{"id":110420,"date":"2025-10-31T09:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/110420\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:35:09","slug":"northtec-job-losses-part-of-plan-to-keep-northland-polytechnic-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/110420\/","title":{"rendered":"NorthTec job losses part of plan to keep Northland polytechnic open"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis slimmed-down support services model is what NorthTec needs to be financially viable to ensure that we can continue delivering tertiary education in Te Tai Tokerau.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slatter said NorthTec\u2019s structures and staffing levels had historically been high relative to enrolled student numbers. They were now being brought into line with polytechnics.<\/p>\n

The polytech this month was granted $890,000 <\/a>to support the provision of forestry, fencing and horticulture. An additional $2.75 million in strategically important grant<\/a>s is to be provided annually for the next two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not treating it like income, though,\u201d Slatter said. \u201cWe\u2019re treating it as a balance sheet … we will use it to make sure we don\u2019t make losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The polytech\u2019s efforts to achieve financial viability included an enrolment drive to attract more students to its courses.<\/p>\n

Slatter said NorthTec needed to have 1700 students on the books to make things work.<\/p>\n

He explained that bringing more students<\/a> to existing campuses and getting courses fully enrolled was the number one objective at the moment.<\/p>\n

A staff member whose role was axed said student support had whittled right down, leaving big workloads for remaining staff. <\/p>\n

They said many students were early school leavers or older learners with little confidence who needed massive amounts of wraparound support, and that study was often the first to go for people with complex lives.<\/p>\n

Student support held a vital role in keeping them enrolled, the staff member said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to lose the heart of NorthTec.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said staff felt unheard and undervalued. The goodwill once held was waning.<\/p>\n

Student representative Kirikau De Laurier said NorthTec was \u201ccutting away the glue\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe glue is the manaaki (care) of the kaiako (teachers), and the manaaki of support services.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Laurier likened the changes to going to an Emergency Department with no receptionist.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you expect to provide that same level of support and engagement with limited resources?\u201d<\/p>\n

To say NorthTec would no longer be providing support for students was untrue, Slatter said.<\/p>\n

A new group of six full-time \u0101konga experience facilitators would help learners from application to graduation. Working alongside them was further learner support.<\/p>\n

Slatter said NorthTec had heard the points of view expressed.He praised the professionalism and dedication of staff worried about the impact on students.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, there is no escaping the fact that NorthTec needs to operate differently than the model we are moving from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis slimmed-down support services model is what NorthTec needs to be financially viable to ensure that we can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,2438,6326,2223,79177,23373,55471,3112,809,5342,130,111,43,139,1067,24926,79174,69,1118,5493,5202,2170,79175,4410,3599,9631,1886,61,8812,79176,1533],"class_list":["post-110420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-administration","tag-biggest","tag-confirmed","tag-disestablish","tag-equivalent","tag-fulltime","tag-job","tag-keep","tag-losses","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-northlands","tag-northtec","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-open","tag-part","tag-plan","tag-polytechnic","tag-provider","tag-roles","tag-student","tag-support","tag-to","tag-training","tag-vocational","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}