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VET & TAFE adaptable workers productively employed in the economy in occupations related to their training .”
Achieving this purpose requires industry to properly define the competency required for the occupation ( occupational standard ) and then linking that competency to the training system . If we want skilled and adaptable workers who can work in mining in one year and manufacturing or another industry the next , and move freely between regions , industry sectors , and large and small employers then we must develop occupational standards and associated training delivery at the level above that designed only to satisfy the needs of the individual employer , worker , or training provider . Defining skills Portability of skills plays out in a worker ’ s occupation and the industry they work in . Skills and capability must be defined to the standard required in the workplace , not tied to specific workplaces .
If effective skills and capability definitions are to be achieved , then industry must lead the process . However , Australia has a poor history of establishing effective mechanisms for this industry , defined as employer and union , leadership . Defining industry leadership Australia has had Industry Training Committees that were advisory , then Industry Training Advisory Bodies ( ITABs ) that transitioned from advisory to limited defined functions , to Industry Skill Councils , with the most recent iteration being Skill Service Organisations that support Industry Reference Committees . All these mechanisms for ‘ industry leadership ’ suffered from the same problem – they were not allowed to advise on and genuinely lead the full VET process .
In addition , the things they have been responsible for , defining the content scope in VET qualifications and the standard of skill to be achieved , have too often been micromanaged and constrained by regulatory and approvals bodies that have shaped and limited the form and nature of the standards industry is charged with developing .
We do not accept the criticism that competency-based training is responsible for narrowing the outcomes of vocational education and training . The AMWU does however acknowledge that regulatory and particularly funding models , combined with the micromanagement of training package development referred to above , have combined to make it almost impossible for training providers to adequately deliver a broader generalist vocational education . This needs to be integrated with competency-based training in order to produce the well-rounded , capable and adaptable worker that industry requires .
It is our view that the funding mechanisms and regulatory rigour are being applied to the wrong component of the system .
The Howard Government ’ s Training Package reform of the mid-1990s was trumpeted as a new era of industry leadership . It based national qualifications on industry-derived competency standards , yet it formalised a strong split between the activity of industry in setting standards and vocational training delivery .
Under the Howard reforms , industry was denied a say in :
• The development of learning resources ( curriculum ) to deliver the outcomes found in the industry developed standards .
• Decisions on which qualifications attract public funding and the hours of off-thejob funding that would be supported for training .
• Registration and quality auditing of training providers . Recent arbitrary decisions by ministers to delete qualifications and units of competency that have not been delivered in the last three years off the national register can only again send a strong signal that it is the delivery end of VET , the part with the least involvement of industry , that is really driving Australia ’ s VET system .
Current policy settings in effect pit Training Packages against the delivery of training and assessment by training providers , rather than encouraging their integration . Funding and regulatory arrangements are all focused tightly on whether training and assessment are likely to lead to competency against the requirements of individual units of competency in isolation . The future The AMWU believes that the establishment of occupational profiles and related competency ( occupational ) standards , and the development and delivery of consistent national industry framework curriculum , must be brought together in a logical way .
Skills play out at the level of the occupation . But it takes more than just skills in a dynamic industry environment . It takes resilience , it takes complex problem solving ,
The complexity of the current social and economic environment means that we must get VET right .
it takes critical thinking , it takes creativity , it takes people management , judgement and decision making , and collaboration amongst many other characteristics . Above all it requires the patient accretion of knowledge away from the transactional and often hostile processes which typify bargaining .
The mistake that we as a country made in the late 1990s was the shift to the education-centric view that gave us ‘ Training Packages ’, and to thereafter assume that all of the broad characteristics required of a ‘ skilled and adaptable worker ’ could be defined , firstly in competency standards , and secondly within Training Package qualifications .
The recent proposals by the Commonwealth Department of Education , Skills and Employment ( DESE ) for VET qualification reform at least open up for public discussion the alignment of standards and curriculum . However , the reform process currently underway focuses narrowly on ‘ training ’ rather than skills and capability to the standard required in the workplace . If this continues it will go the way of the myriad other reform processes carried out by successive governments seemingly more concerned about enrolments and subsidies than in building the capability of the Australian workforce .
The existing qualification reform consultations are premature in the absence of the discussion we need to land about the fundamental purpose of our vocational education & training system and how it should contribute to meeting our skills and workforce development needs going forward .
The AMWU is calling for a true national skills reform process . One that has industry as a true partner in coordinated reforms with Governments , major TAFE systems and other providers . The current DESE reform process must either pivot towards , or make way for , this true national initiative . ■
Andrew Dettmer is the National President , and Ian Curry is the National Coordinator : Skills , Training & Apprenticeships , for the Australian Manufacturing Workers ’ Union .
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