There is a significant gap between teenagers’ career knowledge and choices, and the reality of the rapidly changing nature of work.
The disastrous experience of vocational education and training in Australia holds many lessons about trying to fit education into a for-profit market model.
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Market forces don’t work well in education. For-profit businesses are more tempted to exploit loopholes than provide quality service.
Students in the electrical program at H.C. Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, Connecticut practice their skills.
Connecticut Technical Education and Career System
Students who get admitted to Connecticut’s career and technical education high schools are more likely to graduate and earn significantly more than peers who barely missed the cut.
Once qualified, men who did a popular engineering-related VET course often worked in high-paid fields such as construction or manufacturing.
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Students with lower ATARs generally have lower lifetime earnings. But a Grattan Institute report found low ATAR men could earn more doing a VET course than a bachelor degree in their chosen field.
Most Indigenous art works are produced in around 90 Indigenous art centres located in very remote regions of Australia.
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Most Indigenous art works are produced in around 90 Indigenous art centres located in very remote regions. But there are staff and management issues, which can be solved by better VET programs.
We’re entering the fourth industrial revolution, which isn’t a bad thing. But it does mean we need to take action.
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In April 2019, the government-commissioned Joyce review made 71 recommendations to reform the VET sector. Here’s what the report said, and what the government is doing about it.
When professionals, like pharmacists, are able to communicate in many languages, everyone benefits.
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Vocation specific language courses can encourage both linguistic and cultural awareness. They can equip students with the basics they need to communicate.
Trade apprenticeships are male-dominated and already have a high level of support.
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Both major parties have promised more money to help boost apprenticeship numbers, including by providing incentives to employers. But history shows this isn’t the best way to spend public dollars.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivering the 2019 State of the Nation Address.
GCIS
VET’s role in employable skill development is critical. But we also need to strongly support the role VET plays in getting disadvantaged groups into education and work.
Teacher quality is key in getting a good education.
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Teacher preparation has been identified as a key factor in the quality of education. To improve the quality of the VET sector, we need to ensure teachers and trainers are qualified to teach.
If we don’t respect plumbing as an occupation, how will we respect the system that trains plumbers?
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Many young Australians and their parents don’t consider VET as a potential post-school pathway, even if it might be more suitable for them than university.
There is already a substantial list of research reports, reviews and inquiries into issues in the vocational education sector which could be used to build an action plan.
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We already have all the research reports, reviews and inquiries we need to make reform to the VET sector happen. What we need is proactive leadership and action.
Vocational education and training can help increase workforce participation by offering opportunities to disadvantaged groups, including women and people from rural communities.
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The fourth is the Oxford-style debate series, this article argues that “the impact reflected by Trump is here to stay”.
We need a tertiary education funding system that will help get students into courses with employment opportunities at the end of them.
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Schools can’t equip students with all the skills they need once they start work, especially STEM and digital skills. Here’s one way they can better prepare their students for life after school.
Basket weaving is an important cultural and economic activity in many parts of the world, including Australia.
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Basket weaving and knitting are used pejoratively to make a point but not ‘manly’ pursuits such as metalcrafts or woodwork.
Funding dominated the schooling space in 2017, with both sides of politics debating whose funding package benefited which schools the most, and little attention paid to how the money is best spent.
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Funding debates dominated most education policy talks in 2017, but discussions look to be extending past the dollar value in 2018 with a number of high profile reports due for release.
Senior Research Fellow in Youth, Research & Policy Centre, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Honorary Fellow in Education Policy, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne