Paths to Pathways:  Vocational Education and Training (VET) provision 
for Educationally Disadvantaged Groups

AARE Conference, Singapore

an Australian National Training Authority Research Advisory Council 
Vocational Education and Training (VET) Research Project Grant 1995
an interim report of work in progress

Jennifer Angwin
Deakin Centre For Education And Change
Deakin University Geelong


ABSTRACT
The proposed research will inform policy and practice in Vocational 
Education and Training provision for groups whose current 
qualifications and skills do not give them access to the lower levels 
of existing VET.  The Finn, Carmichael and Mayer reports all advocate 
the increased involvement of young people in VET both in school up to 
year 12 and beyond.  The national targets advocated by Carmichael for 
19 and 20 years olds involved in VET are beyond access for early school 
leavers and other educationally disadvantaged groups.  The study, while 
focused on regional needs will have a national significance, in the 
application of the findings to other similar areas already identified 
by ABS and DEET.  The research will therefore be able to explore 
relationships between programs, providers and identified needs.  The 
region to be studied has been severely affected by labour market 
restructuring and several groups with special needs have already been 
identified as not participating in even the lower levels of Vocational 
Education and Training.  The research will identify student attrition 
and completion rates aiming to identify the reasons behind these rates. 
 The research will examine established links with industry and document 
the local experience in employment and VET of these young people and 
long term unemployed with a view to documenting successful strategies 
for further application in other regions nationally.  Drawing together 
local providers, young and long term unemployed people to examine these 
issues and the policy which drives, will provide research data which 
can be used to improve the implementation of VET programs and the gaps 
in provision which are not currently addressed in similar regions 
nationally.


Introduction
Throughout Australia there are certain areas where VET does not appear 
to be meeting the needs of disadvantaged young people.  Geelong is one 
such regional centre, within which the suburb of Corio is the most 
severely affected.  In this paper we will be describing the work in 
progress in the ANTA RAC funded project we are conducting at Deakin 
University this year.  We will be discussing the work we have 
undertaken to date and some of our interim findings and 
recommendations.  This research project grew out of the concerns of 
providers and trainers already working in VET, ALBE and Labour Market 
Programs in the Corio area.  A number of different providers agreed 
that they found it extremely difficult to provide training programs 
which appealed to these young people.  Lack of participation in these 
programs by early school leavers for example, has been identified by 
DEETYA and VET providers, both 'public' in the sense of TAFE, AMES, 
ACFE, and new 'private providers', as a major concern and cause to 
suggest that considerable numbers of young people in this area are not 
being reached by existing programs.  They found they were unable to 
fill their courses or courses began and within a few weeks the students 

dropped out.

There is an extremely high rate of early school leavers in the Corio 
area with many young people leaving school before the end of Year 12 
and disturbingly high rates leaving before completing Year 10.  For 
these young people there is no clear pathway into VET programs (ACOSS 
Paper No 77).  Many of these young people leave school by mid year but 
until they have been unemployed for six months they are not eligible 
for a range of post 'school' or Labour Market Programs.  It seems that 
for some of these young people leaving school with low levels of 
literacy and numeracy skills, they were unable to access VET programs 
and appeared to be unwilling to go back to 'school' where they had 
recently experienced failure and alienation, into a basic skills 
program which would prepare them for entry into the main stream VET 
programs.

There remains an extremely high rate of unemployment in Corio, the 
highest for the Geelong region.  The youth labour market in the region 
has virtually disappeared.  The traditional pathways from school into 
vocational education and training have become scarce, resulting in high 
levels of unemployment amongst young people in the region.  New VET 
options have not as yet become established as viable for those with the 
lowest levels of skills.  There is an urgent need to understand 
¥why young people are and are not making their way into VET, 
¥how various approaches of linking young people with VET are faring, 
and 
¥how these links to VET might be increased and improved for NESB 
learners, including for example family members of disengaged young 
people.  There are significant instances of intergenerational 
unemployment, with as many as three generations in the family being 
unemployed.  some program providers have reported having both parents 
and children in the one VET program, a difficult situation for all 
concerned.  When young people are surrounded by family, friends and 
their peer group, with very few adult in fulltime employment, 
establishing a positive link between VET and employment outcomes is 
extremely difficult to sustain.

