Session Information
Session 10C, Aspects of competence and skill analysis and development
Papers
Time:
2003-09-20
11:00-12:30
Room:
Chair:
Johanna Lasonen
Contribution
As in most other OECD countries, the vocational education and training (VET) system in Australia has been subject to considerable scrutiny and change over the last decade or more. One of the most important changes has been the introduction of a complex national framework designed to ensure quality in an open-training market. Until the 1990s most post-compulsory vocational education and training had been provided by public providers (TAFE colleges) in each state, with a much smaller share of training provided by private providers, many of which were associated with industry associations or large organisations. There were, and largely still are, considerable administrative and cultural differences between the TAFE/VET sector and schools and higher education, and these differences were exacerbated by another important change; the introduction of competency- based training as the model for all accredited training programs within the Australian VET system. Over the last decade there has also been a rapid growth of vocational programs being offered in senior secondary schools.This paper reports on a study conducted in secondary schools in NSW, the largest state in Australia, in regard to the pedagogy that is emerging from the introduction of competency-based training courses in the senior secondary school curriculum. This ethnographic study considers the various educational and cultural challenges faced by school-based vocational teachers including: what is competence and what might it look like in school-based curricula; how can competence be developed and assessed in a classroom environment; and how do these new courses contribute to their student's broader goals and aspirations. As with many curriculum-based changes it has also provided teachers with an opportunity to reflect on what they believe to be valuable knowledge in a senior school curriculum, and on the impact that a competency- based curriculum might have on their teaching, and their own learning. The convergence of vocational and general education is an important research area in Australia and internationally. This paper seeks to contribute to this debate by presenting a case study of what such convergence might look like in a senior secondary school in NSW, Australia.
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