In most modern OECD nations, secondary schools are required to form partnerships with a large variety of organisations, ranging from other education and training providers to community groups, businesses and associations. These schools typically manage a large number and various types of relationships with external organisations. These may include work placement coordination providers, local businesses offering work placements, external vocational education providers, such as Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes in Australia, and other non-educational and community institutions. T
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In most modern OECD nations, secondary schools are required to form partnerships with a large variety of organisations, ranging from other education and training providers to community groups, businesses and associations. These schools typically manage a large number and various types of relationships with external organisations. These may include work placement coordination providers, local businesses offering work placements, external vocational education providers, such as Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes in Australia, and other non-educational and community institutions. This study was undertaken to evaluate the motivations underlying the formation of the partnerships, the positive outcomes these partnerships provide for students, and the difficulties they face.
The findings of this study confirm the changing nature of secondary school programs in recent years. The most visible, and arguably the most important, of these innovations are the applied learning programs that have been introduced into all the senior certificates in Australia and which require the building of partnerships with various community actors. This study found that: schools are aware that industry exposure is an important objective of [vocational education and training] VET programs, but they faced challenges in organising work placements; a very broad range of VET and applied learning programs were offered, and over 80 different programs were named by the respondents; VET offerings are driven mostly by student demand; over 75 per cent of school staff would like to further expand their applied/VET programs in the future; and some students considered the vocational pathway to be superior to the general curriculum pathway.
Excerpts from publication.
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