What are the secrets of winning government contracts, asks John Mitchell. Shockwaves hit training providers in NSW recently when ACL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Navitas, won six contracts to deliver the federal government’s language, literacy and numeracy program (LLNP). ...

The collective consciousness has not yet focused on equity in VET, but there are some serious issues that need to be addressed. The history of tackling equity issues in higher education and schools provides some salient lessons for the VET ...

South Australia’s VET proposals are vague in some areas – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. South Australia’s newly proposed VET strategy has “a lot of big ideas”, according to Stephen Conway, managing director of TAFE South Australia’s Adelaide ...

Five international college closures last month – including three in just over a week – could have flow-on effects in higher education. June was a bad month for Australia’s international education sector, with at least five VET colleges closing their ...

New apprenticeships and traineeships are down – but completion rates are rising. Apprenticeship and traineeship commencements dived by over 17,000 last year and non-completion rates remained over 50 per cent, as the global financial crisis took its toll on structured ...

A Senate inquiry is to be held into the country’s 11 industry skills councils. The role, effectiveness, accountability and governance of the 11 industry skills councils will come under the scrutiny of a major government inquiry after the Senate last ...

Tasmania’s three-way tussle continues over education funding, but the combatants agree that Tasmania Tomorrow is very yesterday. It’s back to the future for the island state. The Tasmania Tomorrow reforms have unravelled, with two of the three post-Year 10 educational ...

Do delays in establishing the national regulator matter, asks John Mitchell. There are currently – and notably – differences between the states on how they regulate training providers; differences that ultimately add to the providers’ costs. So, for education providers ...

Are most VET practitioners capable of increasing the use of e-learning, asks John Mitchell. As part of its year-long investigation into the VET workforce, the Productivity Commission has released an issues paper. And one of the questions raised in the ...

Foundation skills got a big budget boost, but the federal government has shaken the foundations of NSW and Queensland TAFE funding. By John Ross. Foundation skills might have been the big winner in this year’s federal budget, with a $119 ...