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Purpose – This paper aims to examine the employment and training of mature-aged workers, so that suggestions for improving training for mature-aged workers may be offered. Design/methodology/approach – Six expert interviews were carried out by telephone, and three case studies involving company site visits were completed. Each company case study involved interviews with managers, trainers and mature-aged workers. The study was confined to the manufacturing industry. Findings – Mature-aged workers bring many advantages to workplaces and some employers show a definite preference for them over younger workers; but in some cases training needs to take account of lack of confidence and literacy and health issues. However, there is great diversity among mature-aged workers. Research limitations/implications – The research is confined to shop-floor workers in manufacturing, and does not address training of mature-aged managers and professionals. The research is small-scale but provides new insights, and importantly the voices of the workers themselves. Practical implications – The paper identifies managerial and training practices that can immediately be implemented. Originality/value – The paper identifies some issues that can be taken up at a policy level as well as within companies. For example, the preference for qualification-based training at a national level is not necessarily consistent with what mature-aged workers prefer.

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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse what retail and hospitality industry employers want from training and trainers. Design/methodology/approach - The research project was undertaken for Service Skills Australia, the Australian Industry Skills Council that oversees formal training for a range of service industries in Australia. The paper utilises data from focus groups and telephone interviews with representatives of the retail and hospitality industries, and telephone interviews with staff of the relevant UK Sector Skills Councils, to provide international benchmarking for the issues raised. Findings - Results showed that, while industry representatives stated that they prioritised industry skills and knowledge above education skills and knowledge, a complex mixture of the two was required, which was generally felt to be lacking. Curriculum for training was also perceived to be deficient, despite Training Packages having been developed in consultation with industry. A comparison with the UK interviews with senior staff at the UK Skills Councils for the two industries showed similar issues and suggested some possible ways forward for Australia. Originality/value - The paper provides three major areas where improvement in [vocational education and training] VET training and trainers would be welcome and gives useful initiatives for improvement in those areas.

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With the large number of high school students engaging in part-time work, very little is known about the impact of this activity on employability, employment outcomes and career development. This paper outlines the context of this phenomenon in Australia, and reviews the body of empirical work that has been published in recent years, noting the methodological limitations of this field of research.

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2009 was a bad year for Australia’s international vocational education and training (VET) industry. Racism affecting international students on the streets and in the national media discouraged students from applying to study in Australia and made international education the centre of political controversy. In such an environment it has been easy to lose sight of the teaching and learning processes that are at the heart of VET for international students. This paper reports on part of a research project, funded by Service Skills Australia, that examined VET practitioners in the service industries. As part of that project the author carried out case studies in two registered training organisations (RTOs) that delivered training to substantial numbers of hospitality students and interviewed senior managers from four other RTOs. Staff and students alike reported on the benefits of having international students enrolled in their courses, and reported instances of good practice in pedagogy that have implications well beyond the international student cohort.

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This article examines the nature of employability skills in the context of broader notions of generic skills, and the ways in which employability skills can be developed, assessed, and reported. The issues, which are similar in all developed countries, are illustrated primarily with examples from Australia. The article concludes with some issues for future consideration.

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In Australia, approximately 3.5 per cent of the working population is employed in apprenticeships and their newer counterparts, traineeships (both of these are combined under the title of ‘Australian apprenticeships’). While apprenticeships were originally intended for young school leavers, they are now open to people of all ages and to part-time as well as full-time workers. The huge growth in numbers, over 300 per cent since the mid-1990s, has been the result of very conscious planning and financial investment by the Australian Government. This paper, using data drawn from a series of research projects, analyses the different agencies that help to promote and manage the apprenticeship system. The paper points out both positive and negative effects of the large numbers of agencies involved.

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The volume from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 101.305. Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 101.306 to TD/TNC 101.319. Show less

Apprenticeship is a tradition of training for work that usually includes work-based training, off-the-job training, and an employment relationship. This article discusses different ways of looking at apprenticeship and ways in which countries' models may vary. The article includes a case study of the Australian system and concludes by discussing some current challenges to apprenticeship systems.

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In this paper, the author reflects, both as an academic researcher and as a senior practitioner, on the experience of competency-based training (CBT) in the Australian vocational education and training system. She seeks to draw conclusions about the Australian experience using a typology drawn from the academic literature which focuses on the philosophical, educational, technical and market aspects of CBT. She concludes that, despite many improvements over the past ten years, some potential problems remain. The system is controlled overly tightly by the interests of industry and it also exhibits some inflexibilities. Both of these act to disadvantage some groups of learners. Teachers and trainers do not have adequate skills to work skilfully and critically with CBT, leading to thin pedagogy and a narrow focus on assessment of individual items of performance.

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The rediscovery of the value of apprenticeships has been one of the most significant trends in vocational education in recent years. In this volume, the renewed interest in the apprenticeship tradition and the various steps towards the implementation of innovative apprenticeship programs are analysed and discussed from different perspectives. The beginning chapters describe recent developments in apprenticeship training in different national contexts. The remainder of the book analyses the way in which both the quality and profitability of apprenticeship act in concert as the most influential drivers of innovation in this field.

The chapters are as follows: Introduction: rediscovering apprenticeship / Felix Rauner and Erica Smith; Competence development through workplace learning: the case of the French vocational baccalaureat / Benedicte Gendron; The transition from vocational education and training to higher education in the German-speaking countries / Peter Schlogl; Plural administration in dual systems in selected European countries / Felix Rauner, Wolfgang Wittig and Ludger Deitmer; Creating the social foundations for apprenticeship in Ireland / Barry Nyhan; Italian apprenticeship reform: impact from national and regional perspectives / Sandra D’Agostino, Elmo De Angelis and Ludger Deitmer; Towards innovative apprenticeship: the evaluation of the development of integrated regional VET centres in Hungary / Magdolna Benke; The distinct nature of work-based VET in England: a reflection of employer interests? / Michaela Brockmann, Linda Clarke and Christopher Winch; We need them, they need us: work-based learning programmes for young people in the Mediterranean region / Richard Sweet and Helmut Zelloth; We’re here to help: agencies dealing with apprenticeships in Australia / Erica Smith; Apprenticeship in the United States: patterns of governance and recent developments / Robert I. Lerman; Comparing two cases of training practice: implications for trainers’ professional development / Philipp Grollmann; Facilitating learners’ motivation and competence development in the workplace: the UK context / Natasha Kersh and Karen Evans; Coaching and collaborative work based learning in Dutch VET: the ‘TEAMstages’ project / Jeroen Onstenk; Costs, benefits and quality of apprenticeships: a regional case study / Felix Rauner and Lars Heinemann in collaboration with Dorothea Piening and Rainer Bischoff.

Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 101.306 to TD/TNC 101.319. Show less