NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Education

How to learn new tricks

By Vikki Bland
5 Sep, 2006 06:25 AM7 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Mark, a fifty-year-old truck driver and ex-Navy serviceman, is three months away from completing a three year national plumbing and gas-fitting qualification. His day involves rising at 4am for a 5am start, a 10 to 12-hour shift including driving and paperwork, then home by 8pm to eat, study and grab five hours sleep. On weekends, Mark studies and spends time with his family. He says while he's tired of the routine, he's also excited about the future.

"There's a huge demand for plumbers internationally and if you work hard, the pay is good. I left the Navy without any formal qualifications and this is a chance for me to have a secure retirement doing something I'm interested in," says Mark.

If there's one ubiquitous piece of advice being handed out by career advisors today, it's this: with the job market wide open, now is the time for people to pursue the career they've always wanted. For some, this is as simple as resigning and launching into self employment, full time study, overseas travel and employment, or sideways into a new industry using the same qualifications. For others it means retraining or further education while holding down a job, raising children, or both.

Diane Marshall, a 42-year-old mother of three, worked in the banking and finance industry until her job was restructured while she was on maternity leave. To return to the same position, Marshall's former employers told her she would need an appropriate tertiary degree. Unimpressed, she decided to retrain for a completely new career and enrolled in a Diploma in Early Childhood Education with distance education specialist the Open Polytechnic. Now two-thirds of the way through that qualification Marshall says she is looking forward to her new career.

"My first job was about earning money, and career progression. I needed something that was more about me and to work with people who care about what they are doing" says Marshall.

She says furthering her education has been challenging and expensive - her completed tertiary study fees will total more than $8000, and finding the time to study is hard. Marshall completes four polytechnic papers per semester and studies for two hours every evening. Prior to enrolling as a distance learner, she obtained School Certificate (the equivalent of NCEA level 1) and gained a few university papers extramurally through Massey University.

"You need to be self-motivated and because you spend so much money it is really important to just keep going," she says.

Doug Standring, corporate communications manager for the Open Polytechnic, says the institution has around 30,000 distance learners in New Zealand - 75 per cent are adults and 70 per cent of those are in the workforce. About 10 per cent have no formal school qualifications and these students may find distance learning less threatening than a classroom environment, says Standring.

"[However], one of the great things about distance learning is the huge diversity of the students. They range from focused career professionals adding to their skill sets, to people who used to think tertiary study could never be for them. [Many] are working people studying at night and juggling families and job responsibilities. Observing that is tremendously inspiring," says Standring.

He says while distance learning offers many benefits, it also requires self motivation and good time management - key tips are to talk to teaching and guidance staff before enrolling, contact the lecturer well before the first assignment is due, take things one step at a time, and make a study plan.

Kahu Pou, manager for the University of Auckland's New Start programme, says adult learners often have rusty study skills and programmes such as New Start are designed to guide people through course selection, enrolment and the practical aspects of tertiary study. The New Start programmes can provide a day session on essay writing for around $50 or a 12 week part-time course outlining a specific area of study for a few hundred dollars. Further education often appeals to people who want a 'second chance' at a new career, says Pou.

"It provides an opportunity for people to turn their lives around or to test other waters; some just want to see if they can study at tertiary level," says Pou.

She should know - working for New Zealand Post in 1993, Pou says the word 'redundancy' suddenly came up.

"I thought 'Well, little Maori girl, you'd better get yourself along to university,'" says Pou.

She completed the University of Auckland's New Start programme then gained a Diploma in Business part-time. After graduating, Pou accepted her current job and then spent six years completing a BA in Education and Maori part-time. She has since embarked on a Master's degree.

There's plenty of proof that education, while challenging, can lead to remarkable career turnarounds - Pou has seen a former plumber complete a Bachelor of Commerce degree, a retail salesperson become a tertiary lecturer on health sector issues, and an office administrator become a lawyer.

"We've certainly had people who were just sweeping floors or working in a factory and are now teachers, are in the health sector, or have got a degree and are doing wonderful things," says Pou.

Standring recalls a single mother who enrolled in one business paper which led her to obtain a business diploma, and then a business degree. He says she now works internationally as an accountant.

"Education and learning is now a lifelong process rather than a one-off experience; skilling and re-skilling at different stages of life is becoming an international trend," says Standring.

Nor is tertiary education the only way to kick-start a new career - the New Zealand Correspondence School has a significant number of adult learners refreshing secondary school subjects or attempting them for the first time; free courses and community night courses are commonly used by working adults to 'dip a toe' into a new industry area, and some people willingly move from careers that initially require significant education, such as dentistry and law, to those that may take less than a year to master. Examples include tourism and hospitality, police work, creative writing and retail sales.

Is it all worth it? Mark the almost-plumber and Marshall the soon-to-be kindergarten teacher certainly think so. "Decide what career will make you happy; even if it's only for the next 20 years. Visualise your dream," says Marshall.

BACK TO SCHOOL

What you need to establish:

* What new career do I want? If you don't know, seek professional advice.

* What kind of learner am I? Will you benefit from full time or part-time learning? Does a classroom course, or self-paced distance learning appeal more? Do you need a contact course; or web-based learning tools? Do you have special learning needs?

* Are any general academic skills missing? Consider revising a secondary school subject via night school or the New Zealand Correspondence School. Consider short courses for guidance.

* Research different degrees, diplomas, certificates and industry training courses. Where will they take you? Where have they taken others? How does the reputation of one qualification compare with others? Which have the highest standing in your desired career field?

* Research learning institutions. Does a polytechnic or a university (or an ITO or private training institution) have more to offer? What are the credentials of the teaching staff? Where did the high fliers in your desired career field study?

* How will you manage your time and/or the cost of re-education? Do you need a loan; can you manage at home? Do you have the support of close family or friends?

* How self-motivated and determined are you?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Education

New Zealand|education

AI-driven exam breaches surge as schools grapple with cheating; top principal issues warning

10 Jul 08:08 PM
New Zealand|education

The stark reality of NZ's rising school absence crisis

06 Jul 05:00 PM
New Zealand|education

Region's first learning hub for migrant parents a 'transformative step'

05 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Education

AI-driven exam breaches surge as schools grapple with cheating; top principal issues warning

AI-driven exam breaches surge as schools grapple with cheating; top principal issues warning

10 Jul 08:08 PM

Busted: 10 students took too long in the toilet, 88 had phones, 59 used AI.

The stark reality of NZ's rising school absence crisis

The stark reality of NZ's rising school absence crisis

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Region's first learning hub for migrant parents a 'transformative step'

Region's first learning hub for migrant parents a 'transformative step'

05 Jul 06:00 PM
Silicon Valley to NZ: Kiwi Facebook Marketplace inventor is back home to give back

Silicon Valley to NZ: Kiwi Facebook Marketplace inventor is back home to give back

05 Jul 12:00 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP