The Ministry has an annual maintenance process to ensure the Vocational Pathways remain up to date and relevant. This is done in consultation with relevant agencies and groups. The maintenance process is designed to:
 ensure that the education sector and students are informed about which expired standards or qualifications are no longer available for Vocational Pathways programme planning
 enable consideration of new standards and qualifications that have been registered on the Directory of
Assessment Standards and New Zealand Qualifications Framework since the previous update
 enable consideration of submissions of assessment standards or qualifications that have been provided to the Ministry for inclusion in, or exclusion, from the Vocational Pathways
 ensure the Vocational Pathways information reported by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority
(NZQA) is up to date
 ensure all other tools that support the Vocational Pathways, including the Profile Builder and the
FindMyPath tool, are up to date.
Timeframes
The Vocational Pathways and tools (profile builder, spreadsheets and FindMyPath tool) will be updated by 30
June 2016. These updates use data provided by NZQA on 01 March 2016. The Vocational Pathways will continue to be updated by 30 June of each year to enable tertiary organisations to plan their programmes and submit any changes to NZQA. It also enables secondary schools to integrate new standards and qualifications into course booklets for the following year. Updated maps will be on the Youth Guarantee website, and NZQA’s systems will be updated to incorporate additions to the Vocational Pathways framework.
Maintenance process
By 30 June 2016 we will have:
 collated submissions from stakeholders for changes to the Vocational Pathways
 worked with NZQA to establish expired and new standards and qualifications since the last update

Convened the Overarching Working Group (OWG) to consider the inclusion or exclusion of standards and qualifications. The OWG was formed in 2014-5 to help refine the Levels 1 and 2 Vocational
Pathways and develop the Level 3 Vocational Pathways. The OWG consists of the leads of the Sector
Consortia Groups (SCG), NZQA, Ministry, Business NZ, Education Review Group (ERG), secondary education representatives for the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and tertiary representation. This structure is shown in Figure 1 below.

Conv ened Te Mārautanga o Aotearoa (TMoA) group to consider the mapping of the newly registered
TMoA standards to the Vocational Pathways. Nominated representatives of this group were also represented on the OWG. This group will exist for 2016 only, as there were a number of new TMoA standards that required consideration which will not be the case moving forward, and therefore the process for considering the inclusion of TMoA standards can become part of the Vocational Pathways maintenance process business as usual. From 2017, the TMoA will be represented through learning area representatives in the ERG as well as representatives on the OWG. This updated structure is shown in Figure 2.


updated the Profile Builder to reflect the new mapping

updated the FindMyPath tool

updated the Spreadsheets on the Youth Guarantee website that show standards and qualifications that, are newly registered, are expiring, or have expired. This is for programme planning purposes. Expired standards and qualifications will technically remain in the calculation of a Vocational Pathways Award for two years post expiry

provided the information to NZQA to enable updating of the Record of Achievement information
Figure one: Overarching Working Structure for 2016
Youth Guarantee
Group Manager
Final Sign off
Other Ministry of
Education teams
Feedback and advice
Pathways Advisory
Group
Feedback and advice
Ministry: YG, ELSA: senior secondary and Te Reo schooling, NZQA, tertiary education, Business NZ, ITF, ERG, TMoA and SCG Leads
ERG lead
Education
Review Group
(ERG)
SCG lead
Manufacturing
& Technology
SCG lead
Construction &
Infrastructure
SCG lead
Primary
Industries
SCG lead
Services
Industries
SCG lead
Social and
Community
Services
ERG consists of 1 lead and 8 learning area representatives which also include secondary, tertiary, Māori and
Pacific
Each SCG consists of 1 lead with approximately 5-6 representatives from the industry and education sectors
SCG lead
Creative
Industries
TMoA lead
Te Mārautanga o Aotearoa
(TMoA)
Figure two: Overarching Working Structure for 2017 onwards

Youth Guarantee
Group Manager
Final Sign off
Other Ministry of
Education teams
Feedback and advice
Pathways Advisory
Group
Feedback and advice
Ministry: YG, ELSA: senior secondary and Te Reo schooling, NZQA, tertiary education, Business NZ, ITF, ERG, TMoA and SCG Leads
ERG leads, including
TMoA representative(s)
Education Review Group
(ERG)
ERG consists of 1 lead and learning area representatives for both NZC and TMoA which also include secondary, tertiary,
Māori and Pacific
SCG lead SCG lead
Manufacturing
& Technology
Construction &
Infrastructure
SCG lead
Primary
Industries
SCG lead
Services
Industries
SCG lead
Social and
Community
Services
SCG lead
Creative
Industries
Each SCG consists of 1 lead with approximately 5-6 representatives from the industry and education sectors
Consideration of the inclusion of the new driver licence unit standards
Including the new driver licence unit standards in the Vocational Pathways was discussed as a separate agenda item at the April 26, 2016 maintenance meeting. The OWG agreed that supporting young people to get their driver licence is very important, and it recommends that the Ministry strongly communicates getting a driver licence as a ‘valued’ cross cutting competency – as with the Key Competencies – and as part of the wider Vocational Pathways.
The OWG decided that consideration of the driver licence unit standards would follow the same approach as the other generic employability unit standards. This means that the standards are considered on an individual pathway basis and, if considered as meeting the criteria, they are included.

