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Speaker 1: The food and fiber sector want a bit of a

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Speaker 1: reform in the tertiary sector. They're chasing what they're calling

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Speaker 1: an employer lead work based learning model to match real

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Speaker 1: industry demands. So what does all that mean? Kate Scots,

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Speaker 1: the Horticulture New Zealand Chief Executive, and as with us,

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Speaker 1: Kate morning, morning mate. So the pathway as we sit

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Speaker 1: now leads me from where to where and what do

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Speaker 1: you want changed?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So at the moment we've got some proposed reform

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Speaker 2: that the government is looking to implement and look at

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Speaker 2: the moment, that approach tends to favor a volume, So

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Speaker 2: the number of learners based funding model over perhaps the

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Speaker 2: value and if you take the whole of the food

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Speaker 2: and fiber network, now we have a significant contribution to

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Speaker 2: make to this country. But at the moment the pathways

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Speaker 2: for our learners to access work based place learning is

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Speaker 2: under threat. And as it probably comes as no surprise

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Speaker 2: to you, some of the very best learning for people

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Speaker 2: working across the food and fiber sector comes from learning

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Speaker 2: on the ground and in the field rather than from

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Speaker 2: the classroom.

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Speaker 1: Do we have a skills issue or a job specific issue?

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Speaker 1: So would you want somebody to lined up to say

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Speaker 1: I want to be X by the time I get

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Speaker 1: to the end of this, is that what you're aiming

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Speaker 1: for or is it broad based skills?

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Speaker 2: It's broad based skills. So you know, many of our

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Speaker 2: food and fiber sectors, and if I talk specifically for horticulture,

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Speaker 2: we are facing significant workforce challenges, you know, including shortages

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Speaker 2: and an aging workforce. And you know, if we aren't

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Speaker 2: or if we're undermining that work based learning, then that's

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Speaker 2: only going to increase the issue and threaten the sustainability

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Speaker 2: of an industry where you don't have a pool of

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Speaker 2: capable people with skills coming through.

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Speaker 1: Surely, Penny Simmons and I mean, surely the government understand

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Speaker 1: this and get this, don't.

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Speaker 2: They well, look to be fair at this point in time,

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Speaker 2: we have some reservations and that is why, as a collective,

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Speaker 2: we have worked together to create a Food and Fiber

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Speaker 2: Workforce Capability Strategy, which is industry lead and basically sets

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Speaker 2: out a series of relatively succinct recommendations around ways that

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Speaker 2: the government could actually ensure that they are delivering based

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Speaker 2: pace learning for our learners across the primary sector.

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Speaker 1: I find very hard to believe they weren't on board

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Speaker 1: with it. Having said that, how much of it's about

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Speaker 1: you and the industry doing this for yourself versus at

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Speaker 1: some point you've got to involve the tertiary side of

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Speaker 1: the equation to get a piece of paper that's legit.

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Speaker 2: Well, there needs to be there needs to be a

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Speaker 2: collaborative approach. We can't do all of that on our own.

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Speaker 2: There needs to be you know, getting qualifications and standards,

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Speaker 2: which is the government's role, and so there needs to

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Speaker 2: be a joicte approach here. But what we're saying is that,

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Speaker 2: you know, we need to see some uptake and not

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Speaker 2: just focus on a classroom based learning model because that's

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Speaker 2: not going to deliver all that we require.

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Speaker 1: While I've got you this this regional debate that's on

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Speaker 1: at the moment, there's a lot of people a bit

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Speaker 1: angsty about some of the courses being dropped in regional areas.

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Speaker 1: And if you don't train regionally, you won't stay regionally.

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Speaker 1: Do you worry about that?

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Speaker 2: Look, we do worry about that, and that's because the

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Speaker 2: many of the people that work across our food and

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Speaker 2: fiber and seafood sectors simply don't live in our cities.

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Speaker 2: And if we don't have access to a combination of

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Speaker 2: both classroom based learning and that's sometimes delivered regionally, as

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Speaker 2: well as the work based place learning, then there's a

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Speaker 2: large part of our productive sector has potentially been cut

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Speaker 2: off from accessing education.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so what do we need to happen now, I

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Speaker 1: mean you put this to the government. Presumably you've got

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Speaker 1: some sort of timeline or expectation that something might happen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, we have put this to the government. We

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Speaker 2: are looking forward to the opportunity to meet with Minister

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Speaker 2: Simon so that we can talk about those practical actions

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Speaker 2: that we've identified that we think need to be happening

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Speaker 2: so that we can deliver for the whole of the

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Speaker 2: food and viber sector. It's one of the probably the

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Speaker 2: way i'd frame that is, you know, we're being asked

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Speaker 2: to step up to help to contribute to the government's

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Speaker 2: goal of doubling expert value by twenty thirty five. To

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Speaker 2: do that, we need a really strong capable workforce and

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Speaker 2: me we need to and that people need to be trained.

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Speaker 1: Did right, Go well with it. We'll stay in touch,

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Speaker 1: appreciate it. Cat Scott, who's the Horticulture New Zealand chief

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Speaker 1: executive and a conversation findly enough, there are three members teachers.

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Speaker 1: I can name you three members of my wider family

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Speaker 1: who are about to graduate to become teachers. And so

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Speaker 1: suddenly that it just suddenly struck me all, you know,

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Speaker 1: collectively together that whole thing about number of teachers and

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Speaker 1: you can't get enough teachers, And suddenly the number of

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Speaker 1: people wanting to be teachers has increased exponentially. Of late,

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Speaker 1: there's three in my family alone. So something good's happened, there,

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Speaker 1: isn't it. For more from the My Asking Breakfast, listen

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