offered within the ITO's training and qualifications have diverse application. Training standards and qualifications cover the options of a total career perspective as well as targeted training for people wishing to add additional skills to compliment other areas of expertise.
  • Safety in the workplace is inseparable from all the ITO's training and strong support is offered particularly to stakeholders seeking to raise their standards in this area.
  • Many trainees gain their "certification of competency" required by statute on the basis of their qualifications. In these scenarios, adequate training is a precondition of unsupervised work.
  • Opportunity - the Training Organisation was originally registered as the PCAITO. Its origins are from the Power Crane Association of New Zealand Inc., an organisation passionate about safety and confident in their role as the voice of the cranes industry in New Zealand. The PCA continues to be heavily involved in development and review the current Regulations, Codes of Practice and Industry Guides relevant to their stakeholders including the ITO.
  • The name "Opportunity - The Training Organisation" has come about through a change of focus. The crane organisation that managed training has evolved into an education and training organisation that focuses on the needs of crane operations and related skills. The re-branding reflects this and a new wider vision.
  • Historically the crane industry sector had a strong focus on safety but no recognized formal qualifications. They have embraced the changes in tertiary education and training as a great opportunity for skills improvement and recognition.

The standards and qualifications set for the industry, the training management arrangements and the leadership role played by the ITO are largely shaped by the aforementioned factors.

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Opportunity Training and the Nation's identity and economic, social and cultural development

Opportunity Training's contribution to New Zealand's development is primarily by setting standards, developing training instruments and managing training arrangements that meet the needs of industry. This contribution to infra-structural development is important in sustaining New Zealand's economic, social and cultural development.

The introduction of systematic training has given a definition to the term "adequate training" quoted by the Health and Safety in Employment Act. There is an increasing demand for many people working within industry to be certified as competent. The ITO is working with government agencies in anticipation of more widely spread adoption of this requirement.

A secondary contribution that Opportunity Training makes is in dissemination of knowledge to industry as a whole, in the arena of safety and compliance with codes of practice and regulations relevant to the ITO's portfolio. Formal tertiary training and qualifications are actively promoted through this process.

The ITO works closely with major stakeholders such as the Power Crane Association, Government policy committees and other standard setting bodies to ensure that training is relevant, up to date and provides the outcomes required by industry, legislation and TEC strategies.

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The role Opportunity Training plays in tertiary education system as a whole.

People working with cranes, and rigging have historically not had indentured training available nor have they had the opportunity to gain qualifications that recognize their skills and knowledge. The ITO in conjunction with its stakeholders and NZQA are addressing this discrepancy.

Opportunity (PCAITO) and its specialist technical subcommittees have developed:

  • 48 Unit Standards registered on the National Qualification Framework
  • 7 National Certificates
  • 30 Sets of training resource material
  • 1 Specialist training manual

Additional to these, the following are under development or awaiting approval.

  • 7 Unit Standards
  • 2 National Certificates
  • 1 National Diploma
  • 1 Specialist training manual

Modern apprenticeships have yet to become a reality in the crane industry but the investigation and pursuit of options to recruit younger people into careers involving cranes continues to be on the ITO's agenda.

Opportunity Training is currently investigating the development and production of targeted training videos and multi-media resources to support its training objectives.

The ITO and its stakeholders have embraced with enthusiasm the opportunity of defining and attaining qualifications not previously available. This is believed to have had a significant impact on raising safety standards in industry and continues to contribute to infrastructural development.

Opportunity Training maintains links with many international organizations associated with safety and the operation of cranes and related equipment through its close ties with major stakeholders such as the Power Crane Association.

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Relationships Opportunity Training has with other tertiary education providers and organizations

By virtue of its focus on equipment types and skills rather than industry outputs, the ITO has functional responsibility for defining specific training, particularly in the area of safety, for many industries. These include but are not exclusive to:

  • Construction,
  • Heavy and light manufacturing,
  • Road transport and logistics
  • Fishing
  • Pulp and paper

The above industries and others have need of and have used unit standards developed by or in collaboration with Opportunity Training (PCAITO).

The ITO has also included in its national certificate and diploma qualifications, unit standards developed by other ITOs.

Moderation plan requires that training providers must be approved prior to delivery of unit standards from the ITO's portfolio. This arises primarily from the need to ensure that the appropriate specialist equipment is available and used during training.

This process has necessitated the development of preferred supplier relationships with a succinct group of private training establishments and polytechnics.

The ITO has not sort to create exclusivity in these arrangements and is continually evaluating new ways and to disseminate knowledge and develop skills in the work force working with similarly focused organizations.

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Recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi and meeting the needs of Māori

The Treaty of Waitangi is recognized by Opportunity Training as a foundational milestone in New Zealand's economic and social and cultural development.

