VET & TAFE campusreview. com. au
Common sense breaks through
It’ s been a tumultuous year and more interesting times are ahead; but there are signs that policymaking may improve.
By John Mitchell
It was another odd-ball year for the VET sector in 2014, characterised by the spectacular rise and fall in the share price of the training provider Vocation Limited, raising questions about the quality of training provided in the sector.
Meanwhile, the national regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority( ASQA) revealed late in the year that only 20 per cent of the 1515 colleges it audited during 2013 – 14 complied fully with the required standards, casting another shadow over the sector. However, amidst this wreckage there are some signs that common sense will play a role in the sector in 2015.
The year ended with the election of a new government in Victoria committed to rebuilding the TAFE sector, the announcement of a Senate inquiry into the regulation and funding of private providers and the release of a report by the House of Representatives that endorses the essential role of TAFE in the nation’ s growth.
The sector will certainly need some common sense in the year ahead. Heading into 2015, there are some controversies swirling that will ensure VET policymakers will find it increasingly difficult to duck for cover and avoid public questioning. For example, the recent ASQA audit of training in the childcare industry raised questions about quality in an area that every parent and grandparent will be concerned about and want addressed. Given the political power of parents, commonsense improvements to training in this industry must and will prevail.
Meanwhile, the recent announcement of the funding available for training providers from the NSW Government’ s Smart and Skilled program caused consternation in many private providers and community colleges, whose access to government funding has, in many cases, been reduced dramatically. Providers complained that the algorithms used to determine the funding ignore the complex contexts in which providers operate. For example, providers in regional areas with thin populations and high proportions of Indigenous students believed they were discriminated against by algorithms that show these providers have low rates of student completions. Because the businesses and livelihoods of training providers are at stake, the NSW policymakers will attract ongoing public attention in 2015. So that both sides of the story can be heard, common sense suggests the NSW policymakers need to engage in dialogue with providers and be more transparent about the assumptions built into their algorithms.
Further epitomising the wreckage of VET policymaking in 2014, the collapse in the share value of Vocation has gripped the attention of the financial world. During the first half of the year, the shares of the mostly VET-focused Vocation climbed upwards, on the expectation that the company would continue to secure Victorian Government funding. However, the investigation by the Victorian regulator and related government department into the operation of one of the foundation Vocation companies, BAWM, resulted in Vocation being required to repay nearly $ 20 million in government
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