Toi Ohomai's automotive teacher Rebecca Rouse with students. Photo / Supplied
Toi Ohomai's automotive teacher Rebecca Rouse with students. Photo / Supplied
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology is helping fill a nationwide shortage of automotive technicians, with tutors looking to link more apprentices to industry.
This is being made possible with the Government's new Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) scheme provides employers with money for any apprentices they agree to take on.
For a maximum of 20 months, employers will get $1000 a month per first-year apprentices and a further $500 per month for second-year apprentices.
This will be paid in advance to employers.
The TTAF is part of the Government's $1.6 billion Trades and Apprenticeships Training Package as well as the the $320 million Covid-19 recovery plan.
The fund is providing free tertiary study between July 1 this year and December 31 2022 across more than 130 qualifications.
Rebecca Rouse has taught automotive courses at Toi Ohomai for the past six years and said demand for automotive technicians had been consistently high for at least a decade.
This motivated her to actively recruit more apprentices to ensure the industry has enough qualified technicians to meet current and future needs.
Rouse instructs Level 3 students twice a week catering to both students studying automotive engineering at high school, as well as apprentices who are already working in the industry.
Rebecca Rouse teaches automotive courses at Toi Ohomai. Photo / Supplied
The Secondary-Tertiary Programme (STP) offers high school students a first taste of the industry, with the automotive programme being offered in Rotorua, Taupō, Tauranga, Tokoroa and Whakatāne.
Some students came from as far as Ōpōtiki and Murupara.
"They can take this [STP] qualification that they're learning and run with our Toi Ohomai apprenticeship programme in industry once they get a job. All of it crosses over," Rebecca says.
She was also keen to expose high school students to automotive in the STP programme so they could decide if it was what they wanted to do.
Using a mix of online assessment and night classes, Rouse also helped apprentices fill skill gaps to meet the needs of their employer.
"We bring them in and give them one on one training or I might take two or three in a class. We work really closely with the students and the employer to give them the best experience."
Toi Ohomai had apprentices working in a variety of garages and Rouse taught a full range of automotive courses which encompass electrical engineering, light engineering, mechanical engineering and heavy automotive engineering.
"We're always looking for more. It's important we can get employers to give students that chance.
