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I have my bet on VET! The underrating of vocational education in and across the country is no new news. The new and in fact bigger and startling news is that vocational education and training (VET) may promise graduates a more auspicious and successful career than a university degree, or at least equivalent. Don’t only take my word for it. A latest report from McCrindle, which was commissioned by the Skilling Australia Foundation, advocates this claim, confirming that vocational education and training may take you places than its rich cousin: a multi-thousand dollar university degree. The report may disappoint a lot of people’s perceptions about vocational education, who take vocational education and training for an impracticable education with little to no promises of a bright future. And I say a “lot of people”, because according to the report, four in five parents would prefer their children go to university after school over pursuing vocational education. Now, nowhere I am asserting that a university degree has any less significance or value; but attaining vocational education, sandwiched between a high school certificate and a university degree can do wonders for the student, who later may or may not choose to pursue a university degree at all. Ok! Let’s put it this way: a vocational education may unlock a student’s potential three-folds and open new pathways and arenas for higher education. Although, according to the figures in the report, nearly half of Australians think VET is no longer as relevant as university, government figures indicate a different story, according to which nine of the top 10 occupations predicted to have the most jobs growth are in vocational training areas. Now that is a significantly substantial number. One that ought to be given huge attention. I found three findings of the report extremely encouraging. First that the median full-time income for a VET graduate is $56,000 compared with a $54,000 for an undergraduate; secondly that nearly eight in 10 VET graduates have a job soon after training, while only seven in 10 university graduates secure a job that soon after completing their degree. Lastly that more than nine in 10 trade apprentices have jobs after finishing training. These are amazing numbers and those that must not be neglected by the students themselves to gain hands-on skills in short time but one that requires immense dedication, by their parents and guardians to have confidence in them and VET and the government and other authorities to ensure proper and sufficient funding for students to gain hands-on skills. Australian VET in India The need for such skills acquisition becomes even more crucial in countries where the population growth is increasing several times faster than the rate of its expansion of education and literacy; and that is one of the objectives behind McKkr’s launching the Australian VET in India. After a careful research of the needs of the Indian and Australian education industries, McKkr’s TAFE Training developed a programme to offer six nationally recognised qualifications in partnership with Hunter TAFE. This has been a result of my prediction of the growing need for VET and its significance in Australia, India and the rest of the world and thus I took the Australian VET to India with a vision to make an effective and recognisable contribution in vocational education and training. It is time that we stop treating VET as a less respectable choice than a university degree and stop treating it as the latter’s poor cousin. McCrindle’s latest report on the significance of VET now corroborates what I have been reiterating for quite some time and is just a “cherry on top”.

IELTS Writing Mark Schemes Writing is tricky. Always. Not only in academic exams but also professional. The IELTS Writing section is one of such tricky exams to pass and since there are no exact answers to the questions, the score is extremely relative to the write-up produced. Tips always help so here is a table that will give you an idea about how writing sections are marked. This may help you score a point or two higher. Read carefully, because reading carefully is no less than a trick either. Band Task Achievement Coherence and Cohesion Lexical Resource Grammatical Range & Accuracy 9 fully satisfies all the requirements of the task clearly presents a fully developed response uses cohesion in such a way that it attracts no attention skilfully manages paragraphing uses a wide range of vocabulary with very natural and sophisticated control of lexical features; rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips’ uses a wide range of structures with full flexibility and accuracy; rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips’ 8 covers all requirements of the task sufficiently presents, highlights and illustrates key features / bullet points clearly and appropriately sequences information and ideas logically manages all aspects of cohesion well uses paragraphing sufficiently and appropriately uses a wide range of vocabulary fluently and flexibly to convey precise meanings skilfully uses uncommon lexical items but there may be occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation produces rare errors in spelling and/or word formation uses a wide range of structures the majority of sentences are error-free makes only very occasional errors or inappropriacies 7 covers the requirements of the task (Academic) presents a clear overview of main trends, differences or stages (General Training) presents a clear purpose, with the tone consistent and appropriate clearly presents and highlights key features / bullet points but could be more fully extended logically organises information and ideas; there is clear progression throughout uses a range of cohesive devices appropriately although there may be some under-/over-use uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision uses less common lexical items with some awareness of style and collocation may produce occasional errors in word choice, spelling and/or word formation uses a variety of complex structures produces frequent error-free sentences has good control of grammar and punctuation but may make a few errors 6 addresses the requirements of the task (Academic) presents an overview with information appropriately selected (General Training) presents a purpose that is generally clear; there may be inconsistencies in tone presents and adequately highlights key features / bullet points but details may be irrelevant, inappropriate or inaccurate arranges information and ideas coherently and there is a clear overall progression uses cohesive devices effectively, but cohesion within and/or between sentences may be faulty or mechanical may not always use referencing clearly or appropriately uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task attempts to use less common vocabulary but with some inaccuracy makes some errors in spelling and/or word formation, but they do not impede communication uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms makes some errors in grammar and punctuation but they rarely reduce communication 5 generally addresses the task; the format may be inappropriate in places (Academic) recounts detail mechanically with no clear overview; there may be no data to support the description (General Training) may present a purpose for the letter that is unclear at times; the tone may be variable and sometimes inappropriate presents, but inadequately covers, key features / bullet points; there may be a tendency to focus on details presents information with some organisation but there may be a lack of overall progression makes inadequate, inaccurate or over-use of cohesive devices may be repetitive because of lack of referencing and substitution uses a limited range of vocabulary, but this is minimally adequate for the task may make noticeable errors in spelling and/or word formation that may cause some difficulty for the reader uses only a limited range of structures attempts complex sentences but these tend to be less accurate than simple sentences may make frequent grammatical errors and punctuation may be faulty; errors can cause some difficulty for the reader 4 attempts to address the task but does not cover all key features / bullet points; the format may be inappropriate (General Training) fails to clearly explain the purpose of the letter; the tone may be inappropriate may confuse key features / bullet points with detail; parts may be unclear, irrelevant, repetitive or inaccurate presents information and ideas but these are not arranged coherently and there is no clear progression in the response uses some basic cohesive devices but these may be inaccurate or repetitive uses only basic vocabulary which may be used repetitively or which may be inappropriate for the task has limited control of word formation and/or spelling; errors may cause strain for the reader uses only a very limited range of structures with only rare use of subordinate clauses some structures are accurate but errors predominate, and punctuation is often faulty 3 fails to address the task, which may have been completely misunderstood presents limited ideas which may be largely irrelevant/repetitive does not organise ideas logically may use a very limited range of cohesive devices, and those used may not indicate a logical relationship between ideas uses only a very limited range of words and expressions with very limited control of word formation and/or spelling errors may severely distort the message attempts sentence forms but errors in grammar and punctuation predominate and distort the meaning 2 answer is barely related to the task has very little control of organisational features uses an extremely limited range of vocabulary; essentially no control of word formation and/or spelling cannot use sentence forms except in memorised phrases 1 answer is completely unrelated to the task fails to communicate any message can only use a few isolated words cannot use sentence forms at all Source: http://www.examenglish.com/IELTS/IELTS_Writing_MarkSchemes.html