The industries and equipment types covered by the ITO are highly regulated. Adequate training in the safe operation of equipment is mandatory by statutory regulation and the ITO's entry-level unit standards are often quoted as the minimum competency levels required. People entering the industry are almost without exception enrolled in training.

Māori people are well represented in the portfolio of industry sectors covered by the ITO and earn the respect they deserve as competent full time and part time operators, supervisors and managers.

In spite of the fact that Māori people have equal opportunity to participate in the expansion of today's knowledge economy, it is acknowledged that in reality educational outcomes have not reached the same level as New Zealanders of European ethnicity.

Within the industry sectors, Opportunity Training will continue to encourage Māori people to aspire to achieve qualification beyond the minimum required by regulation.

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Opportunity's approach to meeting needs of Pacific Peoples

Pacific People are a small group in the ITO's portfolio of industry sectors (approx 5%) and a corresponding smaller number have registered for training through the ITO. However of those registered a relatively high number have completed their qualification (over 80%).

This has been an encouragement when evaluating training systems for cultural barriers for Pacific Peoples.

The ITO recognises that despite the above comment, educational outcomes for Pacific Peoples have not fulfilled the expectations of Government's Pasifika Education Plan for tertiary education.

The ITO will work with Government agencies such as Pacifika Education to investigate and implement strategies to increase participation by Pacific Peoples and the achievement of higher levels of qualification through relevant study.

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Opportunity Training's approach to meeting the needs of learners

In facing the challenge of achieving equal and greater educational outcomes for all learners, the ITO will:

  • Continually seek to make its training resources and systems relevant and appropriate the stakeholders served.
  • Maintain demographic analysis data to gain a greater understanding of the trends and achievement levels of Maori and Pacific Island people operating within the industry sectors relevant to the ITO's portfolio.
  • Consult with Maori and Pacific Island advisers to ensure that training resources and assessment methods do not present barriers to trainee development aspiration when evaluated from a cultural perspective.
  • Promote through diverse marketing initiatives, the increased personal development possibilities available to Maori, Pacific Island and other people as they move up through the tertiary education system.

Opportunity Training enjoys the generous and enthusiastic support from its industry stakeholders.

Responding to their needs for appropriate training systems has strengthened the relationship and contributed significantly to the ITO's acceptance and success.

Skill and knowledge development for our learners is very task focused and the mix of "on job training" supported by external providers coming to the workplace to facilitate learner development is successfully deployed.

The high cost of capital equipment to support most training associated with cranes limits pre-employment options for learners. However the ITO is investigating how suitable support systems may enable stakeholder companies to offer modern apprenticeship to young people.

Many of the learners participating in training managed by the ITO represent groups that have not gravitated naturally towards reading and literary studies. The ITO will face this challenge by monitoring learning outcomes for individuals and demographic groups to identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness of resource material.

Strategies into the future will continue to foster the involvement of industry specialists in maintaining relevance and support for the qualifications and certification processes administered by the ITO.

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Opportunity Training as an employer

Opportunity Training is a small ITO relative to others when considering numbers of registered trainees. The current strategy is to provide cost effective services by maintaining minimal staff levels and contracting specialist services as required.

Contracting a writer to support industry specialists in the development of new unit standards is an example of this strategy and other activities such as policy development and website design etc are developed in collaboration with specialist consultants.

The present staff level is one administrator.

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Governance of Opportunity Training

A strategy of the ITO is to maintain close ties to the specialist industry groups such as the Power Crane Association (PCA), the Scaffolding and Rigging and Industrial Rope Access Industries Training Inc (SRIIT) and Elevating Work Platform Association. These stakeholder organisations provide the essential credibility to the ITO's training and the ITO systems in turn strengthen the positions of the industry groups as they champion the interests of those they represent.

The Board or Directors are drawn from stakeholders and their focus is on providing leadership through setting realistic objectives and monitoring outcomes for the management and contracted specialists.

The Tertiary Education Commission imperative of "ensuring the needs of learners are met" has been acknowledged and a seat on the board has be allocated to an employee representative to ensure the voice of employee is heard.

The strategies and the resulting objectives developed by the board are based on the needs and strategies of the key stakeholders.

The annual business plan (Profile) identifies objectives in line with approved strategies and the funding from the Tertiary Education Commission and other sources and is allocated to fulfill the objectives.

Outcomes on the objectives are reported annually to stakeholders in a format appropriate to the stakeholders.

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Charter Consultation

The following stakeholder industry groups have been consulted in the development and review of this charter.

  • Power Crane Association
  • Tertiary Education Commission
  • Scaffolding and Rigging and Industrial Rope Access Industries Training Inc
  • Occupational Health and Safety