As well as this, the area has large numbers of people from non English 
speaking background and some Koori communities.  These generally fall 
into two groups:  long term residents who migrated twenty to thirty 
years earlier and immediately found work in local enterprises.  With 
the recession of the eighties, these people along with many others in 
the region, have been retrenched, who now may find that their English 
literacy skills are not adequate for reemployment.  Recently  there has 
been new migration, mainly of refugees, many of whom have experienced 
interrupted schooling and the trauma of war and find it very difficult 
to move into the labour market.  

The reasons that VET seems not to be meeting the needs of young people 
and other special groups living in this community are complex and 
appear to cut across the boundaries of targeted programs.  The aim of 
the proposed research is to identify the reasons for lack of 
participation in VET in this region with a view to providing more 
access to VET for disadvantaged groups in the future.  The situation in 
Geelong is mirrored in other regions of Australia where the 
manufacturing base has declined or shifted in emphasis;  it is expected 
that the study will inform VET practice throughout Australia.  A 
serious concern is the relationships between these special needs in the 
area and their role in the reproduction of disadvantage.  The 
researchers recognise that these educational and training needs 
intersect with other community needs and that these require 
documentation to ensure that VET interacts constructively with other 

community enhancement programs. 

There is a growing body of research which documents the fact that 
certain groups of young people are not being reached by existing VET 
provision.  This proposed research project aims to identify and refine
¥ the definition and description of these groups  
¥ their attitudes towards existing VET programs
¥ their participation, reluctance and attrition rates .
¥ relationships between programs, providers and identified needs of 
young people (15-20 years of age) in the Corio area of Geelong. 
¥ future courses of action for similar regionalized industrial centres.

Thus the project objectives are  
¥  to identify groups of young people who at present are unwilling or 
unable to participate in the current range of VET provision and explore 
their experiences and expectations
¥  to interview young people as to their experiences of participating 
or not participating in VET
¥  to explore relationships between programs, providers and identified 
needs in the Corio area of Geelong
¥  to document successful strategies for further application in other 
regions nationally
¥  to examine student participation, completion and attrition rates 
aiming to identify the reasons behind these rates.  
¥  to draw implications for other similar areas nationally .  
¥  to examine established links with industry and document the local 
experience in employment and VET of these young people and long term 
unemployed .
¥  to identify the understandings of VET amongst the local providers 
and the senior secondary colleges.   

The research will inform policy and practice in Vocational Education 
and Training provision for groups whose current qualifications and 
skills do not give them access to the lower levels of existing VET.  
The Finn, Carmichael and Mayer reports all advocate the increased 
involvement of young people in VET both in school up to Year 12 and 
beyond.  The national targets advocated by Carmichael for 19 and 20 
years olds involved in VET are beyond access for early school leavers 
and other educationally disadvantaged groups.  That is, disaffection, 
failure and alienation with formal education in the area begins early, 
and has effects which are likely to be relevant to efforts to entice 
young people into other educational and training settings.  The study, 
while focused on regional needs will have a national significance, in 
the application of the findings to other similar areas already 
identified by ABS and DEETYA.  The research will therefore be able to 
explore relationships between programs, providers and identified needs. 
 The region to be studied has been severely affected by labour market 
restructuring and several groups with special needs have already been 
identified as not participating in even the lower levels of Vocational 
Education and Training.  The research will examine established links 
with industry and document the local experience in employment and VET 
of these young people and long term unemployed with a view to 
documenting successful strategies for further application in other 
regions nationally.  Drawing together local providers, young and long 
term unemployed people to examine these issues and the policy which 
drives, will provide research data which can be used to improve the 
implementation of VET programs and the gaps in provision which are not 
currently addressed in similar regions nationally.

There are several sites in Australia where economic restructuring and 
subsequent slow recovery are impacting adversely on the employment 
options for young people and those who have become unemployed.  

