Apprentices
Are you coming to the Glass & Glazing Institute of New Zealand for off-job training?
What New Zealand Certificate am I working towards?
What courses do I attend as part of my apprenticeship?
What is a NZQA Record of Achievement?
What will I be doing at my Year 1 Off-Job Training Course?
What will I be doing at my Year 2 Off-Job Training Course?
What will I be doing at my Year 3 Off-Job Training Course?
Where is my Off-Job Training Course held?
Where can I stay while I’m away from my hometown?
Things you need to do before you leave home
Things to bring with you
How to prepare at work for your Off-Job Training Course
GGINZ Drug and Alcohol Policy
Mates in Construction
Apprentice Survey
Awards and Scholarships through Te Pukenga – BCITO
What New Zealand Certificate am I working towards?
- Glazing with strands in Residential, Commercial, Level 4
- Glass Processing Level 4 with optional strands. Optional strands are completed in the workplace.
This is a nationally recognised qualification. It is the culmination of approximately three years of hard work and a formal recognition of your skills and expertise. Your boss will decide which strands you will be doing. Sometimes it will be one or possibly two strands dependent on the type of work your company does.
You will come to off-job training block courses at the Glass and Glazing Institute of New Zealand (GGINZ).
What courses do I attend as part of my apprenticeship?
Off-Job Training summary
What is a NZQA Record of Achievement?
Your Record of Achievement (ROA) is like a bank account of all the unit standards you achieve and can be seen on the NZQA website. When you were at high school you were given a National Student Number (NSN) and all credits you achieved will be held at NZQA under your personal NSN.
When you start your apprenticeship, you will continue to use the same NSN. Your Training Advisor will report your glass and glazing credits to your NSN. You can access your ROA at any time by logging on to the NZQA website and typing in your NSN and your password.
All Standards and credits you achieve must be recorded on your ROA before you can get your New Zealand Certificate in Glass and Glazing which also shows the strands you completed.
Where is my Off-Job Training Course held?
The Institute is located at 3 Cedric Place, Plimmerton, Porirua. It is very close to the Plimmerton train station on the Kapiti line. We strongly recommend you work out the route to get to the GGINZ before the first day of your course.
Where can I stay while I’m away from my hometown?
Many apprentices to choose to stay in a GGINZ arranged homestay. This means you stay with kind caring people, have a clean comfortable room, with breakfast and a lovely home cooked meal each evening. Use this application form to book. Your alternatives are oranising yourself to stay with family / friends or book an Airbnb.
If you are staying over a weekend, this website suggests things you can do, maybe with your classmates: Things to do in Porirua, and of course the train to Wellington is only a 25-minute ride.
Things you need to do before you leave home
Te Paukenga Work Based Learning (Formerly BCITO) will send your employer the dates of your course and information about your off-job training course. This will be about four weeks before you are due to attend.
Important stuff that you need to do and have organised:
- Book accommodation early: Accommodation form. Remember to fill out all spaces. It’s not good if we find out when you get here you have allergies or can’t eat certain foods.
- Remember when you book your flights or if driving quite some distance, you will need to be at your homestay on Sunday night before the start of your course.
Things to bring with you
- Bring your stuff that’s on the tool list sent to you by Te Pukenga PPE gear especially hi-viz vest, boots, gloves, safety glasses. If you arrive unprepared you will end up having to purchase new gear.
- Te Pukenga Work Based Learning (Formerly BCITO) resource books.
- Pen, pencil, rubber, A4 notebook. You are strongly advised to take notes during your classroom learning. The General Manager will come down on the first day and help you learn how to take notes. You will then be able to refer to your notes for your practical projects in the workshop. It has been noticed that the apprentices who take notes are the ones who demonstrate a higher standard of work and complete on time. This is because they can refer back to the notes for instructions instead of waiting to ask the tutor who is likely to be working with another student right when you need to find out!
How to prepare at work for your Off-Job Training Course
Work with your BCITO, Te Pukenga Training Advisor and employer to discuss what standards you will be covering at each course. Your company employer /mentor / supervisor will provide the opportunity and guidance to begin learning some of the skills that will be continued at your course. When you are at the Glass & Glazing Institute of NZ (GGINZ), your tutors will work with you to advance your skills and knowledge for each stage of your apprenticeship. You will have further practice of these when you get back to work. After some time, your Training Advisor will then work with you and your employer to assess whether you have achieved a particular standard.
Have a look at this video to find out more about what happens at course and meet the tutors:
Stage 1 at course Self Reflective Journal
At your first course you will be given a Self Reflective Journal; either for Glazing or Processing depending on which qualification you are doing.
Page one is a letter to your employer which talks about what you are doing at your course and the expectations from your course. It would be really good if your employer gives you further experience back at work to practice some of the new skills and knowledge you have learnt. Not only does this benefit the company but it also means you are enhancing your abilities to be a great glazier in the glass industry.
Page two is a letter to apprentices which tells you about some of the things you will be doing at course. Not only is there a timetable for each day but there is also your homework schedule.
You are encouraged to complete the activities which is self-directed learning. At the tertiary level of learning, it is different from when you were at college. You are responsible for your learning. The “How Well Did You Do” pages are self-assessment where you can check for yourself how much you knew. There is a section for the practical projects. This is a little like writing a report about yourself after you have completed a project. Your self-written reports are fantastic opportunity to discuss with your employer when you return to work, your achievements from being at the GGINZ. You may need to make an appointment with the boss to do this but it is really important that he / she hears about your progress.
You’ll see some apprentices in action in this video.
What needs to happen when I return to work after my course?
So you’ve been to course and have learned new skills and gained knowledge as you work towards achieving your qualification. While you were at the GGINZ your employer still paid your wage showing its commitment to you, so you can attain your New Zealand Certificate. The company that you work for will gain from your new experience, skills and knowledge.
For both you and your company to get the most from your learning, it is important that your employer hears and discusses how your new skills and knowledge can be used in the workplace. This will reinforce your learning moving forward.
Everyone is very busy so apprentices, now at tertiary level of education, need to take responsibility for their learning. When you return to work request a short meeting with your employer / mentor / supervisor. Show pictures of your projects and talk about the work you did on course. Talk about what you were successful in achieving, what you identified as a rework, what you changed to improve and how you went about this. Don’t forget to talk about the knowledge of theory that you covered.
GGINZ Drug and Alcohol Policy
The GGINZ is a drug and alcohol free environment. Management and tutors take this policy seriously.
Mates in Construction – Mates helping mates
Suicide is everyone’s business; it does not discriminate. Our construction industry is losing nearly one person every week to suicide and 98% of those that we lose are our men.
At Stage 1 Core courses, all apprentices will have the opportunity to be part of the Mates in Construction Level 1 Training.
The programme helps our people to be supportive and provide an environment that encourages positive wellbeing. This training at the GGINZ helps to introduce apprentices to the nature of the problem and provides practical guidance as to how they can assist.
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- Find out more about The Mates Programme
- Worried about a mate? Take a look at some of the videos: Mates in Construction
Apprentice survey
The GGINZ is always looking for ways to improve your learning experience. At the end of your course, it would be really appreciated if you could spend two or three minutes completing our survey here.
Scholarships and awards through Te Pukenga
The Outward Bound Scholarship
Te Pukenga / BCITO offers several awards to apprentices. Outward Bound is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and helps young leaders build confidence, become self-aware and improve communication and teamwork skills. These skills are vital in today’s competitive training and employment market.
The Outward Bound Scholarship for Wahine
For our amazing women apprentices there is an Outward Bound course for the under-represented gender.
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- Find out more about the above scholarships and see what other scholarships are on offer at BCITO.