The quality of teaching in VET: final report and recommendations

International Journal of Training Research, 2008

Australia has been descriptive, outlining the development, construction and outcomes of a range of initiatives or analysing the nature and extend of initial and ongoing professional development for teacher sand trainers. There has been little critical analysis of curricula which led to the attainment what has been the most common Australian initial VET teacher/trainer qualification -the Certificate TV in Assessment and Workplace Training, either in terms of the intended or enacted curricula as it was delivered in many hundreds of locations across Australia. This paper addresses this gap. It presents the outcomes of research that examined ways in which learners and processes of learning were constructed, understood and embedded in the delivery of the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training (AWT). This qualification was delivered from 1998 until November 2006. In late 2004 a new Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAA) was introduced, but there was a 'teach-out period' of two years on the old qualification. The study involved 16 case studies of registered training organisations that delivered the Certificate IV in AWT. The paper updates the study by examining how the changes associated with the new qualification may affect understandings of learners and learning. The understandings about learners and ¡earning that are imparted in Certificate IV level courses for VET teachers and trainers -Michèle Simons and Erica Smith 25

International Journal of Training Research, 2017

Welcome to this Special Edition of the International Journal of Training Research, with the theme of VET Teaching and Teacher Education. Within this edition are six articles, each addressing a particular aspect of the central theme, and I hope you enjoy engaging with all of them. This Special Edition is the culmination of a number of activities beginning in 2010 when Professor Erica Smith, one of Australia's champions of Vocational Education and Training (VET) teacher education, instigated the creation of a VET working group that would sit within the Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE). Erica circulated a plea to all deans of education in Australian universities, asking them to nominate their VET teacher-educator (if they had one!) to join our group. For me, as the sole VET teacher-educator at the University of Tasmania, it was wonderful to connect with like-minded peers across Australia, all of whom are passionate about the value of VET teacher education and the need for it to remain part of the offerings in our universities. Since that time, Australian Council of Deans of Education Vocational Education Group (ACDEVEG) (as we became known) has worked collaboratively on a number of activities, from representations to the Productivity Commission's research into the VET workforce, to responses to federal government inquiries, and providing support and advice to each other in our mission to encourage and strengthen VET teacher education. Our group represents a wonderful example of would-be competitors working together for the betterment of a common cause. In Melbourne in 2015, ACDEVEG organized its first national VET conference. The conference marked a long-overdue return to such an event, with the previous one being held in Coffs Harbour in 1996. The 2015 conference was a great success, with delegate numbers quickly reaching our venue-enforced limit of 100 and spilling over to a waiting list. It confirmed what we suspected: teachers, trainers, researchers, teacher-educators, employers and government agencies all wanted to connect, share and learn from each other. The 2015 conference was the catalyst for this Special Edition, with the majority of the articles being presented at that time. The success of the 2015 VET Conference ensured that it would once again become an annual event, with 2016 seeing us reconvene in Sydney, while this year, in December, we will gather in Brisbane. The 2015 VET conference was special in another way, and that was its celebration of the life of Ros Brennan Kemmis, one of our most loved and respected members of ACDEVEG, who had passed away earlier that year. It is with great honour that we dedicate this Special Edition to her memory. Erica Smith, a long-time friend and colleague of Ros, contributed the following passage to the 2015 Conference Program: Ros spent her entire life involved with multiple sectors of education with a passion for public education and social justice for all. She was dedicated to adult literacy in the 1980s, including working with prisoners to improve their literacy as well as running a family literacy 'bus'-which led her to become involved in VET, with a great interest in VET teacher education. Ros was an inspired teacher in face-to-face and distance education at Charles Sturt University (CSU). She developed amazing rapport with distance and online students, supporting them with her great and deep knowledge as well as warmth, patience and practical help. She visited many Technical and Further Education (TAFE) colleges around New South Wales (NSW) to set up support for the TAFE teachers, who were often struggling with a new job as a TAFE teacher as well as university study. She wrote many subjects and components for the suite of VET courses offered at CSU.

2017

This study investigates the professional preparation of teachers working in Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs in Australian secondary schools. It also investigates the similarities and differences and the enablers and blockers that occur across the various states and territories in their approaches to providing teacher education for VET in Schools (VETiS) teachers. The research focuses on the supply-side of university-based VET teacher education programs and offers a stocktake of the VET method area offerings that are available (and not available) for pre-service teachers in Australia.

The Teacher Education of VET in Schools (VETiS) Teachers - Report, 2017

This study investigates the professional preparation of teachers working in Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs in Australian secondary schools. It also investigates the similarities and differences and the enablers and blockers that occur across the various states and territories in their approaches to providing teacher education for VET in Schools (VETiS) teachers. The research focuses on the supply-side of university-based VET teacher education programs and offers a stocktake of the VET method area offerings that are available (and not available) for pre-service teachers in Australia.

This paper reports on some initial research into what students, teachers and managers in training providers think about qualifications for vocational education and training (VET) teachers and trainers. In 2011, a Productivity Commission research report on the VET workforce identified 'some clear deficiencies [that] should be addressed', but rejected a change to required qualifications because of lack of research evidence, at that time, that higher-level qualifications would make a difference. This paper reports on preliminary observations from a major Australian Research Council funded project that set out to investigate this matter. The project has several stages, and this paper, by two of the projects' four researchers, examines early data from four of eight case studies. The case study sites were based in two states and comprised two TAFE institutes, a not-for-profit college, and a for-profit private VET provider. In the case studies, senior managers, teachers and trainers in different discipline areas, and learners, were interviewed to elicit their views on whether or how teachers' pedagogical and industry qualifications mattered in the quality of teaching and in teachers' contributions to the institution. The paper explains the different participants' views and the reasons they gave for their views. The project as a whole includes several other data sources.

2020

Current changes in vocational education and training, such as responding to the technological and organizational development (the advent of the 4th industrial revolution), internationalization, integration of VET in lifelong learning processes, create the need for better development of the teaching competence of VET teachers. There are different practices and experiences of VET teachers training in the EU countries, which creates the space for effective policy learning in this field. Comparability of the teaching competence of the VET teachers is important from the point of view of internationalization of initial VET and international mobility of VET students and teachers in implementing ECTS measures in teacher education. However, there is still a lack of modern practical instruments in monitoring, assessment, guidance and comparability of the teaching competence of VET teachers and trainers. The goal of this comparative study is to disclose the common and diverging trends in the d...

National Centre For Vocational Education Research, 2004

National Centre For Vocational Education Research, 2011

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) is an independent body responsible for collecting, managing and analysing, evaluating and communicating research and statistics about vocational education and training (VET). NCVER's inhouse research and evaluation program undertakes projects which are strategic to the VET sector. These projects are developed and conducted by the NCVER's research staff and are funded by NCVER. This research aims to improve policy and practice in the VET sector.