VET in higher education: rethought pathways, pedagogy or pragmatism? (original) (raw)

Vocational and higher education in Australia: a need for closer collaboration

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2011

An important way to improve access for groups that are under-represented in tertiary education is to facilitate the movement of students from vocational education and training to higher education institutions. However, there is substantial evidence of rigidities and obstacles to such a closer integration between these two sectors. This paper discusses the problems experienced by students currently articulating from vocational education and training to higher education institutions, identifies impediments to collaborative pathways and suggests measures for overcoming such obstacles.

Emerging tertiary education developments and their effects on vocational education

It starts by reviewing important trends in Australian tertiary education since 1990: making vocational education ‘industry-led’ and now perhaps 'student-led', a shift in funding from governments to students, greatly increased commercialisation, the blurring of the tertiary education divide and qualification creep. The paper argues that there has been a crucial although mostly tacit change of tertiary education institutions from community resources to interchangeable providers of services to a market. The paper considers the implications of these trends for regional and outer metropolitan tertiary institutions.

Australia’s dual sector universities and transfer from vocational to higher education

2012

This chapter highlights the Australian tertiary education system that is divided into vocational and higher education systems. It provides information on student enrolment and participation in the vocational and higher education systems as well as the fields of study. It analyses the transition from vocational to higher education and provides evidence that dual sector universities support this transition more successfully than other universities.

Vocational Education and Training in Schools in Australia: what are the consequences of moving from margins to mainstream

This article is a critical review of policy and literature relating to vocational education and training (VET) in schools in Australia. Over the past decade in Australia, VET in schools has grown considerably so that not only are nearly half of senior school students now involved, but also VET in schools represents around 10% of total VET activity. In both schools and the VET sector itself, VET in schools was originally marginalised and this article explores its movement from the margins towards the mainstream in both spheres. An overview of the growth of VET in schools in Australia, along with other vocational developments in schools, is given, along with discussion of some of the benefits and challenges of VET in schools, both from a schooling perspective and from a national skills formation perspective. The consequences of the move from margins to mainstream have not yet been fully digested and debate rarely moves beyond consideration of implications for the school sector. The article moves beyond these narrow confines to raise broader questions for the VET sector.

Vocational education and training in Australian schools

The Australian Educational Researcher, 2007

While vocational subjects have always been part of the school curriculum, formal vocational education and training (VET) in the last two years of secondary education has been a policy focus for the last decade. In the Australian context, VET in schools is defined as courses that lead to industry recognised qualifications under the Australian Qualifications Framework while at the same time contributing to the standard Year 12 certificate. The number of students doing such courses has increased dramatically and is now close to one in two. The article looks at some history, the characteristics of the courses, the success of the policy in terms of school retention and labour market outcomes, and remaining challenges.

Australia's tertiary education sector

Monash University-ACER Centre for the …, 2003

Australia's tertiary education sector comprises higher (university) education and vocational education and training (VET). The purpose of this paper is to contrast the two sectors in terms of the way they are defined, their size and recent growth, the characteristics of their student bodies ...

Vocational education and training in schools in victoria: an appraisal six years down the track

Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 2001

This article examines the impact of an initiative designed to integrate vocational education and training in the senior school leaving certificate in the Australian state of Victoria. Drawing on two studies of senior secondary school students conducted by the Educational Outcomes Research Unit at the University of Melbourne, it attempts to assess whether, on the basis of data available to date, the VET in Schools programme has been a success. The article describes the programme's features and the way it has attempted to integrate general and vocational education within a common leaving certificate -the Victorian Certificate of Education. It presents data comparing the attitudes to workplace learning of students enrolled in the VET in Schools programme and students not enrolled in the programme. Finally, it presents data on the labour market and study destinations of students graduating from the programme. The article finds that the programme has been remarkably successful in terms of enrolment growth, positive attitudes to workplace learning and successful transitions to work and further study.