Creative Industries Pathway launched

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata today announced the release of the Creative Industries Vocational Pathway at the Te Ara Whakamana: Pathways, Transitions and Bridges to Tertiary Education Forum 2014 in Wellington.

The Creative Industries Pathway is the sixth in a series of pathways designed to help students select subjects at both senior secondary school and in foundation-level tertiary education in vocational areas that interest them.

"The Creative Industries Pathway is a response to students wanting learning options that directly relate to the creative sectors, and employers needing qualified, skilled and creative young talent," Mr Joyce says.

“Vocational Pathways help students to better plan their studies and set themselves up for their future. They can use the pathways as a framework to help choose their subjects and also see how they relate to future job or career opportunities."

The Vocational Pathways are part of the Youth Guarantee scheme that assists schools and tertiary providers to develop more relevant learning opportunities students can study to get NCEA Level 2. They are designed to be flexible so students can easily change their pathway at any time.

“Lifting student achievement and ensuring that all young people leave school with the skills they need to reach their potential is vital to our people, their families, communities, and to the economy at large,” Ms Parata says.

“Adding the Creative Industries to the Pathways provides a broader offer for young people to better continue their education and successfully progress to further study, industry training or employment."

The six Vocational Pathways now available are Construction and Infrastructure, Manufacture and Technology, Primary Industries, Service Industries, Social and Community Services, and the newly minted Creative Industries pathway. Common content and standards ensures subjects such as science, technology, English and maths earn credits across multiple pathways.

“To gain meaningful employment all young people need a solid education achieving at least NCEA Level 2, and we need to get more of them to achieve at a much higher level. There is a growing demand for educated and skilled young people from employers, and a very solid foundation education is critical to this,” Ms Parata says.

A new report, Vocational Pathways Update 2014, was also launched at the event. The report details the uptake and success of the Vocational Pathways to date, and shows that the number of students achieving vocational pathways awards would have doubled between 2012 and 2013.

While the Pathways are very new, this is excellent evidence that young people are using Vocational Pathways to attain more coherent qualifications.” Mr Joyce says.

For more information on the Vocational Pathways visit: www.youthguarantee.net.nz

The report, Vocational Pathways Update 2014 is available at: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/80898/147607