What are the Vocational Pathways?

Six pathways aligning with six industry sectors

Vocational Pathways help people see how NCEA learning is valued in the real world by aligning standards that lead to NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 with six broad industry groupings.

The Vocational Pathways were developed in collaboration with industry and education to help educators plan learning programmes aligned with industry needs, to help students see how skills and knowledge they gain is valued by industry, and to make these more visible for employers.

Benefits of the Vocational Pathways for employers

Skilled and competent young people are better prepared for work and further study

Vocational Pathways can help you to easily identify how a candidate’s skills knowledge, and qualifications are aligned with your industry.

Success in one or more Vocational Pathways at NCEA Level 2 will see students awarded a ‘Vocational Pathways Award’, which is recorded by NZQA on their Record of Achievement. You will be able to see this between the ‘Qualification summary’ and the ‘Components of learning’ sections. 

The ‘Components of learning’ section is where you can see what specific standards they’ve achieved, giving you more information about how they are ready to contribute to your business.

Vocational Pathways Profile

A Vocational Profile on a student’s Record of Achievement shows how their learning relates to the six Vocational Pathways. Each industry has been colour-coded so you can see at a glance what a student has achieved and how this relates to your business.

Monitor with colours bar graph