The Australian TAFE System And Its Implications For China's Vocational Education And Training

The Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) is an internationally recognized successful vocational education mode. The development of TAFE in Australia has lasted for nearly a century. It has formed a distinctive mode after absorbing and accepting successful experience of vocational education in North America, Britain and other European countries. Under the strong financial support from both Federal and State Governments, it has experienced approximately 20-30 years rapid growth since the issue of Kangan report in 1974. TAFE has grown to be the pillar of Australian vocational education and lifelong education.After a long period of development, TAFE has gradually formed a standardized system with its own characteristics. Its successful operation in relation to management system, modes of running schools, formulation of industry competency standards and training packages, curriculum development and teaching staff training has all provided Chinese vocational education and training with valuable experience and suggestions. Based on a comprehensive analysis and research on TAFE, this thesis summarizes its development, important characteristics and advantages with an effort to explore its possible application to the Chinese VET.This thesis consists of five chapters. The summaries of them are as follows:Chapter 1 is an introduction in which the issue is introduced and the objectives, methodology and implications of the study are dealt with.Chapter 2 reviews the historical background against which TAFE came into being and the development process of TAFE system. It also introduces its role and functions in the whole VET sector.Chapter 3 mainly examines the operation system and main characteristics of TAFE and introduces the national administration policy, training modes, curriculum development, teaching staff development, technical training, etc.Chapter 4 looks into the status quo of the current Chinese VET system, analyzes the problems and challenges it is now facing, explores the applicability of Australian TAFE expertise to Chinese VET, and summarizes the implications of its successful experience for Chinese VET development.In the last chapter, both retrospective and prospective approaches are adopted in drawing conclusions of this study.