Plumbing, Gasfitting, Drainlaying and Roofing

The Plumbing, Gasfitting, Drainlaying and Roofing ITO has been working with Workbase (New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development) and industry employers to produce workplace ‘Literacy on the Job’ resources and ‘Literacy Profiles’ of the literacy and numeracy skills needed for their trades.

This important literacy and numeracy project has been identifying those skills needed to gain national certificates through distance learning and block courses. Discovering the reading, writing, and maths skills required for qualifications and on the job means the ITO can develop supporting materials for working on those skills.

Literacy on the Job describes the main literacy skills required in a job and how frequently they are used. The resource is useful for existing employees considering taking up training, and for prospective employees or apprentices wanting to know what the job involves.

Literacy Profiles provide more in-depth descriptions of the literacy skills needed to complete job tasks. Employers use these profiles to work with employees to ensure they have, or are developing, the necessary skills. The profiles enable employees to understand the literacy skills involved in their jobs and identify those required for more formal learning, such as the theory side of an apprenticeship.

The Literacy Profile for roofing, plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying is based on roles in a number of companies. The profile represents a combined skill set. Individuals will have strengths and weaknesses across the areas of workplace literacy described in the profile. Tradespeople will also use different combinations of the skills identified depending on the stage of their training, their workplace systems and management structure.

ITO Regional Training Advisors find the profiles useful for working with school careers teachers, guidance counsellors and students interested in a career in the trades. Plumbing, gasfitting, drainlaying, and roofing, trades involve hands-on practical work, but the literacy profiles show there are also significant literacy and numeracy requirements.

ITOs use the profiles when developing qualifications and writing study material with industry experts. They allow the developers to match the content and demands of the qualification to the literacy skills required on the job.

WEBSITE: www.ito.co.nz