|National Profiles in Technical and Vocational Education in Asia and the Pacific - Australia (ACEID, 1995, 20 p.)|
Vocational education is crucial to Australia becoming a more productive and competitive country. The adoption by the Federal, State and Territory ministers of a training reform agenda has indicated a firm commitment by government to the improvement of vocational education.
There are five basic elements in the training reform agenda:
· competency-based training
· national recognition arrangements
· an open training market
· a new entry-level training system
· equity provision.
To implement this agenda, vocational education has to meet the following challenges:
· it must support industry restructuring by providing suitable training on-and off-the-job;
· it must develop and implement competency-based training and assessment;
· it must create new approaches to delivery in vocational education;
· it must develop and implement a new credentials framework and related accreditation systems;
· it must form new relationships with schools, universities, training organizations, private providers and employers.