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This article examines issues and challenges associated with the provision of effective professional teacher education for vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) teachers. Current minimum levels of qualifications for VETiS teachers are argued to be inadequate for the complexity of preparing senior secondary students for work in the future. VETiS teachers require a deep understanding of education and teaching that, as per their colleagues in schools, is acquired through completing a university-based teacher education program. Faculties of education are urged to enact strategies to recruit students to enter these university-based teacher education programs on the basis of their VET qualification and additional industrial experience. However, these university-based teacher education programs need to be specifically designed and tailored to the needs of these nontraditional higher education students. Evidence is presented from one such program and is used to identify potential features for an effective model of VETiS teacher education.

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This research paper focuses on the provision and teaching of vocational education and training (VET) programs to young people within Victorian secondary schools. The study identifies and discusses the way that VET in schools programs are nuanced as they are made to fit the state system, then with the individual school settings and circumstances. These programs are important in offering a range of relevant and useful programs to a diverse range of senior secondary school students. The study found that when a VET program is provided to students through a secondary school setting in Victoria it will: (1) be made appropriate for students aged 15 to 21; (2) occur as part of one of the two senior secondary school certificates; and (3) often have undergone some modifications to its authenticity with some flow on effect to its reliability and validity due to the limitations and nature of the school-based context. Accordingly, teachers and school administrators are required to be creative in fine-tuning their program provision as they work through issues that arise around costs, quality and effectiveness.

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Teacher educators, like other curriculum developers make decisions and choices about what gets included into the programs which they teach. As a teacher educator in the field of [vocational education and training] VET method, I am often asked by stakeholders external to the university to account for what it is we do in our teacher education programs. Meantime my colleagues within the program ask what is it that I want the pre-service secondary teachers to know about VET. Unfortunately though this is all too often then followed up with ‘and you have got one session to do it’. This article provides a brief overview of what we attempt to cover in our Dip Ed Secondary pre-service teacher education program on the topic of VET and VET in schools.

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This article explains some of the curriculum and assessment practices that enable vocational education in schools (VETiS) programs in Victoria to be recognised and incorporated into the senior secondary school certificates through the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). The author outlines the two curriculum frameworks and reviews the strategy and processes for the tandem usage of competency-based and scored assessment as they apply in the Victorian context. The purpose is to demonstrate the complexities and the 'balancing act' occuring at the operational and policy levels between equity and quality.

This article is part of a thematic edition of Vocal entitled 'What works for vocational education and training in schools in terms of developing connections, building capacity and enhancing collaboration'. Articles are indexed from TD/TNC 94.144 to TD/TNC 94.150 and from TD/TNC 94.264 to TD/TNC 95.276. Show less

This paper reviews a selection of the policy, curriculum, operational and research literature associated with the recognition of vocational education and training (VET) within the Victorian senior secondary certificates: the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). The central tenet of this paper is that VET in Victorian schools serves multiple purposes and in doing so it offers both risks and opportunities. While the outcomes of the Victorian VET programs achieve national recognition, the recognition of these programs for broader educational certification has become diverse and complex. We use statistical participation data to argue that the incorporation of VET into these senior secondary certificates, appeals to students and offers increased options and pathways in the post-compulsory years of schooling. A range of assessment strategies and procedures have been developed to assist in the recognition of VET within these senior secondary school certificates. In particular, scored assessment and its contribution to national tertiary entrance scores is at the centre of the debates over recognition of VET within VCE. Also in this mix for recognising VET within the senior secondary certificates are pre-apprenticeship programs, school-based apprenticeships and traineeships. The operational, procedural and research literature associated with the complexities of the tandem usage of competency-based and scored assessment are reviewed as they apply in the Victorian context. As with the VCE, VET is also incorporated into VCAL programs through the industry specific and work-related skills streams. VET is mandatory within the intermediate and senior levels of VCAL. The paper tries to identify and discuss the complexities in this area of VET provision.

Published abstract.

Available papers from the 11th Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) Conference are indexed from TD/TNC 92.459 to TD/TNC 92.499 and from TD/TNC 92.701 to TD/TNC 92.716. Show less