Each year the Productivity Commission publishes its report on Australia’s Government Services.
This article highlights the chapter on Vocational Education and Training, released in February 2020.
Chapter and verse on VET
Part B of the wider Report on Government Services covers early childhood education and child care, as well as education and training. Within education and training, chapter 4 covers school education, and chapter 5 looks at vocational education and training.
You can download a PDF of the chapter and the data tables here and here respectively.
The chapter also presents a number of key performance measures, covering equity, effectiveness and efficiency. In a number of cases, these are broken down to state and territory level as well.
It also includes information on outcomes. These include: ‘Student employment and further study outcomes’, information on ‘Student completions and qualifications’, and ‘Students who improved education status’.
Finally, it includes definitions of key VET terms.
Some key facts
The chapter provides an outline of roles and responsibilities and associated governance arrangements, including key bodies.
It also provides an overview of VET funding. One key fact was a drop in funding between 2017 and 2018 of about 4%.
Information about the size and scope of the sector is also included. What are the main facts for 2018? An estimated 4.1 million students participated in total VET, and around 1.1 million students participated in government-funded VET programs. For government-funded VET just over half were in Cert III or IV qualifications.
In addition: “In 2018, there were 3830 registered VET training organisations delivering nationally recognised training in Australia, of which 1492 delivered nationally recognised government-funded VET through state and territory training departments.”
Finally, it reported that, in 2019:
88.6% of all government-funded 2018 VET graduates were satisfied with the overall quality of their training [and]
67% of the total VET graduates in 2018 aged from 20 to 64 years improved their employment status after training.”
Good news on both fronts!
