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Steve Davis interviews a collection of presenters from two panel discussions at the 29th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference 'No Frills', held on 7-10 July 2020. Topics covered in the lively discussion include new directions in skills planning, digital technology and the role it plays in aged and community care, insights from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), and the role of parental influence in taking on apprenticeships. Speakers are Professor John Buchanan, The University of Sydney; Ms Anne Livingstone and Dr George Margelis, Australian Aged Care Industry Information Technology Council; Mr David Redway, Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment; and Professor Erica Smith, Federation University.

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In 2020, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) invited expert vocational voices from the vocational education and training (VET) sector to share their views, stories, experiences and insights on a range of hot topics. This podcast is a roundup of interesting snippets and research findings from across the eight podcast episodes released during the year. Full of short and sharp insights from each of the guest speakers, it covers off some of the best bits of Seasons 4 and 5.

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Purpose: Motivated by the perceived disparity between supply and demand for skilled workers in STEM fields, namely, science, technology, engineering and math, the purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical study of attitude and readiness for STEM education and careers among American and Chinese college students in business disciplines. The authors' findings point out that students in China and the USA have some significantly different perspectives of STEM maybe because they are prepared and inspired differently. These differences may have fundamentally impacted their attitude and readiness for pursuing a STEM career. Implications from this research project should be noteworthy to educators and academic administrators so that appropriate curricula and cultivation can be offered. Design/methodology/approach: The authors have decided to look into the situation using a comparison approach by surveying a randomly chosen group of college students from China and another from the USA and then analyzed their responses to the authors' delicately constructed survey in a hope of finding any patterns that may cause the authors to rethink about the authors' approaches to cultivating interest in STEM.

Findings: The findings described in the paper should offer us some significant, though still preliminary, implications as follows: both American and Chinese students admire STEM careers, but feel rewarding differently; American students may have other career choices that may be equal or more rewarding while Chinese students choose STEM fields by following a cultural norm; having early exposure to science subjects and gaining relevant experience help grow interest in STEM among American students, but such exposure may bring about negative effect on career choices; American female students are at least as capable of succeeding in STEM as their male counterparts; American students seek more advice on their career choices than Chinese students who may follow a cultural norm. Advisory service from teachers and parents may impact differently from peer influence does; extracurricular activities can more positively affect interest in STEM than taking science courses. Research limitations/implications: Although the survey has collected responses from only business students in both countries, the resulting implications should reflect what a sizable segment of college students feel and think about STEM and thus should allow educators and institutional administrators to use as evidence in pursuing innovative curricula and advisory services that would better prepare our future students for STEM education and beyond, especially in those disciplines, like business administration, in which STEM skills are increasingly in demand.

Practical implications: Some significant, though still preliminary, implications should be readily drawn from the study: first, both American and Chinese students admire STEM careers, but rewarding may mean different things to them. American students may have other career choices that may be equal or more rewarding per their definition of rewarding while Chinese students may pursue STEM fields by following a cultural norm rather than by considering it rewarding. Second, having early exposure to science subjects and gaining relevant experience can help grow interest in STEM among American students, but such exposure, especially taking science courses, may bring about negative effect on career choices. Extracurricular activities can more positively affect interest in STEM than taking science courses. Third, female students are at least as equally interested and capable of succeeding in STEM as their male counterparts, but their interest and confidence may be more vulnerable to challenges imposed by market reality and cultural bias. Fourth, American students seek more advice when available on their career choices than Chinese students do as the former may face more competing career choices and possess less preparation for STEM than the latter does. Finally, advisory service from teachers and parents may impact differently than the influence peers can perpetrate. Club activities when peers can naturally influence each other may be quite effective in promoting interest in and preparing readiness for STEM, and these activities are more effective to American students than Chinese students and to male students than female students. Originality/value: Nine hypotheses are proposed to validate through this empirical study. These hypotheses reflect thoughts upon the literature review and pertain to the factors that should impact STEM education.

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This report begins with some background information about the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system, its students and its teaching workforce. A brief overview of VET teachers in Australia follows this. Three main aspects of the VET teaching workforce are then covered: (1) working conditions of vocational training teachers, including wages and working hours, compared with other occupations; (2) qualifications and professional development for vocational training teachers; and (3) career development, career guidance, and career management for vocational training teachers. A number of Appendices are provided for further information, and as templates that could potentially be adapted for implementation.

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The expertise and professionalism of teachers is vital in vocational education and training (VET), as it is in any other education sector. As 'dual professionals', VET teachers need to keep abreast of their industry or discipline area as well as maintaining and improving their pedagogical skills and knowledge. VET workplaces (colleges and vocational schools) are important sites of learning for these matters. This paper draws together and analyses the findings from the other papers in this special issue, finding that VET workplaces contribute to teachers' learning both as a part of pedagogical qualifications (in 'teaching practice' components) and as part of continuing professional learning. The paper draws on a previous theoretical model and the findings in the papers to propose a number of categories of workplace learning: learning that is taught, sought, wrought, caught, brought, and thought. These could be applied to any occupation. Finally, the contribution of teachers' personal attributes to the extent and nature of their site-based learning is examined, using the data in the papers to develop further a previous model of VET teacher professionalism.

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