Criteria to help guide decision-making
During the Levels 1 and 2 Vocational Pathways refinement process (2014-15), the sector consortia groups
(SCG) for each pathway considered retaining or removing standards in their particular pathway using the criteria outlined below. This built on the criteria that were formed in the original development of the Vocational
Pathways framework (2012-13). The SCG members undertook wider sector consultation where needed and this feedback was integrated into the recommendations. The TMoA group and OWG were provided with this criteria to guide their decision making and enable flexibility of decision-making.
Criteria
Level 1

Give broad knowledge to o providing choices around learning and career pathways o raise awareness.

Limit credits from each domain to avoid falsely flagging pathway.
Level 2
A guiding question was used to steer the inclusion, removal, and/or addition of standards. “Are we happy to include a standard which increases the possibility of a student gaining a Vocational Pathways Award and possibly exclude o ther relevant learning opportunities?”
Level 2 recommended standards : o close connection to sector o support strong foundational curriculum o reflect outcomes valued by the sectors o limit credits from each domain to avoid falsely flagging a pathway.
Level 2 sector-related standards:
Standards are specific to or drawn from a particular sector, and is/can be assessed against at
 school
 a trade academy
 a Tertiary Education Organisation (TEO)
 the initial period of employment.
Holders of a Level 2 Vocational Pathways Award should have foundation knowledge, skills, and potential relevant to employment in a particular pathway.
Level 3
Levels 3-7 qualifications mapped to Vocational Pathways need to:

o provide a line of sight for learners heading along a pathway o take account of current local, National (pre-Targeted Review of Qualifications [TRoQ]) and New
Zealand (post-TRoQ) Levels 3-7 qualifications o provide pathways for all learners.
Level 3 achievement standards mapped to Vocational Pathways also need to o follow from the refined Levels 1 and 2 pathways where appropriate o be relevant to a pathway where there is new learning.
Strengthening flexible partnerships and pathways: 3+2 guide
To support the implementation of the Level 3 Vocational Pathways and emerging 3+2 partnerships between schools, tertiary providers and Industry Training Organisations (ITOs), the Ministry has produced a
Strengthening flexible partnerships and pathways: 3+2 guide. The guide is available in the Vocational
Pathways Resources section on the Youth Guarantee website.
FindMyPath
The FindMyPath tool will be launched on 30 June 2016 by Minister Parata and Minister Joyce. The tool helps young people make informed choices about their study and employment pathways. It shows young people what they can do if they are interested in further study or careers in particular pathways.
The tool will be available on the Youth Guarantee website .
Blueprint App to help student career planning
NCEA Pal, an App for students to track their NCEA progress, has been re-launched with a new name
(Blueprint) and new features.
In addition to the existing features, Blueprint enables students to explore specific courses aligned to
Vocational Pathways from over 50 tertiary providers. Students can follow chosen tertiary organisations to get more information. At present this function of the App includes information from New Zealand polytechnics, universities, one industry training organisation and some private training establishments.
This App is an example of the education sector taking the lead to provide greater information for learners, while working with the Ministry to align information more effectively. From inception, the Youth Guarantee
Team has supported the developers with the alignment of qualification information with Vocational Pathways.
Along with the FindMyPath tool, this App supports students with pathway planning from secondary to tertiary.

Education Review Office (ERO)
On 30 May 2016 the Education Review Office (ERO) released the report Vocational Pathways: Authentic and
Relevant Learning.
The report provides ERO’s evaluation of the implementation of the Vocational Pathways in 35 secondary schools visited in Terms 3 and 4, 2015 (outside of Auckland City) as part of its review cycle. ERO plans to provide a hard copy to every secondary/composite school in New Zealand and selected industry training organisations as well as having published it online .
ERO’s report reinforces existing Ministry key messages about the potential value of the Vocational Pathways in supporting more relevant and integrated curriculum for all learners.
EROs key findings:
ERO found that most of the schools it visited were aware of the Pathways and were incorporating them into their careers education and course selection processes. A few of the schools visited were using the Pathways in a way that reflected their potential to support curriculum development and to provide authentic learning contexts that are relevant, interesting and challenging for students.
ERO found that a significant barrier to the uptake of the Vocational Pathways was the persistent perception among some school leaders, students, and whānau that “‘vocational’ education’ is less rigorous or prestigious than the more traditional academic track ”. Another barrier to further uptake of the Vocational Pathways was that most schools were using them as an “add-on to a traditional curriculum model” .
Among its main recommendations, ERO recommends that schools “ consider how Vocational Pathways can support the design and implementation of a more relevant and integrated curriculum for all of their students,” and that schools and the Ministry of Education continue to build and promote awareness of the Vocational
Pathways.
The following messages continue to be communicated:

The Vocational Pathways provide new ways to achieve NCEA – the foundation for success in further education and work. They show students how their learning and achievement is valued in the workplace.

