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How Can the VET Sector Drive the Adoption of Sustainable Practices in Industry?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Jenny Kent
Jenny Kent*
Affiliation:
TAFE NSW
*
†DET Sustainability Coordinator, Bay 6, Suite G11, Locomotive Workshop, Australian Technology Park, Garden Street, Eveleigh NSW 1430, Australia. Email: Jenny.Kent@det.nsw.edu.au
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Abstract

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Vocational education and training (VET) is often considered the enigma of education. For those that work in or research sustainable education within the schools and higher education sections, VET appears somewhat like the mysterious second cousin: often difficult to access and difficult to understand. VET differs quite markedly from the other education sectors. Its industry, skill and competency foci have been established through a distinct range of national and international drivers. Both the limited understanding of how VET operates and its institutional characteristics has bound the integration of sustainable education practices within the sector. This paper provides a brief overview of the VET sector within Australia and provides some insight into how sustainable education practices are being developed in VET. The recognition of elements of common ground between VET and sustainable education are proposed as an entrée into the sector that can influence the adoption of sustainable practices by industry.

Type
Research Article
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , 2004 , pp. 89 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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