Vocational Education and Training
Vocational Education and Training
For several decades, Aotearoa New Zealand’s system for teaching and learning has been built around university being the pathway to success. Vocational education has been seen as a second choice, and for those who are better with their hands than their heads. In the absence of a positive narrative, negative beliefs about vocational education and training persist.
For several decades, Aotearoa New Zealand’s system for teaching and learning has been built around university being the pathway to success. Vocational education has been seen as a second choice, and for those who are better with their hands than their heads. In the absence of a positive narrative, negative beliefs about vocational education and training persist.
Vocational education and training (VET) is crucial to ensuring NZ has a skilled workforce. So how do you get school leavers, and people looking to retrain as a result of a global pandemic, to break through deeply ingrained, inherited negative perceptions and see VET as something that could lead to a range of career options – not just “trades”?
Target audience
The campaign targets all learners (including school leavers and adult learners), as well as their key influencers: parents and whānau, teachers and career advisors, and employers.
Research shows that negative perceptions of VET are stronger among older people, including parents, teachers and employers. These people grew up with the stigma of VET, and associating university with higher social status.
Young people have less negative perceptions, but they have still soaked up the message that university is “preferred”.
Research also found that parents and family influence learners’ decisions, so it’s important that they have a good understanding of VET and where it can lead.
Campaign approach
The campaign aims to show learners how bright the future can be when they choose vocational education and training. VET is not about a specific qualification, course, trade or even institution, but about where it can take you.
The ads showcase real people, in real jobs, from all walks of life, talking about how their choice to study VET gave them control and purpose in their lives. Real people give the content depth and authenticity, and offer real-life proof of what is possible.