Three new commercial road transport micro-credentials are now available to individuals working in the commercial road freight transport industry. The NZQA-approved micro-credentials are designed to recognise specific skills and knowledge required by current or aspiring truck drivers.

“The road transport industry has a significant workforce shortage. We‘ve worked with industry representatives to develop a suite of micro-credentials to support new talent transition to the industry and to continue to grow their skills, staircasing to formal qualifications,” said MITO chief executive Janet Lane.

• The Commercial Road Transport – Mass and Dimensions Micro-credential (Level 3) provides learners with the foundation knowledge required to understand vehicle mass, dimensions and High Productivity Motor Vehicle permits for drivers.

• The Commercial Road Transport – Heavy Combination Vehicle Loading Fundamentals Micro-credential (Level 3) covers the knowledge required to understand heavy combination vehicle dynamics, safe driving, loading principles and procedures.

• The Commercial Road Transport – Driver Safety Micro-credential (Level 4) covers understanding fatigue and other health factors affecting the performance of commercial road transport drivers and safe night driving.

The three new micro-credentials join the Introduction to Commercial Road Transport Micro-credential, which was launched last year and is aimed at anyone interested in joining the industry. 

“This suite of micro-credentials will allow the industry to not only attract more talent, but to grow their own people – future-proofing the success of New Zealand‘s commercial road transport workforce,” said Lane.

“The Road Transport Forum is thrilled to see these three micro-credentials available for people in the commercial road freight transport industry, and whoever else is interested or plans to join the industry,” said RTF chief executive Nick Leggett. 

“We want to see a more professional approach to truck driving, with training and development to ensure our future drivers are even safer on the road. There is now quite a suite of micro-credentials and New Zealand certificate qualifications for our industry which is attractive to the trainees in our Te ara ki tua Road to Success traineeship, as well as others in the industry who want formal recognition of their skills.”

The micro-credentials are completed fully online, meaning that learners can access their programme at any time and from any device. They are free of charge until 31 December 2021 and each is expected to take four to five weeks to complete.