Tourism to become an Achievement Standard subject from 2023
From 2023, tourism will be available as an Achievement Standard in New Zealand high schools.
In a massive, exciting announcement for the tourism industry, the Ministry of Education recently accepted tourism as an Achievement Standard subject, starting 2023.
This means that students will be able to earn Achievement Standards at levels 2 and 3 in high schools around New Zealand, and ITC couldn’t be more excited to see this pathway open up for young learners. In fact, we even had a hand in helping to make it happen.
Here’s a little more about the announcement and how ITC encouraged it to happen.
Tourism subjects to become available in high schools
As tourism becomes an achievement standard from 2023, it will not only open up a new pathway for learners to enter the industry, it also legitimises tourism as a subject – and a robust and aspirational career.
After all, tourism employs more than 220,000 people, which is a little over 8% of the entire New Zealand workforce (pre-covid). It has also been the country’s largest export, so it has long seemed like a missed opportunity not to offer tourism at this level at school.
The move also should help to increase specialisation in the sector, support parity for mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge), and offer a clearer pathway for students into higher education, further training, and eventually, a career.
How ITC was involved
The Ministry of Education made the decision to introduce NCEA as a subject, but that decision was influenced by a number of groups – including ITC.
Ceri Jenkins of ITC was part of the committee of the Tourism Teachers Association (TTA-NZ) that created and presented the submission for Tourism to become and Achievement Standard to MOE. The TTA also encouraged other groups to add their voices through letters of support, and when the time came, supporting the submission with online feedback. There were many organisations and sectors that pulled together to help the Ministry see just how many groups were behind the move, and ITC is proud to have been part of it.
Julie McDougall, the Chairperson of the TTA, had this to say:
“It has been a perfect triangle of communication and support between secondary tourism teachers, tertiary tourism educators and industry which now enables secondary tourism students in the future to be able to study tourism as a subject and the tourism industry as a whole in a modern, relevant and comprehensive way.”
According to the Ministry, the move had near unanimous support from the tertiary and tourism sectors, which made a real impact on their decision.
Ceri himself said, “Being involved on the committee of TTA-NZ has enabled me to really see the huge effort that has gone into this submission and it is so pleasing to see so many organisations/sectors all pull together.”
The Tourism Industry Association (TIA), is equally excited by the announcement. TIA Chief Executive Chris Roberts said that as the industry recovers, it will need people with the right knowledge and skills to fill roles, and that this move will help to “raise the status of tourism as a subject and properly educate our future workforce.”
What happens next?
The next steps will be to actually develop the subjects that students will learn across level 2 and 3, which will take some time and plenty more industry, secondary and tertiary input, which ITC is excited to also be part of.
For students who can’t wait that long and want to start earning a qualification in tourism right now, ITC and Study From Home offer travel and tourism courses at levels 3, 4, and 5.
Take a look at the courses on offer and get in touch with any questions, or if you’d like to go ahead and enrol! We’d love to hear from you.
Study From Home – college@itc.co.nz 0800 TOURISM (0800 868747) or https://www.studyfromhome.co.nz/contact-us/
Posted in News | Tagged Achievement Standards, Study travel and tourism, Tourism in schools | Leave a reply