VET is in crisis across Australia. Many of the problems are well recognised. There is widespread recognition that to be effective, reform will need to be radical. Minor adjustment – tweaking policy and resourcing – will not work.
The John Cain Foundation has been public in advocating change. During 2017 and 2018 several forums were convened, some public, some for invited industry experts, to review the dimension of the problem and identify directions for reform. Professor Leesa Wheelahan, an Australian expert in vocational education now at University of Toronto, was commissioned to write a series of papers, culminating in a substantial blueprint for VET reform –
A policy framework to support a new social settlement in TAFE
Professor Wheelahan’s paper was launched to a capacity audience at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, in February 2019.
Sharing the platform with Professor Wheelahan was Professor Shelley Mallett, University of Melbourne and Brotherhood of St Laurence where she is General Manager of the Research and Policy Centre.
Professor Mallett’s research profiles the challenges faced by young people in Victoria, especially those from disadvantaged social groups. Her presentation is entitled –
THE MISSING PIECE: Anchoring VET in place for young people
The Melbourne forum was followed by a seminar for vocational education experts in NSW at a seminar convened by Professor John Buchanan, Business Analytics, School of Business University of Sydney. The research by Professor Buchanan and his team supports the call for reform by describing labour market segmentation across different workforce sectors. The work demonstrates the miss-match between the supply of and demand for vocational skills in the NSW labour market.
CONTOURS OF LABOUR MARKET SEGMENTATION: Mapping occupational flows within Australia’s employed workforce
DOWNLOAD HERE:
Professor Leesa Wheelahan:
A policy framework to support a new social settlement in TAFE
Professor Shelley Mallett:
THE MISSING PIECE: Anchoring VET in place for young people
Professor John Buchanan:
CONTOURS OF LABOUR MARKET SEGMENTATION: Mapping occupational flows within Australia’s employed workforce