The question of how to embed transformative change through the implementation of sustainability principles in our education systems has become increasingly important as complex situations, like pandemics and climate change, challenge societies. Education underpinned by a sustainability paradigm requires students to develop the ability to think…

Curriculum policies internationally are increasingly concerned with the promotion of national competitiveness and economic development. This involves more emphasis on skills than on knowledge, on learning than on teaching and on school/teacher autonomy than regulation from the centre. At the local level such global influences are inevitably…

Australia's vocational education and training (VET) qualifications comprise units of competency that are bundled together in qualifications and nestled in training packages developed for particular industries. This article argues that this model is broken and cannot be fixed by patching bits of the system. Competency-based training (CBT) is based…

This article contrasts educational discourses and their associated policy and practice in the field of adult literacy in two sociopolitical eras in Australia: firstly, the social-democratic era that describes the beginnings of adult literacy as a distinct educational field from the late 1970s, and in particular the 1980s; and secondly, the…

Competency-based training (CBT) is a curriculum model employed in educational sectors, professions and industries around the world. A significant feature of the model is its permeability to control by interests outside education. In this article, a "Neoliberal" version of CBT is described and analysed in the context of Australian…

VET (vocational education and training) is a fascinating sector. Aligned closely with the labour market and sandwiched between two major sectors, it is continually buffeted by political winds, susceptible to the ideologies of different governments. Often labelled the "poor cousin", debates continue to rage about its quality. This paper…

This article argues that the current social settlement underpinning vocational education and training (VET) in Australia is fractured. The current settlement is low trust and consists of qualifications based on competency-based training models of curriculum and competitive markets. The result is narrow qualifications that do not prepare people for…

Among the many critiques of competency-based approaches to education and training (CBT) is a strain which draws on Foucault's analysis of "disciplinary" power and knowledge. Foucault offered an interpretation of modern institutions, such as prisons, armies and schools, which revealed subtle mechanisms of surveillance and systems of…

Australian vocational education and training (VET) has undergone major reforms since the 1990s, including the introduction of competency based training (CBT) and the "streamlining" of qualifications. This paper examines the impact of these reforms, using the alcohol and other drugs sector as a case illustration. A survey of alcohol and…

The training and licencing of aircraft maintenance engineers fulfils a crucial protective function since it is they who perform and supervise aircraft maintenance and certify that planes are safe afterwards. In Australia, prior to training reform, a trades-based system of aircraft maintenance engineer training existed in an orderly relation with…

The introduction of outcomes-based vocational education in schools can have significant impact on the management and delivery of education and training. These impacts are not limited to classroom practice, and extend to the fields of policy and system coordination. This article reports on the results of a major trial of outcomes-oriented…

The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is a "first generation" qualifications framework that was established in 1995. Its purpose was to create "a comprehensive, nationally consistent yet flexible framework for all qualifications in post-compulsory education and training." It encompasses all post-compulsory…

Although ideas about digital media and learning have become an important area for educational research, little attention has been given to the practical and conceptual implications for the school curriculum. In this book, Ben Williamson examines a series of contemporary curriculum innovations in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia that…

The promise, embraced by governments around the world, is that the knowledge economy will provide knowledge workers with a degree of autonomy and permission to think which enables them to be creative and to attract high incomes. What credence should we give to this promise? The current economic crisis is provoking a reappraisal of both economic…

The governments of India and Australia are working to enhance cooperation on training, at both official and industry level. As part of the exchange of ideas, Francesca Beddie, General Manager, Research, National Centre for Vocational Education Research, visited India in August 2009 at the invitation of the Australia-India Council. This paper…