An overview of vocational education and training

In this chapter, the opening chapter of the vocational education and training (VET) section, the focus is on a range of dimensions of VET, quite distinctive compared to either school education or higher education, that are important to its understanding. While this overview is relatively self-contained it draws very heavily on other chapters in this enclyclopedia that were commissioned under the VET banner, discussing VET under three headings: teaching and learning, the VET system and VET in context. The overview concludes that there can be no doubt that VET is an important education sector, and many governments have been giving it increased attention. While general education is very important, and there is no stopping the rise of higher education, there is a widespread view that VET is particularly important because of its focus on skills needed for the workforce. It is also important because it, more than the other education sectors, plays the preeminent role in addressing disadvantage. To prosper it will need to continually reinvent itself in order to bend itself to changing occupational structures, changing technology, changing education fashions and changing social conditions. Show less