Australian VET System and Social Concerns - Essay Example

The systems also have some of the highly regarded standard frameworks for training providers such as the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), qualifications such as the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF), and training products. Australia’s VET system is a competency based training system that focuses individuals’ capabilities and skills for enabling them to do substantial work. In essence therefore, it is suitable for continued learning of individuals within enterprises and those seeking to enter into enterprise work (Goldstein, & Ford, 2002; Bean, 2008).

With a wide array of social issues impacting the Australian workforce system from an aging population, and increasingly diverse society and employers finding it hard to recruit staff, that is 44% in 2007 from 41% in 2005 (OECD, 2009), effective systemic responses in the VET system towards these trends have the capability in addressing them. This paper critically discuses the extent to which the current VET system in Australia can and does address the concerns of contemporary Australian society.

In specific, the study discusses three societal concerns that are critical to Australia, diversity training, safety training and customer service training. Background of Australia and VET System VET system in Australia can be traced far back to the mid and late 19th century where various institutions offered skills development and industry training in trades that were predominantly male such as mining. And for almost a century VET was mainly focused on training men in a few select industries such as mining agriculture and manufacturing.

With the beginning in the decline of these industries in their economic significance in the 1960s and 70s, and the emergence of newer finance and communication industries in the economy, more women started getting trained (Training.com.au, 2012). With these there were more pre-vocational and preparatory training than trade based training and with the release of the 1974 Kangan Report, the TAFE system which seeks to improve on the needs in Technical and Further Education was established. The 1980’s saw the expansion of the service industries and the emergence of private training providers to meet the needs of the changing economy.

A wide array of reports emerged on the need to take into account both the need of the industry and the individual into account in training and this resulted to a consensus that indeed the VET system required substantive reform based upon unified national effort (OECD, 2009; Training.com.au, 2012). The year 1992 was one of major reform in Australia’s VET system where a unified national system was created under the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) which the system getting considerable input from the industry on what relevant skills were required.

The Fitzgerald Report particularly had a crucial role in enabling a competency based and coherent system was established. With these the VET system further evolved to include apprenticeship programs, development of