About Us

Our role as an ITO – Industry Training Organisation – is to support education and skill development in New Zealand’s health and disability sector.

Our major roles and responsibilities are:

• To set standards and register qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework to meet the needs of the sector
• To facilitate training arrangements so employees can add to their skill base
• To add value to the sector through enhanced skills and knowledge
• To provide leadership to the industry on skill and training matters.

Our Coverage

Careerforce’s coverage statement has been reviewed to better align with the language used by the sector and to reflect the parts of the sector Careerforce works with.

Careerforce is the industry training organisation for health, disability, and community support for Levels 1-8 on the National Qualifications Framework. We are the recognised standard setting body for the sectors of aged care, addiction, allied health, core health, dental support, intellectual, physical and sensory disability, health care orderlies, health support, mental health, primary and secondary health care, public health and whanau ora, except where the workforce is covered by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.

Ambulance, first aid, injury prevention, pre-hospital emergency care, occupational health and safety, pharmacy, social services, State services related public administration and management are excluded from the Careerforce coverage as they lie within the coverage of other standard setting bodies.

What We Stand For

Careerforce is working to ensure the future health and disability workforce has the skills necessary to support generations to come. We’re here for the long-term, recognizing and rewarding trainees who want to develop and further their skills to better support consumers, family and whanau.

Our vision is to improve the quality of care and support in the health, disability and community support sectors. We achieve this through education and training.

We develop programmes which train people who provide care and support for others, so respect is high on our list of values. We aim to be consultive and engaging, to be alongside employers. We welcome diversity and pride ourselves on including employees, employers, assessors and consumers in our plans and our programmes.

We understand our sector is always changing and we are flexible enough to move with it. We regularly update our learning resources and programmes to make the qualifications we offer up-to-the-minute, best practice, anticipating and reflecting change.

We are also aware of the constantly changing economic situation, so are fiscally careful by creating programmes which are sustainable.

Future career pathways will be made up of core and specialized competencies, reflected in core and specialized or strand national qualifications.

Making Training Happen

Careerforce is building a suite of career pathways for the health and disability sector. We put considerable time and effort into engaging with and accurately researching and identifying sector needs and wants, so sector contributions help to create the best outcomes.

Employers work with us to invest in, and add value to, their business. We support employers to take on workplace-based learning and assessment as their own, to support and encourage their employees to make the most of their skills.

We are shaping the learning and assessment so it will be adaptable and can move with the times, be offered on its own or in partnership with education providers.

We make it easy for employers to realise their training plans and for employees to realize their advancement goals. Our qualifications mean everyone within the sector, including Maori, Pacific, immigrant and isolated workers, can work at their own pace in their own place. Any worker with literacy or language needs can be included, through the support we offer employers.

Industry Leadership

Careerforce has established relationships across the entire health, disability and community support sector. Our knowledge of the needs, issues, people, policies and strategies influencing the sector means we understand it’s complexity and can respond appropriately. Our relationships with employers compliment our in-depth understanding of tertiary education, industry training and the labour market.

Knowing changes are coming or are required means we can take a leadership role in planning and implementing support and training which is sometimes pro-active and sometimes responsive: We do what the sector needs.

Our industry links and knowledge allows us to put like-minded groups together to explore and develop unit standards and National Qualifications. It also encourages both networking and the sharing of skills and knowledge across workplaces and the sector.

Facing the Future

Careerforce is framing the future right now to ensure participants on our career pathways are well supported by the framework we put in place.

Consumers and their families relying on community support services feel safe and secure having their needs met by people who know what they’re doing. The skillful attention they receive is a reflection of their support workers’ increasing self-confidence.

Our trainees have a sense of personal achievement and feel valued by employers who have supported them to hone their skills and gain National Qualifications. Those qualifications also offer new possibilities of advancement and career development in associated fields.

Employers who offer training see it as an investment in their business. Providing a well developed training infrastructure pays dividends by adding to the workplace skill base, motivation and quality of care. The business also operates more smoothly because trainees who share and support each other’s study also work together more collegially.

Careerforce makes sure workplace training is a win-win-win situation.