Extension (industry training) and VET (the formal Vocational Education and Training system), each vital to Australia's education and training for agriculture, have developed as separate domains. Recent research suggests that the potential of closer alignment should be further explored. Extension provides usually non-certified courses to primary…

This paper highlights on-going concern in Australia about the contested terrain of skills shortages, particularly as they apply to traditional trades. The paper reports on a school-based study of student career choice that was undertaken for the federal government to inform its deliberations. Drawing on the study, the paper examines key issues…

The UK vocational assessment landscape is changing and research has a key role in helping to identify trends and anticipate emerging issues and challenges. This review collates the messages from recently published research about specific issues that have been found to affect the measurement of vocational learning. It also highlights issues that…

The world is going through a rapid transformation process in all fields. Those countries, which cannot keep up with this process, face numerous problems in terms of maintaining the living standards of their citizens. With the priority of enhancing the lives of individuals, the field of education is greatly affected by this process. Therefore in…

A comparatively large number of Indigenous students participate in Vocational Education and Training in Schools (VETiS) programs. This paper draws on data from two national studies: a survey of 20,000 young people and their experience of vocational learning, and a qualitative study of VETiS in 21 schools in diverse settings, which included…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the different ways in which the polytechnics in Auckland in New Zealand have changed their growth strategies since they were given a degree of autonomy in 1990. Since then the three institutions have followed similar, but not entirely identical strategies, which has meant that the three institutions have…

A needs analysis was conducted into the issues facing the Technical and Vocational Education sector in Fiji. Vocational Centre teachers, Principals and an Education Officer were interviewed, and their responses analysed. The survey pointed to the difficulties currently experienced by the Vocational Centres in the face of poor facilities and…

To help achieve national consistency of assessment and reporting in the Australian Vocational Education and Training sector, there is a need to develop a set of national principles for graded performance assessment. This paper challenges a number of prevailing principles from both a theoretical and assessment perspective, namely that grades must…

Workplace assessment (WPA) of New Zealand's National Qualifications Framework (NQF) competencies has become a significant alternative pathway for vocational adult education. This article reports on a research project which compares stated intentions for workplace assessment with evidence of its practical realization. The perceptions of the…

The Lisbon summit (March 2000) set the objective for 2010 of making Europe "the most competitive and knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable growth and better jobs and greater social cohesion", while the Barcelona summit (March 2002) set the further objective of making European education and training systems a world quality…

VET has an important role in providing equitable access to post-school opportunities for education and training, but is not satisfactorily discharging its responsibilities in relation to Australians with a disability. 16.7% of the working age population were estimated to have a disability in 1998, but only 4.5% of VET enrolments were students with…

In 1990, Australia implemented an employer training levy, the Training Guarantee Scheme. The Training Guarantee was abolished by the incoming Coalition federal government in 1996 after much negative publicity about its impact, particularly on small business. Recently, there have been calls to revive the notion of an employer training levy as a…

In the five years leading up to 2002 there were many significant changes in the insurance industry in Australia that brought about a range of training needs. These training needs arose from matters as diverse as mergers, increased competition, corporate failures, and legislative changes. This study includes findings from a survey of the insurance…

In New Zealand the most important institutions that are responsible for the delivery of vocational education and training programs are the government owned and operated tertiary education institutions known as polytechnics. The New Zealand polytechnics deliver programs at the certificate, diploma and degree level. During the course of the 1990s,…

This paper based on the work of Swailes and Roodhouse, funded by Edexcel and commissioned by the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC) investigates the barriers to the take up of higher level National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in Higher Education in the context of graduate employability and workforce development. It also includes an…