Variations in VET provision across Australian schools and their effects on student outcomes

Stephen Lamb, Margaret H. (Margaret Helen) Vickers

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

    Abstract

    ![CDATA[Vocational education and training (VET) represents one of the most significant reforms to the senior secondary curriculum in Australian schools over recent decades. Introduced to expand curricular options and provide work-based training and qualifications, the numbers of students participating in VET have more than trebled since the mid-1990s. Over 90 per cent of schools now deliver some VET subjects. While VET is an important component of senior secondary programs across Australia, each state or territory system locates VET in a different curricular context. Some systems stipulate that all VET subjects must be accredited, meeting the requirements of the industry-specific Training Packages that are central to the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Subjects that meet AQF requirements are known as VET-in-Schools subjects (and are referred to in this report with the acronym VETiS, with the term VET used to describe the other VET programs offered in school). However, full AQF accreditation is not deemed esential by all systems. There are some systems in which schools may offer VET subjects that are school-delivered and school-assessed only. Differences such as these between the different states and territories tend to impose broad constraints on how schools implement VET, leading to differences between systems. There is also considerable variation in the delivery of VET within systems. In each system, some schools go to the very limit of what is possible, offering school-based apprenticeships and vigorous multi-strand VET-in-Schools (VETiS) programs that allow students to achieve recognised qualifications and advanced credit in TAFE. Other schools may respond weakly, providing ‘taster’ VET only, while other schools deliver no VET at all. The aim of this report is to develop a school-based typology that captures some of the variation in VET provision across Australian schools. Models of VET provision are constructed using information on system-level policies, obtained from state and territory curriculum authorities, and information on school-level delivery derived from a national survey of schools and students. Data derived from the schools and students involved in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth 1998 Cohort contribute to the construction of the typology. The report not ony focuses on the types or models of VET provision, but also their impact on school completion rates and on initial post-school outcomes for different groups of students. It is important to note that the period covered by the data in this report relates to the time between 1999 and 2002. The schools data were collected in 1999. From that time there have been further changes in the provision and accreditation of VET in Schools. The impact of more recent changes will not be reflected in the results of this report.]]
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationLongitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth: Research Repot No. 48,
    Place of PublicationCamberwell, Vic
    PublisherAustralian Council for Educational Research
    Pages1 - 46
    Number of pages46
    ISBN (Print)0864315090
    Publication statusPublished - 2006

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