Two innovative approaches to delivering vocational education and training (VET) in schools were examined to identify ways of helping Australia's indigenous students achieve academic success by ensuring a close cultural fit between course content and the realities of local employment opportunities. The first VET-in-School program, which was located in New South Wales, provided three levels of health care studies in courses that were carefully structured to include the entire necessary curriculum to meet accreditation standards and emphasize literacy and numeracy skills while explicitly acknowledging that Aboriginal English is respected as a functional form of English communication. The second program, which was located in Western Australia, offered a hospitality and tourism training program that combined a cluster of accredited general secondary studies subjects in years 11 and 12 with a selection of Australian Qualifications Framework modules related to hospitality and tourism and hands-on training in the workplace. Both courses proved successful in attracting and retaining indigenous students. Factors credited with the programs' success included the following: opportunities for community-based education and training; community relevance; a commitment to Aboriginal employment; balancing of expectations from two cultures; a willingness to push the boundaries; and the presence of leadership and a committed, competent staff. (Contains 22 references.) (MN)