January edition
Edition 1 - 2025 | 29 January 2025

New Year, New PD, New Ghostwriter!…
Welcome back to VDC News!
This year, VDC is celebrating 20 years of professional learning and as a leader in professional development for the VET sector workforce, VDC remains committed to providing high-quality, relevant programs that benefit not just VET educators and practitioners, but professionals across various fields.
As part of our commitment to providing quality professional learning and services, VDC is both excited and honoured to welcome Claire Field as the VDC ghostwriter for VDC News. Claire will be known to many in the VET Sector as a leading consultant that provides strategic advice on VET, international education, private higher education and EdTech. Claire has worked in a number of senior roles in a range of State and Australian government agencies, including CEO of ACPET, and establishing the Australian government’s first national VET regulator, the National Audit and Registration Agency. Claire is a PhD candidate at RMIT University.
The Semester 1 Professional Learning Program is now available and booking fast! Click here to explore all the exciting sessions available to you this year and mark your calendars for some fantastic professional development opportunities. And the best part? There are no upfront membership fees to access our programs and services.
Read More
Government Plans – Helping your…
In 2023 the Australian government, States and Territories agreed to a new National Skills Agreement. It contains commitments to a number of important initiatives which are currently being rolled out across the sector, such as the TAFE Centres of Excellence and the National Foundation Skills Strategy (for more on that see below).
There is another element of the Agreement which has just recently been released, that could prove to be a really useful tool for RTO planning.
Read More
National Foundation Skills Strategy…
In December 2024, Skills Ministers released the new National Foundation Skills Strategy 2025-2035 which is designed to “enhance the lives of people who struggle every day to read and write, do maths or use computers.”
The intention is that through this Strategy, Australia will “ensure people understand the benefits of improved literacy and numeracy, we want to connect with those who need training but not receiving it, and we want to empower people to seek support where they may have previously experienced embarrassment.”
These are powerful words, not often seen in government documents and frameworks.
Read More
Victorian Skills First Workforce…
Applications close 11 February 2025
As part of the Victorian Workforce Development initiative targeting organisational capability, VDC has developed the Workforce Development Grant opportunity for operational innovation and workforce capability projects to selected providers that have a Victorian VET Skills First contract.
The 2025 VDC Workforce Development Grants aims to provide financial support to Victorian Skills First Providers to build workforce capability and development within the VET Sectors to support training providers in maintaining quality practices.
Read More
Revised Standards for Registered…
You would have to be living (or working) under a rock to not know that the Standards for RTOs have been re-written and re-organised into three categories:
- Outcome Standards
- Compliance Requirements (including the Fit and Proper Person Requirements and NRT Logo Conditions of Use Policy), and
- Credential Policy.
While the changes to the Standards still need to be formally drafted as legislative instruments and therefore some minor changes may still be made to the current drafts of the Standards as part of the legislative drafting process – with the Australian government and all States and Territories having agreed to the proposed changes, the VET sector can expect that they will take effect from July this year.
Read More
Generative AI and VET – what should you…
The release of Chat GPT in November 2022 did not just change the options available to students needing ‘help’ with their homework. ChatGPT, and the subsequent release of other Large Language Models and other forms of generative AI (GenAI), such as video, audio, image, coding, etc are also changing how work is done in a wide range of industries.
Unfortunately, of course, GenAI also poses particular threats and challenges in education (a) how to safeguard academic integrity and (b) how to prepare students for a workplace where fast moving technology like GenAI is changing jobs?
Read More
Register Now – The VET AI Symposium…
The VET Development Centre is excited to bring to you ‘The VET AI Symposium’, to be held Tuesday 18 March, in-person at VDC in Melbourne and online nationally via Zoom. This leading event, themed “Harnessing AI for Transformative Vocational Education: Innovations, Strategies, and Future Directions,” aims to bring together industry leaders, educators, executives, and AI experts, featuring keynotes speakers and presentations on Teaching Practice, Managing AI Integration, and Leading AI in Registered Training Organisations (RTOs).
Register now to secure your spot and lead the way in educational innovation! Don’t miss out, ticket price only $199 incl. GST
Read More
Assessments for the Future of Work…
New research published in the Journal of Innovation in Polytechnic Education by researchers at the University of Guelph-Humber in Canada shines a light on the changes VET providers will need to make to their assessment practices – not simply to ‘foil’ students intent on misusing GenAI, but on “identifying key skills for the future of work and the assessments to build them”.
Read MoreDecember Edition
Special Edition Thursday | 12 December 2024

Register Now – The VET AI Symposium…
The VET Development Centre is excited to bring to you ‘The VET AI Symposium’, to be held Tuesday 18 March, in-person at VDC in Melbourne and online nationally via Zoom. This leading event, themed “Harnessing AI for Transformative Vocational Education: Innovations, Strategies, and Future Directions,” aims to bring together industry leaders, educators, executives, and AI experts, featuring keynotes speakers and presentations on Teaching Practice, Managing AI Integration, and Leading AI in Registered Training Organisations (RTOs).
Register now to secure your spot and lead the way in educational innovation! Don’t miss out, ticket price only $199 incl. GST
Read More
Save the Date – VET National Teaching…
The VET Development Centre is thrilled to share that in response to high demand, the 2025 VET National Teaching & Learning Conference 2025 will take place in Melbourne on August 14th & 15th at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.
VDC has a proud 20-year tradition of providing one of Australia’s leading teaching & learning conferences for Vocational Education and Training.
Read More
Congratulations – Australian VET…
Dr Adam Bignold has won the Australian VET Teacher/Trainer of the Year Award held in Canberra on Friday 6 December.
The Australian Training Awards are the peak national awards that showcase best practice in vocational education and training (VET). The Awards recognise and celebrate excellence and are an important mechanism for promoting the benefits of VET.
Read More
VDC Professional Learning Program for…
The 2025 VDC Professional Learning Program for Semester 1 is now live! Click here to explore the program and discover all the sessions available to you.
As a leader in professional development for the VET sector workforce, VDC is committed to providing high-quality, relevant programs that benefit not just VET educators and practitioners, but professionals across various fields. Best of all, there are no upfront membership fees to access VDC programs and services.
Read More
New VDC webinar recordings on-demand…
The most in-demand VDC webinars from 2024 are now available for purchase as recordings through VDC Learn on our website. This is your chance to gain insights from top experts, revisit impactful sessions, or explore new topics – all at your own pace. When you purchase and complete a webinar recording, you’ll be eligible to receive a certificate of completion, boosting your currency and professional development plan.
Read More

Victorian Skills First Workforce…
Plan ahead – applications close 11 February 2025
As part of the Victorian Workforce Development initiative targeting organisational capability, VDC has developed the Workforce Development Grant opportunity for operational innovation and workforce capability projects to selected providers that have a Victorian VET Skills First contract.
The 2025 VDC Workforce Development Grants aims to provide financial support to Victorian Skills First Providers to build workforce capability and development within the VET Sectors to support training providers in maintaining quality practices.
Read More