Preliminary work by ABS and DEETYA suggests that such areas can be 
identified in a number of communities in a number of states and 
territories.  Geelong is such an area; a large regional centre which 
has been adversely affected by labour market reconstruction.  The 
region includes both rural and urban areas, some parts being quite 
affluent, some experiencing high levels of unemployment and social 
fragmentation.  In the past Geelong was a centre for the textile 
clothing and footwear industry and the automotive industry, as well as 
a number of other heavy industries and transport serviced by the port.  
Many of these industries have closed down whilst others have cut back 
their employment base markedly.  Thus the labour market in the Geelong 
region has declined rapidly, with little sign of recovery yet present.  
It is unlikely that the labour market in the Geelong region will 
increase substantially in the near future; industries which used to 
operate in the region are unlikely to resume operations at high levels. 
 This research, while focusing specifically on the situation in 
Geelong, can be seen as an indicator of similar patterns on a national 
level.  The findings of this research project will have implications at 
a number of  other sites nationally and similar projects could be 
replicated in such areas.  

There are a range of national and regional factors impacting on the 
region.  The continued decline of the youth labour market has impacted 
in a similar manner to both national and international trends.  Whilst 
the national rate for youth unemployment now stands at around 27% 
(Reith 1996) in this region the rate is much higher.  All the factors 
identified as resulting in disadvantage with regard to employment are 
found here: few jobs, low levels of skills amongst the early school 
leavers and a range of social factors which make it very difficult for 
these young people to maintain employment.  Many of the young people 
have left home and move around a great deal in the process of 
reestablishing themselves, some experiencing periods of homelessness.   


As well as the national factors impacting on employment opportunities 
for young people and the related VET programs which might be offered, 
there are a range of 
regional factors to be taken into consideration.  The impact of the 
restructuring of the 80's on the Geelong region is still being felt.  
Geelong experienced extensive 
closure of the textile, clothing and footwear industries which have not 
been replaced.  Thus the traditional vocational pathways into 
employment for many young people have been lost without any significant 
replacement.  The recession in Geelong continues; BHP, ALCOA, and Ford, 
three of the major employers, are all experiencing further 
restructuring and jobloss in the hundreds is being mooted.

This continued jobloss from the eighties has impacted heavily on the 
Corio community which remains an area of low socio economic status.  
There are now high levels of intergenerational unemployment, and in 
some schools more than fifty percent of the parents are unemployed.  
The area has a relatively mixed community with a large non English 
speaking background community as well as some Koori groups.  Many of 
the adult in the area have low levels of skill in terms of literacy and 
numeracy and thus find it difficult to find work in such an employment 
climate.  There is a considerable need for young people in particular 
to move into VET.  The region experiences levels of unemployment higher 
than the national average, with particularly high levels amongst young 
people.    

The research will recognise and collect perspectives of various 
'stakeholders', such as employed and unemployed people living in the 

area, providers of VET programs, welfare agencies working in the 
community, local schools, particularly the Corio Community College, 
DEETYA, CES, local enterprises and employers and community groups.  The 
relationships with the secondary education program and subsequent 
providers in the area needs to be researched and perhaps new sets of 
relationships and options developed for those who at this time are 
choosing to leave school before completing Year Ten.  In recent 
discussions with DEETYA, ACFE, the Corio Community College and a number 
of Neighbourhood and Community Centres, this issue has been identified 
as a matter of concern as the current approaches are failing to reach 
the target groups at a satisfactory level.  All these providers agree 
and support the need for a project to research this failure to involve 
young people in this region in VET programs at levels aimed for in 
current policy.  

With limited employment options available to young people in the area, 
other difficulties with regard to VET have already been identified.  
The region has a range of VET and labour market programs already in 
place, which are proving successful for those living in other areas of 
the region.  Providers and educators in the area are concerned about 
the low participation rates in higher levels of schooling and VET in 
the Corio area but as yet have not been able to identify in what ways 
the VET programs are failing to meet the needs of this disaffected and 
educationally disadvantaged group.  The longer that the young people in 
particular remain unemployed and outside VET, the more difficult it is 
going to be for them to begin to participate in the labour market.  A 
common form of employment for youth is that of part time low skilled 
work. Whilst others might see this unfavourably as the development of a 
secondary market for youth (outside the VET sector) with little 
opportunity for advancement, the actual preferences of young people 
themselves need to be researched, understood and associated with 
training aspirations.

