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In 2004 the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) contracted the National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University, and the Centre for Post-compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning, University of Melbourne, to undertake a body of work focusing on the relationship between the country’s future skill needs and the vocational education and training (VET) system.
A well-skilled future by the co-directors of the consortium synthesises the findings of the twelve projects undertaken. This body of work will be a stimulus to debate about the role of the vocational education and training system in Australia’s skills development.
Key messages
- Supply and demand for skills are very difficult concepts to pin down and measure, principally because many people learn their vocational skills informally, on the job. While greater local interaction between industry and VET will improve understanding of the market, at the national and state levels policy-makers must learn to live with uncertainty. They should focus on: areas where markets do not work well; skills that take a long time to train; or shortages that cause major bottlenecks.
- Higher-level skills are increasingly required by industry, so VET must re-focus on middle-level and advanced training. This should not be at the expense of people needing basic training, because VET plays a vital and unique role in providing opportunities to the many people who are following unconventional life paths, many of whom are relatively disadvantaged.
- In those areas where more and more jobs are casual and less training is occurring in the workplace, the importance of formal VET is likely to grow.
- The ageing of the workforce will increase the stock of vocational skills, especially white-collar skills, as the workforce becomes more experienced and more qualified.
- A well-skilled future means removing barriers to VET participation¬ caused by lack of employment incentives to training, problems of incomplete schooling, and weaknesses in how some providers work.
- The VET system can respond to the fluidity of the training landscape through both community partnerships and market-based models of provision. These multiply industry links, create more employment incentives to training, and have a greater focus on individual need through good inclusiveness strategies.
- A well-skilled future cannot be constructed by the VET sector alone. Improved quality of schooling will create the platform for VET to do its distinctive and value-adding work in skills training, while stronger employer commitment to training will make greater use of the workplace as a site for skills development.
Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER
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