A client-focussed vocational education and training system?

This paper was an address by Richard Sweet to the 1994 National TAFE Council Annual General Meeting, based on the paper reproduced for the Third National Workshop on Vocational Teacher Education in October 1993. It briefly sets the context for the reforms to Australia’s vocational education and training system that began in the late 1980s. It describes the reform process in simple terms, gives a brief assessment of the training reform agenda and suggests some ways in which it might become more effective through more direct industry involvement. It argues that a new accommodation between...  [+] Show more

This paper was an address by Richard Sweet to the 1994 National TAFE Council Annual General Meeting, based on the paper reproduced for the Third National Workshop on Vocational Teacher Education in October 1993. It briefly sets the context for the reforms to Australia’s vocational education and training system that began in the late 1980s. It describes the reform process in simple terms, gives a brief assessment of the training reform agenda and suggests some ways in which it might become more effective through more direct industry involvement. It argues that a new accommodation between government and industry is now required to give industry a real voice, particularly at the local level, in the system and genuine ownership of the process of change. There needs to be a better balance between learning in classrooms and learning in enterprises, within a common framework of certification and credentials.