Vocational education and training (VET) has a role to play in sustainable regional development. Through five regional case studies this research examines how well VET is tailoring supply to skill needs, how VET has become more flexible to obtain a better match between demand and supply, and whether partnerships have been linked to whole-of-government frameworks in ways which support sustainable regional development. The study concludes that successful relationships between VET and regional development require ongoing alignment both ways. Comprehensive regional frameworks could facilitate this co-development between VET and regional development.
There is growing international and national interest in the concept of social capital, its role, and the ways economic and social policies coalesce to drive economic progress and community well-being. This paper identifies eight areas the VET system can contribute to social capital: building social capital in firms; building networks of businesses, especially the small business sector; developing employability skills; fostering values and norms that underpin social capital; contributing to inclusive and cohesive communities; initiating and contributing to learning community initiatives; using information and communication technology innovatively to build virtual communities; and contributing to society as a good citizen. The report also discusses indicators for measuring social capital, and implications for VET policy and practice.
This study of training and learning services for small business gives an impressionistic snapshot of the current system, its products and strategies, also the results of recent initiatives and the promotion of training and learning for small business in Australia.
This study provides an analysis of policies and strategies adopted in five OECD countries to build a learning and training culture. The countries are Britain, United States, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany. The study found that whereas Sweden and the Netherlands have built a learning culture through evolutionary stages embedded in the wider social, economic cultural and political history of the country, Britain shows a revolutionary attempt to change the culture.
This report provides a review of the equity and access policies in schools, vocational education and training, higher education and adult community education and argues that government equity strategies could be improved by: targeting low-SES students within all equity groups; identifying two new target groups: those with low skills and the long-term unemployed; reporting performance in a way that focuses on the outcomes (in addition to the outputs) of education and training; strengthening pathways to employment from education and training.