Work in Progress
Lessons and challenges: Vocational education in schools - Research overview
Summary
- Item:
- 10242
- Title:
- Lessons and challenges: Vocational education in schools - Research overview
- Type:
- Managed research project
- Project no:
- NR3024
- Status:
- Finished
- Date commenced:
- 3 June 2003
- Contact:
- Kate Barnett
- phone: +61 8 8357 2111
- email: kate@katebarnett.com.au
Purpose
To review the literature in Australia that relates to school students and vocational education and training. The aim of this review of literature is to identify key trends, challenges faced, lessons learnt and expected future direction.
The scope of the review is broad and encompasses all the ways in which school students engage with vocational education and training. It is not limited to VET in schools programs.
Approach
Literature review and analysis
Research questions
1 How useful are VET in Schools data collections? What can they tell us about the participation of students as a total cohort and about particular groups of students - eg indigenous students, students with a disability, those living in rural and isolated areas? What do they tell us about outcomes being achieved? What is needed to improve existing data collection?
2 What have been the major policy initiatives shaping VET in Schools programs - both nationally and at State and Territory level? What have been the drivers for those initiatives?
3 What are the major models for delivery of VET in Schools? How unified or diverse are VET in Schools programs when viewed nationally?
4 What are the challenges facing the development of the VET in Schools program as a whole (eg consistent data collection)? How are they being addressed at present?
5 What impact is the VET in Schools initiative making on the relationship between the school and VET sectors?
6 What impact is being made on participation in VET as a whole (as a result of pathways created from the school system)?
7 What does existing research tell us about the costs and benefits of VET in Schools programs - at the systems level, at the service delivery level and at the individual student level?
8 What is known about the quality of VET in Schools program?
9 Can VET in Schools programs contribute to making the VET system as a whole more accessible to particular equity groups? What inputs are needed to ensure that VET in Schools programs are inclusive?
10 How do employers regard VET in Schools programs and the credentials they bring?
11 What are the likely directions of the VET in Schools initiative, and what research will be needed to inform those directions?
Methodology
This project involves primarily a review of the literature and existing studies/policies in Australia, focusing particularly on the period 1997-2003 but incorporating key literature prior to 1997.
The project will also involve interviews with those in key policy and planning roles in VET in schools units within the state/territory training authorities as well as relevant representatives of DEST, ANTA, MCEETYA, School Transition Taskforce.
Organisations
Kate Barnett and Robin Ryan have worked extensively in the VET sector, and have undertaken numerous policy-focused research and evaluation projects in this capacity. Kate Barnett has also completed several equity-focused research studies, beginning with several projects on the participation of women and of people with a disability in VET during her period as Senior Research Fellow with NCVER. Robin Ryan has also completed a number of nationally significant projects for the VET sector and undertook the 1997 consolidation study of vocational education in schools. He has also undertaken a significant amount of work focused on school to work transition, including a review in 2001 of research and practice for TAFE Directors Australia as a basis for their policy Position Paper.
