Innovation, from high profile scientific discoveries to lower profile changes in processes or practices, is crucial to Australia's economic development. However, its impact on the wider community is usually relatively small. Promotion of innovation across all sectors is required to produce the biggest changes. This report focuses on the roles of the vocational education and training (VET) sectors of Finland and Singapore - countries with strong track records in innovation. It argues that a whole-of-government approach supporting a national innovation system could benefit Australia. Further, the national VET sector is ideally placed to have a more direct role in the promotion and diffusion of smaller scale innovations provided incentives in the form of specific funding are put in place. This activity could also enhance the sector's links with business, particularly small to medium sized enterprises and those in regional areas.
The study compares the relative costs and effectiveness of online learning with traditional face to face teaching methods through six case studies. These case studies provide rich detail about the operating conditions under which different types of online delivery are likely to be cost effective.
This report investigates the reasons why apprentices and trainees do not complete their contracts of training. It involved telephone interviews with a national sample of non-completing new apprentices and their employers. The study also investigated what those who did not complete their contracts were doing at the time of the survey - whether they were working, in study, unemployed or not in the workforce. The study concludes with some suggested strategies to reduce non-completion.