Vocational Education & Training (VET) is the term that refers to that part of education that is not compulsory and which emphasises work skills. The Good Universities Guide tells us:
Quote:
VET provides the skills to help people to:
– join the workforce for the first time
– re-join the workforce after a break
– upgrade skills in their chosen field
– move into a different career.
It can involve a range of qualifications, a range of pathways through those qualifications, and a range of study options (from entirely off-the-job to entirely on-the-job).
But it does not only benefit individual people. You see, by ensuring that all training relates to the sorts of things that industry needs and at the standard that industry needs, VET also provides industry with a skilled workforce to be able to do the job that it needs to do.Where did it come from?
If we think back a hundred years or so, we will find that most of what we now know as VET involved men being taught on the job how to do manual things, like mining or fixing a truck.
As our society (and economy) grew more complex in the second half of last century, there were three things that gave rise to what we know the VET sector to be:
- more jobs became available
- more types of jobs became available (eg, in finance and other service industries)
- more people became available to do those jobs (eg, women entered the workforce)
So, over the next 30 years or so, training organisations popped up to meet the demands of individuals who wanted to work in these newer industries. This led to the need for some controls over what was going on to ensure that both individuals and the industries that they wanted to work in were getting the best outcome.
This led to the advent of a national framework, which basically aimed to get everyone to agree to train and assess at the same standards. More recently, the VET Quality Framework took this idea one step further. From the VET Quality Framework website we learn that it sets down 4 key aims:
- Outcomes focused – focuses on the quality of services and outcomes being achieved rather than the inputs used to get there.
- Nationally consistent – state and territory registering bodies have worked together to develop and publish national guidelines to ensure consistent interpretation and implementation of VET Quality Framework.
- Streamlined – the standards for RTOs have been simplified and streamlined to focus on outcomes.
- Transparent – national guidelines and handbooks are readily accessible.
This is a very brief history of VET. You can find out more here.
