Before Spending More on Vocational Training, Let’s Ensure it Meets Market Needs

As lawmakers and students grow weary of the rising cost of higher education, vocational training programs are drawing more attention and funding. But a new report finds that these programs are wildly out of step with the needs of today’s job market. To provide a real alternative to higher education, states and schools offering vocational programs should align vocational education with market needs.

Career and Technical Education programs offer options for students looking to avoid student loan debt. These programs equip high school and post-secondary students with the skills and credentials they need to secure jobs for tens of thousands of dollars less than the cost of a traditional 4-year college degree. However, most students are pursuing—and taxpayers are funding—credentials that offer little access to jobs, let alone well-paid ones.

The Foundation for Excellence in Education, a national education research organization, partnered with Burning Glass Technologies, a job market research firm to study U.S. vocational education. They found that in the 24 states they studied, the credentials students earn through career and technical education do not align with job markets.

In total, the study found that for 10 of the top 15 most popular credentials, students are earning more credentials than there are jobs available. In some cases, these credentials lead to no job opportunities at all. “General Career Readiness” credentials, such as financial literacy and basic first aid, for example, account for 28% of credentials earned, yet the study reported zero market demand for them.

Even when students do find jobs with low-demand credentials, they are often low-paying. According to data from the study and the Bureau of Labor statistics, only four of the top nine licenses earned by K-12 students lead to jobs with annual median salaries of approximately $35,000 or more. By contrast, median U.S. household income in 2017 totaled $60,336, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Worse yet, taxpayers are footing the bill for these programs. A recent oversight reportfound that in the last few years, the U.S. Department of Education spent hundreds of millions of dollars on vocational education programs including hair and beauty schools, gaming and bartending classes, refrigeration school, and a Professional Golfers Career College. Last year, Congress agreed to channel and additional $1.2 billion to career and technical education over the next six years, and states augment this funding with hundreds of millions of dollars of their own resources.

Instead of funding credentials that translate to few or no jobs, these resources could be helping students obtain credentials that position them for available jobs with significant salaries. For example, the Foundation for Excellence in Education study found that employers are looking to fill tens of thousands of jobs with employees who have EEG/EKG/ECG Certifications, CompTIA A+ Security+ certifications, and with Cisco Certified Network Associates—positions that come with median annual salaries between $50,132 to $82,296 per year.

If the states and nation are earnest about making career and technical programs a viable path to gainful employment, they must do more than fund these programs, they should align the credentials they offer with market demands.

Finland’s vocational education program, for example, is shaped by just such analysis. According to the National Center on Education and the Economy, The Finnish National Board of Education determines what vocational education will be offered throughout the country based on regularly updated analysis of projections for what the the nation’s industry needs will be in 15 years.

This program has proved both popular and successful at helping Finnish students secure jobs. At age 16, Finnish students choose whether to focus on preparing for university or to pursue vocational education. According to the Organization for Economic Development, Finland has one the highest enrollment rates in upper secondary vocational education, with 71% of upper secondary students enrolled in vocational education programs. And overall, Finnish vocational graduates (age 20-64) experience a 73.4% employment rate, several percentage points higher than average vocational graduate employment rate in the European Union.

The United States could do similarly. Industry needs vary from state to state, so states and schools could optimize career and technical education resources by auditing which credentials are in demand in the labor market, and then directing students and funding to those credentials. These adjustments would benefit employers seeking qualified employees in high-demand fields, students seeking cost-effective paths to employment, and schools whose increased graduate employment rates attract more potential students.

Vocational education programs offer students tremendous education opportunities, but with some intentional adjustments, we can make them even more practical.

SourceAAP:catalyst.independent.org

May 19, 2019

TDA Newsletter -Coalition’s surprise election win revives the Joyce plan for VET reform

In this edition

Let’s learn from Hawke – comment by CEO Craig Robertson
Coalition’s surprise election win revives the Joyce plan for VET reform
Proposals invited for historic Queensland rural training centre
Unique scholarship opportunity for VET experts
Two weeks to apply for national training awards
Industry skills forecasts open for review
Register now for ‘No Frills’ 2019
Diary

Let’s learn from Hawke – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

Reflecting on the death of Bob Hawke, the 23rd prime minister of Australia, on the eve of the federal election and contemplating a Morrison government, causes me to think that we’ve lost sight of the heavy lifting VET can do for the economy.

Hawke’s reforms are legendary. They were designed to open Australia to compete on the world stage – reducing trade barriers, floating the dollar, setting wage accords between industry and unions, decentralising wage fixing and restructuring awards.

His reforms also reached into the heart of vocational education and training, courtesy of the union movement.

Australia of the early 1980s was facing under-developed value-add to products and high prices of goods coming from protected Australian industries – jeopardising jobs and wages. At the instigation of the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union and its leading official, Laurie Carmichael, the federal department of Trade supported an ACTU mission to Sweden and other Northern European countries. Carmichael had observed first-hand Sweden’s approach to transforming its industrial base while protecting the rights of workers.

The ACTU’s report on the mission – Australia Reconstructed – released in 1987, recognised there needed to be a closer working relationship with industry to grow the industrial base for the benefit of businesses as well as workers. Narrow job roles, rigid job demarcation and poor levels of skills in workers were a drag on efficiency.

Speaking in December 1988, Carmichael laid out the challenge:

… our current form of work organisation, the current definition of employment in narrow categories of skill, the lack of career pathing in industry, all originated … from Frederick Winslow Taylor’s so called “Scientific Management System” which was taken on board by management all around the world in the early part of this century. And it is that, which we reflect from the workforce into trade unions, into demarcation attitudes. We believe it is necessary and absolutely essential that there be an up-grading in terms of multi-skilling … in terms of career-pathing [and] generally raising the skill level.

Award restructuring embodied a strategy to address the issues and the Metals Award was the instrument. Developed in conjunction with the Metal Trades Industry Association (the predecessor of the Australian Industry Group) the award encouraged multi-skilling and established skill-related career paths accessible by additional training embedded in VET competency-based qualifications. It established fixed minimum rates of pay and relativities between different categories of workers.

The National Training Board, established in 1988 by John Dawkins as Hawke’s education and training minister, was charged with deploying this model across a large sweep of industries and occupations served by the TAFE sector. Competency based training, linked to occupations and tied to the Industrial edifice, was born. Little has changed since – the Carmichael vision still underpins our approach to qualification content and qualification hierarchies within training packages.

Regardless of views on the success of the Carmichael model or its relevance for today, the broader point is that VET was used as a driving force for change across the economy. It is worth keeping in mind that VET reaches about 70 per cent of occupations in Australia and over 5.3 million Australians hold VET qualifications.

Come forward and many commentators lament that the training package model is not fit for purpose. The enquiry into TAFE SA concluded:

The development and use of Training Packages in their current form, particularly when combined with the way they are used in regulation, don’t support the innovation required to meet the emerging skill needs of at least some occupations and industries. Nor do they provide a framework for the lifelong learning workers need to adapt to economic change.
Today we face different industry structures, work organisation practices and industrial arrangements in a services-dominated economy.

Just as Hawke knew he could not hold onto old approaches in the vain hope that the economy would correct itself, I trust that Morrison is similarly brave when it comes to VET.

A footnote: At the same time of these VET reforms, Dawkins expanded higher education by converting Colleges of Advanced Education into universities. It is worth contemplating the autonomy afforded by Dawkins to the expanded university sector compared to the tri-partite mechanisms (complete with wage fixing and work demarcation) he imposed on VET, and which produces the better outcomes and is suited for the times.

[1] https://www.actu.org.au/actu-media/speeches-and-opinion/industry-training-in-australia-the-need-for-change

Coalition’s surprise election win revives the Joyce plan for VET reform

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s against-the-odds win in Saturday’s election has re-shaped the immediate policy outlook for TAFE, and refocused attention on the Joyce review of VET and the government’s promise of a new body to oversee the sector.

Labor campaigned heavily on TAFE, right up to the final days when Bill Shorten visited North Metropolitan TAFE in Western Australia, promising a generational overhaul of post-secondary education.

There was also a plethora of ALP promises including free TAFE places, guaranteed funding, and money for campus upgrades, apprenticeships, digital skills hubs, renewables training, an apprentice advocate and a regional training commissioner, as well as uncapped places for universities.

With the Liberal-National party win, the focus has swung back to key coalition commitments, including the findings of the Expert Review of VET conducted by former New Zealand minister Steven Joyce, pictured.

The government’s Budget skills package committed $48 million to progress one of the key Joyce recommendations – the establishment of a National Skills Commission “putting industry at the forefront of national leadership on workforce needs and VET funding”. The government has committed to appointing a National Skills Commissioner by September.

The Budget also committed $42 million to pilot new Skills Organisations, that will “put industry at the forefront of setting VET qualifications”. The new bodies would also develop standards for industry to accredit RTOs and pilot industry validation of student competency.

During the election campaign, the government promised to add $60 million to double the size of the current apprentice wage subsidy trial to an extra 1600 apprenticeships. There will also be a complete overhaul of apprentice incentive payments.

While a ministerial reshuffle is imminent, Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicated during the campaign that education minister Dan Tehan is likely to remain in the portfolio.

Proposals invited for historic Queensland rural training centre

The Queensland government has invited proposals for the use of the Queensland Agricultural Training College facilities at Longreach and Emerald which are due to shut down by the end of the year.

The Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said the project management office (PMO) overseeing the QATC transition was looking for commercial partnership proposals for the community assets.

“The PMO is looking for proposals to repurpose the facilities to create reinvigorated training opportunities in central western Queensland, and to consider alternate commercially sustainable future uses for the college assets,” he said.

The college closures were announced last December following a review by Professor Peter Coaldrake.

Proposals can be submitted to qatc_pmo@daf.qld.gov.au

Unique scholarship opportunity for VET experts

The Fulbright Program, in partnership with the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training, is offering funding for Australian VET experts to undertake research and/or training anywhere in the U.S. for 3-4 months.

The Fulbright Professional VET Scholarship suits employees within the vocational education and training sector, or training leaders in business and industry. It involves the undertaking of an educational program concerning current vocational education and training policy or practice, such as a short course and/or research. The outcomes of the scholarship must inform and benefit the wider VET sector in Australia.

Examples of those who may apply include:

employees, including teachers, managers, and administrators, of public and private registered training organisations and those who teach vocational education and training in dual sector universities.
people who are leading vocational education and training strategies within their business.

Preference will be given to those who have a record of achievement and are poised for advancement to senior levels.

Past awardees: Sean O’Toole (NSW Department of Family and Community Services to the State University of New York); Caroline Smith (Skills Australia to Rutgers University); Damien Pearce (Canberra Institute of Technology to the John Jay School of Criminal Justice).

Applications close Monday 15 July 2019.

Two weeks to apply for national training awards

The Australian Training Awards are the peak, national awards for the vocational education and training (VET) sector. The awards recognise and reward individuals, businesses and registered training organisations for their contribution to skilling Australia.

Watch this video to find out why you, your business or registered training organisation should apply for national recognition in one of the following awards:

Registered Training Organisation:

International Training Provider of the Year

Individual Awards:

Excellence in Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice Award

*Applications for the Small Employer of the Year Award is available by direct entry to the Australian Training Awards in only in WA and NSW.

Applications close on Friday 31 May 2019.

The 2019 Australian Training Awards will be in Brisbane on Thursday 21 November.

More: www.australiantrainingawards.gov.au

Industry skills forecasts open for review

The Skills Service Organisation, SkillsIQ, has issued draft industry skills forecasts for key sectors.

The draft 2019 industry skills forecasts which are open for consultation are:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker
Children’s Education and Care
Direct Client Care and Support
Local Government
Sport and Recreation

The closing date for feedback is Friday, 31 May.

Register now for ‘No Frills’ 2019

Join NCVER and co-host TAFE SA in Adelaide this July as presenters and delegates from across Australia and around the world come together for the 28th National VET Research Conference ‘No Frills’.

Don’t miss your chance to hear guest speakers from the world stage, with keynotesDr Fiona Kerr (Founder, the NeuroTech Institute) and Ms Gabrielle Kelly (Director, the Wellbeing and Resilience Centre), and dinner speaker Mr Glenn Cooper AM (Chairman, Coopers Brewery).

The conference will also feature a lively panel discussion on ‘Lifelong learning: VET’s role now and into the future’.

With over 40 presentations and 6 pre-conference workshops to choose from, ‘No Frills’ 2019 has a range of registration options to suit everyone.

Date: 10 – 12 July 2019
Venue: TAFE SA Adelaide Campus, 120 Currie Street, Adelaide, South Australia
Theme: The student journey: skilling for life
Register: on the NCVER Portal

Diary Dates

VDC 2019 Teaching & Learning Conference
16 & 17 May 2019
RACV Torquay Resort, Great Ocean Road, Victoria
More information

2019 VET CEO Conference
Velg Training
17 May 2019
Doltone House – Sydney
More Information

TechnologyOne Showcase
Empowering industry transformation
Brisbane: 29 May 2019
Sydney: 4 June 2019
Melbourne: 6 June 2019
More information

2019 EduTech
6-7 June 2019
International Convention Centre, Sydney
More information

Skills Conference 2019
Apprentice Employment Network NSW & ACT
13 June 2019
Dockside Darling Harbour
More information

22nd Annual Conference of the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA)
No future for old VET’: Researching for the training system/s of tomorrow
17-18 June 2019
Western Sydney University and University College, Parramatta, Sydney
More information

No Frills 2019: The student journey: skilling for life
28th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference
NCVER with TAFE SA
10-12 July 2019
TAFE SA Adelaide Campus, 120 Currie Street, Adelaide, South Australia
More information

National Apprentice Employment Network
2019 National Conference
31 July – 2 August 2019
Crowne Plaza, Gold Coast
More information

QLD School VET Conference
Velg Training
9 August 2019
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane
More Information

VTA 2019 State Conference
15 – 16 August 2019
RACV City Club, 501 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Save the date

National Manufacturing Summit
21 & 22 August 2019
Melbourne
More information

National Skills Week
26 August – 1 September 2019
Locations around Australia
More information

TAFE Directors Australia 2019 Convention
4 – 6 September 2019
Brisbane
More information coming soon

2019 National VET Conference
Velg Training
12 &13 September 2019
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane
More Information

Community Colleges Australia 2019 Annual Conference
18-20 November 2019
The Stamford Plaza Hotel, Brisbane
More Information

Australian Training Awards
21 November 2019
Brisbane, Queensland
More information

SourceAAP:www.tda.edu.au

May 15, 2019

Beyond the dollars: what are the major parties really promising on education?

As voters head to the polls, around one-quarter will decide who to vote for on the day. Analysis shows climate change and the economy are foremost in voters’ minds.

But education remains a key issue, as evidenced by a flurry of education-related announcements in the final stretch of the campaign.

Here’s what you need to know about the major parties’ education commitments, and what the millions and billions here and there really mean.

Early childhood education and care

Two years of high-quality, play-based learning at preschool can have a significant impact on children’s development. It can put them close to eight months ahead in literacy by the time they start school. The benefits are greatest for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, which makes preschool a valuable tool for reducing inequality.

Labor has promised to make childcare free for most low-income households and to provide up to an 85% subsidy for households under $175,000. It has committed to funding an extra year of preschool for three-year-olds. This is evidence-based and builds on commitments by several states to support two years of preschool.

Labor has also pledged to increase wages for some early childhood educators, to be rolled out over a decade, and to reinstate funding for the National Quality Agenda, which lapsed in 2018. This reflects the importance of quality in early childhood services, to improve outcomes for children.

Both the Coalition and Labor are taking early childhood education and care seriously this election. from shutterstock.com

The Coalition is taking a more cautious approach to spending on the early childhood sector. It has pledged funding for four-year-old preschool, but only for another year, and it has not renewed funding for the National Quality Agenda.

The Coalition will likely retain the means-tested subsidy introduced as part of its major childcare reforms in 2018. While these reforms benefited an estimated one million lower-income families, the means test also left around 280,000 families worse off, including families with neither parent in work.

Advocates argue preschool should be seen as an integral component of the education system and a fundamental right for all children, and all parties should take a cross-partisan approach and commit to long-term funding. The major parties are certainly not at that point yet, but there are indications they’re heading in the right direction.

Schools

Given states and territories are largely responsible for schools, federal investment should be targeted where it can make the most difference. Two key areas are needs-based funding, to ensure additional support is available to students who need it the most, and central investment in research and evidence-based practice.

Both major parties have promised a national evidence institute. Laborhas allocated funds for it, with the Coalition yet to do so. This initiative reflects the urgent need to ensure evidence helps to shape the education system. The Productivity Commission has recommended such an institute, to connect educators and policymakers with the latest research on teaching and learning.

On funding, the Coalition wants us to judge it on its reforms to the schools funding package, which is now mostly modelled on the needs-based funding approach outlined in the Gonski Review. But funding has still not reached the recommended levels. The Coalition has supported the National School Resourcing Board to review these funding arrangements and develop a fairer model for all schools.

View image on Twitter

Labor has promised to increase funding for schools. Labor’s offer would bring schools closer to meeting the levels of funding recommended by Gonski.

Funding isn’t a magic bullet, but it plays an important role in improving outcomes for all students..

Tertiary education

Vocational Education and Training (VET) has experienced a series of unsuccessful reforms over the past decade. VET plays an important role in the tertiary sector, so it’s good to see both major parties addressing this in their platforms.

The Coalition’s plan comes out of a major recent review of the VET sector and includes more money for apprentices and rural programs; the establishment of a National Skills Commission and a National Careers Institute; and simplifying systems for employers.

Labor has pledged to fund up to 100,000 TAFE places. It has also promised a major inquiry into tertiary education, looking at VET and universities side by side. This could potentially move us towards a fairer system that puts VET and universities on an even footing and better caters to the varied needs of students and employers.

Both Labor and the Coalition have committed to increased support for apprenticeships, through financial incentives for employers.

For universities, Labor says it will bring back demand-driven funding, which existed between 2012 and 2017, where universities are paid for every student studying and there is no limit on the number of students that can be admitted to courses. Evidence suggests this has been effective in boosting studies in areas where there are skills shortages, such as health, and also appears to have improved access to education for disadvantaged groups.

Due to costs, the Coalition has moved to a funding model based on population and university performance. It has also promised extra support for regional students and universities. This help address the large gaps in university participation between young people from major cities, and rural and regional Australia.

Making an informed choice

When casting our votes, we would do well to look past the dollar signs, and think about how each party is shaping an education system that will deliver quality learning for all Australians, from all kinds of backgrounds, from childhood through to adulthood.

The Coalition has delivered needs-based funding for schools and promises a greater focus on regional and rural students in all sectors. But there are some apparent gaps in early learning and tertiary policy and funding.

Labor has pledged more funding in all sectors. It has made a prominent commitment to early childhood education and care. However, Labor’s policies are expensive and would need to be implemented effectively to make sure they achieve the intended outcomes for students and deliver the financial benefit to the economy in the long-term.

SourceAAP:http://theconversation.com

May 13, 2019

Australia Needs a Royal Commission into Construction Training and Accreditation

Australia is about to elect its next federal government.

The broad platform of ‘education’ has been raised, as it is at every election. As a nation and a society we recognise how important formal education is. All political parties have made various policy commitments that they believe would improve educational outcomes. They involve everything from ‘pre-school’ through to ‘post-school’ university placement.

I’d like to focus on Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Tertiary education and narrow that focus to courses, learning content and assessment mechanisms used to deliver qualifications to graduates vital to Australia’s building and construction industry sector.

Educational systems are used to gain the qualifications needed to work across a range of skilled trades, administrative, supervisory and management roles. It is an essential element to the success of Australia’s future. Unfortunately, our educational systems and their capability to maintain high quality outcomes have never been in a worse position. All indicators show they will likely continue to decline. And no political party is talking about it.

Reasons behind the decline are complex. We used to do education and training really well. The federally funded private RTO scheme to deliver VET course qualifications was subsequently shown to be worthless. It was mismanaged and extorted with billions of training dollars wasted. It now seems to have been conveniently forgotten. Many private RTO’s continue to aggressively tout for business. They guarantee customers a ‘nationally recognised qualification’ in various building courses without need for formal study or exams and this can be achieved either ‘on-line’ or at worst, a few days. They replace rigorous learning and testing of skills and knowledge by using the ‘loophole’ of Recognition of Prior Learning or ‘RPL’. This is a highly contentious and widely discredited aspect of formal educational delivery when used to facilitate unrealistic course completion. Documented ‘evidence’ of attainment of the relevant ‘prior learning’ is easily manipulated by both the participant and the RTO delivering – some would say ‘selling’ – the course qualification.

The tertiary sector isn’t immune from contributing to the decline. At the start of 2017, an investigative report by Fairfax journalists Eryk Bagshaw and Inga Ting titled “NSW universities taking students with ATARs as low as 30” should have flagged a crisis in our tertiary institutions. Of particular interest was data showing that “at Western Sydney University, 99 per cent of the 251 students offered places in its Bachelor of Construction Management program did not make the cut-off of 85.” Based on those metrics and using some positive rounding up to avoid a half student result, it meant that only three of the 251 student cohort managed to accumulate a relatively modest ATAR entry score of 85 from their year 11 and 12 assessment. ATAR values are highly contentious in their own right but for those of you like me who left their secondary education a few decades back, speak to a current high school teacher to determine how achievable a score of 85 actually is. Let me put it this way. If you turn up to school to have your name marked off on the roll book through years 11 and 12 but did little to no academic study, you could probably scrape together an ATAR of 50. To participate in a proper tertiary course of study and be awarded a degree qualification in Construction Management, it would seem reasonable to assume you need to have significantly greater higher order problem solving capabilities. I don’t want to isolate WSU in this regard. It’s happening elsewhere too. An ABC Four Corners programon May 6 provided insight into how our university sector operates in respect of their international student intake. It made interesting viewing.

If you tried to sum up the decline with a single word, ‘commoditisation’ is a good one. Basically it means the process whereby differentiation is eroded by competition, leading to a commoditised market with price-based competition. Customers treat the offering as a commodity, selecting between vendors purely on price with no differentiating factors as the basis of competition. In the post-school world, we stopped enrolling ‘students’ years ago. We now have ‘customers’. And like all customers, they shop around for the ‘best deal’. When it comes to the types of qualifications linked to licensing and professional accreditation, the ‘best deal’ doesn’t always mean the cheapest price. The main focus here is often the ease of access, the lack of assessment and the shortest time period in which the ‘customer’ can get their qualification.

Sometimes this is not relevant in terms of consequences. Should we care if a person gets a Certificate IV in floristry from a private RTO without participating in training? Would the situation be worse if a media studies degree is issued to someone simply because they were a full fee paying international student? End users of the ‘qualified’ person’s services could finish up with a strange flower arrangement or an obscure opinion piece in a local paper. This is a simplistic example and the relative importance of different fields of endeavour are subjective. I don’t wish to offend any talented florists or journalists out there! I’m attempting to make an important point that should otherwise be fairly obvious. What if the qualifications are highly significant in respect of their validity to assess whether the person who obtains them is actually skilled to perform the works associated with their qualifications?

