In addition to the Cross-Sector Action Plan, which identifies the common pain points and actions identified across the nine sectors, there are a number of significant challenges to attracting and retaining talent in the marine sector; these include: 

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1. Neurodiversity and team management: Increasing neurodiversity in the workforce can be challenging for employers, as team leaders often lack training in managing diverse abilities.
2. Competition with the construction Industry: Maritime industries often compete with the better-paid construction sector due to overlapping skills.
3. Apprenticeship programmes: Since the Apprenticeship Boost ended, there has been a drop in training applications, posing challenges for businesses. Financial burdens on businesses supporting apprentices until year four further exacerbate the issue.

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What action is Hanga-Aro-Rau taking?

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In addition to the actions outlined in our Cross-Sector Action Plan, specific actions aligned with the Marine sector to support a robust workforce pipeline are: 

Youth transition support: Facilitating seamless transitions from school to employment and training by linking NCEA Level 1-3 courses with Youth Guarantee programs, ensuring a steady pipeline of skilled workers. 

Funding stream identification: Assisting industry in identifying funding streams for talent attraction and retention, ensuring sustained industry growth and development. 

Education strategy support: Continuing support for education strategies such as the Ka Hikitia Māori Education Strategy and the Action Plan for Pacific Education, demonstrating a commitment to improving outcomes for diverse learners. 

School-to-work programs: The School-to-Work program is a valuable initiative supported by the marine NIAG group. It advocates for future funding to bridge the gap between education and employment in the maritime sector. 

Support for Māori and Pacific workforces: Conducting a stocktake of strategies for talent attraction, retention, and engagement, with a focus on priority groups such as Māori and Pacific people and facilitating regular meetings for industry representatives to convene and collaborate on addressing shared priorities and challenges.  

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Pacific Workforce action plan: Scoping tangible actions in Lumana’i o Tangata Moana action plan, there is a focus on supporting Pacific learners and workers through talent attraction, retention and engagement with a particular target to increase community engagement across regional Pacific communities. This action plan is a guiding tool for industry to identify and develop education and training solutions to prepare Pacific peoples for emerging opportunities. It also presents confident approaches to building cultural capabilities to support the Pacific workforce.  

In addition to the Cross-Sector Action Plan, which identifies the common pain points and actions identified across the nine sectors, there are a number of significant challenges to qualifications and recognition in the Marine sector; these include: 

1. Industry consultation for Quality Development: Key Industry stakeholders, such as MAST Academy, emphasise the importance of polytechnics consulting with the sector to develop qualifications that align with industry needs. 
2. Expedited Qualification Development: There's a recognised need to expedite the process of developing new qualifications to keep pace with evolving industry demands.  
3. Composites training: The emergence of new composites necessitates the delivery of short upskilling courses to cover these materials.  

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What action is Hanga-Aro-Rau taking?

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In addition to the Cross-Sector Action Plan, which identifies the common pain points and actions identified across the nine sectors, there are a number of significant challenges to qualifications and recognition in the commercial transport sector, including: 

Unit Standards review: Facilitating the review of three existing unit standards and developing six new ones through our qualification assessment process. See detail below.  

Pathways: Establishing pathways for Level 4 and higher enables graduates to advance to higher-level business project management studies. 

Unit Standard: Providing information on the transition from unit standards to skills standards, emphasising the benefits of this shift for industry training. 

Qualification reviews: Addressing challenges by conducting qualification reviews to identify skill gaps and develop new products, including micro-credentials and skill standards tailored to specific training needs in the marine sector. 

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Hanga-Aro-Rau is undertaking a number of qualification reviews for the marine sector – you can find more information around these and how to get involved here. And follow the links to find out more about interim rulings, or quals reviews coming up from Hanga-Aro-Rau