He Toki Electrical Trades Training

About the programme

Get the skills and support you need to succeed in the electrical industry in Te Waipounamu.

With He Toki, you'll be supported to gain a New Zealand Certificate in Electrical Pre-Trade (Level 3) – with a difference.  

Talk to us if you: 

• are Māori or Pasifika
• are 16-40 years old
• want to learn and earn in a practical, hands-on environment, and
• want a rewarding career in the electrical industry.

He Toki is more than study pathway – it's a journey with a support network

He Toki supports whānau to gain skills and qualifications, connect with iwi and explore industry opportunities, with the goal of securing wealth-enriching futures for Māori and Pasifika.  

He Toki’s strengths are in building relationships and offering a personalised and encouraging approach to learning, to ensure that you have a sustainable study/life balance. 

• It challenges mainstream teaching methodologies
• It arms people with practical and employable skills in a required trade
• It embeds te reo and tikaka into day-to-day operations
• It applies an ako/tuakana-teina approach to offer guidance and mentorship with a Māori-specific context.

Why you should join He Toki for your electrical training

He Toki aims to enrich electrical trades education to grow the Māori and Pasifika workforce. It brings together iwi, industry, educational institutions, community organisations and government agencies. 

Since it was established in 2011, He Toki has prepared more than 1100 trainees for jobs in the trades sector. 

Now is the time to start your career in the electrical industry. 

This programme gives you the work-ready skills to enter the electrical trade as an apprentice electrician working under supervision.  

During your studies, you'll enjoy hands-on training in our workshops and the chance to be involved in real-world, community-based building projects, which will lead to you gaining knowledge about domestic, industrial, and commercial installation.  

What you’ll learn

During this hands-on programme, you’ll study topics such as Electrical Work Practices, Electrical Appliances and Circuit Design and Operation. 

When you finish, you could enter an apprenticeship agreement with us and an employer so you can complete the Level 4 apprenticeship programme. This will give you the skills you need to work independently as an electrician.  

Career opportunities include domestic, commercial, industrial or electricity supply electrician, appliance service worker, work within telecommunications industry, or self-employment.

Entry

Entry requirements

General admission

• You’ll need to be at least 16 on the day that your programme starts (or give us a completed Early Release Exemption Form).
• You’ll also need to meet or exceed the following academic requirements:
  • NCEA Level 1 with Mathematics and English, or
  • have equivalent knowledge and skills.

Special admission

You must:  

• be 20, on or before the day that your programme starts, and
• provide sufficient evidence of your aptitude or appropriate work or other life experience to indicate that you can successfully complete this programme.

Discretionary admission

In exceptional cases, if you do not meet the general admission requirements and haven’t reached the age of 20 on the first day of your programme, you can apply for discretionary admission. When we assess whether to grant discretionary admission, our primary focus will be whether we feel you are prepared for study at the required level.

English Language Requirements

You must provide evidence that you have English Language proficiency equivalent to NCEA Level 1 English.

Domestic applicants

If English, Māori or New Zealand Sign is not your first language and you can’t provide evidence of the above, you’ll need to provide evidence using an equivalent described in the NZQA Rules.

Selection process

Criteria

When the number of eligible applicants exceeds the number of places available, we’ll use the following selection criteria:

• if you have high levels of achievement in NCEA Level 1 English, Maths, and Physics or General Science, you’ll be a preferred candidate for entry
• if you have a lower level of achievement in NCEA Level 1 English, Maths, and Physics or General Science, we may work with you to identify any extra support you might need to enter the programme.

Process

Staff members will select applicants based on the information supplied during the application process. Sometimes, further information may be needed from an applicant to allow an enrolment decision to be made. This might involve an interview or assessment (face-to-face or electronic).

Don't meet the entry requirements?

If you don’t meet the entry requirements and feel like you might want to do other Polytechnic study to get you up to speed before you apply for this Level 3 programme, we have several options available:  

Engineering Maths Summer School

This is the perfect option if you need to improve your engineering maths skills. It runs during January each year.

New Zealand Certificate in Foundation Skills (Level 2)

This is a great option if you want to re-engage with study or want to experience studying at a polytechnic. It will help you develop your reading, writing, maths and computing skills.

New Zealand Certificate in English Language (Level 2)

This Certificate is for speakers who can use basic English in everyday settings but want to improve their English for study or work.