Submission to the inquiry into the perceptions and status of vocational education and training

ATSE welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the review of inquiry into the perceptions and status of vocational education and training.

ATSE recently released the Our STEM skilled future: An education roadmap for an innovative workforce report, which argued for the importance of developing a culture of lifelong STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning, in which the vocational education and training (VET) sector must play a core role.

This submission argues that adopting the recommendations of the 2019 expert review of Australia’s vocational education and training system would greatly improve both the utility and perception of vocational education, while greater integration between vocational education providers and other education providers (secondary and tertiary) would help break down distinctions that negatively impact perceptions of the vocational education sector.

ATSE makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1: The Australian Government amends the Australian Qualifications Framework to remove the hierarchy between university and vocational qualifications.

Recommendation 2: The Australian Government works with State and Territory Governments to develop and implement a national strategy to increase the cooperation and integration of vocational education with high schools and the university sector.

Recommendation 3: The Australian Government implements the recommendations of the 2019 expert review of Australia’s vocational education and training system.