Just where in this industry is the representation for apprentices/trainees?   Apprentices are left for the most part to fend for themselves when dealing with the political octupi in this industry.  They have no show standing up as an individual against the PGDB or the ITO or the polytec for that matter.  They are probably solely reliant on their employer - who may also not be that keen to stir up the waters with any of the above groups.

We have seen licence fees for newly registered practitioners go through the roof.  This affects the trainees the most and yet what formal protest can they make?  Often they are fairly new to the industry (having been in it maybe 4 years or so) and are not aware of all the different groups.  Apprentices need to have a voice in this industry - they are the business owners of tomorrow.  They are large in number and so, once harnessed, could certainly be a political force.  They simply need educating and they also need to realise that if something isn't right they can change it.  Apprentices should not accept sub standard training from the polytec, nor substandard paperwork from the ITO - if they have done their part then they should be booked for block courses in a resonable time frame.  They should be able to enter this industry as fully fledged tradespeople once they have passed their exams without the economic barrier of $766 or $1266 for two trades.   I would be interested to hear from the apprentices who use this forum what they think.

Linkback: https://www.plumbers.nz/polytechs-and-unitecs/82/who-looks-after-the-apprentices/515/

All i can say is thank god this is my final year...set for november exams...I think that the level of training is appalling they try to push the we are experts we are the best trained blah blah blah...i liked the wintech booklets best...even though there were nemrous spelling mistakes and sometimes incorect info...i found it the easyiest info to assimilate...the unitech booklets and online training modules are a complete f**k up sorry to say cus alot of effort has been put in making the words all yellow and pink and blue and green...some of the info is great but saddly lacking in there manner of passing the info in an easy to understand manner...and i found alot of indervidual views pushed in there books which i consider to be a no no the only indervidual view i need from the codes is the view of the fulla that pays my wage!...i would like to see in the future clear consice info provided to future students...im not 5 years old, bright colors dont hold my attention anymore, clean matter of fact info is what im after to learn this trade...the do this and the dont do this...hard and fast info no deviation from the book anal it may seem but the only to get uniform tought is to teach in a uniform manner...