This paper provides an overview of the factors which influence and drive Australia's technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector. It details the objectives of Australia's national strategy for TVET from 2004 to 2010, and key initiatives of the sector to meet the changing economic and technological environment: a review of training packages, and a review of the national standards for training providers. It also discusses issues facing the TVET sector, as identified in a paper published by the Business Council of Australia (2004). Further, an overview of the apprenticeship and traineeship system, which has expanded considerably in recent years, is provided. This paper was presented to the International Vocational Education Conference, October 2004, in Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
Lifelong learning means different things to different people. This paper takes a pragmatic approach and examines adult engagement with various aspects of Australia's education and training system and the policy framework that underpins the system. It is argued that Australia's policy framework for lifelong learning is relatively weak because the educational framework is very open and does not discriminate on the basis of age. In a sense, Australia does not have a policy because it does not need one: its whole approach has encouraged lifelong learning.
This paper was presented to the TAFE Director's Australia 2003 Annual Conference held in Adelaide from 30 April to 2 May, 2003. It addresses the role that the vocational education and training sector can play in assisting the nation achieve intergenerational equity.
Susan Dawe, Senior Research Fellow, NCVER, presented this paper at the AVETRA 2004 7th Annual Conference, 17 - 19 March 2004. It reports the findings of a study which examined why some students, who complete vocational preparation, disability and Aboriginal education programs, re-enrol in these 'enabling' courses or at the same qualification level in following years. It found that the small number of students who re-enrol in these courses progress on to a more advanced level of study or explore a different vocational area. Further, they gain additional skills and maintain self-esteem. The report 'Moving on from enabling courses: Why do some students remain in enabling courses?' (Dawe, 2004) is available from NCVER's website.
Dr Tom Karmel, Managing Director, NCVER, presented this paper at the 2003 Australian Council for Private Education and Training National Conference, 28-30 August 2003. It discusses NCVER's work to expand its national statistics collection to capture Australia's total vocational education and training (VET) effort under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Currently, there is a significant information gap relating to the collection of statistics from privately funded, AQF-related VET activity.