In light of recent developments in educational policy and the positioning of vocational education and training (VET) across the European Union, it was timely to explore these new directions and the lessons for Australian VET. • A striking feature both in the European Union and Australia is the wide scope of issues that governments are...

This study evaluates a selection of career development services available for young people. It examines the characteristics of the services provided, with a focus on career decision-making and the provision of information about vocational education and training (VET) options. The education providers and young people surveyed were generally satisfied with the services provided. However, it...

This study by Roger Harris, Michele Simons, Carmel McCarthy examines the nature of the training activity of private registered training organisations (RTOs) offered to Australian students in 2003, based on data from a national sample of 330 RTOs. The study also provides estimates of the private sector's overall contribution to the total vocational education and...

Roger Harris, Michele Simons and John Bone show that the preferred workplace features of trainers and New Apprentices in manufacturing were quite different from those in retail and community services. The nature of work and industry shapes what is expected to support learning in any particular workplace. The practicalities of industry workplaces mean that preferences...

Increasingly, vocational education and training practitioners work with industry and within private enterprises in arrangements that provide training for workers. Drawing on interviews with TAFE practitioners and managers, enterprise managers and on-the-job learners, Roger Harris, Michele Simons and Julian Moore highlight the expanding roles of TAFE practitioners in these training arrangements. They find that in...