Ask Dan & James for Equal Opportunity for VET in Schools trainers in VIC
Dear VET in schools supporters,
I, and the Campaign for VET & Technologies Education, wish to thank each and every one of you for signing and contributing to this petition.
Personally I struggle to understand why governments do not find it important to establish undergrad pathways for industry experienced tradespeople and vocational professionals to become qualified teachers ... to the point where I now wonder if this matter has more to do with general snobbery than any semblance of logic or reason. As someone who was one responsible for up-skilling tradespeople to become secondary teachers (in the now defunct Bachelor of Tech Ed course at La Trobe Uni), I am here to tell you that these pre-service teachers were the best of the best - they were incredibly passionate about their vocations and about helping young people build skills, knowledge and confidence to transition into the workforce. Their work more often than not out-shone other ITE students at the School, including Masters students - and I can promise you that I am not the only lecturer to think this. This is just one more reason why this campaign is worth fighting for.
Now, to business...
The Victorian government has recently published a discussion paper about their new VET/ VCE reforms and are now asking the public for their views about this in a survey. You can further help this campaign by completing the government's very short survey to voice your own views, but before you do, if you would add a comment about the need for undergrad ITE courses for VET trainers to gain a professional teaching qualification, that would be amazing!
To make it easy, I have prepared the paragraph below that you may like to copy and past in the last two boxes of the government's survey:
Victoria needs undergraduate Initial Teacher Education (ITE) pathways for industry experienced VET trainers to access professional teaching qualifications to ensure that they have an opportunity to achieve the same pay, conditions and professional status as regular secondary school teachers. This is essential to ensure equal opportunity and parity of esteem, and to avoid generating divisions and what will otherwise be a tier of ‘second-class teachers’ in Victoria’s new VCE. This is an opportunity that the Victorian government needs to get right from the get-go.
Here is the link to the VIC government's survey (called 'All stakeholders - Reform overview'), and discussion paper: https://engage.vic.gov.au/consultation-senior-secondary-reform/all-stakeholders-reform-overview
Also, in case you are not aware, I have started a Campaign for VET & Technologies Education (CVTE) FaceBook group that you might like to be part of. You can join here.
One more thing.... if you have any great ideas about spreading the campaign message far and wide to get more signatures to this petition, then please let us know! E: campaign-for-vet-tech-education@outlook.com.au
Take care, stay safe, and thank you once again for standing up for VET professionals!
Kind regards,
Karen O'Reilly-Briggs