Richard Cooney

1
Richard Cooney Michael LongCentre for the
Economics of Education Training (CEET)

• A Comparative Perspective on VET.
• Recent developments in Australia

2
Overview

• Australia has a federal system with 6 states, 2
  territories, 1 federal government
• States and Territories are responsible for
  education BUT the Commonwealth holds the purse
  strings
• Coordination is through the Council of Australian
  Governments (COAG) and for education the
  Ministerial Council on Employment, Education,
  Training Youth Affairs (MCEETYA)

3
Reforms to the VET System

• Reforms in the 1990s created the Australian
  National Training Authority (ANTA). This body
  established a national, competency-based VET
  system for the first time in Australia.
• This is to be disestablished and its functions
  subsumed by the federal department of education
  BUT this is being contested by the states

4
Vocational Education and Training (VET)

• Three sectors participate
• Senior Secondary Schools
• VET Sector
• Higher Education

5
Senior Secondary Schools

• Separate technical and academic schools no longer
  exist in Australia
• Many initiatives here to improve the variety of
  offerings in secondary school and improve
  retention
• Some overlap with VET sector. Schools offer some
  VET qualifications whilst TAFE Colleges offer
  Senior Secondary School Certificates

6
School Retention
7
Initiatives in Senior Secondary Schools

• VET in schools (VETis)
• School-based New Apprenticeships
• Creation of Vocational Senior School Certificates
  (e.g. Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning)
• Creation of Australian Technical Colleges

8
Linking Schools to the Labour Market

• A mix of State and Commonwealth government
  initiatives, often overlapping and competing e.g.
  Local Learning Employment Networks (state) and
  Local Community Partnerships (commonwealth)
• Managed Individual Pathways for early school
  leavers
• Surveys and follow-up those completing secondary
  school.

9
VET Sector

• A complex sector with many stakeholders
• Technical and Further Education (TAFE)
• Adult Community Education (ACE)
• Firm Provided Training
• Private Training Companies

10
VET Sector

• Public VET is funded by the states and
  territories BUT the commonwealth supports many
  labour market programs with a training element
• Policy has been to establish a training market
  with contestable public funding provided to all
  stakeholders
• Private funds from students and employers are
  also used

11
VET Sector

• Publicly funded VET has
• In 2003 1.7 million students enrolled in 2.1
  million courses undertaking 370 million hours of
  training
• Of these, 10 of students enrolled in advanced
  courses, 58 in certificate courses and 32 in
  non-award courses

12
VET Enrolments
13
VET Sector

• VET is most popular with 15-19 yo (26.8) and
• 20-24 yo (20.8 )
• Enrolments have grown throughout the 1990s. 1.1
  million students in 1993 to 1.7 million students
  in 2003
• Increased fees in higher education (25 in 2005)
  have seen numbers in VET grow even further since
  2003

14
Adult Community Education

• Principally provides adult literacy and numeracy
  training
• Much of this not readily captured in VET
  statistics. In 1999 there were 1.3 million
  enrolments in ACE but only 0.5 million were in
  institutions covered by official statistical
  collection

15
Firm Provided Training

• In 2001 employees completed 143 million hours of
  training. 90 of this was paid for by their
  employer
• Firms can deliver nationally accredited training
  and receive public funds
• Firms also pay for short course and specialised
  non-award training

16
Initiatives in VET

• Industry Training Packages now specify outcomes
  only. Curriculum material is a supplement
• There has been a growth of on-the-job delivery of
  packages. This has eliminated time served as a
  basis for completing qualifications
• BUT
• Many teachers became assessors only
• There are concerns about the quality of the
  training

17
Initiatives in VET

• There are also concerns about the returns from
  training as much training only addresses current
  skill gaps
• There have been problems with the interface
  between sectors as schools and universities
  assess academic merit and not competency

18
Initiatives in VET

• Industry Training Advisory Boards have been
  abolished and replaced by sectoral Skills
  Councils
• Policy is to develop an employer-led system.
  Unions and social partners have been excluded
  from the new Skills Councils
• BUT
• Employer expenditure on training has declined for
  the last decade

19
Initiatives in VET

• Entry-level training has been extended to new
  sectors through traineeships and New
  Apprenticeships BUT most traineeships are at
  Certificate I or II level and there is much
  recycling of young people through traineeships
• Numbers in traditional apprenticeships declined
  and Australia now faces skill shortages
• Group Training now accounts for the majority of
  apprentices in traditional trades areas employed
  in SMEs

20
Initiatives in VET
21
VET Links to the Labour Market

• These are strong through work-based traineeships
  and apprenticeships
• BUT
• Lack of articulation between courses inhibits
  skill upgrading
• Lack of articulation between sectors limits
  career development

22
Higher Education

• Made up of public universities, private
  universities and public institutes and colleges
• Universities are divided into research intensive
  universities, new universities and technology
  universities
• Legislative control by the states but funding
  from the commonwealth

23
Higher Education

• Trends in higher education
• Domestic enrolments have grown through the 1990s
• International enrolments have also grown.
  Full-fee paying international students now
  represent 22.6 of enrolments

24
Higher Education
25
Initiatives in Higher Education

• Promotion of a private higher education sector in
  Australia through
• Competition for research funding
• Purchase of places and student loans
• Establishment of teaching only institutions

26
Initiatives in Higher Education

• Universities offer many vocationally oriented
  courses. Established courses such as medicine,
  engineering have been supplemented by new
  vocational courses e.g. wine making, surfing,
  sports management
• Some overlap with the VET sector. There are some
  dual sector institutions, especially the
  technology universities, BUT
• There are few pathways from VET into university

27
Links to the Labour Market

• New vocational courses have strong links to
  industries and often a work experience component
• Many established courses also have a work
  experience component e.g. school placement,
  internships, etc.

28
Achievements

• Many initiatives to help young people transition
  from school to work, especially early school
  leavers
• Many new vocational courses in all sectors
• Leading to high levels of participation in
  post-secondary education

29
Problems

• Loose coupling between educational sectors
• Lack of clear pathways and overlap of courses in
  different sectors
• Responsibility for policy, funding and
  administration is diffuse

30
Problems

• Loose relationship of training to the labour
  market
• Vocational training is becoming more industry
  specific and firm specific
• Transitions between employment after entry-level
  training are not well established. Skill
  upgrading is difficult. Return to work is
  difficult.