The VEGAS program provides funds to sponsoring organisations to conduct projects that assist Indigenous students, and their parents to make decisions about their education, training and employment options. VEGAS also funds projects aimed at assisting Indigenous prisoners and juvenile detainees to participate in pre-release education and training programs and post- release education, training and employment programs.
Funding
Allocations for each State and Territory are determined by the total student numbers, scaled up by a remoteness factor. The 2002 expenditure on VEGAS was almost $10 million, but this is decreasing as funding is diverted to ATAS. VEGAS is a submission-based program. The VEGAS program is delivered through the DEST Indigenous education network at National, State and District office levels. The focus and scope of the VEGAS project largely determines the level at which the project is overseen. Project submissions are assessed in accordance with State VEGAS plans and national guidelines.
Assessment of appropriateness/effectiveness
VEGAS remains an appropriate program response to the Government's overarching Indigenous learning priorities and policies, as articulated through the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP). However, it has potential to be much more effective, if focussed more clearly on educational outcomes. The finding is based on:
- the on-going disadvantage highlighted in the National Report to Parliament on Indigenous education and training, 2001, particularly in relation to participation in, and outcomes from post-compulsory schooling;
- the on-going disadvantage Indigenous people face in the employment market, and the likely further disadvantage in an emerging workforce;
- the Government's commitment to practical reconciliation; and
- data that suggests VEGAS has the capacity, if used effectively, to successfully contribute to addressing the needs and aspirations of Indigenous people.
There is limited evidence that VEGAS is effective in involving parents in the broader curriculum of the schools or in promoting employment options for Indigenous people in the school, TAFE and higher education sectors.
The effectiveness of VEGAS is limited by the lack of links between VEGAS and the other elements of IEDA.