Vocational education is similarly maligned in Australia, but for a very real reason: It's terribly implemented. There is a big push for all training of any ty

Vocational education is similarly maligned in Australia, but for a very real reason: It's terribly implemented. There is a big push for all training of any type to be delivered by a TAFE (Technical and Further Education) institute. Scouts Queensland is now a registered TAFE so that their training is recognized by external bodies. My Celebrancy training came from a TAFE, as did my first aid (Even though that TAFE was the Queensland State Ambulance Service). The biggest problem with the system is that the requirements for testing are TERRIBLE. Certain requirements have to be met so questions are constructed to meet them. Multiple choice is rife, as is simply posing the requirement as a question. They're badly written. I had to submit an assignment along the lines of "Describe your attitudes towards the values and commitments of marriage" with no further instructions. No guide to length or format or whether having the "wrong" attitude would fail me. This is a very common experience. There's also a lack of importance attached to correctness. If you fail, you get to try again, with no penalties, until the end of the semester. Your only possible marks are "Competent" and "Not Yet Competent". It's very common for material to be wildly out of date or simply incorrect. The end result of all of this is that TAFE is generally seen as a joke AND a requirement for many skills and certificates.