I move amendment No. 1:
In page 3, to delete all words from and including "and" in line 11 down to and including "education" in line 14 and insert ", commercial education and business and management studies, philosophical studies, studies relating to agriculture and fisheries, catering, legal studies, public administration, art and design, complementary studies and other such studies as the Council shall so decide as suitable provided outside the universities, whether professional, vocational or technical (including apprenticeship courses) and shall promote and encourage the availability of recurrent education".
This amendment relates to a description of the subjects which the NCEA will have guardianship over. I am not happy with the wording in the Bill. The words used are rather terse and narrow in concept. A wider and more liberal phraseology would better suit the Bill for the sake of future interpretation of its role and functions. In my amendment I have attempted to make quite clear the fields which the council will interest itself in and they are so described as to leave no doubt that the council has a wide range of subjects to control. There will be no problem about interpreting its functions in future.
As regards apprenticeships I feel that the present situation where AnCO is playing a major role in the development of apprenticeships does not recognise the educational context of the apprenticeship courses.
The educational content in apprenticeship courses is insufficient to ensure the educational advancement of the apprentices. Greater educational input is necessary to ensure that our society does not produce a new generation of human robots. Therefore, there is need to ensure that the educational content receives higher priority than at present under the AnCO apprenticeship courses. This is sufficiently serious to warrant mention in my amendment and I draw the Minister's specific attention to it.
In replying I should be grateful if the Minister would address himself to consideration of the correct quantity and quality of the educational aspect of apprenticeship courses. Our regional colleges and colleges of technology should play a greater role in ensuring that an apprentice, when finished his apprenticeship, has a balanced education not alone in respect of his specific career subjects but also in relation to his general educational standard. We have an obligation to ensure that our young people completing apprenticeship courses have a standard of education affording them promotional opportunities within, say, business firms so that they will not feel in later years they are in dead-end jobs but rather that the promotional opportunities open to many other people will also be fully available to them.
Therefore we have a serious obligation to ensure that the educational aspects of apprenticeship are not neglected. It is for that reason that I specifically request that the National Council for Educational Awards have as one of their functions the apprenticeship area so that they will be able to—as the Bill says—encourage, facilitate, promote, especially "promote", co-ordinate and develop education with specific reference to apprentices. I am sure the Minister is sympathetic to the aspiration that this area be well catered for. I am not satisfied, and I am saying specifically, that the AnCO apprenticeship schemes, as at present constituted go into the educational aspect of apprenticeship courses. I am satisfied there is a need for the NCEA to oversee the standards of apprenticeships. Certainly, they may consult with AnCO or with any professional or trading group in order to ensure a proper standard of apprenticeship training.
There are other subjects that should be mentioned because, as the Bill is at present worded, possibly they would be excluded. I refer specifically to philosophical studies, studies relating to agriculture and fisheries, legal studies, catering, public administration and art and design studies. I have added also the words "complementary studies" in order to ensure that the council be fully involved in liberal subjects and all studies complementary to specialised subjects. It would be prudent to specify these other fields of study to ensure that the responsibilities and functions of the National Council for Educational Awards are fully understood as being of a wide and liberal nature and not within the narrow concept that the wording of section 3 (1) of the Bill would seem to indicate.
My amendment is a moderate one. Certainly it is not political in the narrow context of the word. It is an amendment I suggest would benefit the NCEA and would protect them in their future interpretation of the Act.