Training advocate calls for change | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Industry Training Federation chairman Ian Elliott is, unsurprisingly, an enthusiastic advocate for vocational training, but, he says, the current system is too complex and offers too much choice, clouding young people's visions of a future in the trades.

"A lot of people in the trades enjoy a good level of wealth and lifestyle. But how do you get to own your own business? That's hard for kids to see in Year 10."

Mr Elliot said students and parents were making educational and training decisions without a clear view of the career pathways available to them on leaving school.

"It's hard for them to understand the good careers and earning potential a lot of people in the trades get."

Speaking to the Career and Transition Education Association conference at Rotorua's Energy Events Centre last week, he said competition between the polytechnics and private training organisations had resulted in increased choices for young people, but not necessarily better-quality training.

"I have seen no increase in quality, but I have seen increased confusion and less participation from employers, because they do not know what's going on or what's the best choice for their staff."

Mr Elliot called for educational and training organisations to offer more concrete information to help trainees and employers find the best course or programme, including the percentage of graduates who get jobs within one or two years of completing their training.

"This is valuable information for young people before they embark on study. We also need to encourage flexibility. In their lifetimes, these young people will move into different occupations."

He expressed concern about the effect the recession was having on the number of apprenticeship opportunities.

Elliot said the tertiary education system needed to serve young people, individual businesses and industries and needed the buy-in from all three to be successful.

"It needs that willingness [from employers] and it needs to work for them. For most people in small businesses, the most important thing is paying the bills and having trainees off-site two days a week is not good for them because it means they are not working."

He said industries were interested in the workforce coming through the system and needed to know there would be enough plasterers or plumbers to meet future needs and asked career educators to consider how best to drive young people into areas where there were shortages and they would have better chances of getting work.

"How do people chose to go into trades? My experience suggests it is not so much from careers advice, but because family or friends of the family are in them."