Collocation in Regional Development--The Peel Education and TAFE Response.

Overview & Synopsis

The collocation of services in regional Western Australia (WA) is an important strand of WA's regional development policy. The initiative is intended to foster working relationships among stakeholder groups with a view toward ensuring that regional WA communities have access to quality services. Clustering compatible services in smaller communities, such as Peel, offers the potential of adding value to existing services and helping to ensure that those communities survive and, hopefully, thrive in the future. As has been demonstrated in other Australian small towns and in Nebraska, the following features are critical to communities' success in improving educational outcomes: desire to preserve a valued lifestyle; desire to participate in particular kinds of work; willingness to invest time and income in reinventing and redirecting processes within the community; and determination to influence the community's joint destiny. The Australian Qualifications Framework has facilitated development of "mix and match" arrangements that have been established by Peel's vocational education and training and technical and further education (TAFE) sectors. The Peel initiative is to be administered by the Peel Education and TAFE Board, which is emphasizing joint education and training policy development and identification of desirable education and training pathways for students from each sector. (Contains 15 references.) (MN)