This unfortunate attitude was on display last week after Education Minister Erica Stanford announced the list of subjects to be included in the new school curriculum for Years 11-13.
Outdoor education and tourism, which are part of the current curriculum, will not be in the new one. Instead, they will most likely be listed in a new category of vocational subjects.
Neither Education Outdoors NZ (EONZ) nor Tourism Teachers Aotearoa New Zealand (TTANZ) is happy about the change. According to RNZ, both organisations believe their subjects are “being relegated to filler status for struggling students, rather than being seen as serious options for teenagers.”
This framing exemplifies the dismal attitude that has held back vocational education in New Zealand. It contributes to a downward spiral. The more vocational education is seen as a repository for students who can’t handle ‘serious options,’ the less students see it as a valid pathway on par with university.
Contrary to the fears of EONZ and TTANZ, the new vocational subjects could be a circuit breaker. Until now, vocational education has been a mere add-on to the ‘academic’ curriculum. Under the new approach, Industry Skills Boards (ISBs) will develop a curriculum of its own for each vocational subject.
Vocational subjects could start to build more esteem for vocational education, but schools will need support to make the most of them. The ongoing involvement of ISBs will be crucial. They cannot just develop the vocational subjects and walk away.
Schools will need help to organise learning-through-work opportunities for students. Often, they will need partnerships with tertiary providers to teach aspects of vocational subjects they are not resourced to teach themselves. ISBs could assist with both of these things.
The tertiary training system is in disarray following the merger of the polytechnics into Te Pūkenga, and its swift demise. That will have to be sorted out, so students who take vocational subjects at school have strong tertiary programmes to go to.
There is a way to go before New Zealand has a vocational education system that rivals universities as a destination of choice. But vocational subjects are a great start.
Dr Michael Johnston is a Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative. This article was first published HERE
Neither Education Outdoors NZ (EONZ) nor Tourism Teachers Aotearoa New Zealand (TTANZ) is happy about the change. According to RNZ, both organisations believe their subjects are “being relegated to filler status for struggling students, rather than being seen as serious options for teenagers.”
This framing exemplifies the dismal attitude that has held back vocational education in New Zealand. It contributes to a downward spiral. The more vocational education is seen as a repository for students who can’t handle ‘serious options,’ the less students see it as a valid pathway on par with university.
Contrary to the fears of EONZ and TTANZ, the new vocational subjects could be a circuit breaker. Until now, vocational education has been a mere add-on to the ‘academic’ curriculum. Under the new approach, Industry Skills Boards (ISBs) will develop a curriculum of its own for each vocational subject.
Vocational subjects could start to build more esteem for vocational education, but schools will need support to make the most of them. The ongoing involvement of ISBs will be crucial. They cannot just develop the vocational subjects and walk away.
Schools will need help to organise learning-through-work opportunities for students. Often, they will need partnerships with tertiary providers to teach aspects of vocational subjects they are not resourced to teach themselves. ISBs could assist with both of these things.
The tertiary training system is in disarray following the merger of the polytechnics into Te Pūkenga, and its swift demise. That will have to be sorted out, so students who take vocational subjects at school have strong tertiary programmes to go to.
There is a way to go before New Zealand has a vocational education system that rivals universities as a destination of choice. But vocational subjects are a great start.
Dr Michael Johnston is a Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative. This article was first published HERE
3 comments:
Looking at the international literature on this subject (one to which I have added considerably), the term 'vocational' in this context refers to education and training for trades - motor mechanic, joiner, fitter and turner, brewers and bakers, etc.
What is missing here is the recognition of a distinct 'technical' track leading to careers in areas such as electronics, automotive engineering, industrial and medical lab technology, etc.
In the European education systems, the technical track is presented as an alternative to both the academic and vocational tracks at upper secondary level. Technical track students go to polytechs or, where they exist, Universities of Technology after leaving school. (While still at school, they may be dually enrolled at both school and tech, a possibility also mentioned in this article.) Vocational students do not enter universities at all, but may be involved in some studies at a technical institute.
We need to get away from the 2-track mindset as it will always be associated with the academic track for the 'winners' and the vocational track as the consolation prize for the 'losers'. In a system where students are tracked into career pathways matching their aptitudes, there are no losers, only winners. As for technical track students being second-rate, a growing number of academically top-shelf students have been choosing to enter technical programmes in some systems because of the better employment prospects.
What is the programme intended for the great tail of underachievers , who leave school not having passed the year 11 literacy and numeracy assessment?
With all the lovely advances in technology there are even fewer jobs for these school leavers .
Thanks to our rotten education system these kids have severely limited choices and these often include joining a gang , going on welfare or taking up the most menial and low paid jobs.
They are products of the foolish play-way, anti -work ethic , developmental constructivist ideology -callous and brutal . Sure there are always going to be some of these unfortunates who for years languish in classrooms often taunted daily as being retards, but we now have unprecedented numbers of them . Far too many are Maori and our Min. of Education are to blame , not colonisation. . Marxism and critical race theory are not the answer.
For every one of these victims , I suggest a the Ministry of Education receives demerit points displayed graphically for all to see on their building and pay deductions , until they stop wasting resources on promoting ideology in schools and concentrate on actual education as we used to know it which focused on academic success particularly in the basics,
I don't know if it still exists but the 'NZ Certificate of Engineering' (NZCE) was a good alternate pathway for technical trades. It was considered a good practical and academic combination qualification . in different disciplines.
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