Don’t miss out on AVETRA’s 25th annual conference.
AVETRA is hosting its first full-scale face-to-face conference since 2019, while also offering two full days of online conference live stream for those who can’t be in Melbourne in April 2023.
AVETRA's 25th Annual Conference - "VET + Challenging times, Challenges of our time and Challenges that lie ahead" - will be held at the Citadines Hotel, Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria on 27 & 28 April 2023, with a half day of pre-conference workshops hosted by the VET Development Centre and a welcome reception on April 26th.
Registrations are open now. Use the discount code EARLYBIRD23 and register before January 31st to receive a 5% discount.
Keynote addresses and featured speakers
Across the two days, conference delegates will have the opportunity to hear from a breadth of exciting keynote speakers, featured panellists and more than 30 research presentations representing diverse perspectives on VET, adult education and training policy research.
Confirmed keynote speakers include:
Featured panels:
Enabling a thriving body of applied research and scholarship within, for and of VET institutions is both an opportunity and challenge of our times. Professor Michele Simons from Western Sydney University will chair a timely and important panel on ‘Building VET institutional research capability’ including confirmed panelists Professor Stephen Billett (Griffith University), Dr Henry Pook (Holmesglen Centre for Applied Research and Innovation) and Professor Sarojni Choy (Griffith University).
With an ambitious qualifications reforms agenda on the table from the federal government, and several state and territory jurisdictions at various stages of their own systemic reform roadmaps for skills and training, AVETRA is thrilled to be hosting a panel including key leaders across the TAFE, adult and community, private tertiary, community college and dual tertiary sectors. Day one of the conference will feature a panel exploring ‘Policy, place and partnership: the interoperable tertiary system’, including confirmed panellists Jenny Dodd (TAFE Director’s Australia), Don Perlgut (Community Colleges Australia), Jenny Macaffer (Adult Learning Australia) and Felix Pirie (ITECA).
The conference is the prefect occasion to share, explore and reflect on the diverse disciplinary fields and domains that inform, shape and strengthen VET research and inquiry. Dr Lizzie Knight (Victoria University) will chair a panel exploring ‘Cross, inter and multi-disciplinary views of VET’ with panel of experts representing the fields of evaluation, sociology, history, policy studies and pedagogy.
The conference theme of ‘challenges that lie ahead’ poses several questions for us all about the role of VET in responding to and informing era defining social, economic and industrial transformations. Dr Niall Smith (Research & Insights Manager at Skills Impact) will chair a panel discussing ‘Industry transformation, changing workforce needs and the role of VET in building capability’, with representatives from industry, the new Jobs & Skills Councils and those leading TAFE-industry innovation partnerships.