Research methodology 
The research is being conducted using a combination of case study and 
action research methodologies.  The aim has been to document young 
people's views on a range of issues impacting on participation in VET 
programs.  The aim has been to include young people in the research as 
much as possible, by working with young people who have become 
interviewers, research assistants and recorders of both audio and video 
tapes of local events.  The researchers aimed to involve these young 
people in the research project itself, rather than use outside 
researchers as the chief investigators.  The researchers will work 
closely with VET program providers and practitioners to review existing 
practices and to reformulate policy, pedagogy, organisation and 
support.  

The research aims to identify current successful outcomes in terms of 
program provision, pedagogical practices and gather participants' views 
of how provision might be enhanced and improved.  The researchers work 
closely with participants and other stakeholders to ensure that the 
process of enquiry itself begins to exert immediate effects on policy 
and practice at the local level in the first instance, but extending to 
a national level as the findings of the study become more explicit and 
consequently make appropriate recommendations  for change at a wider 
policy level.  That is, the project will be reflexive as a process, as 
well as providing formal reports for use beyond the site of study.

The methods used included audio and video taped interviews, both 
individual and group, which were later transcribed and participants 
will have the opportunity to make any corrections.  Young people are 
working on making a video as a representation of their understandings 

of these issues which at a later stage will be presented to the young 
people for their feedback.  A series of community focus group meetings 
have been held, with all those groups who have an interest in the 
provision of VET, further education and Labour Market Programs in the 
area as well as those community service agencies working with young 
people.  A series of interviews have been undertaken by both student 
interviewers and Deakin researchers.  Those being interviewed fall into 
several groups.  

Interviews have been conducted with the young people in the target 
groups Ñ the potential 'students' and other young people who have at 
some stage participated in VET programs.  The first group were young 
people of both English and non English speaking background who had left 
school before the completion of Year 12 as well as those who had left 
at an earlier stage.  Many of the school students had friends in the 
local area who had left school and had not participated in VET courses. 
 A second group of interviews with providers of VET and Labour Market 
Programs, program managers and teachers and trainers, including TAFE, 
AMES, ACFE and other registered private providers have been conducted.  
Interviews with other community service providers, for example, 
Neighbourhood and Community Centres, Brotherhood of St Lawrence, 
Salvation Army and family agencies to ascertain their views on the 
particular difficulties and possibilities for VET in this area.  A 
third group fall within the government agencies working in this sector. 
 Interviews with DEETYA staff including CES Case Managers and those 
with responsibility for a range of youth focused programs.  A fourth 
group of interviews have been conducted with local school staff 
including careers, welfare and VET teachers and coordinators.  And 
finally interviews with local employers as to their employment patterns 
and attitudes towards the employment of these young people who at this 
stage of their lives are still in need of a great deal of support, 
before they are able to become employable, productive adults.



Interim findings
While the field of VET remains one of the most problematic when 
compared with other sectors of education ( being a largely deregulated, 
de institutionalised and extremely diverse range of programs aimed to 
cater both for those in employment as well as those seeking to enter 
the labour market) we have found a tremendous degree of enthusiasm, 
commitment and motivation amongst those working in the sector.  There 
is a tremendous sense of pride and achievement in the positive outcomes 
which have been achieved, a very strong network, amongst agencies and 
providers and a great deal of 'strategic' planning in order to find the 
best support and training opportunities for young people  

These young people with low levels of general educational skills, 
remain at the bottom of the pool of job seekers.  They have become 
alienated from education and learning during their schooling and are 
thus resistant to the idea of putting themselves back into an 
educational setting.  They are surrounded by an extended network of 
young people and adults who are not working and are unable to find 
work.  They are aware that few jobs exist and those jobs that do exist 
will go to the 'high fliers', those who complete Year 12 with scores 
that would get them into University.  Many lack the support networks of 
family or friends who could assist them to gain access to the labour 
market, a factor which is being seen as increasingly relevant in 
finding a job.  Through these experiences of alienation and rejection, 
many of these young people have feelings of low self esteem and see 
little point in trying to find work.   