The Vocational Pathways are designed to help educators develop and implement a more relevant and integrated curriculum for all learners.

Government agencies, the industry training sector, secondary and tertiary education representatives and other industry and employer representatives worked together to develop the six Vocational
Pathways. The Vocational Pathways tell us what learning and achievement employers value in young people wanting to work in their industry.

The Vocational Pathways were introduced three years ago; implementation is still at a relatively early stage and progress is about what we expected. The Ministry’s regional Secondary-Tertiary Leads can help schools embed the Vocational Pathways in their curriculum.
New Zealand Council Education Research (NZCER)
The NZCER ‘Secondary Schools in 2015’ survey of teachers and principals, released in May 2016, sought views on the usefulness of the Vocational Pathways model for keeping more of their students on productive learning pathways. It is noted that many principals (66%) and just over half the teachers (52%) agreed or strongly agreed that the Vocational Pathways framework is useful for keeping students on productive learning pathways. 80% of principals of decile 1 –2 schools thought the Vocational Pathway model was useful. This decreased to 53% of principals of decile 9 –10 schools.

The website has undergone a bit of a re-fresh to update our messaging, reduce repetition, and make navigating around the site a little easier. Take a look and let us know what you think. Here are a few screenshots of places you might want to look at. http://youthguarantee.net.nz/start-your-journey/

http://youthguarantee.net.nz/vocational-pathways/
The Vocational Pathways pages have been significantly reduced. The generic Vocational Pathways information sits under the main Vocational Pathways button.
“The six Vocational Pathways” button on the left hand side of the screen leads to specific information about each pathway.
Then all education guidance material is organised under the Vocational Pathways for educators.
We have lifted up some of the more hidden material on employability skills and work readiness (see left hand navigation buttons).
A new button has been created to access all information about maintenance and ongoing development.

http://youthguarantee.net.nz/vocational-pathways/guidance-for-educators/
The Vocational Pathways for Educator Providers section of the website is a goldmine of information. It includes guidance for providers who are keen to develop contextualised learning programmes, with examples and videos of practice.

Many resources have been updated as part of the website refresh. These include the:

Vocational Pathways Resource brochure (included on the last page of this update). This brochure shows the resources available to support the Vocational Pathways, on one page.

Vocational Pathways Industry summaries. These summaries provide a brief description of each
Vocational Pathway.

Vocational Pathways poster pack. This pack consists of a generic poster and a poster for each
Vocational Pathway
Most of these resources can be accessed through the Resources page and the student stories page.
There are a number of resources under development and they will be up on the website soon. These include:

A ‘Flexible partnerships: 3+2 learning plan agreement’ template for schools, industry training organisations, employers and tertiary providers working in partnership to provide learning programmes.
The template is intended as a guide only.

Gateway examples , to show various ways in which Gateway is being applied.

Vocational Pathways Evaluation Tool . Building on the Self Review tool, this evaluation tool enables education providers to consider the extent to which Vocational Pathways are embedded in their systems and practices.
There are a number of policy areas that are affected by Vocational Pathways. These include:

Credit recognition and transfer including Recognition of Prior Learning . Year 13 students can gain
NCEA Level 3 through a combination of achievement and unit standards from multiple sites: their school, a tertiary provider, or from industry training learning if qualifications are assessed using these standards.
If qualifications are assessed by means other than achievement or unit standards, NZQA’s ‘credit inclusion’ policy may apply.
Credit inclusion is a part of credit recognition and transfer arrangements. Such arrangements are currently needed by a relatively small proportion of students to enable them to attain the NCEA.
We expect demand for the use of credit recognition and transfer and recognition of prior learning in
NCEA to increase, as more students take up flexible pathways that combine school-based learning with learning in other settings. Therefore, tertiary policy is currently reviewing credit recognition and transfer and recognition of prior learning for the NCEA. This will include considering options for how nonstandards based qualifications can contribute to the NCEA.

Flexible partnerships: 3+2 approaches. Flexible partnerships are possible under current system settings and within the scope of current uptake of opportunities. We are monitoring uptake and exploring possible implications, such as the possibility that tertiary providers Education Performance indicators
(EPIs) may be affected.

Literacy and numeracy development . The Ministry is investigating how best to measure literacy and numeracy. The policy group responsible for this piece of work is currently consulting with a wide range of stakeholders including Youth Guarantee.