Morris, Rod - Queensland Farmers' Federation (QFF)

Response:

1.1.	
The state and federal government needs to listen to industry and regional communities to better build investment in modern training methods to service the contemporary and future needs of a growing agribusiness sector. 
The sector must have a skilled and adaptable workforce to meet industry’s current and future needs, one that is well resourced, fit for purpose and responsive to the ever-changing technological advances and potential disruption ahead. We must, therefore, focus on producing smarter outcomes, both in terms of the models we apply to deliver the necessary training and their financial viability.

Industry collaboration with education and training providers is a key factor in ensuring greater industry input into the nature of education and training, and in anticipating the extent and nature of future demand. Providers also need to foster collaboration in order to keep abreast of contemporary industry requirements.  
1.2.	
While the understanding that undertaking vocational training is beneficial to gaining employment and developing new skills, the uptake of accredited training in Ag, continues to decline. As a thin, and geographically dispersed market, agriculture is not an attractive market for training providers. Industry-specific funding that align to create training that is valued in rural communities, presents training providers with an incentive to engage in service provision and assurances to invest in new course development to meet industry needs. An industry led model would facilitate connections between industry and training providers to ensure training utilises the latest in technologies and is contextualised to meet genuine industry need.

The agriculture sector needs to lead collaborative efforts with training providers and government to support flexible programs that meet their needs. Industries play a fundamental role in providing information about the skills that they expect of their workforce, as innovation and technology continue to change job functions and tasks. 
The agriculture sector recognizes that we need to partner with government and the training sector to ensure that our industries have a sustainable and appropriately skilled workforce. Businesses are fundamental in providing insights about the skills required for their business. Real-life education will need to play a bigger role and therefore industry-based learning will need to be encouraged. 
Agricultural businesses need training to be more specialised to their specific business requirements, rather than requiring completion of units unrelated to their operations, if they are to encourage employees to undertake training .  
Government will need to ensure that funding and accreditation systems provide appropriate incentives to increase learning flexibility. Increase of funding support for skills sets and micro-credentials should be a priority.
The modes of delivery will also need to change. Demand is expected to increase for more flexible, short-form courses that allow workers to acquire the required skills as and when needed (a just-intime model). Training providers will therefore need to adjust their skills experience and their teaching methods. Demand for online courses is expected to increase , and training providers will need to adjust to a fit-for-purpose learning approach.
1.3.	
There are some concerns about the availability of qualified instructors and the training requirements to properly service the agribusiness industry. Industries can have the role to ensure they provide training opportunities in the workplace, make more use of mentoring, apprenticeships and on the job learning opportunities. For this to be possible, strategic alliances between industry, government and training providers at all levels (school level, universities, VET, and others) are essential.

Response:

Yes

Response:

3.1.	
It could be improved with a true industry-led approach to ensure the VET sector meets the needs of the industry. The improved model will need to be appropriately resourced and responsive to the industry.
The Joyce Review (Joyce, 2019) proposed a new vision for vocational education in Australia. As a result, the Australian Government committed to implementing building blocks for the reforms identified through the Nation Skills Commissions “Delivering Skills for Today and Tomorrow”.
The review recommended at p.48 that ‘Industry-owned and government-registered Skills Organisations (SO) to be set up to take responsibility for the qualification development process for their industries and to control their training packages’. The review also recommends that the responsibilities of SOs be wider than that of qualification development and include roles in assessing skills needs for their industries, marketing their industry to prospective trainees and school students, managing apprenticeships support and endorsing RTOs to deliver their training packages. 
Industry-owned organisations would be best placed to control the pace of change of qualifications for their industries and develop their qualifications more quickly and cost-effectively. The review also recommends a greatly simplified process for creating and approving qualifications.
Improvements to the model will include appropriately resource the representation of industry to participate in the Industry Reference Committees (IRC) and to provide input into reviews and development of National Training package relevant to the industry, and in the implementation of the Queensland VET Quality framework. Currently, industry representatives and advisors are volunteering their time to do these tasks, and this implies that it is difficult to get the best people to provide the advice needed. Additional funding for industry and expert advice is needed to provide advice to the work undertaken by the Skills Service Organisations (SSOs).
3.2.	
 QFF leads the Rural Jobs and Skills Alliance (RJSA) developed from the agricultural sector’s need to engage more with the education and training sectors, and the Queensland Government’s commitment to create and support jobs across the state.   
The RJSA’s purpose is to address mutual goals for our member organisations that focus on the attraction, development and retention of new entrants and existing workers to underpin the prosperity of Queensland’s agricultural sector now and into the future.   The RJSA provides advice to government, service providers and other organisations with respect to employment, skills, industry training and workforce planning on behalf of Queensland’s agriculture and related industries.  RJSA provides a significant contribution to building robust empirical evidence and providing QFF & RJSA members with significant first movers advantage.
Two of the members of the RJSA are part of the industry reference committees (IRCs). Skills Impact also interacts frequently with RJSA, its members, and the Industry Skills Advisor to DESBT (also  a member of RJSA). We also provide input into selecting appropriate subject matter experts that provide input into specific projects. However, it is hard to get industry committed due to their time availability and also the lack of financial support to cover for the time allocated to the tasks. 
3.3.	
From its beginning in the 1990’s the VET training model has morphed into the training beast we have today. Along its industry-based training journey there has been little incentive for cross industry collaboration as each sector concentrated on their own skill needs and training packages.
The classrooms of yesterday look nothing like the training rooms of today. Pathways and post school transition into the workforce is now a lifelong journey of learning that may transect a number of occupations and jobs that may not currently exist. It requires the ability to transfer and apply skills and knowledge to new situations, tasks and environments.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: the implications of technological disruption for Australian VET states, several barriers prevent the VET sector from better developing the skills required for emerging, disruptive technologies (Seet, et.al, 2018). These impediments include:
-	the lack of strong integration between the VET and higher education sectors. Stronger integration would assist in the development of both the theoretical knowledge and skills (technical and soft) that workers need.
-	resourcing constraints and frequent restructuring in the VET sector, hampering the sectors ability to plan and execute the changes required to prepare itself and students for disruptive technologies.
-	the limitations of training packages, impeding the flexibility of training to respond to rapidly changing disruptive technologies.
The challenge is therefore to restructure the learning system to meet the needs of the present and future learning environment.