For those working in VET programs with these young people, there is 
seen to be a need to develop a far more integrated approach to both 
general and VET education within the VET programs.  Those currently 
working in VET programs report difficulties in working with young 
people with little academic achievement, and consequent poor self 
esteem, who fall into the youngest age group.  Regular VET programs 
appear to be unable to cater for their needs as is shown by the poor 
attendance and high drop out rates.  The success of the VET program 
depends on the development of the young people themselves - through a 
sustained focus on the development of personal skills which will enable 
these young people to find and remain in employment.  The focus on 
'life skills' in a range of VET programs examined to date appear to be 
far too short term to really support these young people at this crucial 
stage of their lives.  Some trainers have expressed concerns as to 
their difficulties in dealing with this aspect of the VET programs.

For the young people who are unable to access mainstream VET programs 
due to low levels of basic skills, the options do not appear to be very 
appealing.  The location of programs and 'youth friendly venues' are 
seen to be a crucial factor in maintaining the young people in VET 
programs.  Many programs are run in neighbourhood centres which also 
run hobby and craft programs and activities for mothers with young 
children.  These venues, whilst appealing to the retirees are hardly 
appealing to young people.  One community centre in the region has gone 
to some lengths to address this issue and a have made part of their 
venue far more 'youth friendly' which is proving quite successful.  
Those working with these young people believe that the physical 
arrangements of the programs are particularly important in sustaining a 
successful program for these young people.  When comparing some of the 
settings to the local TAFE college for example, many programs are 
located in very poor settings.  Those young people who attend a TAFE 
college can expect a cafeteria, local bands performing and the 
ubiquitous pinball machines alongside a well equipped library and 
computer labs.  But those young people attending a VET or Labour Market 
Program might not have access to any of these but might find themselves 
in a much starker venue.  Providers need to be made aware and 
acknowledge peer culture and networks in the success of VET courses; 
networks play an importune role in employment but also in accessing and 
completing training courses.  The importance of these factors will be 
explored further.

There remain differences in participation rates in the region with some 
providers claiming to have huge waiting lists whilst others cannot fill 
classes.  Many of these young people find it almost impossible to work 
within a regular VET setting and require very expensive pedagogical 
relationships.  Some of the most successful programs appear to have 
almost a 1:1 ratio of workers and young people.  These very sorts of 
pedagogical arrangements  appear to be the most successful and the most 
expensive in the short term.  But in the long term these programs might 
well prove to be the most cost effective.


Policy Changes
Over the past few years there has been a marked turning away from 
public funding of education, in a process of redefining education 
itself.  Arising out of the late eighties with Australia Reconstructed 
followed by the Finn, Mayer and Carmichael Reports, there was an 
attempt to redefine education away from the traditional social good to 
being an instrumental good in terms of work outcomes (Marginson 1993).  
At many levels there has been an attempt to lay the required economic 
reconstruction at the feet of school education, whilst ignoring the 
effects of globalisation on the erosion of the labour market and in 

particular the disappearance of the youth labour market (Rifkin, 
Aronowitz, Anyon).  

At policy level there needs to be some acknowledgment of the difficulty 
this disappearing youth labour market places on the young people and 
the trainers in terms of the shift towards narrowly defined outcomes as 
a means of future funding arrangements.  In an area such as Geelong 
where the total labour market continues to decline so that the pressure 
for any job increases, current policy will mean in a growing number of 
young people being lost to the labour market forever.  All those 
working with the young people commented on how difficult it is to work 
with young people the longer they are out of school or VET and 
unemployed.  New policy funding initiative must be made to enable 
agencies to work with young people at the crucial stage when they first 
leave school, without having the long waiting periods for 'eligibility' 
by which time, alternative ways of spending time have already been 
established.