What if the status of the qualification is linked to national or state regulatory licensing or professional accreditation and registration scheme? That’s exactly what most vocational and tertiary qualifications associated with the building and construction industry are being used for. Consumers of licensed building trades and related accredited professional services are entitled to rely on this evidence. But they are being let down.

Here’s an example to help illustrate the potential problem. This is what NSW Fair Trading’s web page says:

“Any work that is residential building work under the Home Building Act 1989 which involves construction of a dwelling, or alterations or additions to a dwelling. It also includes repairing, renovating, decorating or applying protective treatment to a dwelling. Any contract for general building work can include any specialist work that is integral to the overall work, but such work must be carried out by the holder of an endorsed contractor licence or qualified supervisor certificate in the relevant category of specialist work. The current qualification and experience requirements, outlined below, commenced on 31 March 2017. 1. Certificate IV in Building and Construction (BCG40106 or CPC40108 Building or CPC40110 Building) or (BCG40206 or CPC40208 Contract Administration) or (BCG40306 or CPC40308 Estimating) or (BCG40506 or CPC40508 Site Management). This qualification is designed to meet the needs of builders and managers of small to medium-sized building businesses. The builder may also be the appropriately licensed person with responsibility under the relevant building licensing authority in the State or Territory. Builder licensing varies across States and Territories and additional requirements to attainment of this qualification may be required. Occupational titles may include Builder or Construction Manager. To find registered training organisations that are registered to deliver nationally recognised training to obtain qualifications for a building, trade or specialist licence or certificate, you can use the training.gov.au website and search via the course code or name.”

The directive is to the website of the federal government Department of Education & Training. If you use the search function for the ‘Certificate IV’ courses listed by Fair Trading as the compulsory qualification used to demonstrate capacity for a NSW building contractors licence, you will find around 145 ‘Registered Training Organisations’ (RTO’s) the government lists as providers of this course across Australia. Apart from university and TAFE providers, the majority are private sector providers. They are for profit businesses accredited by ‘ASQA’ – the ‘Australian Skills Quality Authority’ – which is the federal government agency established to oversee the VET sector. The equivalent bureaucracy for university course accreditation and compliance is the ‘Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency or ‘TEQSA’.

Our banking and financial industry sector recently underwent close scrutiny. Commissioner Hayne was critical of the two main regulatory bodies APRA and ASIC in their failure to effectively control this sector. It is delusional to think ASQA or TEQSA are capable of carrying out their roles to properly regulate VET and Tertiary educational standards. It is equally delusional to think that our separate mix of state and territory statutory authorities can ensure adequate regulatory standards for licensing and registration of building trades and construction professionals. The end results of this situation for consumers of building and construction projects is self-evident and I’m not just referring to the fiasco of combustible ACP’s.

Who would have possibly thought that in 2018 a newly completed 36 storey residential apartment building in Australia’s biggest city would need to be evacuated due to design and construction defects? Then I saw this today “Nine multi-storey Darwin buildings found to be non-compliant after investigation into engineer.”

Our industry is in a real crisis.

We need a Royal Commission.

SourceAAP:sourceable.net

May 8, 2019

NCVER NEWS- Small VET providers: the quiet achievers

Small VET providers: the quiet achievers

Small VET providers have an important role to play in offering diversity, equity and specialised training services across the sector.

The role and function of small VET providers builds on previous NCVER work to better understand the value that stable small VET providers, defined as those who maintained enrolments of fewer than 100 students across the three-year period of the study, contribute to the Australian VET system and how their operations can be supported.

View the infographic and download the report on our Portal.

Towards a digital skills framework

New research shows the rate at which digital technologies are being adopted in Australian workplaces is highly variable, despite most employers acknowledging their importance.

Skilling the Australian workforce for the digital economy also recommends that employers do more to prepare for the digital future of work or risk being left behind.

The report proposes an Australian workplace digital skills framework that will assist employers to identify digital skills gaps and develop targeted training programs.

View the suite of research products on our Portal.

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

We’re thrilled to announce that the dinner speaker at #NoFrills2019 will be Glenn Cooper AM, Chairman and Ambassador for Coopers Brewery.

After starting his working life as an automotive electrician, Glenn joined the family brewery 1990 as Sales and Marketing Director, which saw him oversee the launch of numerous popular Coopers products.

An entertaining speaker, Glenn is currently Chairman of Australian Made Australian Grown, and former Chairman of the Adelaide Fringe and the Adelaide Convention and Tourism Authority.

Glenn will be joining us at the ‘No Frills’ conference dinner on Thursday 11 July. With only limited places available, it’s first in best dressed, so register now!

2018 student outcomes data now available for RTOs

NCVER’s National Student Outcomes Survey is sent to VET graduates and subject completers who completed their training in the previous year.

The results of the 2018 survey were released in December.

Eligible RTOs can now access free individual reports of employment outcomes, training satisfaction, perceived benefits and relevance of training as reported by their students.

Visit our Portal to view the eligibility requirements and complete the form to access your report.

2019 National Student Outcomes Survey
The 2019 National Student Outcomes Survey opens on Friday 31 May for students who completed a training qualification or subject during 2018.

Eligible RTOs will again be able to access data as reported by their students.

Take advantage of our free kit to help you promote the survey to former students.

National Careers Week 2019

National Careers Week (13-19 May 2019) aims to celebrate careers and promote the economic, social and personal benefits of career development.

Career development is about managing learning, work and leisure to progress through life.

It includes gaining and using the skills and knowledge to plan and make informed decisions about education, training, and work.

Check out these NCVER resources for more information about career development:

Workplace training: employer and employee experiences – research report
Career development and transitions – POD on VOCEDplus
Choosing VET: aspirations, intentions and choice – research summary
VET in Schools: a pathway to post-school employment and training – infographic

The 2019 OECD Employment Outlook

The 2019 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook has been released. Titled The Future of Work, it investigates how the labour market is being transformed by demographic, socioeconomic and technological trends.

It concludes that policy decisions relating to areas such as social protection for workers, adult learning strategies and harnessing the full potential of digital disruption will determine how successfully countries manage the changing world of work.

