RoVe Progress Report - May 2023

In any profession that requires a duty of care, safety, and a professional treatment delivery system to clients, requires a high standard of training, and qualifications. Correct application of procedures, str

ctured technical knowledge, practical skills, and application, all of which makes the difference between a successful treatment or a damages complaint.

While the then minister of education, Chris Hipkins declared the RoVE review was to make sure graduates were fit for purpose and to give the underserved a second chance, there may well have be

en other drivers for this review.

With polytechs across the country failing to make a profit, the amalgamation of these tertiary institutes into a single Skills and Technology Institute-Te Pukenga seemed to be the governments answer to the problem. However, during this transformation, Te Pukenga has now grown a 63- million-dollar deficit.

Under RoVE all tertiary education courses in their respective WDC’s are being reviewed. In some initial discussions with Toitu te Waiora -Health WDC, proposals were made to remove the current entry criteria to beauty therapy training, deleting the level 5 beauty therapy diploma [3445], removal of the massage training segments from the level 4 beauticians’ certificate [3444] and deletion of the current NZ Certificate in Specialist Epilation.

After submitting a petition and objections to prev

ent the removal of the Beauty therapy level 5 [3445] diploma course, which was successful, the then proposals suddenly became the draft proposal.

During this period Toitu te Waiora – WDC invited expressions of interest from industry to form a Beauty Services Advisory Group. From 29 applicants a group was selected.

The role of the Beauty Services Sector Advisory Group was to support future qualification reviews and the development of new qualification products. The aim was to bring the sector together and map out a cohesive direction that best serves what the industry requires. At this stage, Toitu te Waiora – WDC were planning to conduct new reviews for qualifications for Nail Technician [3443], Beauty Certificate level 4 [3444] and Beauty therapy Diploma level 5 [3445] during 2024 in conjunction with the Beauty Services Sector Advisory Group.

As this was a public announcement, we at the NZ Board of Professional Skin Therapies felt it is in the best interests of our industry to know who these representatives were that held the responsibility of producing our future therapists. However, Toitu te Waiora – WDC were not prepared to tell us and cited the Privacy Act. The Board has since issued an Official Information Request under the Official Information Act.

With a huge responsibility on this advisory group to not only be our representatives, but also ensure that the new qualifications framework is robust enough to ensure that graduates are educated to execute quality treatments. We also need to ensure that our standards are equal to international standards. We need to have the ability to embrace new technology as it is developing and advance academically to degrees and master level in industry education, equal to our Australian partners and other international universities.

Falling short of these standards, not only fails to provide an upper echelon of thinkers and doers, ongoing professional development, employment opportunities, but fails the next generation which drops us further behind on the international stage.

So, watch this space and see what our industry representatives and Toitu te Waiora – Community, Health, Education and Social Services-WDC have store for us.