KEY POINTS:
Qualification: MIT Certificate in Carpentry (level 4)
Where: Manukau Institute of Technology
Contact: ph 0800 626252, email info@manukau.ac.nz, website www.manukau.ac.nz.
Course dates: Start February and July.
Duration: Level 3, one year; level 4, one semester. Course runs three days a week.
Requirements: Students with good literacy and numeracy do well as the plan reading and site documentation complexity increase.
Course cost: Level 3 approx $4750, level 4 approx $2305.
Course numbers: 150 places for Level 3.
Starting salary: Varies depending on age, level of experience and knowledge; but once builders have the National Certificate of Carpentry, hourly rates start at about $25.
Career opportunities: Apprentice, carpenter, leading hand, foreman, project manager, technical support, sales and teaching. There is a shortage of trained staff as retiring baby boomers leave the industry. New Zealand carpenters are valued overseas because of their technical skills and their work habits.
Building work can become a passion, providing great satisfaction.
"There is a sense of job well done when you see houses and buildings constructed from a muddy site," says Bruce Watt, principal lecturer at the School of Construction at Manukau Institute of Technology.
Building requires some brawn but brains are needed, too.
"It is a great team occupation as buildings are not built by individuals but by large groups of various trades acting in a co-ordinated way to achieve a project completion."
MIT's entry level Certificate in Carpentry (level 3 and 4) programmes allow students to gain skills and knowledge that will lead to employment in the construction industry.
Courses run three days a week and students are encouraged to find building site employment on their days away from MIT.
The programme covers: efficient applications of building processes; communication on technical and operational matters; learning about building materials and carrying out tasks accurately; solving problems; producing reliable, durable, economic and efficient outcomes; and understanding regulations.
Level 3 is a 36-week programme and graduates proceed to the 18-week level 4.
The curriculum is half theory, including trade technical drawing and trade calculations, and half practical, which includes putting up a full-size building, which is then sold.
All the theory leads to NZQA unit standard credits that go towards the higher qualification of National Certificate in Carpentry.
When students finish their MIT Certificate in Carpentry (level 3 and 4) they seek employment on a carpentry/construction site and work to gain practical skills and unit standards.
While they have basic skills they are still novice workers and need time to get up to full speed.
On average it takes four years to become proficient.
MIT manages this process through its National Certificate in Carpentry level 4 programme. Students are visited and monitored on site by lecturers and attend evening classes once a week for three years.
As they gain practical skills they are awarded the appropriate unit standard until they achieve the National Carpentry Qualification.
MIT also runs a subset of this programme called Upskilling, an accelerated class for builders with more than 10 years' experience but no qualifications.
This helps them gain their carpentry qualification that may become necessary now that builders' licensing is arriving.
Graduates could then go on to the National Certificate in Construction Leading Hand level 4 and National Certificate in Construction Supervisors level 5 programme, as preparation for managing projects and staff on construction sites.
THE GRADUATE
Scott Carragher, age 28
Sub-contractor to Howick Housing
Graduated 2006
I contracted myself out to Howick Housing while studying, building new residential buildings.
I was interested in carpentry as a career because I love the outdoors.
I don't enjoy pushing pencils.
It was a decent trade to do - hands on.
The course gave me the understanding of how to use hand and power tools and to look out for my own safety.
The layout of the course was directed to using hand tools, the old ways of doing things all done by hand and eye, measures and level.
I would ask them why we couldn't use electrical tools.
But if you're in the wops with no electricity, the only way to build is to use hand tools.
And you learn to use the right tools.
What stands out about the course are the tutors. If you had a question they would make time for you. Brian Payne; his teaching skills are up there.
And Kerry Brian, his method of teaching keeps all the lads enthusiastic about the job.
I chose MIT because it had a structure, a timeline, a schedule to get through the stuff.
With construction you have a deadline to build a house.
You put the structure in place and you have to make sure that you hit that deadline.
THE EMPLOYER
Stuart Ennor, Howick Housing
I employed Scott as an apprentice. He's keen, energetic and willing to listen and learn.
The course is good in that it teaches them the theory behind the practical. He's ended up with a good, rounded knowledge. Builders have to have good ability with their hands to start with.
They have to be keen and motivated, as building is tending towards self-employment.
