News Archive

In 2022, the Victorian Training Awards mark their 68th year of celebrating the outstanding achievements of apprentices, students, teachers, employers and training providers in the VET sector. VDC is the proud sponsor of the Teacher/Trainer of the Year Award.

Last year’s awards honoured the achievements of many outstanding organisations and individuals, with four Victorian representatives going on to achieve national success at the Australian Training Awards.

Each year NCVER publishes the research messages from the work it undertook or published in 2021.

This compilation comprises the research reports and summaries, statistical reports and infographics, occasional papers, presentations, webinars, consultancies, submissions, published presentations from the 30th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference ‘No Frills’, and various additions made during the year to the VOCEDplus knowledge resources.

Published in late 2021, and developed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the National Microcredentials Framework has been published by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE).

In its 20 pages it aims to “provide consistency and recognition of microcredentials across Australia by bringing greater national cohesion to microcredentials, set common standards, and serve as a strong reference point for providers, industry and learners involved in the creation, use, monitoring, or application of these credentials.”

Having now heard the Labor Party’s reply to the 2022-23 Federal budget, we’ve tried to look at it with a VET focus. In fact, its major focus is elsewhere and so there’s not much apart from mentioning their plans for secure work and more opportunities for training with more university and fee-free TAFE places, and the creation of Jobs and Skills Australia. However, here is what they said in their platform published in 2021 in relation to education and training.

The Federal budget was released on 29 March. As usual there is some focus on VET and, as usual, the major focus appears to be on apprentices and trainees. That’s not the whole story, though.

As a South Australian resident, I have just through an election that has seen a return of a Labor government after just 4 years in opposition.

During the campaign there was much concern over the costs of the various party’s election promises with talk about initiatives for business growth, building hubs of technology and innovation, concern for the environment, increased spending on health and infrastructure, ambulance ramping, a return of the supercars race to Adelaide streets, whether or not we should build a new entertainment centre and even creating a brand-new ‘African Oasis’ at Adelaide Zoo along the banks of the River Torrens. There were the usual promises about increasing apprenticeships and traineeships too.

A recent report by NCVER’s Patrick Lim has highlighted the importance of VET as an educational re-engagement pathway for early school leavers: those who leave before completing Year 12.

Using data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth (LSAY) the report “highlights the importance of providing career information not only to young people before and after they leave school, but also to their parents or guardians.”

In the lead up to the forthcoming Federal election a range of bodies are starting to talk about VET and what needs to happen or change. One of the first of these is the AiG.

VDC will be monitoring others’ insights as they emerge in the lead up to our forthcoming Federal election.

This latest RTO focused paper by Hugh Guthrie and Melinda Waters looks at the factors contributing to the delivery of high-quality teaching, learning and assessment. It also focuses on those factors which can adversely affect RTOs’ ability to ‘deliver’ on high quality delivery.

The VDC 2022 Professional Learning program for Semester 1 is well underway and we have excitedly reopened our doors to in-person workshops as well as continuing our online workshops, webinars, VET Chats and free Thought Leaders sessions.

Register now for upcoming in-person training sessions at our VDC training rooms in Melbourne:

• Preparing for Audits: Tuesday 3 May (9.00am – 12.00pm)
• Best Practice Simulation Training in Mental Health: Friday 6 May (9.00am – 12.00pm)
• Excellence in Customer Service: Tuesday 17 May (9.00am – 4.00pm)
• Polyvagal Theory for Educators: Wednesday 18 May (9.00am – 4.00pm)