Other recent publications on the future of work include:

Previous editions of the OECD Employment Outlook can also be found in VOCEDplus.

Coming soon

Stay tuned for the following new releases over the coming weeks:

Statistics: International onshore VET graduate outcomes 2018
Statistics: Apprentices and trainees 2018: December quarter

Keep an eye on Twitter and LinkedIn for more in-depth information on our latest releases, or subscribe to receive notifications on the day of release.

Upcoming events

Conference: 28th National VET Research Conference ‘No Frills’
Wednesday 10 – Friday 12 July 2019, Adelaide

Theme days and weeks
International Nurses Day: 12 May 2019
Privacy Awareness Week: 12-18 May 2019
National Careers Week: 13-19 May 2019
International Day of Families: 15 May 2019
Library and Information Week: 20-24 May 2019

SourceAAP:www.ncver.edu.au

May 8, 2019

Australia is using AI to ‘catch up’ rather than to get ahead: Deloitte

New report says 49% of Australian businesses that are early adopters of the tech have indicated a ‘major to extreme AI skills gap’ in the country.

Deloitte has released a report on the state of artificial intelligence (AI) around the world, indicating that Australian businesses are primarily using AI to “catch up” to competitors rather than to “leapfrog ahead”.

The report, titled State of AI in the Enterprise, surveyed 1,900 IT executives that have already implemented or prototyped AI solutions for their companies to better understand how early adopters of AI are using the technology.

The top challenges faced by early adopter IT executives include integrating AI into roles and functions, data issues, implementation struggles, cost, and measuring the value of AI implementations.

“AI success depends on getting the execution right. Organisations often must excel at a wide range of practices to ensure AI success, including developing a strategy, pursuing the right use cases, building a data foundation, and cultivating a strong ability to experiment,” Deloitte said.

According to the survey, 41% of Australian executives reported that their company either completely lacks an AI strategy or has only disparate departmental strategies, compared to 30% of executives globally.

In addition, 49% of executives in Australia believe there is a “major to extreme AI skills gap” in the country, more than any other country surveyed, with the top three roles that require filling being AI researchers, business leaders, and software developers.

This is despite the growing realisation of AI’s ability to provide a competitive advantage or improve work conditions, with 57% of executives globally believing that AI will substantially transform their respective companies within the next three years.

Executives believe industry will be slower to adopt AI, however, with only 38% of executives globally reporting that AI would provide the same impact for industry during the same time frame. The perceived slower industry shift, Deloitte said, represents a window of opportunity for early adopters of AI to get ahead of competitors before the use of AI becomes an industry norm.

Among early adopters of AI from Australia, 56% of executives believe the use of AI is critically important to the current success of a company, with that figure rising to 79% when asked about AI’s importance within two years’ time.

Yet 50% of Australian executives reported that AI is only being used to “catch up” or “keep on par” with competition rather than to establish a distinct advantage, which is the highest rate of all the countries surveyed.

The report also said 17% of Australian companies that have already implemented AI solutions are “seasoned” users of the technology, which is a lower rate than the United States, which had the highest figure of 24%.

According to a report [PDF] published in 2018 by AustCyber, Australia is set to lose around AU$400 million in revenue and wages due to the skills shortage. The report also said that 17,600 additional cybersecurity professionals would be needed by 2026 to fulfill the nation’s cybersecurity needs.

AI investment, meanwhile, is set to increase around the world, as 51% of early adopters globally expect to increase their AI investment by at least 10% over the next fiscal year. The primary benefits of investing in AI, according to surveyed executives, are that it improves products and services, and optimises internal business operations.

On the risk front, executives around the world have flagged having major or extreme concerns about cybersecurity vulnerabilities, with 49% of them labelling it as a top-three concern. This was followed by the risk of making the wrong decisions based on AI recommendations, at 44%.

While there is not yet a dedicated national AI strategy, the Australian government has promised a National Skills Commission, if elected, to oversee the AU$2.8 billion annual investment in Vocational Education and Training (VET). The commission would drive “research and analysis of future skills needs across industry to ensure the VET system addresses national labour market priorities including those arising from developing technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence”.

The federal opposition, meanwhile, announced that it would create a AU$3 million National Centre of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Excellence in Melbourne, a AU$2 million cybersecurity training centre, and a human eye over any Commonwealth data-matching activity in the lead up to the federal election.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) last month also highlighted a need for development of AI in Australia to be wrapped with a sufficient framework to ensure nothing is set onto citizens without appropriate ethical consideration.

“Australia’s colloquial motto is a ‘fair go’ for all. Ensuring fairness across the many different groups in Australian society will be challenging, but this cuts right to the heart of ethical AI,” CSIRO wrote.

May 1, 2019

NCVER releases its 2018 research messages

NCVER has released its consolidated research messages for 2018.

Here they are, and they cover a range of topics.

The topics

There are several themes the messages cover, including structures and systems for skilling and learning, teaching and learning and the impact of vocational education and training.

In addition, there are other resources cited here covering the 27^th ‘No frills’ conference held during August 2018 in Sydney, webinars, presentations, opinion pieces and submissions. New additions to the VOCED website also feature, in particular the VET Knowledge Bank, the Timeline of Australian VET policy initiatives 1998-2017, the Glossary of VET terms, the History of VET and the series of Landmark Documents starting from 1954. All of these can be really useful things to access.

And earlier articles in VDC News have already summarised a lot of this work, so here’s a refresher

Let’s remind you of a few of the key ones. We explored employer’s use of unaccredited training in January this year. The factors explaining the likelihood of completing a qualification was another topic we looked at in May last year. A report by Chandra Shah and Janine Dixon published in 2018 looked into future job openings for new entrants to the labour market by industry and occupation, and VDC News reported on that here. Coupled with that, another NCVER report looked at the fourth industrial revolution and the impact it will have on the Australian workforce and the VET sector. Disadvantage was another area of interest and Steven Lamb and his colleagues’ work was summarised in an articlepublished in VDC News in June 2018. The full report and supporting documents for this work can be found on NCVER’s website, though.

