Building foundations for occupations or one-way tickets to low skilled jobs?: how effective is VET in Schools?

Vocational Education and Training in Schools (VETiS) is playing an increasing role in the senior secondary education of Australian young people. Now more than ever before, large numbers of students in their final years of schooling are using and relying on VETiS programs to not only facilitate their school completion but also to enhance their successful transition to jobs and further study. As users of VETiS, they have expectations that the vocational skills and qualifications they attain will be building blocks for direct entry to sustainable employment and further and higher level study. With increasing numbers of young people selecting a VETiS pathway, the question must be asked, to what extent can current models of provision build effective foundations for access to the career and training futures to which VETiS students aspire. This paper draws on findings from a current three year [National Centre for Vocational Education Research] NCVER funded study of models of VETiS to analyse the capacity of VETiS to play an effective role in youth transitions. The discussion of the efficacy of VETiS for young people is centred around three key themes: the contested purpose of VETiS; the uneasy fit of VETiS within structures of senior secondary education; and the complexity of the inherently cross-sectoral nature of VETiS delivery.