These essays have emerged as a result of a conversation between me and Peter Noonan, one of the contributors to this collection. It is intended to stimulate thinking about how the current appetite for vocational education and training (VET) reform can be harnessed to shape a bright future for vocational education.

NCVER approached six writers and commentators on VET to give us their views on the future of VET. Robin Shreeve, John Hart, Myree Russell, Virginia Simmons, Gavin Moodie and Peter Noonan have all contributed essays—as have I. We asked Robin Ryan, both an historian of and commentator on vocational education, to pull together themes emerging from the various essays. He has articulated five themes:

• the need for a new 'settlement' to address the federal governance of vocational education and, over time, improve funding mechanisms
• the better articulation of VET's purposes to serve individuals and communities and VET's role in the tertiary education sector
• a more successful marriage of curriculum and competence, including addressing the place of training packages
• the use of the history of VET—what's worked and what hasn't—to inform the current reform effort
• the importance of maintaining an employer and industry voice in VET.

Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER