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VET & TAFE the communiqué’ s opening drum roll, it then delivers one bold( or bald) paragraph each on complex fields such as health and childcare. The sole paragraph on VET consisted of four sentences: one summarising the problem, one committing to recycled goals and two outlining solutions.
In the communique’ s opening sentence, the summary of the problem for VET – according to our national leaders – is that:“ A better trained workforce is essential to grow our economy and create jobs but there is a misalignment between the jobs we train people for and the jobs business needs doing.”
No mention here of some awkward related problems including, as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in June 2015, that there are 155,700 jobs available in Australia and 756,100 people who are unemployed.
No mention that some people have trained for specific jobs but those jobs are now disappearing, such as in the automotive industry, or have retrained for jobs in the mining industry only to find the price of iron ore is crashing and they are now being told to reskill for a service economy. Nor is there any mention of the way unscrupulous training providers and their third-party recruiters have enrolled thousands of unwitting students in inappropriate courses, like the 10,000 or so students who received a letter from the Victorian Government in the last year telling them they had been exploited by their training provider.
If the leaders want a fuller, more careful analysis of the problems facing just Victoria, they are advised to read the Victorian issues paper. The paper argued that the role of VET extends far beyond aligning training with the current 155,700 job vacancies. In a short but commanding section of the paper titled“ The importance and purpose of VET”, the authors argued that“ a strong, stable and accessible VET system is an important driver of growth, and the foundation of a responsive and adaptable economy”.
They continued:“[ VET ] supports business with a capable and highly skilled workforce, and it gives employers the opportunity to gain high-skill, high-wage jobs. It provides the young with a stepping stone into work. It helps older Victorians reskill to support Victoria’ s traditional industries, or transition into new and emerging sectors of the economy. It also has a key role in supporting those experiencing all forms of disadvantage, and helping them toward greater economic and social participation. It is the sector of tertiary education that must be accessible to all, and work as an equal partner with Victoria’ s schools and universities to foster a culture of lifelong learning and skill development.”
In contrast, the other three sentences in the leaders’ communiqué were as vacuous as the opening line and don’ t deserve more than a cursory mention. The second sentence contained an accidental admission that the VET system is malfunctioning despite more than five years of reform:“ We must reform the vocational education and training sector so that training helps young people get jobs when they finish, as well as providing real pathways for older workers to transition between careers.”
The third sentence included the now wearisome expression“ a more demand-driven system”, which has led to the current mess. It read:“ Leaders committed to change that will see a more demand-driven system, greater engagement with business about their skills needs to deal with emerging industries and new ways to help support students.” This is an unwitting admission by the policy leaders of VET reform that they have failed to engage with industry and to provide sufficient support for students. And in the face of failed markets, they are feckless in committing to an even“ more demand-driven system”.
Finally, there was the communiqué’ s previously mentioned unexpected solution:“ Leaders agreed to consider a shift in responsibility for VET to the Commonwealth provided states and territories could elect to remain TAFE providers within a national system.”
This was remarkable for many reasons, not least that there had been no prior“ ambitious discussion” with the populace by our leaders – apart from the odd statement by people such as ex-premier of Queensland Anna Bligh – about the idea that the Commonwealth could take over VET if it liked. It was as if the idea arose after a delightful lunch at the recent leaders’ retreat.
A major concern about a shift in responsibility to the Commonwealth is that it has failed to show it has the intellect, courage and rigour to address the mess it helped create, particularly through the National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform. For instance, this column has previously described the shallow way the Commonwealth developed flawed new standards for VET providers, which continue to provide loopholes for dodgy providers. This column has also challenged the unconvincing reason the Commonwealth gave for dismantling the industry skills councils and risking the loss of their extensive knowledge. In addition, this column has questioned the simplistic rhetoric of reform the Commonwealth has promoted, while the mess is regularly profiled in the mass media and in reports such as the issues paper from Victoria. In summary, the Commonwealth seems to be in a fantasy world supported by spin merchants and surrounded by party donors and free-market opportunists.
A second concern about the shift in responsibility to the Commonwealth is the accompanying proposition that the states want to retain their TAFE systems. This is a breathtaking back flip by state governments that have deliberately weakened the that system in their states over the last five years, showing not only a lack of understanding of the role of the public provider but also a complete lack of wisdom about its value in a complex VET environment containing thin markets, students with complex learning needs and technical training that is too expensive for private providers to deliver.
Over the last four years, this column has repeatedly pointed out how state governments around the country have led the wilful destruction of TAFE. Now, following a one-day leaders’ retreat, the state leaders have, quite remarkably, professed a desire to retain it. Perhaps the leaders had read the Victorian issues paper and reminded themselves that a sustainable TAFE sector is essential to the provision of VET.
Unlike the embarrassingly flimsy statement by the nation’ s leaders, the Victorian paper is a game-changer for the child-like world of policymaking. The Victorian paper provides an adult analysis of the problems facing the sector, makes 27 interim recommendations for change and ultimately places pressure on policymakers around Australia to undertake a comprehensive review and restructure of the sector. It is an ironic twist indeed that Victoria, the first state to take VET down the path to dysfunction, is now admirably showing the nation a viable way forward. ■
Dr John Mitchell is a VET researcher and analyst. Go to: jma. com. au
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