Validation of assessment tools, processes and outcomes is an important element of the quality of assessment in vocational education and training (VET). This research explores how registered training organisations (RTOs) conduct independent validation of assessment (IVA) and what industry involvement they have in these processes.
Through investigations into how the VET sector can contribute to innovation, we find opportunities for innovation through an applied research agenda.
The gap is widening between knowledge generated through Australia's training system, and the skills demanded by employers.
Imagine a new landscape for education. Reflecting on the past, through the Martin report of the binary education system and the Dawkins reforms which unified the tertiary education system, Francesca Beddie looks at contemporary policy and future possibilities for tertiary education.
In this eclectic collection of papers, 13 essayists and four high-profile discussants consider the complexity of the tertiary education system and its underlying structures.
One of the significant challenges facing Australia is the ageing of the population. This challenge has led policy-makers to consider how older workers can be kept in the workforce. To help generate discussion on older workers, NCVER commissioned six researchers to draft essays on various issues around keeping older Australians engaged with the workforce. These essays, and responses by six additional discussants, were presented at a roundtable held in Canberra in May 2011. Themes to arise from the roundtable included the need to consider the diversity of older workers, the challenges of low literacy and numeracy skills for some older workers, discrimination and stereotypes, and the recognition that not all older workers want to keep working.
The main impetus for the interest in innovation is that it is seen to improve productivity at the firm level and therefore improved economic prosperity and living standards. This edited volume was commissioned by the Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations. The authors contribute a variety of views on innovation from different perspectives. Some of the main themes running throughout the book are reasons for firms innovating, the skills required for innovation and how innovation and skills development is supported by the training system, the firm and government. Innovation is seen as moving beyond research and development, to include new products, services and operational/organisational processes.
Half a dozen VET researchers and commentators contemplate the future of the VET sector. Their thoughts point to the need for more effort to articulate the role of VET in tertiary education and to streamline its governance.
This study examines where and how NCVER's research has influenced vocational education and training (VET) policy and practice.
NCVER commissioned six leading thinkers to offer insights into what is meant by a training market, constraints upon that market and the areas for improvement in the system which would allow consumers greater choice.
The project investigates learning and career development services for adults, particularly those who are in some way disengaged from the labour market or educational systems. The study considers whether a single career development service model could be broadly applied. The study found that many older job seekers or those marginally employed needing career advice were reluctant to seek it, and that such advice was best provided by agencies which are community-based, affordable and impartial.