Funding vocational education in Australia: 1970 to 2020

The VOCEDplus landmark documents are key documents considered by history and authoritative commentary to have influenced the development of the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system, providing vision and/or leading to significant change. This paper is part of a series of forthcoming overviews that analyse and describe how these landmark documents impacted on the development of various aspects of Australia's VET sector.

This overview considers the history of the funding of VET across five decades. It draws on a range of reports, reviews, statistical data and relevant landmark reports to examine public and private funding and its distribution among public and private providers, employers, and students. The overview also explores evidence on the effects of various government policies for the use of funds in relation to the goals of the VET system. It focuses on the following landmark documents: Successful reform: competitive skills for Australians and Australian enterprises [FitzGerald report] (TD/LMR 85.636); Young people's participation in post-compulsory education and training: report of the Australian Education Council Review Committee [Finn review] (TD/LMR 85.641); Review of Australian higher education [Bradley review] (TD/LMR 85.696); Education, training and employment: report of the Committee of Inquiry into Education and Training [Williams report] (TD/LMR 85.677); Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs [Kirby report] (TD/LMR 85.649); TAFE in Australia: report on needs in technical and further education [Kangan report] (TD/LMR 85.637); Industry training in Australia: the need for change [Dawkins] (TD/LMR 85.664); Improving Australia's training system [Dawkins] (TD/LMR 85.676); Skills for Australia [Dawkins and Holding] (TD/LMR 85.648); Australia reconstructed: ACTU/TDC Mission to Western Europe (TD/LMR 85.647); The Australian Vocational Certificate Training System [Carmichael report] (TD/LMR 85.646); One Nation: statement by the Prime Minister, the Honourable P. J. Keating MP, 26 February 1992 (TD/LMR 85.707); Creating a future direction for Australian vocational education and training (TD/LMR 102.715); Training costs of award restructuring: report of the Training Costs Review Committee [Deveson report] (TD/LMR 85.635). Show less