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This paper explores some aspects of moves to a closer relationship between higher education and vocational education and training (VET) courses. Such relationships may involve credit transfer, formal articulation or embedding of VET qualifications within university qualifications. A general discussion of the issues is followed by the results of a small-scale research study. Data were gathered from a number of students who have undertaken or are currently undertaking the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training embedded within higher education courses at Charles Sturt University. Their views illuminate the advantages of embedding from a learner's viewpoint but some issues remain unresolved.

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Volumes of papers are indexed at TD/TNC 90.162 and TD/TNC 90.163. Selected individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 90.164 to TD/TNC 90.211. Show less

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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This chapter examines the relationship of [vocational education and training] VET teachers with industry. It explains that engagement with industry can, and should, take place at a number of levels, from everyday interactions through delivering training and assessment in workplaces, to national level through Industry Skills Councils and other activities. The chapter explains how good relationships with employers can be developed and maintained, and encourages readers to identify the extent of their own practice in this domain of their work.

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In this 30 minute podcast, Steve Davis talks with Tom Karmel, Erica Smith and Damian Oliver on insights from research into apprenticeships. Interested in the story behind the numbers, Tom discusses the findings from his work on individual completion rates that show occupation and employers' size matters, with the implication being that the relationship between employer and apprentice is critical. Erica talks about the all too often unspoken expectations of apprentices and employers: the psychological contract. She finds that writing down these expectations at the start of an apprenticeship does help all parties. Damian examines whether pre-apprenticeship programs deliver on their promise of improved retention rates and finds their impact varies by occupation and prior education level. Implications for policy-makers and training providers are drawn out throughout the podcast. Show less

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) commissioned BMRB Social Research to carry out a research project to seek information about the pay received by waged trainees while they are on an apprenticeship. The main objective of the research was to determine the average level of pay received by apprentices and to provide evidence on the differences between different sector frameworks. Secondary aims included analysis of pay by age and sex. Trainees undertaking apprenticeships in the 11 largest sectors were interviewed for the Trainee Wages survey. Trainees aged 16-18 are currently exempt from the National Minimum Wage requirements but the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has provided guidance to encourage employers to pay trainees a minimum of 70-80 pounds per week. The LSC also plans to introduce a contractual requirement for a minimum weekly income for employed trainees later this year. This survey will provide a baseline against which the DfES can judge the impact of the LSC guidance and any future requirements for a minimum weekly pay for trainees.

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Apprenticeships can be seen as the ultimate in cooperation between [technical and vocational education and training] TVET providers and industry as they are based on a combination of work and study. They provide appropriate skills for companies and also all-round occupational and generic skills, as well as providing a tried and tested means of moving young people into the full-time labour market. However there are many different actual and potential models of apprenticeship, which can be confusing for countries looking to begin or re-develop an apprenticeship system. This paper uses part of the work undertaken for a project funded by the International Labour Organization and the World Bank to compare and contrast apprenticeship systems in 11 countries, for the purpose of drawing out some principles of good practice. The project was undertaken to provide suggestions for the process of reform of the Indian apprenticeship system (Planning Commission 2009). Experiences of other countries, both in the developed and the developing world, indicate that apprenticeship systems cannot be transplanted among countries; however, key features of countries’ systems can be identified and sensitively developed in other countries.

The paper explains how an international comparative study arrived at principles for good practice. In the project, 11 individual country case studies, based on reports, literature and stakeholder comment, were produced by a team of national experts, and subjected to a cross-case analysis to extract these principles. The use of national experts was judged to be more effective than having people write on other countries’ systems. The latter method has proved in many instances to result in inaccurate reports, susceptibility to the influence of limited numbers of stakeholders and a lack of sophistication in analysing trends. The country case studies took into account agreed international benchmarks for describing, analysing and evaluating apprenticeships, based on the framework described in the recently-released memorandum by INAP, the International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship (INAP Commission 2012) and the framework developed by one of the authors in the International Encyclopedia of Education (Smith 2010). The countries were selected to cover a range of variables. A cross-case analysis was undertaken which drew together data from the countries using a thematic approach and simple data display techniques (Miles and Huberman 1994). The analysis covered both systemic issues and ‘the life cycle of the apprentice’. The data were then further reduced to develop an identified set of principles of good practice in apprenticeship systems. These principles of good practice were then contextualised within a consideration of issues of ‘quality’, expansion and simplification strategies for apprenticeships and incentives for employers and apprentices.

