An overview

Research and evaluation to improve VET

Australia is the only country the authors are aware of that has developed and published a national policy to govern its research and evaluation effort in vocational education and training. The policy, called The National Research and Evaluation Strategy for Vocational Education and Training in Australia 1997-2000 (NCVER 1997c), commenced in July 1997. It was developed by the NCVER in conjunction with the ANTA to:

• increase Australia’s national vocational education and training research and evaluation effort
  
• prioritise the national vocational education and training research undertaken to improve the quality of decision making about vocational education and training by policy makers and planners, training authorities and training providers, industry bodies, employers and enterprises, students and trainees, teachers and trainers and others with an interest in the vocational education and training sector.

The comprehensive national programme of research and evaluation has already begun to prove useful in developing strategies for continuous improvement and quality enhancement of the Australian vocational education and training sector.

A wide range of information about education and training is routinely available, via a range of sources, to facilitate research, evaluation, policy formulation, planning and reporting. As a result of co-operative arrangements among the States and Territories, Australia has an annual collection of vocational education and training data which provides information about students, courses and the outcomes of training. Annual collections of financial data and quarterly collections of apprenticeship and traineeship data are also undertaken. The data collections are periodically reviewed and refined by the National Training Statistics Committee.

Information about the Australian vocational education and training system is reported to the United Nations Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). However, it is often found that the OECD international reporting framework is inappropriate for Australia because of the diversity and complexity of the Australian system.

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