Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor has commissioned the Reps’ Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training to inquire into, “the perceptions and status of vocational education and training.”

Which is interesting, what with the inquiry being into helping VET, not the just government’s TAFE fave.

The ToRs are four;

* info for students and how that funded by the Commonwealth may be improved

* perceptions and status of VET, including international best practice

* partnerships between VET providers and employers

* Commonwealth programmes and “intersections” with states/territories, industry “and philanthropic efforts”

Submissions are due March 1 – which should be plenty of time, what with the vast amount of relevant research already undertaken by the estimable National Centre for Vocational Education Research