TAFE
proportion of Australians in possession of a qualification. Encouraging qualification completion is one way that we can ensure the best student outcomes.
How then can we ensure that students are sufficiently supported in their learning so that they can successfully complete their qualification?
Although there are many reasons why individuals withdraw from studies, if we recognise students at risk and before it is too late, I believe many of these reasons can be overcome through teacher encouragement and support where specific needs exist, flexibility of delivery, and assessment. Sufficient information also needs to be given upfront about course requirements.
To achieve any of these things, we need to know our students.
We need to gauge an understanding of students’ strengths and weaknesses early on, so that they can be streamed into the support services available, for example literacy skills or researching skills.
Frequency of assessments can also be adjusted to suit specific cohorts. By being flexible and catering to these needs I believe we can reach students who may otherwise slip through the system.
There are many students out there who are passionate about their chosen vocation but lack the basic skills required to succeed in their studies and careers. By boosting these skills, we can make a real difference to their short and long term outcomes.
Many qualifications will have‘ hot spot’ units with relatively low pass rates. By knowing the students, we can prepare for the times that will be more challenging for
them and provide extra resources when they will be needed most.
We need to identify students at risk of non-completion and intervene early. This could mean keeping an eye on attendance and contacting the student and where appropriate( such as in the case of apprentices), contacting the employer to find out how the student is tracking. These students can be provided with missed training materials. There may be personal reasons why a student has not been able to attend or has had their motivation diminished but by and large these can be overcome through flexibility and encouragement.
Setting out information about course demands, expectations and timelines at the outset is another way to ensure student success.
Having these things explained by a graduate who understands from personal experience what is involved and can attest to the value of working towards them will help motivate students to succeed. Having employers involved in this process will also demonstrate the relevance of qualifications to industry employability.
Many people, particularly those in younger generations are now keen for online learning resources and by providing these we can enhance student success. In a world of Massive Open Online Courses( MOOCS), YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the number of people connected by social media continues to grow rapidly. However, online learning as an education method brings its own challenges in terms of completions. In a flexible learning environment, a student’ s
link with the learning material outweighs the importance of student-to-student contact and outweighs the importance of the link between student and teacher.
This means where education is provided by distance, additional focus needs to be placed on ensuring the quality of the learning materials.
A technologically-savvy breed of customer has largely driven the demand for relevant and appropriate content which supports student learning and allows for real-time learning and communication with teachers.
Customers can feed these needs through online services such as live chat facilities. The availability of realtime learning by distance has resulted in an increase in students accessing their training provider websites, sharing resources and collaborating through the educational learning journey. Examples of this can include use of Adobe Connect for tutorials and assessments.
To achieve successful outcomes for students, vocational education and training providers will need to embrace a range of different strategies, tailoring them to different cohorts.
I believe this is one of the key challenges facing vocational education and training providers in 2013; however, where it ensures that more students complete their chosen qualification, it is a challenge worth facing.
Qualification completion has a pay-off for all students, allowing them to flourish in an increasingly competitive job market. To this end, we must strive. n
Susan Hartigan is institute director, TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute( WSI).
www. campusreview. com. au May 2013 | 31