At the moment the field of education and training is undergoing a 
period of extensive change which has impacted on this research project. 
 With the change of government and subsequent withdrawal of funding, 
many people we had been working with lost their jobs and research that 
was in progress was drawn to a halt.  Whilst the region faced closures, 
amalgamations and compulsory competitive tendering, we found that 
during this time of re organisation a number of people withdrew from 
meetings and interviews, as their concerns turned to their own 
employment and survival.

The slashing of the Labour Market Program funding will further 
adversely affect these young people for without such programs they are 
unready to access the mainstream labour market.  For example, whilst 
this government has criticised the LEAP programs as having poor 
outcomes, according to local CES Case Managers, these programs were 
particularly effective in this area.  Geelong is surrounded by the 
'Surfcoast', a major tourist area for Victoria.  Many young people 
growing up in the region spend a great deal of their time at the surf 
beaches, as the beach is, for many Australians, a source of relaxation 
and pleasure.  The LEAP programs did a great deal of work around the 
coast, building paths, improving barbecue areas, maintaining the 
foreshore, useful and satisfying work .  The young people gained 
various certificates during the programs, for First Aid, and various 
building and horticultural skills.  LEAP projects were also run in 
Warehousing , Motor mechanics and Hairdressing, all with positive 
outcomes for the young people but the funding for these programs has 
now been withdrawn.  

These policy shifts have also seen the closure of Skillshares and the 
amalgamation of other providers of VET programs.  This has resulted in 
widespread job loss for teachers working in the field as well as 
experienced program managers.  Whilst all this reorganisation is 
underway, many young people have dropped out of the networks which were 
formerly working with them.  The youth workers stated that one of the 
difficulties of working with this group of young people is their 
transitory nature, 'they move around a lot and it easy to lose 
contact'.  Many of these young people have moved out of home, some 
experience periods of homelessness, many move from house to house.  
When they find that their local centre has closed or is being 
restructures and the person they trusted has lost their job, further 
alienation is experienced.  One local community centre was 'trashed' 
when a group of young people found that the person who worked with them 
had lost her job and a new person arrived to take over.  Another centre 
has had the committee of management sacked due to a breakdown in 

working relations and the centre has been closed 'until further 
notice'.  The welfare agencies who work with these young people are 
stretched to the limit.  Further school closures have been planned for 
the area placing future pressure on declining resources in the school 
sector. 

When we proposed the research project we were concerned to focus on 
young people between 15 -20, those who had already reached the school 
leaving age.  We were aware of extremely high rates of young people 
leaving school before the completion of Year 10.  However almost all 
those interviewed wanted to draw our attention to a growing problem in 
the area of much younger children dropping out of school, those between 
the ages of 12 -15.  Many of these children have become so alienated 
form the school system that they find it impossible to continue 
attending mainstream programs.  The children have often experienced 
failure in even basic numeracy and literacy and consequently have 
developed low self esteem concerning their ability to learn.  As the 
demands of secondary school increase these children often find they are 
unable to keep up and thus a series of behavioural problems develop.  
As schools in Victoria are facing increasing pressures to 'market' 
themselves in a highly competitive climate, with ever decreasing 
government resources to support their work, it seems to be becoming too 
hard to keep some of these children in school, due to their disruptive 
behaviour.  Resources are often being channelled away from student 
welfare support staff into program which are seen to benefit all 
children.  Schools do not want to gain a reputation for having too many 
difficult students as other parents are not supportive of these 
children and might choose to send their children elsewhere.  There has 
recently been a general increase in class size, the reduction in aides 
who work in the classroom with children with special needs, so that the 
pressure on the general class teachers are increasing, making it even 
more difficult to work with these children at risk.

A second factor which appears to be impacting on the general education 
of these group of young people from the teacher's perspectives, is the 
narrowing of the curriculum as is being experienced by the 
redescription of school curricula into the eight key  learning areas.  
Where in the past schools and individual class teachers had the 
challenge of developing curricula to meet the particular needs o their 
students, the introduction of the Curriculum Standards Frameworks has 
resulted in more teachers following an externally 'prescribed' 
curriculum rather than tailor this framework to the needs of their 
particular students.  Under the constant pressure of performance 
appraisal and accountability it is easy to see how this situation has 
arisen, but in terms of these young people, this narrowing of 
curriculum options appears to be further limiting their opportunities 
to develop basic skills.

