FIELD                 AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES

 

Review of Forest Health Surveillance qualification

 

National Certificate in Forest Health Surveillance (Level 5) [Ref: 0909]

 

The Forest Industries Training and Education Council (FITEC) has completed the review of the qualification above.

 

Date new version published                                                             July 2008

 

The next qualification review is planned to take place during 2012.

 

Summary of review and consultation process

 

This qualification was reviewed because of changes made by a Committee of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association to the procedures for the surveillance of tree health in forest plantations, and other changes made by Biosecurity New Zealand to the procedures for the surveillance of the health of trees and of wood and wooden structures in high risk sites in the urban environment.

 

Main changes resulting from the review

 

Standards 22894 and 22895 have been developed to meet the new requirements of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association for the forest health surveillance of plantation trees, and the new requirements of Biosecurity New Zealand for the surveillance of high risk sites in the urban forest environment such as devaning sites, transitional facilities, and vegetation rich areas.  The standards they replace, standard 5872 in the compulsory section, and standard 5875 in the elective section, are no longer 'fit for purpose'.

 

National Certificate in Forest Health Surveillance [Ref: 0909]

 

Review category

B

See Key to Qualification Review Categories at the end of report

 

Changes to content

·      Standard credits, levels and classifications have been updated to take into account reviews of standards by FITEC.

·      Standard 1241 has been replaced in the qualification with standard 1138.  This reflects the review of standard 1241, the level of the qualification, and the requirements of the target audience.

·      Standard 19058 had been replaced by standards 24558 and 24559 to reflect its review by the Agriculture Industry Training Organisation.  Their two prerequisite standards, standards 24556 and 24557, have also been added to the elective section.

·      Compulsory credits increased from 91 to 102.

·      Minimum elective credits increased from 19 to 28.

·      Total credits required for the qualification increased from 110 to 130.

 

Transition

 

The standards which were replaced in this qualification (standards 5872 and 5875) are no longer 'fit for purpose' and people wanting to work in the field of forest health surveillance are required to retrain, and complete assessment against, the new standards.

 

People who have completed versions 1 or 2 of this qualification will be required to complete the new standard in the compulsory (22895) to meet the new level of competency required by the New Zealand Forest Owners Association.  People who choose to complete the replacement elective standard (22894), will meet the new Biosecurity New Zealand requirements for the surveillance of trees and wood in high risk sites in the urban forest environment.

 

Candidates who feel they have been disadvantaged by these transition arrangements should contact FITEC at the address below.

 

This qualification contains standards that replace earlier standards.  For the purposes of this qualification, people who have gained credit for the expiring standards are exempt from the requirement to gain credit for the replacement standards - see table below.

 

Credit for	Exempt from
1128	14666, 14667
1211, 1213, 1214, 1215	17769
1241	1138
10099	24558, 22559
19058	24558, 22559

 

Forest Industries Training and Education Council (FITEC)

PO Box 137 067

PARNELL

Auckland

 

Telephone         09 356 7250

Email                  info@fitec.org.nz

 

Key to Qualification Review Categories

 

Category A The qualification is published as a new version with the same NQF ID	Changes are made to SSB name, contact details or purpose statement
	No change is made to title, rules or components of the qualification
	No transition arrangements are required
Category B The qualification is published as a new version with the same NQF ID	Changes are made to title, rules or components
	The new version of the qualification recognises a similar skill set to that recognised by the previous version
	The SSB is confident that people awarded the new or previous version are comparable in terms of competence
	Transition arrangements are required if candidates must gain additional/different credits for the new version
Category C A new (replacement) qualification is published with new NQF ID	Significant changes are made to the qualification in terms of components, structure, type or level
	The SSB views people with the replacement qualification as being significantly different in terms of competence from those with the replaced qualification
	Transition arrangements are required
	Transition may be limited to phase-out dates
Category D Qualification will expire. There is no replacement qualification	Qualification is no longer required by industry
	The qualification is designated as expiring and a last date for meeting the qualification requirements is set