About

Thank you to everyone who attended and presented at the 23rd National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference. Over 200 participants, from Australia, East Timor and New Zealand joined us for 49 presentations, two keynotes and a conference dinner speaker in Fiona Lawrie, founder of Fanelle Tradies, a volunteer organisation assisting female apprentices in traditionally male dominated trades.

A huge thank you to our co-host Holmesglen Institute. Hemisphere Conference Centre, at their Moorabbin campus, provided a wonderful venue with amazing staff.

And finally, thank you to all our sponsors for their ongoing support.

Program

View the 2014 conference program and conference photos

Keynote Addresses

Steve Sargent, President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Mining and Coordinating Chair of the B20 Human Capital Taskforce kicked off the program with an address that focused on how global trends are affecting industry.  With the world becoming more digitised, high-paid, low-skill jobs are being lost and people will need re-skilling. Vocational education and training will need more focus on foundation, rather than job-specific skills.

Mark Burford, Executive Director, Mitchell Institute for Health and Education Policy and our second keynote shared his experiences working in a policy environment, discussed the importance of and the nexus between a good strong idea and the political will to develop and implement good policies.

Papers and presentations

The breadth of presentations at the conference was wide, but there were certainly a few running themes:

  • The importance of working with industry partners to ensure students are coming out of VET qualifications with the skills they need
  • The experiences of VET practitioners, and methods they use to engage their students
  • The effect that reforms are having on enrolments, completions and the way VET is being delivered
  • Pathways both within the education system and into the workforce, and partnerships between VET and higher education providers
  • The value of mentoring and support structures in assisting students, particularly those who are disadvantaged or transitioning from VET to higher education.

Papers and PowerPoint presentations from the conference, including the keynote presentations, are available to download from VOCEDplus, the free research database for tertiary education.