”Marketing matters – a blueprint for placing TAFE and VET front and centre’ – TAFE Futures Magazine, Australia

By Nicholas Wyman, March 2017

In following the developments of vocational training trends, it concerns me that Australia may be getting out of cycle with what is happening in the vocational education space.
While the VET sector is expanding programs and enrolments across the U.S. and Europe, in Australia it seems that we are treading water.
In the U.K. in 2010, David Cameron’s government introduced a target of two million apprenticeships by 2015, and having met that, set a target of an additional three million by 2020.
The U.S. saw a tenfold increase in the funding available to initiate apprenticeship programs during President Obama’s last year.
In Germany, policymakers have attributed some of the success of the country’s high-wage, high-skilled, high-growth, and high-employment economy to the equal priority given to vocational pathways.
So, why are we not seeing a similar resurgence of VET prestige in Australia?