April 24, 2019
Shoddy consultation drives ITO anger
A Skill Active board member is comparing the reform of vocational training with the scrapping of the charter school experiment.
Des Ratima has lodged a Waitangi Tribunal claim on behalf of the industry training organisation’s Maori shareholders against the speed with which polytechnics and ITOs are being pushed into the new super-polytechnic structure.
He says in the same way as Maori saw charter schools as a way to have a say in their children’s education, they have chosen ITOs over polytechs as a way to earn while they learn.
That option is now being removed.
"The Minister would argue he's not removing, he's making a better system. That may be the case but he hasn't asked us. He's told us and as I said to him, that's not what consultation is about, that’s not how it works," Mr Ratima says.
With Minister Chris Hipkins out of the country he’s pinning his hopes on Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin to set up some meaningful consultation.
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