ESRI Research Seminar: "Separating the Sheep and the Goats - Vocational Programs in Australian Schools"

Venue: Miranda Guinness Suite, Maldron Hotel, Cardiff Lane, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2

Speaker: John Polesel

John Polesel is a Professor of Education in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. He has detailed knowledge of education systems across Australia and has undertaken a range of international and comparative studies. He has published extensively on transitions of young people from school to further education, training and the workplace.

Abstract
Vocational programs for school-aged youth constitute a difficult field of academic enquiry, straddling research across curriculum and senior certificates, and linking schools with the world of work and further study. The crucial problem of equity and the role which vocational programs play in addressing the diverse needs of a range of secondary school students are central to this enquiry. In recent years, vocational subjects offered within the structure of senior secondary certificates in Australia have changed the curriculum significantly, but vocational education in schools has a long history. This paper considers how the university preparatory curriculum and the vocational curriculum have co-existed within the changing structures of high, technical and comprehensive schools over time in Australia. It considers the establishment of technical schools in the early years of the 20th century, examining the motivations for their establishment and the policy and ideological battles which underpinned their development and demise. It asks whether an instrumental motivation – meeting employers’ needs and addressing economic imperatives – has underpinned the existence of VET and whether it ameliorates or worsens inequality.