By Amanda Wells
More than 35 people from PIPC Newtown in Wellington are taking advantage of free management courses held at the church in partnership with a local polytechnic.
They are studying towards the New Zealand Institute of Management Certificate of Management, which the church began offering in October in conjunction with Whitireia Community Polytechnic.
Classes are held in the evenings on the church premises. Many of the participants are young, working parents, while there are also a handful who left school without qualifications.
Tauiliili Nari Auelua is on the church steering group that made the course happen.
She says its community-centred nature means students will be able to support and encourage each other.
Whitireia approached the church at the start of this year, as part of its strategy of delivering programmes via the community.
Mike Fermanis, Whitireia’s dean of business and information technology, told those gathered at the course launch that the tutors would learn as much from their students about teaching in a Pacific, community context as the students would learn during the course.
Students will study the eight papers of the Certificate of Management, completing two this year and the remaining six next year.
Parish minister the Rev Tauinaola Tofi lau says the opportunity is “wonderful news for our Pacific communities here in Newtown”.
“The NZIM course will allow our community to engage in education that will hopefully lead to better employment and better incomes for our people and our families.”