Creating change through civics education
8 March 2023

Civics education is not just about learning the electoral system, it’s also about engaging ākonga in how to interact with government, and how they can create ch
The Vocational Pathways Level 1 and 2 refinement process is now complete and draft Level 3 standards, as well as qualification maps, for Levels 3 to 6 are now available.
In September 2014, the Ministry sought to refine the Vocational Pathways to ensure coherent, consistent, balanced assessment opportunities (with manageable progression) were available for learners across all six Vocational Pathways.
The refinement also sought to provide better support for the development of high-quality foundation learning programmes for all learners at National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2, including accurate assessment information that supported NCEA Level 2 achievement with a Vocational Pathways Award.
2016 is a transition year, during which students will be able to gain a Vocational Pathways Award from BOTH the existing and the refined pathways. So, in 2016 if a standard is Sector Related, in either the existing or the refined pathways, it will be awarded as ‘Sector Related’.
From 2017, only the refined pathways will be available.
In 2017, the transition phase will be over.
Assessment information has been provided to help with this transition period. Standards information is available for the existing and refined pathways, as well as information on standards eligibility during the transition year. A link to further information is provided at the end of this article.
Along with the release of the refined pathways, the Ministry has also:
This information has been released by the Ministry on the Vocational Pathways website(external link) where further general information can be found.
For any other queries email: vocational.pathways@education.govt.nz
Since the introduction of all six Vocational Pathways, the Ministry of Education has worked with the education and industry sectors to show how students learning relates to specific career opportunities across Vocational Pathways at Levels 3-6 of the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.
Level 3 is a critical bridge between school and tertiary study or training. Vocational Pathways at Level 3 serve a number of purposes, including the following:
Details of the mapping process and outcome(external link)
As part of the refinement of Levels 1 and 2 Vocational Pathways and development of Level 3 Vocational Pathways, the Profile Builder has had a makeover. It now includes:
A brand new literacy and numeracy calculator: students can now calculate whether or not they have met the requirements for Level 1 literacy, Level 1 numeracy as these are needed for NCEA Level 2 and 3, and the reading/writing literacy requirements for University Entrance.
Profile Builder for Level 1 and 2: the standards for the 2016 transition year have been added in to the Vocational Pathways, and calculators for NCEA Level 1, NCEA Level 2 and a Vocational Pathways Award have been built in.
Profile Builder Level 3: this is based on the draft Level 3 map of the Achievement Standards that has been published on the Youth Guarantee website, and has a calculator for NCEA Level 3 built in.
Frequently asked questions: these have been added to the Profile Builder home page, and included in the newly added “Help” section on each tool.
Profile Builder graph has changed direction (from vertical to horizontal): to allow space to add clear labels for each section of the graph.
Profile Builder tool(external link)
BY Education Gazette editors
Education Gazette | Tukutuku Kōrero, reporter@edgazette.govt.nz
Posted: 8:03 am, 7 September 2015
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