Australian Vocational Education Skills Policy Research

In the wake of the post-industrial era,developed countries experienced profound changes in such aspects as structure of industries,mode of production,ways of enterprise management and system of labor employment,as a result of which,young men stayed unemployed,especially the structural unemployment appeared to be a serious social problem.In response to this challenge,most developed countries resorted to employability skills,which were treated as core competence in industrial development;hence they firmly emphasize the cultivation of employability skills in their vocational education and training.The study tries to make a tentative analysis on Incrementalist Policy-making Theory,Multiple-Streams Theory and New Human Capital Theory.With the methods of literature review,comparative study,historic-logic method and case study,the dissertation focuses on skills policies in Australian vocational education and training,attaching special importance to non-technical skills policies with employability skills policy at the core.Within the skills policies in Australian vocational education and training,attention keeps changing,from the initial ?technical skills?,to ?generic,transferable skills? and ?key competencies?,and in turn,to ?employability skills?.In recent years,new system has been carried out,including ?foundation skills? and the two ?frameworks? based on ?foundation skills?,namely,the ?Australian Core Skills Framework? and the ?Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework?.On the basis of the series of skills policies in vocational education and training,Australia has constructed a national skills cultivation system via the implementation of training pack.First and foremost,labor skills problem resulted from Australian socio-economic development,industrial structure evolvement and transformation of production relations,which poses direct influence on the skills policies of the vocational education and training.Consequently,labor skills problem turns out to be a hot topic,and various interest groups,represented by the economic sector,contribute their policy-related suggestions.Furthermore,after discussion and negotiation,Australian government blends ideas from varied interest groups to formulate national skills policies.Thanks to the multi-streams in the process of the policy formulation,the skills policies enjoy features of consistency and gradual evolvement.China is experiencing a critical period of transition at present from industrialization to post-industrialization;labor skills and the development of vocational education and training are prioritized.It is of vital importance to establish skills policies with Chinese characteristics.Skills policies of Australian vocational education,especially the policies of ?employability skills? may possess significant reference meanings to China.First of all,it is of great necessity to construct national skills policies,the function of which is fundamental in the process of policy-making.The policy can guide and instruct the development of vocational education and training.Besides,the whole process of skills policy-making and implementation needs to acquire support from interest groups from all walks of life,specifically from the participation of different trades and enterprises.Lastly,the implementation of skills policies needs to be integrated into courses and teaching of vocation education and training,so that learners may develop their multi-skills in a life-long learning system.However,the skills policies in Australian vocational education and training consider much more about employers ‘needs whereas pay less attention to learners‘ overall development.Besides,some problems in implementation also deserve our further attention and concern.