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

A Comparative Perspective on VET.

Recent developments in Australia

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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)

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Reforms to the VET System

• Reforms in the 1990’s 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

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Vocational Education and Training (VET)

• Three sectors participate:

– Senior Secondary Schools– VET Sector– Higher Education

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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

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School Retention

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

. '82 '84 '86 '88 '90 '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04Year

Ap

pa

ren

t re

ten

tion

thro

ug

h s

ec.

sch

oo

l %

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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

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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.

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VET Sector

A complex sector with many stakeholders:

• Technical and Further Education (TAFE)• Adult & Community Education (ACE)• Firm Provided Training• Private Training Companies

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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

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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

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VET Enrolments

0

5

10

15

20

25

I II III IV Dip

% Enrolements byQualification

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VET Sector

• VET is most popular with 15-19 yo (26.8%) and

20-24 yo (20.8 %)• Enrolments have grown throughout the 1990’s. 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 SME’s

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Initiatives in VET

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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Year

Com

men

cem

ents

% o

f 15-

29 y

ear-

olds

Trainee

Total

Apprentice

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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

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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

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Higher Education

Trends in higher education:

• Domestic enrolments have grown through the 1990’s

• International enrolments have also grown. Full-fee paying international students now represent 22.6 % of enrolments

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Higher Education

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

90 92 94 96 98 0 2

Enrolements -Domestic

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.