Becoming an expert

Recruit training and the RNZAF Officer’s Commissioning Course gives our people the basic skills, knowledge and culture of being in the Air Force. But to be deployed, they need to have a job to do. They are going to be part of an organisation that requires an enormous variety of specialists to function. The days of unskilled labour and limited skillsets are long gone. When our people up-skill within their trade, they are provided a high standard of education.

New members of our Air Force choose a particular trade prior to starting their career, and that trade will require professional development. Trade training is predominantly done within our Air Force, but it may also involve study outside the military. Air Force trades and careers utilise a wide variety of tertiary education paths spanning university, technology institutions and trade training.

Today, much of the trade training in the military has achieved parity with civilian qualifications, meaning that the training our people complete will earn them the equivalent qualification for civilian life. In some instances, the qualification undertaken as part of trade training is the civilian industry qualification.

All full-time Air Force personnel can further upskill using the Voluntary Education Study Assistance (VESA) programme, which provides financial assistance to undertake part-time study towards a Level 4 or higher qualification on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.