Prisoners from Northland Region Corrections Facility’s (NRCF) elementary construction skills course recently became Corrections’ first vocational training graduates.
“Over the last four months NRCF prisoners have been learning the skills required for building houses,” says
Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) acting National Operations Manager Robin Benefield.
“By preparing working drawings, constructing items and developing skills such as concreting footpaths, prisoners have been acquiring skills that will help them find sustainable post-release employment.
“Five of the seven prisoners involved graduated with a National Certificate in Elementary Construction and the others are only a couple of unit standards away, a great result.”
The success of the course, managed through a partnership between CIE and Northland Polytechnic, is evidence of the prisoners’ hard work and the quality tuition and expertise given by Polytechnic staff says Robin.
The vocational training is no different to that available to the public she adds. “With each module completed, prisoners gain credits which add up to unit standards. Prisoners can accumulate unit standards that contribute towards a National Certificate. As these can be achieved in any accredited institution prisoners can continue training once released.”
Vocational training programmes are designed to provide prisoners with job skills that are in short supply in the region says Robin.
In Northland, CIE worked with a number of local organisations and government agencies to identify regional skills-gaps and develop the training programmes to help fill them. NZQA accredited courses in construction, horticulture, and forestry were developed.
“Knowledge through skills also provides benefits such as increased self esteem, greater self worth and an eagerness to progress,” says Robin.
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ISSN 1178-8453