Enhancing the standing of vocational education and the occupations it serves: Australia

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Accepted Manuscript (AM)
Author(s)
Billett, Stephen
Choy, Sarojni
Hodge, Steven
Year published
2020
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Show full item recordAbstract
In Australia, the relatively low standing of vocational education and the occupations it serves is of growing concern. This standing is held to contribute to an increased number of young people preferring to engage in higher education and to look past vocational education as a potential post-school pathway. Consequently, there are skill shortages in some occupations, as young people who might be suited to them are now completing university degrees instead, including those with no clear alignment with occupations or employment outcomes. To redress this imbalance, it is necessary to identify factors shaping young people’s ...
View more >In Australia, the relatively low standing of vocational education and the occupations it serves is of growing concern. This standing is held to contribute to an increased number of young people preferring to engage in higher education and to look past vocational education as a potential post-school pathway. Consequently, there are skill shortages in some occupations, as young people who might be suited to them are now completing university degrees instead, including those with no clear alignment with occupations or employment outcomes. To redress this imbalance, it is necessary to identify factors shaping young people’s decision-making about post-school pathways and preferred occupations. The findings of a project investigating these factors and how they might be addressed are presented and discussed here. Central are interactions with familiars, including parents, teachers and peers. However, the degree by which interactions are informed, engaged and influential differed. Teachers may need to be impartial and students’ deliberations about post-school pathways more widely informed. Strategies to achieve these outcomes were evaluated by informants, leading to suggestions for policy initiatives. These included government’s role in championing vocational education and how schools might more effectively inform and support students’ decision-making about post-school pathways.
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View more >In Australia, the relatively low standing of vocational education and the occupations it serves is of growing concern. This standing is held to contribute to an increased number of young people preferring to engage in higher education and to look past vocational education as a potential post-school pathway. Consequently, there are skill shortages in some occupations, as young people who might be suited to them are now completing university degrees instead, including those with no clear alignment with occupations or employment outcomes. To redress this imbalance, it is necessary to identify factors shaping young people’s decision-making about post-school pathways and preferred occupations. The findings of a project investigating these factors and how they might be addressed are presented and discussed here. Central are interactions with familiars, including parents, teachers and peers. However, the degree by which interactions are informed, engaged and influential differed. Teachers may need to be impartial and students’ deliberations about post-school pathways more widely informed. Strategies to achieve these outcomes were evaluated by informants, leading to suggestions for policy initiatives. These included government’s role in championing vocational education and how schools might more effectively inform and support students’ decision-making about post-school pathways.
View less >
Journal Title
Journal of Vocational Education and Training
Copyright Statement
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 15 Apr 2020, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2020.1751247
Subject
Education systems