Concern about the quality of services provided to students and other clients, and focus on outcomes rather that processes are emerging as imperatives for the Australian vocational education and training systems in the 1990s. This is increasingly evident as such state system as part of an explicit reform agenda. This paper will examine the role of the technical and further education (TAFE) system in the national vocational education and training reform agenda: specifically, the impact of introducing competency-based training and establishing quality assurance systems within devolved operation structures. It will be argued that the TAFE systems, as part of the vocational education and training sector, need to put in place quality assurance policies
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The major elements are neatly summarised in the recently agreed national goals for vocational education and training. Overall, the national system of vocational education and training is intended …show more content…
These goals, which merely signpost to foreshadow the direction of reform, were endorsed be VEETAC, the Vocational Education, Employment and Training Advisory Committee, at its meeting in June 1992. VEETAC comprises senior state officers of the TAFE and training systems and representatives of the industry partners, that is the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Confederation of Australian Industries (CAI), and is chaired by the commonwealth. VEETAC then, given its membership, can be seen as the policy arm of the reform agenda in operation.
In brief, the reform agenda in policy and practical terms is far reaching, not merely because it is national in scope but because it has tripartite and cross-sectoral support which transcends party politics. Its origins lie in economic and social considerations which find expression first in the industrial relations arena and which are, we will see, being reflected in a new pedagogical base for vocational education training. The mission statement of the ‘Business/Higher Education Round Table’ captures the duality of the rationale
The major elements are neatly summarised in the recently agreed national goals for vocational education and training. Overall, the national system of vocational education and training is intended …show more content…
These goals, which merely signpost to foreshadow the direction of reform, were endorsed be VEETAC, the Vocational Education, Employment and Training Advisory Committee, at its meeting in June 1992. VEETAC comprises senior state officers of the TAFE and training systems and representatives of the industry partners, that is the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Confederation of Australian Industries (CAI), and is chaired by the commonwealth. VEETAC then, given its membership, can be seen as the policy arm of the reform agenda in operation.
In brief, the reform agenda in policy and practical terms is far reaching, not merely because it is national in scope but because it has tripartite and cross-sectoral support which transcends party politics. Its origins lie in economic and social considerations which find expression first in the industrial relations arena and which are, we will see, being reflected in a new pedagogical base for vocational education training. The mission statement of the ‘Business/Higher Education Round Table’ captures the duality of the rationale