Constructing the good worker: policies, practices and assumptions informing Victorian technical schools division reform, 1967‐1973

Abstract

In the late 1960s the Victorian vocational education sector was in crisis. The federal Martin Report into tertiary education excised many of the sector’s university‐level courses and relocated them into new Colleges of Advanced Education (CAEs), leaving many ‘middle‐level’ and technician vocational courses in limbo. Junior technical schools also offered apprenticeship and middle‐level courses, further confusing where courses were, or should be situated, suggesting an overall ‘gap’ in program provision. This challenge came when the Technical Schools Division (TSD), the smallest of Victoria’s three division structure (primary, secondary and technical) continued its struggle to maintain sectoral identity through courting acceptance from private industry and the public sector for its credentialed programmes. With significant others, TSD Director Jack Kepert, followed by Director Ted Jackson, responded by designing policy to reshape the TSD’s structure and functions and its reporting relationships within a new technical college and junior technical school system. Jackson’s policy statement, The future role of technical schools and colleges (1970) facilitated these changes. The paper narrates the events constituting this period of policy innovation and evaluates their contribution to the creation of a more seamless