Findings and Five Strategies for Improving the Quality, Relevance, and Sustainability of Provision

Investigating issues associated with curriculum implementation in Australian transnational vocational education involves the engagement of teachers’ perspectives as they enact the curriculum, make decisions and solve problems. Accordingly, this chapter summarises the findings of a phenomenological inquiry into the lived experiences of 13 teachers enacting Australian vocational curricula across nine countries. These findings are: (a) the influence of situational factors, (b) teachers’ scope of influence, (c) teachers as adaptive curriculum makers, (d) curriculum development as a framework for teacher decision-making and problem-solving, (e) limitations of the Australian intended curriculum in transnational vocational education, and (f) localised knowledge is privileged. Based on these findings, the chapter proposes five strategies for improving the quality, relevance, and sustainability of Australian transnational vocational education provisions: (a) curriculum negotiation, (b) material support, (c) teacher development, (d) curriculum implementation guidelines, and (e) monitoring implementation. It is contended that implementing these strategies would have improved the readiness and capacity of teachers to enact a relevant and quality vocational curriculum to meet the needs of their students in diverse contexts.