TAFEs are virtually excluded from the federal government’s $2 billion Productivity Places Program (PPP), with 98 per cent of jobseeker enrolments in the flagship vocational training program going to private training providers. The federal education department told Campus Review that ...

How far are VET policy makers willing to go in reviewing training packages? By John Mitchell. There is a growing unease among some VET analysts that the current review of training packages being conducted by the National Quality Council (NQC) ...

VET needs a good understanding of employability skills to build them into teaching and learning says, Kaye Bowman. As Larry Smith suggests, we need to develop and nurture a new understanding of generic competencies (CR,21.10.08). Employers would welcome this. They ...

With apprentices losing their jobs as the economy declines, the federal government has stepped in with a $145.6 million package to encourage employers to take them on again. ‘Securing Apprenticeships’ offers employers and group training organisations incentives of up to ...

Does VET pedagogy prepare students for success in a global economy, asks John Mitchell. One of the awkward questions raised by the forthcoming Big Skills conference in Sydney is whether Australian VET is truly world class. In the past there ...

First fee-free childcare students begin their courses The first cohort of childcare TAFE students to have their diploma course fees waived by the federal government began their courses this month. From this year fee-free courses will be offered to an ...

The economic downturn has necessitated a rethink on apprenticeships, according to TAFE Directors Australia (TDA), which wants new pathways that allow people to train towards trades even if they don’t have concurrent employment. “For most traditional occupations we haven’t ever ...

Tasmania’s new-look VET and senior school system is in chaos, according to the state branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU), with staff shortages, confused reporting lines and people teaching the wrong subjects. But the system’s CEOs say these are ...

What are the benefits of VET students sitting for the same national test, asks John Mitchell. In recent years, some in the VET sector have watched with interest the highly publicised push by the government for national testing in schools. ...

Another Australian technical college, this time at Geelong, has had its future assured following an announcement by education minister Julia Gillard that it will become a technical education centre of the Gordon Institute of TAFE. Geelong TEC will offer c ...