Ō Mātou Ākonga Learners and Providers

• Enrolment numbers for Veterinary Nursing and Animal Care have almost doubled in the last five years, peaking in 2021.
• Nearly half of all enrolments are in the New Zealand Certificate in Animal Care (Level 3). This qualification provides ākonga (learners) with the skills and knowledge to assist with the care of animals in various non-production settings such as rural blocks, animal rescue centres, boarding facilities, and animal recreation businesses.
• A high proportion of ākonga are also enrolled in the New Zealand Certificate in Animal Technology (Level 5), which has seen a steady increase in enrolments. This qualification prepares individuals to work as either a veterinary nursing assistant or rural animal technician.
• Almost all ākonga are provider-based. Workplace-based enrolments have sharply declined since 2019.

How did we get here? 

In this section, we show qualifications that fall within Muka Tangata’s responsibility. We have matched these to each of our industry groups. We have also matched relevant micro-credentials, not necessarily developed by Muka Tangata, to our industry groups. Some qualifications or micro-credentials appear in more than one industry group as they could be useful to that industry, regardless of whether they are currently being used.

Complex apprenticeships consist of multiple programme enrolments. We have matched the main programmes to their relevant industry groups as we do not have the information for the target qualifications. As the data we have only included enrolments in current qualifications and micro-credentials, a full picture of historical trends of all learners in the industry is not reported here.

Qualification strand information is available for ākonga undertaking work-based training (apprentices and trainees). However, due to the limitations of our data for provider-based learners, we cannot separate enrolments into specific strands. For this reason, we have only reported enrolment data at the qualification level. We continue to work on ways to improve the data available to us.

Quality of programmes delivered by training providers

Muka Tangata independently checks assessment material that providers have developed, as well as their assessors’ decisions. This is called moderation – its similar to an audit.

Moderation ensures training carried out by providers is robust. It improves provider practices, and ensures graduates have the skills they need.

The reports provide employers and industry with detail on our activities, the quality of provider assessment, performance of programmes and number of new programmes developed in the past 12 months.