Looking back at TRAC
prepared for Dusseldorp Skills Forum by Jane Figgis, AAAJ Consulting Group, 4 September 2006
Reviewed for Youth Field Xpress, September 2006.'Looking back at TRAC' is a review of the DSF's pioneering Year 11 and 12 vocational education program, which began in 1989. The TRAC program was centred around structured and assessed work placements. It was designed and developed by the Dusseldorp Skills Forum to 'bridge the almost complete disconnect that existed at that time between the skills students had acquired through school and the skills they would need to enter the labour market'.
Looking back at TRAC examines the development, implementation and eventual devolution of TRAC (Training Retail and Commercial) to identify lessons learned and underlying principles from the program that may be useful in the DSF's other work.
Looking back at TRAC contains six chapters: Chapter One presents a snapshot of TRAC as an accredited program, examining the TRAC program for Year 11 students in the Hunter region of NSW in 1991. Chapter Two charts the development of TRAC as a pilot program in 1989-90. Chapter Three gives the observations and experiences of key individuals that led to the establishment of the Dussledorp Skills Forum in 1989 and the subsequent development of the TRAC program. Chapter Four looks at the expansion of TRAC across NSW and interstate (within three years, TRAC programs were operating at 78 sites across Australia). Chapter Five describes the devolution of TRAC in the mid-1990s and examines the program's legacy for vocational education and training in Australia.
The final chapter of Looking back at TRAC identifies the program's successful elements that could be used in other DSF programs and ventures. Of these elements (which include clarity, enthusiasm and openness), the author identifies trust as the cornerstone of the program's success as an innovation in VET. (Source: Figgis, J., 2006, 'Looking back at TRAC', Dusseldorp Skills Forum, viewed 7 September 2006,
http://www.dsf.org.au/papers/186.htm)