2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition
268
In 1963 the
Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act
was introduced in the United States of America
(USA) (VanLandingham, 1995a). This Act helped pioneer competency based training (CBT) within curriculum
design and assessment in vocational education. CBT calls for the assessment of industry wide accepted skills
(competencies) to gauge student skill level as opposed to assessing a student’s individual achievements measured
against those of other students in their cohort (VanLandingham, 1995a; Smith and Keating, 2003). The change to
CBT in the USA positively influenced the status of chefs; graduates entering the workforce were better trained,
more suited to the working environment of their chosen discipline and hence considered more professional
(VanLandingham, 1995a; 1995b).
The
Kangan Report
in 1975
(Ray, 2001;
Pickersgill, 2004; Smith and Keating, 2003) found that, in
Australia, vocational and technical colleges had been perceived as “the poor relation to universities and colleges of
higher education” (Ray, 2001, pp. 26-27; Pickersgill, 2004, p. 36; Smith and Keating, 2003, pp. 10, 12). This lead to
greater funding and support from the Commonwealth of Australia for vocational education programs and the
establishment of the technical and further education (TAFE) industry sector, which introduced further regulation of
skills training and qualifications (Smith et al, 2003, Pickersgill, 2004). This culminated in stronger financial support
for TAFE students and targeted the introduction of training programs for disadvantaged students; such as new
migrants and the long-term unemployed.
Following the lead of the USA, the United Kingdom introduced a version of CBT ‘the National
Vocational Qualifications (NVQ’S)’ during the 1980’s (Canning and Cloonan, 2002) and Australia, while having
adopted CBT in some areas, fully implemented competency based training reforms in the TAFE sector in 1993 with
the establishment of the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) (Ray, 2001;
Smith and Keating, 2003). The
establishment of ANTA was a response to discussions between industry and the education sectors, with a view that
if technical and other forms of vocational education and training are to be successful, they needed to be based on
practical developments in current workplaces (Pickersgill, 2004). Therefore, CBT training principles have been an
important element to the continuing development of curriculum design, innovation and assessment practices (Smith
and Keating, 2003; VanLandingham, 1995b).
In 1993, the same year that CBT was taken up throughout Australia, the Australian Quality Framework
(AQF) was endorsed by the Federal Government to ensure all states complied with nationally standardized training
requirements. This standardization provided for greater recognition and portability of qualifications (Pickersgill,
2004). ANTA served as the regulatory body for vocational education and training until 2005 when the most recent
reforms to education in Australia saw it absorbed by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST),
which is now the national regulatory body for vocational education (VOCED).
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