Adult Retraining and Reskilling in Australia and South Korea.

A study explored the mechanisms used by adults in Australia and Korea to keep their skills current or to enhance their range of skills. Data were gathered through recent research reports and unpublished unemployment and training data. The study identified areas of the vocational education and training systems in the two countries that are providing positive outcomes for adults who are retraining and upskilling and also highlighted areas of the sector not adequately servicing the needs of this group. For example, Korean employers are much more likely to provide training that will assist an employee to gain higher-level skills that enable them to gain a promotion, while training undertaken by Australian employees is usually relevant to the tasks performed in the current job. The Employment Insurance Scheme in Korea, while not highly used, has increased the number of workers trained in advanced courses. The study also found that adults who had completed higher levels of schooling, such as those in Korea, were more likely to engage in lifelong learning than those in Australia, who often left school earlier. Over the past 20 years, Australia has developed a publicly funded VET (vocational education and training) system that has been successful in training or re-training employed adults. The Korean government is trying to integrate workplace learning into its VET system through the amendment of its vocational qualification system. The Australian experience suggests that the reforms should take place in the broader context of the VET systems in Korea. (KC)