Increasing the vocational education and training participation and achievement of mature workers: ideas for action

A new national strategy for vocational education and training (VET) for 2004/2010 (indexed at TD/ANTA 73.11) was agreed in principle by Ministers in June 2003 and the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) is working with its partners to develop an action plan for implementing the Strategy. The first of 12 strategies in the Strategy is ‘Increase participation and achievement, particularly by existing workers’. Mature age workers are seen as a priority group amongst this cohort. On 15 September 2003, a roundtable discussion involving a range of interested parties was held to consider the issues involved in increasing VET participation and achievement for mature age workers and to suggest a way forward. This ‘ideas for action’ paper builds on those discussions. It invites comments from all interested people, groups and organisations on any aspect of this paper. Submitted comments and ideas will be used to refine one or more national actions to form a part of the first of a series of rolling Action Plans for the National Strategy for VET: 2004-2010.

This paper is also one of the ‘think pieces’ that formed part of phase 2 of the high level review of training packages. The reports from phases 1 and 2 are indexed at TD/ANTA 74.04 and TD/ANTA 75.19. The ANTA-commissioned ‘think pieces’ are indexed from TD/ANTA 75.20 to TD/ANTA 75.23 and from TD/ANTA 75.29 to TD/ANTA 75.31. Show less