Other articles published in VDC News have also drawn on NCVER’s work last year. These include looking at 15 to 19 year olds and what they are doing as well as the numbers studying VET in Schools. Linked with other articles on international education in this and the next issue, VDC News took a look last year at outcomes for international onshore students. NCVER has regular publications covering its surveys and in September last year we looked at both student and employer views of VET.

So, what’s coming up soon?

Early April will see the release of a long-awaited report into higher apprenticeships, so we will have an article on that one later in April or early May, and this new one will compliment other articles on the topic already published in VDC News. You can access a couple of them here and here.

Looking ahead there are some useful pieces of work in the pipeline on school to work transitions and VET in schools and the array of technical and non-technical skills VETiS helps secondary students acquire. Another forthcoming report will look at the role and function of smaller VET providers.

Finally, NCVER will be releasing a raft of data throughout 2019 on a wide range of topics. The release dates can be found here.

SourceAAP:vdc.edu.au

May 1, 2019

USI Bulletin Number 04 – 30 April 2019

Looking forward to working with you – Ms Janette Dines, new Student Identifiers Registrar

On 5 April 2019 the Minister for Small and Family Business, Skills and Vocational Education, Senator Michaela Cash announced the appointment of Ms Janette Dines as the new Student Identifiers Registrar. In making the appointment, Minister Cash noted that Ms Dines has a long career in a variety of senior public sector roles and a depth of experience in managing diverse stakeholder relationships. Minister Cash thanked the outgoing Registrar, Mr Jason Coutts for his leadership of the USI since its launch in 2015.

Ms Dines commenced on 15 April 2019. We will feature a profile on Ms Dines in our June bulletin.

USI Contact Centre is operational in Adelaide

The May 2018 USI Bulletin included an article on the relocation of the USI Office to Adelaide in support of the Government’s decentralisation agenda to promote economic activity in Australia’s regions.

As part of the staged transition, the USI Contact Centre began operations in Adelaide on Monday 15 April 2019. The Canberra USI Contact Centre will continue to operate to maintain continuity of service delivery as our Adelaide operators complete their training. They’re off to a great start and looking forward to helping RTOs and students with their enquiries.

USI Transcript – Enquiries from students

The number of enquiries from students who want their recently completed qualification added to their transcript are increasing. It is important to inform your students that the USI transcript information depends on the timing of RTO reporting and that their qualification will not appear immediately upon completion.

Students are also asking why their Statements of Attainment are not available to download from their USI account. The USI Office has some helpful student resources explaining what they can expect to see on their USI Transcript, including:

The student webpage on ‘Transcript/Training Records’ on the USI website, which includes a link to an example of a USI Transcript and a selection of FAQs
The ‘Your USI Transcript’ fact sheet
‘When will my training appear on my USI Transcript?’ fact sheet
The ‘How to view and download my USI Transcript’ video

Please provide these resources to your students or link to them from your website.

SourceAAP:www.usi.gov.au

April 30, 2019

Group training head takes on international role at TAFE NSW – TDA Newsletter

In this edition

Let’s look at the building blocks of VET – comment by CEO Craig Robertson
Skills training vital as jobs threatened by automation, OECD warns
PM promises to expand apprentice wage subsidy scheme if re-elected
First aid training under review after death of footballer from heat stress
An update from TDA 2019 Corporate Affiliate TechnologyOne
Anzac service marks 10-year partnership with Canberra Institute of Technology
Group training head takes on international role at TAFE NSW
Diary

Let’s look at the building blocks of VET – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

I still remember the look of surprise in response to my show of disdain.

Last year at the Congress of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics in Melbourne several colleagues from community colleges and polytechnics in the US and Canada announced with great anticipation the arrival of competency-based education to their college and university scene. They said competency-based education (CBE) would be a game changer.

Competency-based training (CBT), our very own version of CBE, carries many meanings and histories and it may have been my history of CBT that gave rise to my response.

CBT has been the building-block of vocational education and training since its creation by the National Training Board toward the end of the 1980s. It was hailed as the game-changer – the means by which the needs of industry and employers could be reflected within VET delivery. Under the Australian National Training Authority the competency approach was enshrined in national industry endorsed training packages from the mid-1990s.

Educationalists warned at the time that the approach risked a reductionist approach to training, a sort of atomising of the education and training experience into small decontextualized parts. Time has shown that these parts have been mixed and matched in innumerable ways as the sector more and more has sought to meet the disparate needs of employers.

We’ve been arguing the toss ever since. In my time in the sector, there’s been the high-level review of training packages conducted in the mid-2000s, VET products for the 21^st century released in 2004 and the present review of training products underway by the COAG skills ministerial council, although it seems stalled at present.

We’ve had recommendations on approaches to assessment, calls from the regulator for volume of learning to guard against short courses and new training and assessment requirements placed on trainers, all in the vain hope of assuring upfront the integrity of delivery, given ASQA audits can only ever be retrospective.

If our current armoury amounts to no more than the closing of the gate after the horse has bolted, then current plans by ASQA of testing the educational bone fides of RTO applicants seems a good idea. The question is though, how is this tested? We have a situation where regulation at best is compliance against the minutiae of training packages. Where in the sector is the narrative about adult education theory and practice, let alone any serious attempts at descriptions, attributes and measures? ASQA has nothing to go on. Nor does the sector have a basis for assessing what ASQA does in this regard.

From where did my disdain arise? TDA, TAFEs and other good providers have spent the last two years cleaning up the mess of the VET FEE-HELP scheme. Many have pointed to poor program administration as the cause. I think we need to look deeper – at CBT, seriously!

