National Training Offers an Alternative to VET Sector Issues

“Be very careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater in redesigning the VET Sector.”

Ian Oliver of National Training was quick to quote Professor Martin on the current state of the Australian VET Sector as it begins to undergo a revamp following years of ‘rogue operators, who were delivering very little, whilst abusing the funding.’

This criticism of the federal government’s agenda, has deemed the VET sector as the ‘forgotten middle child of education.’

A review of its ‘training and skills agenda,’ has found significant failings in a sector that teaches tens of thousands of workers yearly.

The public VET sector has been severely weakened by ‘state-level budget cuts and the gouging of funds by private providers.”

Both Vocation Limited and Australian Careers Network, previously working as VET sector firms, are now-defunct after collapsing due to “government audits found training was not up to standard.”

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has yet to announce what concrete changes will be made to counteract the ‘damage caused by VET Fee-help debacle’ that saw thousands of students enroll in courses which they never took only to accrue ‘huge taxpayer-backed loans which may never be repaid.’

As Ian notes, “the tertiary system continues to fail in delivering a job ready workforce. That is why the VET Sector was established and needs to be supported. Yes, by all means continue to vigorously punish the operators who have taken advantage of the government’s lax controls. But do not confuse what the VET Sector was designed to support with the VET FEE HELP Loan Debacle.”

Birmingham has called for a ‘redesign’ of the VET Fee-Help loan scheme, as ‘a central part of a move to introduce greater competition into the vocational education sector.’

This ‘long-overdue’ review and redesign will further help workers deal with ‘digital disruption and automation,’ and will hopefully halt the ‘deadlock that threatens to strip more than half a billion dollars from the sector.’

In efforts to offer solutions to the VET sector misgivings, Ian Oliver says of National Training services that, “as a private operator all the Diplomas we offer are affordable, our students are all inbound and find us, the vast majority are employed and looking to build skills to further their careers or future employability.”

With a step in the right direction, National Training is helping to make sure those training in the ‘middle child’ VET sector don’t miss out again.