Toi Mai is the Ohu Ahumahi - Workforce Development Council for the creative, cultural, recreation and technology sectors.

Our kaupapa is to enhance vocational education and training to meet industry needs. We are a new organisation whose goal is to ensure the workforce of Aotearoa has the skills it needs for the world of work today, and for the future.

Toi Mai and the Regional Skills Leadership Groups provided theme-level advice to TEC in December 2022 [PDF, 284 KB], which helped to inform the broader priorities for the Plan Guidance (For providers submitting plan for funding from 1 January 2024)(external link).

In April 2024, WDCs provided targeted advice to TEC on the mix of vocational education and training that will inform content in the TEC’s Supplementary Plan Guidance, to be published in early June 2023. This targeted advice provides an overview of our sectors and advice [PDF, 1.2 MB], and is best read alongside the accompanying detailed data scan and insights in Appendix A [PDF, 8 MB].

Toi Mai is confident that the advice provided in these documents are robust and evidence based with feedback from peak industry bodies integrated. The following considerations underpin this advice:

• Toi Mai is a newly established organisation with recently formed sub-sectors (Ngā Peka o Toi), described in more detail on page 5. Only one (Toi Pāho) has a Workforce Development Plan, with the remainder scheduled for completion between now and the end of the 2024 calendar year.

• Although TEC has directed us to prioritise funding advice between our sectors, Toi Mai is unable to pit one off against another due to:
  • Historic underfunding for many of our industries and vocational qualifications
  • The wide and diverse span of our sectors and providers
  • The absence of an overarching future-focused national industry policy to guide
    industry prioritisation.

• There is low data quality and availability across Toi Mai industries, particularly those in the creative and cultural sectors, which makes it hard to advise on actual numbers of funded learners required. Some sectors were not previously covered by industry training organisations (ITO). The hairdressing and beauty, equine, conservation, recreation and parts of the performing arts sectors are the exception here as they were covered by former ITOs. For the rest of our sectors, most vocational education pathways are poorly developed or non-existent and data sources are limited, or non-existent in the case of Toi Māori.

• Toi Mai is in an extended discovery phase focused on developing stakeholder relationships with industry, providers, and key organisations. Over the next few years, we anticipate getting to more granular levels of advice as we complete sector specific workforce development plans. 

It is important to acknowledge that workforce development gaps experienced by Toi Mai industries are not simply related to the provision of qualifications or investment in funded enrolments in the formal VET sector. Other priorities to be addressed include:

He wai mārama - Making Ngā Peka o Toi roles visible, coherent and accessible

• Career pathways into, and knowledge about, Toi Mai industry roles are currently invisible and there are many biases at school level that rule rangatahi out of Toi Mai careers before they even leave school.

• A large proportion of the Toi Mai workforce is mid-career changers for whom current vocational education assumptions and provision do not suit (even after the vocational reforms).

Hei wao taunga manu rere - Supporting people to enter and grow in our workplaces

• Many of the industries covered by Toi Mai do not provide culturally safe and inclusive workplace environments for workers, underpinned by a lack of awareness of what businesses and industries need to do to support workforce diversity and equity.

• There is an absence of diversity in senior and management roles in some Toi Mai industries.

Hei rākau whai hua - Delivering training that meets the needs of Ngā Peka o Toi

• Formal government education funding, qualification and provider settings are still not fit for purpose or nimble enough to address industry need, despite the vocational reforms.
• A large proportion of the businesses Toi Mai covers are self-employed contractors/independent earners and subject matter experts that are too small to provide work-based learning.
• Current Unified Funding System (UFS) settings do not incentivise Te Pūkenga and other providers to deliver to smaller cohort, high technical skill-based qualifications needed by Toi Mai industries.

Hei aka here tahi, ka pū orange rau - Working collectively to build and maintain a healthier Wao Nui o Toi

• It appears failed policy, industrial infrastructure and productivity settings may be contributing to insecure and unsustainable careers in the creative industries.
• Industrial classification metrics that disregard Ngā Toi Māori occupations and industries may be in potential breach of the government’s Te Tiriti o Waitangi Article 2 responsibilities.
• Beyond the reporting and advising relationship of Toi Mai to the TEC, there is a need for a more cohesive partnership across education, government and industry to build a healthy and collaborative industry/training/workforce ecosystem. Toi Mai is working on this aspect and will be seeking support on this.