Disrupting Australia's vicious VET circle: Sustaining an ITE-qualified VET schoolteacher workforce

An extreme shortage of initial teacher education (ITE) qualified VET schoolteachers impacts the equitable opportunity for young people to become well-educated, vocationally prepared school graduates. This article reports on an international applied research Fellowship designed to discover how Norway...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Issues in educational research Vol. 35; no. 2; p. 716
Main Authors: O'Reilly-Briggs, Karen, Weller, Jacolyn, Fogelgarn, Rochelle
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Perth 01.07.2025
Subjects:
Addition
Adult Education
Apprenticeships
Careers
Education Work Relationship
Educational Quality
Educational Research
Fellowships
Field Instruction
Government School Relationship
Graduates
Influence of Technology
Labor Force
Learning Experience
Lifelong Learning
Opportunities
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Scholarships & fellowships
School Policy
Secondary Education
Secondary School Students
Specialization
Teacher education
Teacher Qualifications
Teacher Shortage
Teaching (Occupation)
Australia
Norway
Finland
ISSN:0313-7155, 1837-6290
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An extreme shortage of initial teacher education (ITE) qualified VET schoolteachers impacts the equitable opportunity for young people to become well-educated, vocationally prepared school graduates. This article reports on an international applied research Fellowship designed to discover how Norway and Finland upskill mid-career industry experts to become VET schoolteachers. These countries produce a sustainable VET schoolteacher workforce with approximately half of all upper-secondary students studying VET. In contrast, approximately one-quarter of Australian school students choose VET pathways, at a time when the nation is experiencing a significant skills shortage. We present research findings that illustrate how Norway and Finland produce a sustainable supply of VET secondary schoolteachers. As Australia has yet to develop suitable ITE programs to prepare qualified VET teachers for schools, we argue that Australia would do well to heed Finnish and Norwegian practices that improve the quality of VET in schools, support mid-career industry experts to become VET schoolteachers, and enhance the status of VET in education and society.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0313-7155
1837-6290