Response:

4.1.	
There will be a continuous need to upskill and learn.  The current workforce will need to engage in continuous learning to adapt to the evolving agriculture sector. It is increasingly likely that the workforce will require to be trained on the job and continuously update their levels of skills. But, as people with higher educational attainment start to dominate, they will influence/encourage more training and upskilling, inculcating the benefits of a learning culture. This is the shift in the influence of the new way of learning versus the old way of learning that has traditionally dominated agriculture. The ability to provide good quality and flexible training will have an impact. Training that is seen to be relevant or of value, with modes of delivery that satisfies the agriculture sector’s needs and expectations. 
1.	Undertake skills needs analysis to better understand what skills are common, what is unique and what is new and emerging.
2.	Greater emphasis in skilling people for life at work
Preparation and understanding of the requirements for working in agriculture, including Language, Literacy and Numeracy LLN) skills and keeping aware of risks to workplace safety. The agricultural sectors’ constant and consistent feedback is that new employees are often ill-prepared for the transition from school to employment as they can lack the basic knowledge and understanding of work practices and culture.
3.	Life-long learning opportunities
The National Industry Insights Report 2019/20 National Overview provides analysis of industry skills needs and the factors and trends affecting the demand for skills at a national and cross-industry level (Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2020). This report states, it is evident from the analysis that there is a huge industry demand for cross-sector skills such as adaptability, analytical, digital, and collaboration skills.
Given the ever-evolving challenges that industry faces due to factors such as structural change, economic cycles, changing markets, and emerging technology, these transferable cross-sector skills are critical for ensuring Australia’s workforce can adapt to the ever-changing environment.
4.2.	
To attract the next generation of workers, the agriculture sector needs to address the disconnect with schools and some of the misperceptions they currently hold about a career in Agriculture. Using agriculture as a vehicle to deliver the curriculum including STEM subjects would help address this issue. The need for STEM skills in agriculture is only going to increase as a substantial portion of the future jobs created by the sector will need STEM training (Kahl, 2019). Therefore, agriculture is seen as a powerful learning ground for children and young adults and why this proposal integrates agriculture learnings to boost the effectiveness of STEM activities where it is feasible to do so.  
Industry relationships can help schools align more fully to contemporary skills for work options. The support for school-based traineeships and apprenticeships and work placement opportunities to those inclined towards agriculture can also provide a starting point towards a career in the sector and subsequently, using the VET sector to continuously upskill its workforce to address lifelong learning.