In the interviews conducted both with teachers, school welfare workers 
and out of school community agencies there is a great deal of concern 
as to the growing numbers of these children in the area.  At present 
there are only two programs which are specifically designed to cater 
for these children, yet both programs can only place around twelve 
children at a time.  There is general agreement that the waiting list 
for such programs in the region is 'in the hundreds'.  There have been 
some very effective programs developed in the area which have been able 
to provide an integrated program of both general education, life skills 
alongside VET. One very successful program designed specifically for 
these young people has been the Bike Program, where this youngest group 
have been learning to repair, maintain and sell bikes, having an 
immediate tangible outcome for their learning which the trainers see as 
critical to the success of programs for these young people.  

Unfortunately this program has recently lost its funding and at this 
stage it does not look as if the program will be able to continue.
 
Those working in the provision of VET and LMP commented that they 
believe that VET oriented programs do not begin early enough in the 
school system.  One of the providers is now moving to locate some 
programs in a local secondary school and believes that some sort of VET 
orientation should be developed in the primary schools as well.  That 
is not to say that these providers are necessarily suggesting a 
refocussing of the work of primary schools; rather that a growing 
number of young people appear to be becoming alienated at an earlier 
stage in the school system and leave school with totally unrealistic 
expectations of the labour market.  VET in schools is commenced too 
late for these young people.  A considerable number of parents also 
appear to have a limited understanding of the erosion of the youth 
labour market and believe that even children who leave school as early 
as 13 years, will be able to find an 'apprenticeship' even though 
apprenticeships, when available, now require a Year 11 entry level.  As 
yet there do not seem to be any ways of redressing the problem.  

One of the difficulties in the current funding arrangements is the 
short term programs which are offered when these young people need much 
longer term programs.  With the forecast shift to outcome based funding 
the prospect for young people who need a series of programs in order to 
become 'job ready' the providers are concerned as to the options which 
will be available.  Outcomes need to be viewed more broadly than 
fulltime employment, but perhaps need to be seenas a progresssion 
towards employment through a series of supported and integrated 
programs.


Perspectives of those working in the field
For those people who are working in the field of VET in the region, 
this sector of education remains one of the most difficult of all to 
work in.  The sector is perhaps most unlike the school sector which in 
contrast is highly regulated.  The sector is deregulated in terms of 
teachers and trainers qualifications, curricula processes and 
industrial conditions.  Teachers and trainers in this sector are often 
employed on extremely short contracts, some for only six weeks and them 
might be unemployed for some time before.  Many of the teachers and 
trainers are working in de institutionalised settings, without the 
professional supports that a teacher working in a school or TAFE 
setting might expect.  Some are working without photocopiers or 
computers, without access to a professional library, nor a professional 
'staff room' with colleagues to offer them both personal and 
professional support.  Many are working in several different programs 
at the same time, in order to make a livable wage.  The rates of pay 
vary markedly, with some working well below the award in other sectors 
of adult education.

Perhaps of more concern for the field of VET as a whole, which is 
attempting to be seen as providing best practice in terms of training, 
is the apparent lack of support structures for the teachers and 
trainers own ongoing professional development or the possibility to 
develop career pathways for themselves.  Of the trainers interviewed to 
date, none has participated on a regular basis in any professional 
association or networks.  None has been offered any professional 
development whilst working in recent programs.  There have been no 
opportunities provided to critique the curriculum packages they are 
delivering, nor to offer any professional input into their adaptation 
and further development relevant to the needs of their particular 
students.  Very few had any paid opportunities for group assessment, 

evaluation or moderation procedures, nor was such time built into their 
course work.  

A further tension for those working in the field is the uncertainty of 
funding which surrounds their work.  As one provider commented

How can we hope to keep committed people when this sword of Damacles is 
always hanging over their heads, never knowing if their job will 
survive the next round of funding.
Russell

There appears to be a tremendous difference in working conditions in 
the field which needs to be further investigated.  Few of the teachers 
and trainers interviewed have ongoing employment which funds them for a 
full year.  Few are accruing sick leave or long service leave, few are 
developing a 'career pathway' leading them on to more certain and 
senior positions in the field.