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Public policies on training are firmly rooted in the historical, political, economic and social context of their countries. This paper explores the acceptability of such policies to stakeholder groups including learners and employers, and its impact on policy take-up, viability and longevity. The paper uses a comparative analysis of developments in the English and Australian systems in three key areas, using elements of public policy theory, to explain the factors affecting stakeholder acceptance of training policies. The data was gathered through a series of interviews with stakeholders in England and Australia in 2005. The paper focuses on the role of employers and the importance of employer acceptance to the successful implementation of training policy. The paper finds that the successful implementation of training policies depends upon participation in the system by all the stakeholders. The successful implementation of qualifications and apprenticeship policies in Australia rests on a foundation of institutions that support neo-corporatist employer and union participation in policy-making as well as a public trust in past policies that seems to be lacking in England. The degree of employer involvement via neo-corporatist mechanisms such as concertation has a highly significant impact on the success of national training policies.

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This research paper has been produced as part of the ILO project, Apprenticeships Development for Universal Lifelong Learning and Training (ADULT), funded by the Government of Flanders. The ADULT project aims to explore how apprenticeship systems are being modernised and transformed to promote and enable lifelong learning and decent work for youth, adults, and older workers (both employed and unemployed). This research paper examines the attractiveness and potential attractiveness of apprenticeships to those who might seek to undertake one. This study is confined to formal apprenticeships, that is those which are overseen by governments and/other bodies. It considers apprenticeship as an option for adults as well as young people. It provides examples from across the world, from low-, medium- and high-income countries. The focus is on attractiveness to individuals rather than the attractiveness to employers of engaging with the apprenticeship system.

The paper explores reasons why apprenticeships are sometimes regarded as unattractive or low status career choices. It also highlights the experiences and lessons learned from the initiatives taken by various countries in improving the attractiveness of apprenticeships. These include structural changes and enhancements to apprenticeship programs, as well as better promotion of apprenticeships to potential apprentices and those who advise them.

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This is an overview of a national research project which set out to evaluate the benefits, challenges and outcomes for all stakeholders of the delivery of vocational education and training (VET) qualifications delivered through work. It was undertaken through a study of Enterprise Registered Training Organisations (Enterprise RTOs), since they are the 'heaviest users' of nationally recognised training. Enterprise RTOs are companies and other organisations (such as government departments) which are registered as training providers to deliver qualifications to their own workers. The project had four research questions: What are the benefits and challenges for companies associated with training through their own Enterprise RTO? What are the benefits and challenges for workers associated with Enterprise RTOs? What is the equivalence of workplace-delivered qualifications among companies and with qualifications delivered in educational institutions? How do Enterprise RTOs help us to understand the extent and nature of an emerging, alternative employer-based VET system? The report explains, by phase, how the project was carried out and what was found in each phase. The appendices provide illustrative data from each phase. The final section of the main report presents some theoretical models developed and proposed from the research.

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Higher education is increasingly available to a wider range of people, not just recent school-leavers with established academic ability. One way of encouraging this trend is to provide credit transfer into higher education (HE) qualifications for people's prior vocational education and training (VET) studies. However, it is generally recognised that while a range of pathways have been created, the numbers of students involved in such pathways are relatively limited.

This paper explores some of the reasons this might be so, using, as a case study, an analysis of a national Australian government policy initiative. The initiative, known as 'VET FEE-HELP', involved the introduction of student loans for fees for higher-level VET studies and was designed partly to encourage credit transfer. Availability of loans to students was on the proviso that the course in which the student enrolled had a documented pathway providing credit transfer into a higher education course. This created a climate in which VET providers actively pursued partnerships with higher education. But recently, the credit transfer requirement of the policy has been removed. The paper concludes by discussing the issues for governments in finding appropriate policy levers to increase proportions of students transferring from VET to higher education.

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