The Tertiary Education Commission has launched a campaign to help improve perceptions and increase participation in Vocational Education and Training (VET). Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced the launch of the campaign at Mulcahy Engineering and Fabrication on Wednesday.

Perceptions of VET have historically been negative but recent research shows a small shift toward positive perceptions and the campaign will build on the momentum of that positive shift.

To address a lack of awareness of what VET is, the campaign will showcase the breadth of career opportunities VET offers learners and its value for our young people, their parents and whānau, adult learners, and to New Zealand as a whole. Job seekers affected by COVID-19 will also be shown how VET provides an opportunity to upskill or retrain.

Earlier in the year, the Government announced a number of initiatives to encourage participation in VET and help New Zealand recover from COVID-19. These initiatives include the Targeted Training and Apprenticeship Fund (TTAF) and the Apprenticeship Boost.

Promising signs of change are already happening with the number of New Zealanders taking up apprenticeships with transitional industry training organisations seeing an increase of nearly 50 percent from about 7,500 this time last year to close to 14,000 now. The number of female apprentices has more than doubled from 845 to 1,785 since a year ago.

These increased numbers will not only help with COVID-19 recovery, but also help fill a long-standing skills shortage across the country.

The campaign begins by using social influencers and radio adlibs to seed the conversation in the community about VET, and what it is. In early December the TV, social media, radio, digital display, online video and search ads launch. The ads direct people to a landing page on the careers.govt.nz website for more information.