Impacts of the Victorian Training Guarantee on VET enrolments, course choice and completion (original) (raw)
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Early impacts of the Victorian Training Guarantee on VET enrolments and graduate outcomes
2014
The impact of the first round of Victorian demand-driven reforms, referred to as the Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG), on enrolments and training outcomes is the focus of this report. The VTG reforms were introduced to create a more responsive training market and were implemented between July 2009 and January 2011. Subsequent reforms introduced in Victoria in 2012 are not part of this analysis. A particular focus of this report is on impacts for Indigenous students, those from a non-English speaking background and students with a disability. The impact of the VTG on enrolments and training outcomes for students from different age groups is also considered.
In preparing our submission, VECCI examined a range of issues impacting on the operation of the Victorian vocational education and training (VET) system. Among the most critical concerns for business are: 1. Constant policy and operational changes that have resulted in an unstable and unpredictable system which does not meet its intended objectives. 2. Declining training quality and adverse training provider behaviour. We note that the Minister for Training and Skills recently declared that the Victorian VET system has the lowest level of employer confidence of any state in Australia. 3. Growing confusion and complexity as a result of continual reforms to funding models and employer incentive structures. 4. The move by both public and private providers to significantly reduce the hours of off-the-job training delivery due to progressive changes in the funding model. This has shifted costs to employer-focussed training delivery and on-the-job assessment. A stable VET funding model is...
Competition in the training market
National Centre For Vocational Education Research, 2009
Competition' and 'contestability' are now part of the vocational education and training (VET) lexicon. But do we know what they mean? Do choice and competition lead to better outcomes? Does a less-than-perfect training market justify the intervention of central planners? What do students and employers need to make sensible decisions about training? What rules and institutions give the best outcomes; that is, what should the 'market design' look like?
Contestable funding in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) Sector
This paper aims to evaluate the impact of the contestable funding on the role of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes that together constitute the largest share of the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia. Since late 1980s, government reforms to the VET sector include the expansion of the training sector to increase the participation of private providers and hence make the VET sector more competitive. As part of these reforms, a significant proportion of government VET funds are allocated via contestable funding mechanisms where public TAFEs and private registered training organisations (RTOs) could compete for funds. The development of an open training market and the decline in government funding for TAFEs raises questions about their role. As more government VET funds are allocated on a competitive basis, the direct funding for public TAFEs has declined. In last year alone, vocational training budget cuts announced in some states have resulted in a decline of more than 500 million dollars in funding for TAFEs (Ross 2013). On 17 March 2013, in the context of these funding cuts, the House of Representative Standing Committee on Education and Employment (HRSCEE) started an inquiry looking into the role of the TAFE system and its operation. This paper therefore aims to contribute to this debate.
Key messages From 1998 to 2017 the number of government-funded VET students in NSW has remained steady, fluctuating around 450,000 in spite of increased population. TAFE NSW share of these students dropped from 84% to 62.4%; Adult and Community providers fell from 22.9% to 4.4%; other registered providers increased from 3.8% to 33.2%. The introduction of Smart & Skilled had no impact on government-funded student numbers remaining at 423,000 in both 2013 and 2017 against the national trend of loss of students in the VET sector. Government-funded students in NSW are heavily concentrated (94.5%) in the top 20 training packages, mirroring total NSW VET activity with 93.6% in a nearly identical list of the top 20 training packages out of the 60 in existence. From 2004-2017 NSW VET delivery has been progressively shifted from remote and regional areas to the major cites and their nearby surrounds in line with the national trend. Smart & Skilled continued this trend with major cities and inner regions gaining 10,000 students (+8.7%) and outer regions, remote and very remote losing 6,700 students (-8.7%) between 2013 and 2017. Total NSW VET activity indicates +4.2% of student in metropolitan areas compared to +0.5% in the other areas. Indigenous student numbers have increased in a linear fashion almost every year from 1998 (13,300) to 2017 (36,900). This is likely to do with changes of self-identification in the national census counts and is concentrated in the major cities and inner regions. While not as extreme as the national change, the pattern of shifting training from the most disadvantaged members (-2,300 or -1.0%) to the most advantaged (+2,700 or +2.6%) is also evident in NSW from 2013-2017. NSW had 1142 registered training organisations headquartered in the state in February 2019. 98% were based in the major cities and inner regional areas and none were in remote and very remote areas. Out of 972 private, for-profit training providers 91% are located in major cities and inner regional areas and only 10 are located in outer regional areas. (Exception of TAFE NSW is noted post-One TAFE).
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 2018
Vocational education and training provision for young people is a crucial but often maligned part of the wider education sector. A common criticism, and motivation for numerous reforms across countries where training is predominantly classroom-based, is that too much training is low quality and unrelated to skill needs. This article examines the effects of a major Australian reform—replacing a centrally planned model with a system-wide voucher scheme—aimed at addressing these weaknesses. The reform led to large increases in private college enrollments, improved match between course choice and employer demand, and improved student achievement, with no adverse impact on equity.