A plan for the future
Andrew Little’s State of the Nation speech at Albert Park last Sunday contained a bold but carefully costed commitment to free post-school education and training.
Starting in 2018 and to be fully implemented by 2025, the policy gives all New Zealanders who have had no previous tertiary education access to three years free education, training or re-training.
It is being phased in so that it will be affordable. Each year, New Zealand government generally makes provision for around $1.5 or $2 billion in new spending. Labour has signalled that its priority from budgeted new spending will be ensuring the upskilling of our most valuable resource – our people.
Over the last year, Labour has been focussing on developing a policy on the Future of Work. The rate of change in the workplace is incredible. International research demonstrates that nearly half (46 per cent) of the jobs that currently exist won’t be there in 10 to 20 years. To a large extent, this reflects the impact of rapid technological change.
People will have to adapt, changing their careers more frequently than in the past. Jobs, especially those that are less skilled, are being automated. New jobs will require much higher skill levels. If we do nothing to help people train and retrain, the result will be high levels of structural unemployment. That means people trapped into dependence on the unemployment benefit, without the means to upskill to take advantage of new employment opportunities. That is economically wasteful with people forced into being dependent, unable to contribute to the economy and not paying taxes. It is also socially disastrous because people unable to participate in mainstream society become alienated from a society that is not inclusive of them.
Unfortunately, far from increasing the upskilling of New Zealanders, our country is slipping back in the opposite direction. Since National became the government in 2008, the number of tertiary students has fallen by 20 per cent and the number of apprenticeships is down 22 per cent. Over the same time, total student debt has increased by over 50 per cent and is expected to reach $15 billion this year.
Labour has for some time pushed for new policies to help people get the skills they need for a better life and that the community as a whole will benefit from. As Leader of the Opposition, I promoted the policy of turning the first year dole payment into a payment to employers to take on a person who had been out of work for some time and to subsidise them into an apprenticeship. It makes sense to help people retrain so they can support themselves rather than locking them into benefit-dependency with no future.
Andrew Little has repeated his commitment to that policy but has gone much further. The new policy of three years free post-school education can be taken up by a person at any time during their lifetime, for academic or, trades training. We need not only university qualifications but also technical and technological skills to meet needs across the workforce.
The policy removes the barriers to further education that tuition fees may impose. Measures will be in place to ensure the quality of learning and the commitment of the student or trainee. For second or third year funding, students will need to pass more than half their courses in the previous year. This programme is about creating the opportunity for the individual and benefit for the community and we need to ensure that is what is delivered.
I am pleased to see such strong support for the policy, both from commentators and from the wider public. People have expressed support for what we are trying to achieve and have acknowledged that Labour has done its homework. They have welcomed the fact that we have a plan to deal with rising insecurity from the rapidly changing nature of work.
National has, of course, criticised the policy. It is a pity when political parties feel the need to oppose a good idea just because it comes from another party. I note that the NZ Herald political editor acknowledged that the policy was properly costed and had merit. As she commented, everyone remembers the Working for Families policies National condemned as “communism by stealth” and interest-free student loans, both of which they criticised and then kept.
Labour’s policy is a good one. When implemented by the next Labour government, both the public and future governments will see it as critically necessary in the changing world we are living in.
Andrew Little’s State of the Nation speech at Albert Park last Sunday contained a bold but carefully costed commitment to free post-school education and training.
Starting in 2018 and to be fully implemented by 2025, the policy gives all New Zealanders who have had no previous tertiary education...
Andrew Little’s State of the Nation speech at Albert Park last Sunday contained a bold but carefully costed commitment to free post-school education and training.
Starting in 2018 and to be fully implemented by 2025, the policy gives all New Zealanders who have had no previous tertiary education access to three years free education, training or re-training.
It is being phased in so that it will be affordable. Each year, New Zealand government generally makes provision for around $1.5 or $2 billion in new spending. Labour has signalled that its priority from budgeted new spending will be ensuring the upskilling of our most valuable resource – our people.
Over the last year, Labour has been focussing on developing a policy on the Future of Work. The rate of change in the workplace is incredible. International research demonstrates that nearly half (46 per cent) of the jobs that currently exist won’t be there in 10 to 20 years. To a large extent, this reflects the impact of rapid technological change.
People will have to adapt, changing their careers more frequently than in the past. Jobs, especially those that are less skilled, are being automated. New jobs will require much higher skill levels. If we do nothing to help people train and retrain, the result will be high levels of structural unemployment. That means people trapped into dependence on the unemployment benefit, without the means to upskill to take advantage of new employment opportunities. That is economically wasteful with people forced into being dependent, unable to contribute to the economy and not paying taxes. It is also socially disastrous because people unable to participate in mainstream society become alienated from a society that is not inclusive of them.
Unfortunately, far from increasing the upskilling of New Zealanders, our country is slipping back in the opposite direction. Since National became the government in 2008, the number of tertiary students has fallen by 20 per cent and the number of apprenticeships is down 22 per cent. Over the same time, total student debt has increased by over 50 per cent and is expected to reach $15 billion this year.
Labour has for some time pushed for new policies to help people get the skills they need for a better life and that the community as a whole will benefit from. As Leader of the Opposition, I promoted the policy of turning the first year dole payment into a payment to employers to take on a person who had been out of work for some time and to subsidise them into an apprenticeship. It makes sense to help people retrain so they can support themselves rather than locking them into benefit-dependency with no future.
Andrew Little has repeated his commitment to that policy but has gone much further. The new policy of three years free post-school education can be taken up by a person at any time during their lifetime, for academic or, trades training. We need not only university qualifications but also technical and technological skills to meet needs across the workforce.
The policy removes the barriers to further education that tuition fees may impose. Measures will be in place to ensure the quality of learning and the commitment of the student or trainee. For second or third year funding, students will need to pass more than half their courses in the previous year. This programme is about creating the opportunity for the individual and benefit for the community and we need to ensure that is what is delivered.
I am pleased to see such strong support for the policy, both from commentators and from the wider public. People have expressed support for what we are trying to achieve and have acknowledged that Labour has done its homework. They have welcomed the fact that we have a plan to deal with rising insecurity from the rapidly changing nature of work.
National has, of course, criticised the policy. It is a pity when political parties feel the need to oppose a good idea just because it comes from another party. I note that the NZ Herald political editor acknowledged that the policy was properly costed and had merit. As she commented, everyone remembers the Working for Families policies National condemned as “communism by stealth” and interest-free student loans, both of which they criticised and then kept.
Labour’s policy is a good one. When implemented by the next Labour government, both the public and future governments will see it as critically necessary in the changing world we are living in.
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