Vocational Education

Vocational Education at Techtorium

In a year like the one that’s just been (2020), tertiary education is more important than ever.  However tertiary education can take on a number of forms and is not just limited to university degrees. The purpose of any qualification should be to ensure that graduates skills are aligned to the jobs available in the industry. For Techtorium, that’s Information Technology (IT). That said,  Vocational Education has taken on a more important role, whereby many Managed IT Services and ISPs are seeking skilled staff that can easily and seamlessly  integrate into their business. While universities in New Zealand still deliver a world-class education,  industries such as IT are starting to look beyond the world of academia treating their line of work closer to a trade or a craft, seeking employees who already come equipped with job specific training. We know that tertiary education (typically) teaches learners “how to learn”, but we also need to recognises that tertiary education is also responsible for teaching learners “how to work”.

What is Vocational Education and what makes it different?

Vocational Education comprises of a variety of training styles designed specifically to impart job relevant skills for an industry or area of work. These can take the form of apprenticeships, internships and on-the-job training among others. How we deliver vocational education at Techtorium is that we create a simulated workplace, designed to acclimatise students to what they will encounter in full time work while our trainers help to impart the skills they will need.

What are the benefits?

The greatest benefit of Vocational Education is that focus on crafting employable, skilled individuals through work relevant practices. Degrees and the academic approach that they entail will tend to take a broader approach which often includes papers either unrelated or nominally related to the area one wants to qualify and end up in. Some lines of work can benefit from the broad base this can provide, however occupations such as Cloud Engineer, Software Developer and Network Architect benefit more from a vocational approach.

Delivery time on qualifications is a huge benefit that vocational education providers boast. To gain a Techtorium diploma Auckland Computer Courses that could help you get into an entry level role requires one year of study. A reality that 2020 has cast in stark relief is that many people cannot commit to 3 years of study at once as they would have to pursue academic study. While degrees and university study still have their place, a single year’s study towards a degree leaves one often without the knowledge they need to their line of work and no qualification to recognise what knowledge they do have.

More and more organisation, no matter their industry, are seeking work-ready graduates. The requirement for writing business reports and/or essays remains relevant (in some cases); but in IT, proof of work is as highly regarded. Companies simply need graduates that can code, graduates that can set up a network infrastructure, graduates that can build a website. Companies need graduates that can actually add value. Techtorium is a Vocational Educator with a focus on embedding real-life skills into their graduates so that they continue to be invaluable resources that can solve real-life problems straight away. That’s why Techtorium alumni are in such high demand across the New Zealand IT industry.

To find out more about Vocational Education, you can go to Vocation Nation