Search Results

Despite a number of changes and developments during the last decade of training reform in Australia, the apprenticeship system has remained an important element of entry-level training. This article discusses the definition of apprenticeship and clarifies the range of purposes it serves. The author examines the criticisms levelled at apprenticeship and uses recent research on apprenticeship in the building trade to demonstrate its purposes and to analyse criticisms. The author concludes that apprenticeships have evolved to suit the needs of the various stakeholders and briefly alludes to the implications for training outcomes of new developments in the apprenticeship system such as New Apprenticeships and user choice in training provision. Show less

This article comments that it is currently unfashionable to use the terms 'training' and 'teaching', and that all sectors of education and training have been replacing them with the term 'learning'. It is further contended that these moves indicate a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between training and learning and the article intends to show that purposeful learning in the vocational education and training (VET) sector and within organisations can rarely be achieved without training. Show less

Recent reports suggest that expenditure on staff development within the vocational education and training (VET) sector is decreasing. The author takes a critical look at this issue, with regard to VET teachers and trainers and suggests why this may be so. She considers the appropriateness for VET teachers and trainers of staff development models used for school teachers and private enterprises. She also looks at action learning which is currently favoured in the VET sector for staff development. Show less

This paper reports on research into the effects of recognition of prior learning (RPL) upon student outcomes in Universities’ VET teacher training. RPL was granted to teacher trainees because of previous experience teaching in TAFE, and student grades for both the subject where RPL was partly received and student performance in other subjects were compared. The results showed that students who received RPL tended to achieve lower marks; the reasons for the results are proposed and its significance for the VET sector discussed. Show less

This paper focuses on the evolving concept of training market views about those factors that necessitate intervention in the market. User choice in apprenticeships and traineeships is the latest policy response in Australia to the challenge of increasing the responsiveness of the vocational education and training (VET) system to the needs of clients. It does so by the channelling the flow of public funds to individual training providers to reflect the choice of training provider made by the client. Several policy issues are raised and discussed: the provision of continuous access to training in rural and remote areas; the impact of user choice on equity groups; the extent to which user choice will increase the choices available to apprentices and trainees; the competitiveness of training markets under user choice; the adjustments required of private training providers and the publicly funded VET system; and tensions between stakeholders that are likely to be experienced in the introduction of user choice. Show less

This paper reports on the first phase of findings from a study about young people in their first year of full-time work. Some of the literature on the transition from school to work, and apprenticeships and traineeships, is briefly discussed, and it is suggested that most literature concentrates on policy rather than on the experiences of young people themselves. The study involved eleven young people starting work and significant adults such as their parents and employers. Issues discussed include reasons why the young people chose to work rather than undertake further study; reasons for their choice of career; and the importance of training in their job choice and future career plans. Show less

Until a decade ago there was not much in common between the training which took place in enterprises, sometimes known as Human Resource Development (HRD) and the training that took place with TAFE and other providers of vocational education and training (VET). Over the last decade various measures introduced as part of training reform have changed this relationship and this paper, tracing the changes that have taken place, argues that there is now an area of overlap between VET and HRD, where accredited VET programs are delivered in the workplace, and that this area of convergence appears to be growing. Three enterprise case studies are used in the paper to illustrate the nature of the area of overlap, and to suggest some features which contribute to enterprises' likelihood to engage in accredited training. Show less

This paper is based on research undertaken for the New South Wales Board of Vocational Education and Training. Its purpose was to determine how the introduction of user choice in apprenticeships and traineeships would impact on the training market in New South Wales (NSW). This paper specifically looks at markets where user choice will be effective and provides a contrast with those that may need government intervention of some kind. The research methodology is described in detail and user choice defined. The analysis of training markets under user choice was approached by considering viable markets and markets at risk in terms of the effect on their operations. Key implications for the introduction of user choice in NSW are outlined. These include suggestions for the best way to decide on whether to implement user choice and the factors which could reduce the level of associated risk for the training markets involved.

The volume of collected proceedings is indexed at TD/TNC 57.76; individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 57.77 to TD/TNC 57.122. Show less

This paper reports on reactions of teachers employed by public and private vocational education and training (VET) providers to the introduction of competency-based training (CBT) models of course design and delivery. The researchers conducted detailed interviews across 36 VET courses and administered a questionnaire designed to reveal ‘stages of concern’ as CBT practices were introduced, under the assumption that concerns with ‘self’, ‘task’ and ‘impact’ would represent successive stages of assimilation. The findings revealed significant differences in levels of comfort with and understanding of the new practices between groups of teachers practicing under different regimes. The researchers conclude that a difficult transition is being made successfully, but that there are key inadequacies in levels of understanding, provision of staff development and management of the transition by employers. An extended literature review canvasses the issues of dissatisfaction already widely noted in the VET community, concentrating particularly on inadequacies in information flow and lack of adequate professional development programs.

The volume of collected proceedings is indexed at TD/TNC 57.76; individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 57.77 to TD/TNC 57.122. Show less