TAFE is refreshed pedagogies. While there have been great strides in the development of innovative training delivery it is evident there is a long way to go. It could be argued that the success of private providers in some jurisdictions has rested on their ability to deliver training in a more customised, flexible and time efficient way.
Students themselves will force change by demanding more and better resourced flexible delivery, with lecturers becoming more mentors, individual coaches and assessors rather than delivers of the knowledge.
The knowledge now isn’ t restricted to the institution as it was in the old days – it’ s now freely available. The“ flipped classroom”, where the lecturer no longer delivers the knowledge to the class but directs the students to the online place where the knowledge is contained, will become the norm. The“ class” can be reserved for project work utilising the knowledge gained and the lecturer can work with individuals to address gaps in understanding.
The public provider is constrained in its ability to refresh its training delivery strategies by the current industrial agreements for their teaching and support staff. The current agreements are built around the out-dated notion of the face-toface classroom or workshop delivery where teachers are engaged with groups of students based on a structured timetable.
Much training delivery is now a blend of face-to-face, on-line, on-the-job, workshop and so on, which is often difficult to express as a teaching load for the purposes of the agreements. I do not see this as reduction in working conditions, but rather better recognising and rewarding the diverse nature of teaching in the VET sector.
A further challenge relates to the need for much higher levels of teaching skills in our staff. They are confronting increasingly complex challenges of delivering training that is at the cutting edge of industry practice in the classroom, workshop, workplace and online. As is almost always the case, one the first items of expenditure to be curtailed in times of constraint is staff professional development and up-skilling. We need to re-invest in our teachers.
Integrated tertiary education The second key challenge for the VET system is carving out a place for itself in the new integrated tertiary education sector. The uncapping of higher education places has certainly seen a greying of the boundaries between VET and higher education in the AQF 5 to 8 ranges. Many universities are moving into the sub-degree programs and are actively developing integrated programs where VET qualifications form a substantial component.
The clash of the VET competency based training and higher education knowledge based education paradigms has generated the need for compromise, and perhaps even some fudging, as articulation arrangements and integrated programs are developed.
The challenge for the VET sector is to preserve its distinct focus on industry relevant skills formation in this environment. The key role industry has played in the VET sector may well be diluted substantially as the higher-education, knowledge-driven curriculum tends to take precedence over the skills focus of industry.
Again industry has been remarkably quiet on the threat to its central role in shaping what skills are taught and to a lesser extent how they are delivered.
We need to find solutions that preserve the very legitimate goal of skills formation while facilitating the better integration of and transition between the VET and higher education sectors in both directions.
Contestable training market The third key challenge for 2013 is probably the one that is the forefront of the minds of the staff of public providers; that is surviving in the student-entitlement-driven, contestable training market.
To be successful in this new environment, requires a shift in thinking for all staff, it isn’ t“ open the doors and they will come” any longer, students have real choices and staff need to ensure that their organisation is the trainer of choice.
The reforms in Victoria provided both an opportunity and a threat.
Delivery statistics in Victoria show that while there has been a dramatic increase in the market share of private providers, this is not uniformly at the expense of public providers. Some public providers have blossomed while some have become unviable and their future is unclear.
The challenge for the leaders of any provider is to build the capabilities of the organisation to deal with the increased competition. Public providers are at a distinct disadvantage in many respects. Being part of the public sector with all the bureaucracy that goes with that while trying to develop and sustain a viable business creates tensions and dissonance.
On the other hand public providers have some great advantages. Pre-eminent among these is access to the investment that governments have made over many years to human, technological and physical resources without a requirement to provide a dividend to government as is the case for most government trading enterprises. Private providers need to repay investors and banks.
From my experience the ability to survive and thrive comes down to corporate culture. A clear focus on outcomes, the bottom-line and driving growth and profitability has served Wodonga TAFE very well over the past three years with 30 per cent growth in delivery at the same total salary expenditure. Our corporate culture has ensured that we have not only survived but thrived by growing delivery, becoming more innovative and generated increased financial surpluses to re-invest in our business.
For 2013 and beyond there are many challenges facing the VET system, and public providers in particular. To maintain our position as one of the world’ s best VET systems we will need to address the challenges of quality, innovation, industry relevance and positioning VET in an integrated tertiary sector. ■
Michael O’ Loughlin is the CEO of Wodonga TAFE and DECA Ltd. Prior to this he was a senior manager with Rio Tinto Iron Ore, and CEO and senior manager in the WA TAFE system and a number of public sector agencies.
www. campusreview. com. au February 2013 | 31