Australia needs to boost spending on vocational education and training

By ITS Education Asia

An interesting opinion piece from The Australian newspaper on the need to increase vocational education and training in response to the damage caused to the economy by the pandemic.

The country is now in its first recession in nearly 30 years and the number of people in receipt of unemployment benefits has doubled since February to 1.4 million. Many more workers are underemployed and may yet lose their jobs as the government’s wage subsidies are withdrawn.

As we look ahead to Australia’s post-COVID rebuild, it is clear that both the VET and higher education sectors will be critical components in our economic recovery. Existing workers will need to upskill and re-skill to help their organisations grow and adapt to a changed environment, and many unemployed workers are likely to need new skills to find new jobs and/or start their own businesses.

Even though this article is about Australia, many of the authors’ arguments could equally be applied to other countries.  It would seem to be a good idea for governments around the globe to expand vocational training.

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