Trades seen as inferior to uni
Centuries of prejudice counts against apprenticeships, the country’s building training organisation says.
The difficulty of learning and completing a trade apprenticeship is up there with studying for a degree, the building training organisation says.
The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) is lobbying to raise the ranking of trades in the national qualifications system now under review.
‘‘We think part of the prejudice against the trades – it’s cultural,’’ the organisation’s chief executive, Warwick Quinn, said.
‘‘It goes back hundreds of years, and the Government with its current framework kind of reinforces that – I don’t think deliberately. It’s just how it’s evolved.’’
Vocational training and qualifications were regarded as inferior to academic training and that was reflected in the trades’ positions on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework, considered the backbone of our qualifications system.
In its submission to the framework review it asked for the present ranking system to be replaced with its proposal, which would elevate the position of trades qualifications, though not change the rankings of academic qualifications.
There are 10 levels in the present framework, with each level based on how complex the learning is. Level 1 is the least complex learning and level 10 the most. Trades are in the lower half and academic and advanced learning in the top levels.
‘‘What we are saying is, if you look at the degree of skills and competencies required to obtain a full apprenticeship, it’s not dissimilar to the sorts of skills and competencies and cognitive thinking and application that is required in a degree,’’ Quinn said.
‘‘So, therefore, reflect that in the framework, because at the moment it says it [a completed apprenticeship] is one year above school after four or five years of quite technical learning.
‘‘An entry-level degree, if you like, is ranked almost twice as high as a fully qualified four years to five years worth of study in quite a technical area for an apprenticeship. We think that’s a nonsense.’’
BCITO proposes that an apprenticeship qualification, now at level 4, would be on level 6, on par with two years of a three-year bachelor’s degree. And a completed apprenticeship with additional higher learning would be ranked level 7, the same status as a completed bachelor’s degree.
Quinn said prejudice against the trades was one of the barriers to attracting more people into them.
‘‘We don’t believe that the framework really tells the true story and the real value of what trades and what vocational pathways actually provide to the economy,’’ he said.
‘‘We are not saying that university is a poor option. Not at all. University is a fantastic option. We are just trying to say don’t write off vocational training or a career in the trades as being inferior, because it’s not; it’s just a different pathway to success.’’
About 10 per cent of the organisation’s trainees were university graduates who could have saved time and the cost of university fees and started their apprenticeship earlier.
Making genuine change would require the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and the tertiary education sector to be brave, the organisation said in its submission.
It would require significant policy work, trigger a lot of debate and gather both support and opposition from other training organisations and professional bodies.
‘‘However, we present this proposal as a starting point for discussion on how the framework can better reflect the true nature and range of vocational learning,’’ the BCITO submission said.