2009 is going to be such an exciting year for the Social Services ITO. We have come a long way in the last 12 months. We have re-focused and re-organised and now we have the right team who are working together under one common vision. We are all working hard towards a highly-qualified social service workforce that provides the best possible social services for our communities. Specifically, we want to ensure that social service workers have skills that are appropriate for the service they provide.

We have some big things planned for this year. We are in the process of developing new unit standards for social work and youth work. These standards will form a framework for revamped certificates and diplomas leading to degrees. These degrees will be largely practice-based and will be based on industry-developed standards. They will build on current social service qualifications and will complement already existing social services degree programmes.

We also recognise that many social service organisations provide training for their workforce and, in some instances, for their communities. In response to that, we are undertaking a feasibility study for a service that will formalise the skills social service workers attain while on the job.

This study will evaluate and recognise social service agencies’ capacity and capability to offer training that is aligned to social services unit standards and qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework. It will also assess the ITO's capacity to provide an ongoing recognition service. The recommendations from the feasibility study will be known by July 2009.

Along with these big projects we are continuing to look at new ways to support our work- based education so that our trainees can reach the highest standards.

These three workstreams are only part of our work plan over the next two years. We have so much planned and want to share it with you. I hope you enjoy our new newsletter. This will be one of many.

Have a happy New Year. I am really looking forward to it.

The Social Services ITO has begun developing degree level unit standards in youth work and social work as a response to the emerging requirement for degrees to be the minimum qualification for professional recognition. Establishing national degrees and degree level unit standards that represent the needs of industry, also provides the ITO with an opportunity to develop a consistent learning pathway for those people who have qualified with either certificates or diplomas.

The ITO brought together a working group of national and international experts to develop the draft unit standards at a four-day workshop from 27-30 January 2009. Once the draft unit standards are complete they will be sent out to the industry for consultation. The consultation process will include an in depth scrutiny by a social services sector reference group.

Once these unit standards are registered on the National Qualifications Framework, education providers can choose to use them to develop national degrees.

Amanda Torr, project leader, says, “It is important to emphasise that education providers will still have choices in developing qualifications. They can offer their own local (non-standards-based) qualifications. They can offer national qualifications and degrees made up of the unit standards. Or, they can develop qualifications that combine both local courses and national qualifications”.

A provider wishing to offer a national degree based on the new unit standards will still need to have their programme approved by the appropriate approval bodies including the Social Work Registration Board for the social work degree, and be granted accreditation to offer it.

For more information or request to be part of the unit standards development process please contact Dr Amanda Torr

Along with developing the new unit standards, the ITO has put a large amount of resources into upgrading the work-based education service. The old days of just assessing professional qualifications have gone. Resources and processes must be continually evaluated and updated so that they are meeting the changing needs of the trainees and the industry.

The emphasis this year in work-based education is on revamping the assessment materials, increasing the number of assessors and continuing to work collaboratively with social service organisations that use the ITO’s qualifications.

The ITO is reshaping its youth work and social work resources into new workbooks with a fresh look and feel. The workbooks will be designed to enable trainees to have their existing skills and knowledge recognised and, wherever possible, multiple units will be assessed together within the same task or context. Achieving unit standards in the workplace will become more and more of a natural journey.

This work will continue to evolve throughout the year and it is planned that all the work-based education material will be integrated into the new national unit standards with greater use of multimedia and new technologies.

Also to support trainees in their learning journey, the ITO has increased the number of qualified assessors. The ITO has appointed nine more assessors in the last 12 months increasing the total number of national assessors to 37. These people are spread across the country which means most trainees will have access to an assessor that is close by. There are also many more qualified and specialist assessors in youth work and employment support working on their induction process to become fully registered in the near future.

Building partnerships with many organisations who can offer training related to the national qualifications is also important to the ITO. The ITO has built up alliances with several social service agencies. As a result, nationally coordinated training events are occurring to help people achieve Whanau/Family Foster Care and Employment Support qualifications. The ITO is working collaboratively with training providers to pool collective wisdom and create uniformity between various approaches which helps the social services industry in many ways.

For more information about our work-based education please contact Karin Brown

The ITO is taking communication seriously. Working hard towards a highly-qualified social service workforce that provides the best possible social services for our communities requires leadership. And, leadership requires good communication.

In order to achieve this, many more communications activities are planned for 2009. A stakeholder engagement strategy has been written and toward the middle of the year the ITO will launch a new brand and a new website. Marketing material will also be updated and structured communications forums will take place.

You will see these things begin to happen over the next few months.

For more information about any of our communications activities please contact Misty Knowles