Key Findings

Findings related to the success factors for learners

• Supportive employers and a supportive workplace made a positive impact on motivation.
• A good relationship with learning support facilitators improved participation, achievement and completion.
• Small learner support groups worked well.
• Personal motivations needed to be explored further.

Findings related to the barriers faced by learners

• Pacific workers were often unaware of the range of opportunities available for learning.
• Pacific learners had to prioritise learning, work and family.
• Economic barriers to workplace learning included competing time demands outside of work hours.
• Poor self-perception could be another barrier, eg, a lack of confidence and language barriers.

Findings related to successful facilitators

• Sharing personal industry and work experience worked well.
• Making learning relevant and clarifying how learning contributed to career progression worked well.
• It was a good idea to get to know learners to understand their experiences, values and drivers.
• Facilitators who identified barriers and developed strategies to overcome them were able to build learners’ confidence.
• Practical learning and creating a supportive learning environment worked well.

Findings related to unsuccessful facilitation

• Use of generic rather than contextualised learning resources (workbooks).
• Scheduling facilitation during peak work periods.
• Overlooking the needs of a diverse and multicultural workforce.

Findings related to the benefits of facilitation

• They had the authority to validate learning.
• They had the experience and skills to contextualise learning through practice and communication.     
• They could make learning relevant to the workplace.
• Facilitators knew the workplace context and had the skills to create practical learning opportunities and speak to learners in their language of choice.

Findings related to employers

• It was the role of ITO staff to engage with employers and assists the facilitators.
• It was important to use evidence as the basis for engaging with employers about Pacific learner issues and improving pacific learners’ participation and achievement.
• Businesses with high numbers of Pacific employees were more willing to engage.

Findings related to pilot programmes

• Industries had their own approaches to learner support and ITOs struggled with implementing the proposed pilots.
• Programmes were labour- and time-intensive to set up for the ITO and progress was incremental.     

Key Recommendations

• Engage with Pacific families and learner support networks | Engage as a first step towards sharing information about industry training opportunities and addressing the misperceptions about the value and requirements of workplace learning.
• Create a culture of motivation | Understand what motivates Pacific learners in industry training to establish and develop positive future-focused goals.
• Implement learning support | Use mechanisms that address the negative perceptions learners may have of their own capability and that foster confidence, engagement and motivation.
• Provide support for facilitators | See facilitators as key roles in industry training and support them to demonstrate an understanding of the lived realities of learners.
• Contextualise and tailor learning | Encourage facilitators to use creative learning support approaches based on an understanding of the strengths of the learners.
• Take a broad view of Pacific workplace success | Build on the programme logic models already developed to engage stakeholders in understanding the value of training interventions and the short-, medium- and long-term outcomes and indicators of success.