New agreement signed between Open Polytechnic and IHC

Monday, 30 October 2017, 12:10 pm
Press Release: Open Polytechnic

30 October 2017

New agreement signed between Open Polytechnic and IHC

An agreement signed between national distance learning provider Open Polytechnic and IHC, New Zealand’s largest provider of services to people with intellectual disabilities, will see IHC staff given the opportunity to upskill with new qualifications.

Employees from IHC can enrol in one of Open Polytechnic’s new social health and wellbeing qualifications, which they can study online, when and where suits them.

Open Polytechnic’s new qualifications include the fee-free New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 3) (Support Work) and New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 4) (Community and Social Services).

Employees looking to build on an existing health and disability qualification can then also choose to study the Bachelor of Social Health and Wellbeing, Disability Major, outside of this agreement, which has been co-designed with the disability sector. Next year Open Polytechnic will also launch the Graduate Diploma in Disability Sector Leadership.

Head of School of Health and Social Sciences Dr Raymond Young says the agreement joins the growing number of partnerships Open Polytechnic has with providers of disability, mental health and addiction services.

“Open Polytechnic’s Memorandum of Understanding with IHC means a significant number of workers in the intellectual disability sector, including support workers, team leaders and managers will have the opportunity to upskill and extend their knowledge,” Dr Young says.

“Our new social health and wellbeing qualifications have been developed in close consultation with organisations across the disability sector, including IHC. This means graduates will be well prepared to respond to the significant changes being experienced in the disability and community sector in New Zealand.”

“We are really pleased that these qualifications are open to all staff – our commitment to our staff and the people we support means we want to see all staff achieve these, or equivalent qualifications”, says Ross Maden, IHC General Manager Human Resourcing and Training.

“A qualification improves the quality of our services and can give people a higher hourly rate.”

For more information about Open Polytechnic’s new Social Health and Wellbeing qualifications, visit: http://bit.ly/2rPvKNu.

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