It was no surprise that the bulk of the courses delivered by the now closed providers were in business, leadership and community services. The units of competency can easily be mixed and matched by providers, to minimise their effort and maximise the loan from students, it seemed. The regulator was hamstrung on checking the educational integrity as training was online and as I said before, is after the event. And students had no power to realise anything was wrong as they had nothing to judge whether courses were over-priced or super short – as there is little regularised delivery in VET. (I’ve often said that this sort of scam would have less chance of success in higher education as the community understands that a graduate degree is three or four years in the making.) Why is it then that in the face of such egregious examples of poor and fraudulent behaviour of providers built off CBT that we have not looked at the building blocks of VET to prevent this from happening again?

It’s time we had a serious look. The behavioural theories of human development upon which CBT appears to have been based have long been surpassed. Pavlov’s salivating dogs have long been put to rest. So too should our simple input-output, stimulus-response building blocks of VET.

Over the next few weeks I’ll look deeper into these issues. We can do better!

Skills training vital as jobs threatened by automation, OECD warns

Around a third of Australian jobs could be at risk of automation, and policies will need to focus on ensuring adults are trained with new skills, according to the OECD Employment Outlook 2019.

The report says that 36 per cent of Australian jobs face significant or high risk of automation, which is below the OECD average of 46 per cent.

It warns that despite growing anxiety about potential job destruction from technological change globally, “a sharp decline in overall employment seems unlikely”.

There are, however, increasing concerns about the quality of some new jobs.

“This may increase disparities among workers if large segments of the workforce are unable to benefit from the good opportunities the economy generates.”

The OECD calls for a comprehensive adult learning strategy to tackle the changing world of work and to ensure that all workers, particularly the most vulnerable, have adequate opportunities for retraining throughout their careers.

PM promises to expand apprentice wage subsidy scheme if re-elected

The Morrison government has promised that, if re-elected, it will extend the current apprentice wage subsidy trial to cover a total of approximately 3200 apprenticeships.

Prime Minister Scott Morison and the Minister for Skills and Vocational Education Senator Michaelia Cash announced that the government would double the size of the existing program, adding another $60m in funding which will support an extra 1600 apprentices.

The program commenced in January and provided incentives in the form of a wage subsidy to regional employers who take on apprentices in skill shortage areas, and who had not previously employed apprentices.

The wage subsidies are provided at 75% of the apprentice’s award wage in the first year, 50% in the second year and 25% in the third.

The government said that under the opening round, the 1600 available places were exhausted “within weeks”.

The Shadow Minister for Skills, TAFE and Apprenticeships Senator Doug Cameron said the program encourages businesses to view young workers as a source of cheap labour by paying large incentives to rural employers with no history of training.

“This means regional businesses which pay minimum wages, many having never invested in apprentices, will receive the unsustainable government largesse,” he said.

First aid training under review after death of footballer from heat stress

Registered training organisations (RTOs) delivering first aid training have been urged by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) to review their practices following a West Australian coroner’s decision on the death of a young footballer.

The coroner found that the 15-year old died after being overcome with heat stroke while engaged in a rugby league training session. He was given first aid and taken by ambulance to hospital where he died from multi-organ failure.

The coroner found that if the first aid responders had been trained to deal with heat stroke in line with recent developments, the boy may have survived. He also recommended that agencies who train first aiders in heat-related illness consider changing the content of the training.

ASQA says RTOs should immediately review new advice on heat stroke for sports trainers and coaches and ensure that training is consistent with that advice.

ASQA has also issued a reminder about the need for first aid trainers to ensure that those learning CPR must demonstrate on an adult resuscitation manikin placed on the floor, and not on a table.

See the ASQA advice.

An update from TDA 2019 Corporate Affiliate TechnologyOne

TechnologyOne is Australia’s largest enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) company and one of Australia’s top 200 ASX-listed companies (ASX:TNE). Join us at Showcase 2019 for a one-day event, to hear inspiring business leaders at the forefront of their own industry digital transformation. Uncover what industry leaders in the education sector are doing to connect with their students to provide a superior experience and to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. Explore how innovation in enterprise SaaS is empowering industry transformation and what this evolution in technology means for your industry, your company and your people.

Agenda highlights:

Connecting with your customers: What does a superior student experience mean?
Professor Peter Nikoletatos, Adjunct Professor, Latrobe University & Industry Director – Education, TechnologyOne

Join Professor Peter Nikoletatos as he leads a panel discussion into the findings of a recent survey of Australian university students’ expectations of the student experience and what these findings mean for the Australian tertiary education sector.

The state of enterprise software in 2019
Dr. Joseph Sweeney, Research Analyst, IBRS

Join lead researcher, Dr. Joseph Sweeney, as he deep dives into the key findings of the recent State of Enterprise Software Report – what this means for the tertiary education sector and the attitudes and industry trends around enterprise software adoption.

Disrupt or be disrupted
Mitch Lowe, Netflix co-founding executive & CEO of MoviePass

Hear how Netflix disrupted the movie industry and how others are embracing new models of service delivery to transform.

Anzac service marks 10-year partnership with Canberra Institute of Technology

One of the standout features of Anzac and Remembrance Day services at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra is the floral arrangements, prepared by students from the Canberra Institute of Technology.

This year’s service marked ten years of CIT floristry students volunteering their time to prepare button holes and floral arrangements for the event.

Fifteen students at CIT Bruce prepared around 500 button holes with red Flanders poppy and fresh rosemary for veterans and VIPs who attended the Anzac Day services.

CIT CEO Leanne Cover said CIT has many connections across Canberra, and the Australian War Memorial was just one of the many valued relationships CIT has in the community.

“Our students appreciate the significance and sacrifice that was made by our Anzacs and are always happy to give their time and skill for this event during their mid-term break,” Ms Cover said.

Photo: Kerry Alchin.

Group training head takes on international role at TAFE NSW

The former chair of the National Apprentice Employment Network (NAEN), John Liddicoat (pictured), has started in a new position as Head of International Business at TAFE NSW.

Mr Liddicoat stood down last month as general manager of group training organisation, Novaskill, and also from his positions as chair of both NAEN and the Apprentice Employment Network (NSW & ACT).