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Date:Mon, 23 Nov 1998 16:02:57 +1100
To: voced-coord@rite.ed.qut.edu.au
From: Ken Price (Ken.Price@central.tased.edu.au)
Subject: VocEd: GUEST:a bit more on big business in school curriculums Hello again,

Justine's comment is of course relevant to many schools: money is never beating down the school door trying to get However, there are several major international IT companies who are putting their resources (curriculum materials, support for learners, time, and in some cases equipment and staff training) into schools in Australia. This in not just something which is happening in the US.

Lest it be thought that these are purely altruistic gestures, it is worth pointing out that these companies develop school-based training to help fill training gaps in the industries they represent, and see schools as an effective way of performing base-level training. That is both a blessing and a curse; while giving students skills which make them directly employable, it also may carry a subtle message that in, some areas at least, school studies may rank second to industry training.

(Note that here I am referring to industry training in the sense of training developed by specific companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Novell, 3Com, Apple, Intel, etc, not the more generic industry training.

I should add that at least one of these companies is currently in the process of mapping its curriculum into the Australian qualifications framework, so that students can receive both a vendor-specific qualification and a more general ANTA-accredited one).

One interesting thing I observed was the reaction of teachers to vendor-designed training. I saw several cases of kids in the US who went from vendor-designed courses in schools into computer networking jobs of circa $50 000 per year (with the industry-recognised qualifications obtained at school). You can imagine what reactions this generates in teachers who have been trained and accredited by computer companies to deliver these courses, and who are earning around $40 000 per year.

Food for thought?

Ken Price