One other factor which impacted on this research has been the impact of 
compulsory competitive tendering on the work of teachers.  Rather than 
participating in a collaborative and supportive environment which 
exists in other fields of education, since the introduction of 
compulsory competitive tendering these former strong collaborative 
relationships have broken down.  In a regional centre such as Geelong, 
where agencies need to work more closely  in a time of funding 
constraints so as to not to duplicate services, these collaborative 
relationships are perhaps even more important than in a major city.  
Out of these collaborative relationships in terms of administrative 
matters can develop ongoing professional relationships which benefit 
programs, teachers and students alike.  

Conclusions
Young people who have been early school leavers, with low levels of 
skill are unable to benefit from a narrow VET approach.  They need to 
have their personal development/ life skills/ healthy living issues 
addressed as an integrated aspect of VET courses  in order for them to 
gain maximum benefit from VET.  Such programs needs to belong' to the 
group  ie student centred pedagogy rather than a prescriptive CBT 
curriculum package which is not adapted to the specific needs of the 
students.  Teachers and trainers will need on going professional 
development in order to enable them to deal with issues of moderation, 
accountability and standards whilst taking a professional approach to 
local level curriculum development.  In order to focus on the needs of 
these individual young people need to adopt a community development 
approach, involving a student centred pedagogy, with flexible delivery 
and timetabling.  There is a need a general module as an integral part 
of all VET courses which can identify and work on personal issues 
whilst developing workplace skills.

For these young people who are experiencing a range of personal 
problems associated with leaving home, low levels of skill, failure to 
find employment, repeated rejection  their social personal and physical 
needs must be addressed before they can hope to gain from VET courses.  
There needs to be more attention given to their general education, 
including life skills, social needs and the relationship between these 
issues in a young person's life and their successful transition into 
employment.  One key difference between the Australian model of VET and 
the often cited German model is that general education continues 
alongside the vocational aspect to a much higher level.
There is a need to develop some generic modules following the Mayer 
competencies, which can address these issues which run for the whole 
length of the VET course and can be worked on in relation to the VET 

course.

Regardless of the difficulties these young people might present to 
schools, teachers and trainers, in order for them to gain a better 
chance in the labour market, they need to b acquire the skills which 
will enable them to gain access to participate in VET programs.  These 
young people need to be seen as an integral part of the community as 
much as high achieving young people are,  and thus a co-ordinated 
approach towards their VET needs must be developed between a range of 
agencies and enterprises.  Given the continued high rates of youth 
unemployment, the high cost to the community of alienation and 
disengagement needs to be accepted by the community, including local 
enterprises and some co ordinated responses put in place.

As with many of the issues identified to date, there appears to be a 
question of 'ownership'; whose problem is it any way?  The primary 
school, the junior secondary, senior secondary, post compulsory or 
welfare?  Whilst 'the problem' is pushed from bureaucratic department 
to department, increasing numbers of young people are continuing to 
leave school and disengaged from the broader educational system.  
Schools appear to be loathe to divulge the actual numbers of children 
who drop out before the before the completion of Year 12 or the numbers 
of children who drop out at other times or the development of clear 
pathways between the various sectors of schooling.  In Victoria due to 
school closure and amalgamations many high schools have become multi 
campus schools, with a junior and a senior campus.  There appears to a 
be emerging a pattern of dropping out at the transition points, between 
primary school and junior high school and junior high school and senior 
high school.  The community needs to take some responsibility in 
providing community based VET which will assist these young people to 
gain some self confidence, self esteem and to feel valued at the same 
time as they can develop their general education which will in turn 
assist them to develop life skills to equip them for employment at some 
stage in the future, and from this starting point, for local industry 
to give them a chance. 

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Jennifer Angwin
Deakin University
Geelong, Australia
Fax 61 52 27 2014
email  ja@ddeakin.edu.au