VET & TAFE
TAFE in Australia needs to be promoted at all opportunities for what it is and what it contributes to the way of work and life in Australia through its delivery of technical and further education.
Australia has a good vocational education and training system and TAFE is a vital part of it. Other government RTOs and private RTOs are also integral, as are universities and other higher education providers. But TAFE has a distinctive place in the role of VET. Each institute has its own regional focus, spread of campuses, organisational capability, industry connections and partnerships. These characteristics allow them to achieve high-level outcomes. But regardless of how well TAFE leadership, quality assurance and innovation have enabled it to be the leader in VET, collectively the sector must always look to do better.
So in the spirit of such continuous improvement, here are five New Year’ s resolutions. They are realistic, although challenging, and achieving them in a sustainable way would set up TAFE for a productive future and help make it a strong contributor to the workforce and the economic development of Australia.
Firstly, TAFE has to be more forthright in marketing itself for the good it does. How many times have readers of this article who work in the sector briefed people about what happens in their local institute, only to receive a response along the lines of,“ Wow I didn’ t know that TAFE did that”?
We are far too humble about the sector’ s achievements and the amazing things people connected with it do on a daily basis. You only have to attend a local graduation to listen to a series of inspiring stories. Independent validation of how well institutes perform always comes from the annual local training awards functions. The national awards are a showcase of TAFE’ s critical role in VET. Apart from the individual teachers and students who gain nominations and awards, since 1996 a TAFE Institute has either won outright or shared the mantle of Australian Large Training Provider of the Year. Even so, there is still more to do to get the message out. In 2014, TAFE needs to get better at promoting itself across Australia.
Secondly, TAFE needs to be recognised as a key element of a comprehensive Australian tertiary system. The sector needs to dispel the myth that its rightful place is positioned in a post-school educational hierarchy below universities. It has a strong role to play as a vocational and higher education provider, with its distinguished approach to applied learning. Pathways for Australians who have completed schooling need to be multi-directional and allow for lifelong progression. TAFE does not need to compete for top billing, there must be acknowledgement that whilst it is not the institutes’ core business to offer PhD courses, they do contribute to the country’ s collective vocational knowledge and skills in a way that is comparable to universities, not inferior to them.
Next, TAFE must strive to provide consistent excellence in teaching, learning and assessment. The primary customers are students and they deserve the very best. To offer that, institutes must continue to develop their teachers and managers. The profiling of the VET TAFE worker as a professional has to be the goal in 2014. Whilst the sector finds itself competing more and more for financial resources, the temptation to lower professional standards must be resisted. That’ s because the health of TAFE in Australia is more dependent now on the ability of its workforce to meet the demands of the ongoing VET reforms.
For the fourth 2014 resolution, TAFE must be the educational leader for VET in schools. TAFE’ s relationships with schools and its ability to engage with educators in the schooling sector must move beyond the cost-of-service debate. That is why TAFE and the entire schooling sector – government, Catholic and independent – must resolve the financial considerations of VET in schools. The price of VET in schools should be established based on the real cost of the activity and all sides can then move on to the key issues.
VET in schools is an important part of the Australian secondary school system. TAFE, as a high-quality provider of VET, should be schools’ first choice. The engagement between Schools and TAFE should be focused upon the student and the student’ s ultimate vocational outcome from their Certificate I or Certificate II studies. VET delivered in a schooling context must be the same as VET delivered in any other setting. VET in schools is more than an educational engagement strategy and TAFE has the capability to bring that vocational intent to students’ learning.
Putting students at the centre of the partnership with schools will encourage the flexibility and excellence necessary for student success.
The last resolution is perhaps the toughest but would reap the highest reward. In 2014, TAFE needs to lead a broader approach to the way vocational training packages are put together and government subsidies for VET are established. TAFE has been a contributor to the emergence of a training market and was never as focused upon the supply side of courses. The sector has always looked to deliver industry-relevant courses, beyond that it has also considered the capability of each individual student uppermost in its intent. However, the more rigid approach to training package content does make that difficult.
The transition to a system where the purchasing of subsidised training is based upon a labour market has been an interesting journey. Regardless of the challenges of various reforms, the sector has remained focused on quality outcomes and ongoing leadership in VET quality has helped shape the market.
Even so, the notion of industry demand being the primary influence on where government funding for training should flow can lead to unintended consequences. One of these being that the Australian economy may miss out on the influence individuals can bring to the workforce through their non-technical skills.
For some years now, the UK’ s further education system through its Department of Business Innovation and Skills has been supporting the development of an enterprise and entrepreneurship educational model. This has been piloted across much of the UK’ s Further Education Colleges in some of the most economically depressed regions and there have been tremendous results through enterprise education-based courses.
Put simply, this model allows students to undertake courses aligned to vocational outcomes that also put an emphasis upon developing skills to make them less reliant upon applying for work with an employer. There was recognition several years ago in the UK that merely training students for“ industry demand competencies” was potentially limiting the opportunity of VET students to study more holistic self-development skills. The view was that many students would benefit from a more individualised, pro-active career pathway, one that not so dominated by job adverts or the perceived current labour market needs. Traditional reliance upon so-called industry demand had made these broader courses unavailable previously. In 2014, TAFE needs to promote a similar broader course structure.
The final report on this UK approach, Enterprise Education Impact in Higher Education and Further Education, was released in June 2013. TAFE should use the learning highlighted in this report and Australian case studies to influence future training package development and delivery across Australia. In 2014, TAFE must resolve to work with state and federal governments as well as industry skills councils to develop a national enterprise vocational education model for Australia.
These five resolutions are achievable. All require strong systemic leadership and influence and all will benefit the Australian workforce and thus the economy. n
Stephen Conway is the CEO of TasTAFE.
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