Response:

5.1.	
The National Industry Insights Report 2019/20 National Overview provides analysis of industry skills needs and the factors and trends affecting the demand for skills at a national and cross-industry level (Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2020). It is evident from the analysis that there is a huge industry demand for cross-sector skills such as adaptability, analytical, digital, and collaboration skills.
What is working well:
In relation to the VET system, some RTOs actively engage with industry and look for alternative ways to improve service delivery for our industry. They are aware of the particular challenges we face and the need to change the way they do business in order to adapt to industry needs; strategic partnerships have been formed to deliver programs better suited to our industry’s requirements and profile.
There has been an increased focus on the quality framework underpinning the provision of training.  The model to improve the consistency and supply of quality training is an evolving one and allows more active involvement of industry in the process, of which we are supportive.
The VET system provides subsidies for those in need and provides support for fee-free training post- year 12. These benefit the economy in the long term by improving employment opportunities to those that need it.
5.2.	
What is not working:
While the understanding that undertaking vocational training is beneficial to gaining employment and developing new skills, the uptake of accredited training continues to decline. As a thin, and geographically dispersed market, agriculture is not an attractive market for training organisations. Industry-specific funding for a predetermined period presents training providers with an incentive to engage in service provision and assurances to invest in new course development to meet industry needs. An industry led model would facilitate connections between industry and training providers to ensure training leverages the latest in R&D and is contextualised to meet genuine industry need.
During the last two years, RJSA has held an annual forum for Registered training organisations (RTOs), Vocational Education and Training (VET) stakeholders and government agencies. The last event held in November 2019, involved over 65 stakeholders across a range of organisations. 
The participants were asked about barriers of engagement with the VET system, these include:
-	Decline in language, literacy, and numeracy skills with no allowance to improve these prior to training commencement.
-	Uptake of technology and new knowledge in training packages needs to be significantly improved. 
-	Industries lack of understanding of what qualifications are there and what they mean, the processes involved, delivery options, or career paths, terminology used and the role that they can play to assist learning.
-	Lack of flexibility in training and delivery.
-	Thin market and cost of training delivery (RTOs): to service the market, there needs to be a viable return on investment to be able to develop the resources necessary find competent trainers and to then deliver the training (often in rural and remote areas). 
-	Stronger links between VET pathways and tertiary education pathways would allow people more flexible approaches to career development.
-	ASQA process and red tape: compliance requirements versus real-world delivery
-	Retention of students; there are instances where the training commencements may increase, but the issue is trying to get students to complete. The question is why. Do people want only what they need? Do they want short and relevant training that addresses their needs? 
-	The VET system needs to be easier to navigate for the employer and the employee. The complexity of the system gets in the way for people to participate. Information needs to be simple and digestible. 
-	Training needs to be targeting the business’ needs, and training providers need to think about the impact on businesses. Training needs to be cost-effective for business and relevant to both employee and employee. 
-	Ensure that there are transferable skills across sectors.
-	Be able to use innovation in delivery. Digital methods can be effective, but the cost can be too high.
-	Training service providers (RTOs) and their trainers will be required to upskill to remain current and able to deliver up-to-date training that is relevant to the industry.

Response:

-	Greater use, recognition and funding for non-accredited, industries endorsed training.
The uptake of accredited training has been in decline. This has been especially so for the agricultural sector. Due many factors including lack of flexibility, industry diversification, and outcomes lacking work readiness and practical experience.
Many employers opt to undertake and support non-accredited training as it can quickly adjust to learning needs and is often delivered by people that have industry creditability.
This reform process needs to consider working with industry to develop a process to support and validate industry supported non-accredited training with a tick for skills and knowledge obtained. It is important for government to understand VET as a major, but not the only, avenue for skills and workforce development. (Commission, 2020)
We support the Recommendation 5.1 — Establishing a new principles base intergovernmental agreement. Source: Productivity Commission, National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development Review, Study Report.  (Commission, 2020)
-	Using industry experts to deliver training. Industry accredited/ having currency.
The greatest barrier that RTO’s identified is the availability of skilled and qualified trainers, especially thin markets. The regulatory requirements to hold a training and assessment qualification and the ability of trainers to maintain currency and earn a sufficient wage.
Skills Impact, as an expert skills and industry service organisation, performs the role of one of six Skills Service Organisations (SSOs), contracted by the Commonwealth. As part of this role, they also undertake work to support and provide input into the governments’ VET Reform Roadmap. (Skills Impact – VET Insights)
The Rural Jobs & Skills Alliance (RJSA) supports this work and the outcomes that have been suggested.
The current reform process should consider how industry experts can be supported and encouraged to play a role to teach in the VET system. Incentives to help industry experts complete or obtain RPL in TAE skill Sets, may be a solution. RTO’s should be encouraged to contract industry to deliver the skills and knowledge to the next generation. This would be made easier if they held a TAE instructors skill set.
A partnership of RTOs and industry will add balance to the learning experience where RTOs delivery the theory and assessment and industry build the work skills and experience to that theory. 
-	Support for micro credentials and skill sets to support lifelong learning
We need to educate industry about the use of skill sets and micro credentials. This can be by supporting specific industry led training activities, where they define the training needed and use skill sets to fulfill the training needs, they have.