Introduction
Vocational Education Training (VET) can be termed as the training for a particular job, and it includes practical experience and theoretical trainings.
Interests and problems of employees as students of VETs
The Vocational Educational Training (VET) in Australia is offered mainly by Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Institutes, as well as privately-owned colleges and other schools and universities (Riele & Crump, 2018, p. 12).
The syllabus offered at these vocational training is developed by the state in conjunction with industries to make sure it serves the employers’ purpose. It comprises both lectures and tutorials in small classrooms (Aird, Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2016, p. 133). Participants’ assessments are conducted via assignments, frequency of attendance of the lectures and tutorials, individual participation in class, practical skills test, and examinations (Aird, Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2016).
Inside Australia’s Vocational Educational Training facilities, learners are equipped with valuable and career-oriented skills that are appealing to the job market (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 65). Institutions offering these Vocational Educational Trainings take learners through practical courses that are applicable both in the real and simulated work environments (Hoeckel, 2018, p. 87). The training covers areas such as business, tourism, marketing, information technology, and also hospitality.
Once a participant gets done with the training, they are awarded a certificate or a diploma. Once they get done, they can either decide to proceed to university for a degree or go straight into the job market and search for jobs (Maxwell, Cooper, & Biggs, 2016, p. 57).
Most of Australia’s employees use Vocational Educational Training as a foundation to better their skills and also as a bridge to university entry. It is established that most of Australia’s university graduates would still require vocational educational training in addition to their degrees to pursue their careers of choice (Heath, 2018, p. 87).
Some of the interests that employees in Australia have in the provision of Vocational Educational Training are;
Vocational educational training has come out to be the main foundation for building an all-round employee. Vocational educational training has been the pathway to employment in Australia (Grubb, 2017, p. 83).
Vocational educational training has been core in business startups. Nearly half of the business owners in Australia have certificate level achievement, diploma, or advanced diploma.
Vocational educational training is highly treasured in Australia as it is key to the country’s economic growth and prosperity as well as the business productivity and employment outcomes (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 88).
Vocational educational training is one of the key pillars of the national government’s Competitiveness Agenda since a well-functional Vocational Educational Training can, for sure, deliver a robust and prosperous economy and can be trusted to deliver employments to Australian families (Wesselink, Biemans, Mulder, & Van, 2017, p. 187).
Most Australians prefer vocational educational training because it focuses more on work placements as opposed to work experiences. Work placements are primarily focused on skills acquisition (Maxwell, Cooper, & Biggs, 2016, p. 33). Participants find vocational educational training increasingly important given the advent of its training packages that usually mandate that some parts of the assessment be conducted at a workplace (Aird, Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2016, p. 243).
Vocational educational training equip employees with the necessary skills that employers and the industry need now and in the future (Wesselink, Biemans, Mulder, & Van, 2017, p. 188). Vocational educational training increases the chances of an employee getting the desired job. It also instills confidence in the users of the sector (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 77).
Vocational Educational Trainings has to a greater capacity supported the development of major skills that have seen employees being equipped with the language, literacy, numeracy, and employability skills that are required in the business (Wesselink, Biemans, Mulder, & Van, 2017, p. 176).
Most Australian employees have noticed that most employers prefer the certificate and the diploma holders from the Vocational Educational Training as the skills that they possess can be readily applied at the workplace (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 87). This is why most employees now find strong and growing interests in vocational educational training. To this effect, vocational educational training has attracted strong support in terms of attention and funding from both the national government and the private sector (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 44).
Vocational Educational Training has had its challenges that impacted directly on employees as students of the VETs;
Workplace learning-as discussed previously, workplace learning had been the key part of the vocational educational training. This is due to the need of the learners to experience the task they are learning in as a really a work environment (Heath, 2018, p. 154).
Workplace training only becomes achievable and successful when the Registered Training Organization is providing training to a specific firm. This is to say that the company becomes the customer and not just a mere learner (Aird, Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2016, p. 121). Forming part of the agreement between the firm being trained and the Registered Training Organization is the use of the company equipment and facilities, and this could either be during the working hours or after working hours, something that provides a good hands-on skill to the learners (Aird, Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2016, p. 126).
The problem now is that for Registered Training Organizations that deal directly with their learners as customers and the Registered Training Organizations that do not provide training to any specific company finding practical workplace learning has proved to be a major stumbling block (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 129).
The challenge of finding a placement for a learner in an industry where they can be trained in the skills that they acquired at the Vocational Educational Training has been real (Aird, Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2016, p. 134).
Getting adequate resources- it is evident that vocational educational training requires a lot of resources to make sure they serve their purpose of existence. Getting the necessary resources to maintain the required trainer vs. learner ratio as well as cater for the costs of equipment and materials required has been a major challenge that students find hard to cope with (Wesselink, Biemans, Mulder, & Van, 2017, p. 166).
The national or the federal governments provide most of the funding to keep the VETs operational, and this is always limited, and most of the time, do not suffice for the running of the training centers (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 164).
With the limited funding, it means that not all the students will get the allocation of these funds. Some will miss out. The training centers have to establish which students require the funds most and how to distribute these funds (Anlezark, Karmel, & Ong, 2016, p. 172).
The availability of well-trained trainers to conduct the sessions for the learners has been a problem too. For learners to come out strong ad ready for the market, they need to be guided by experienced trainers (Aird, Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2016, p. 188).
Conclusion
With most of the world’s economies becoming more professionalized, VET college courses have proved to be critical players in the job markets despite much emphasis being put on the university higher education. Close to 35% of employers now view having a vocational qualification as an essential requirement for landing employment. VETs have stood out as providers of the vital skills that are very instrumental in boosting economic growth.