Public-private partnership principles applied to industry-school partnership to support technical and vocational education

The term partnership is increasingly used by governments, industry, community organizations and schools in supporting their daily activities. Similar to the terms ICT and learning, partnerships are now ubiquitous in policy discourse. Yet, the term remains ill-defined and ambiguous. This chapter reviews and reflects on a government-led industry-school partnership initiative in the state of Queensland, Australia, to understand how the concept was applied and the consequences. PPP principles derived from the literature were used as a framework to review this initiative. The methodology of this qualitative case study involved consultations with stakeholders and an analysis of Gateway schools' policy documents, and research literature. The review suggests that despite the use of terminology akin to PPP projects in Gateway school program and policy documents, the implicit suggestion that this initiative is a public-private partnership can be interpreted as partially tenable. The majority of principles shaping a PPP have not been considered in any significant manner in the Gateway schools program. Although the review recognizes the legitimate and sincere purpose of the Gateway schools program, a more explicit adoption of a PPP framework during the design, monitoring, and evaluation stages could have strengthened the initiative in terms of outcomes, benefits, and sustainability.

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