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The paper presents a reconceptualisation of trades tutors drawn from tutors themselves. Trade educators here are seen as multidisciplinary, multi-dimensional practitioners with an occupational milieu that goes beyond the reductionist and instrumentalist views of teaching with which vocational education is often beset. Trade-tutor perspectives on their increasingly complex world of work as they navigate the often competing goals of industry and institution provide an insight into teaching in a new vocational environment. The research presented considers the identities of vocational and trade educators at the centre of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in polytechnics and provides their insights, as tradespeople and educators working for a new generation of skilled trade-based practitioners.
Keywords: TVET; vocational education; occupational identity; teacher identity
Introduction
Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics in New Zealand are positioned under the broad umbrella of 'tertiary education' which includes any post-school education and training. The Tertiary Education Commission (2015), which is responsible for funding tertiary education in New Zealand, is involved in the monitoring and managing of tertiary education institutions and sets Performance Expectations based on government priorities. These priorities are set out in the Tertiary Education Strategy and currently include delivering skills for industry, boosting achievement for Maori and Pasifika, improving literacy and numeracy and getting at-risk young people into a career (Ministry of Education, 2014, p. 1).
Trade education in New Zealand has experienced an upsurge in interest in recent years. This follows a long hiatus (Abbott, 2000; Maurice-Takerei, 2015). Considerable emphasis is now placed on building skills relevant to twenty-first-century New Zealand, as well as contributing to government priorities for educational and training outcomes and social development initiatives. Central to the successful outcomes of these priorities is the work of the trade tutor. However, this area of educational and training work is often misunderstood and misrepresented.
Trade-focused education and training in New Zealand currently serves multiple purposes and stakeholders, and is referred to in terms of industry skill gaps, social development goals, apprenticeships, transitions, trades academies in schools and workforce development. It is undertaken as a combination of on-job and off-job components involving theoretical and practical units of learning. Many polytechnics offer pre-trade, trade and upskilling courses and trade tutors are employed to undertake that teaching.
Those involved in the...