60th anniversary of NT Training Awards: VET history by the decades

Vocational education and training (VET), in all of its various incarnations, has always been viewed as having an important role to play in the European colonisation of the Northern Territory. Whether it was known as apprenticeship training, adult education, TAFE or VET; the acquisition of employment-related skills has been widely accepted as necessary to the Territory's economic, social and cultural development. Since the mid-19th century vocational training has been used by many groups in their quest to 'improve' the Northern Territory and its residents. This paper looks at the history of VET and its governance in the Northern Territory, beginning with the use of VET by missionaries in the 1950s, through the introduction of apprenticeships and adult education in the 1960s, the emergence of community colleges in the 1970s, territory self-governance in the 1980s, and the changes taking place over the next three decades leading to the situation as it was in 2015.

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