- Submission received
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Q1: Are there other design considerations that could further strengthen Jobs and Skills Australia's ability to provide advice to government?
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Response:
Ensure a student voice and encourage research into the sector by students/practitioners in both HE and VET.
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Q2: What principles could be used to guide Jobs and Skills Australia's priorities, and the development of its workplan?
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Response:
The Australian economy needs an adaptable workforce, able to respond to constant change and to problem solve. That means people studying at the tertiary level must have a strong educational foundation in both literacy and numeracy and in learning to learn. Valuing education as well as specific skills acquisition is an important principle. Training is not a quick fix for skill shortages.
Q3: How could Jobs and Skills Australia seek broader input into the development and refinement of its workplan?
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Response:
By going beyond industry associations and others who have a specific role in the current VET system, to employers themselves. One stakeholder group whose voice has been muted in the past decade or more are the teachers and trainers.
Q4: How could Jobs and Skills Australia engage tripartite partners, experts, and other interested parties in its major studies?
- Are the different needs of industry and learners effectively considered in designing qualifications in the current system? What works well and why?
- Are there issues or challenges with the way qualifications are currently designed? What are they and what could be done to address these?
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Response:
By engaging them as researchers. NCVER used to have a mechanism for this. It had a budget for commissioning research about the sector from the sector, with a selection panel that represented tripartite partners, experts and researchers. Guidelines about the topics or themes to be studied were issued but requirements were not prescriptive, meaning that problems for analysis were identified within the sector and not by government officials. Revival of such a scheme would require an accompanying effort to build research capacity.
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Q5: What new information should Jobs and Skills Australia be collecting through its engagement to build a stronger evidence base?
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Response:
We need to better understand the obstacles to effective industry innovation: why it has been so difficult in this country to translate good ideas into commercial endeavours. Is VET the missing link, especially in the case of SMEs? See: https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/vet-applied-research-driving-vets-role-in-the-innovation-system
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Q6: How can Jobs and Skills Australia expand its engagement with a broader range of skills and industry stakeholders in its work?
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Response:
No response provided.
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Q7: What types of outreach could Jobs and Skills Australia use to increase visibility and use of its products and advice?
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Response:
Engaging parents, schools and career advisors has proved difficult, despite vast amounts of money poured into career websites. This needs a different approach, which might be a task for the advisory board to consider. Can employers and successful VET-trained workers be better included in career development services/
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Q8: How could Jobs and Skills Australia present its data and advice to aid stakeholders in informing their needs? What formats could better inform your work?
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Response:
Data and advice that can help RTOs position themselves to meet the skill demands of the economy and to attract students has to be tailored to cater to busy training providers: summaries of trends, to accompany raw data; podcasts, etc.. . Student choice is not driven only by the hard numbers (e.g. potential salary). Attracting learners to VET requires a more sophisticated approach and will need a big effort in dismantling the policy/funding settings that lead students to university.
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If you would like to add any further comments before submitting, please add them below.
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Response:
Please do a thorough examination of all the work that has been done over more than a decade to inform government policy directions. See submissions to reviews as well as research papers (published or furnished to government departments). There's a wealth of important evidence and points of view out there. See for example the annotated timeline on independent validation of assessment in https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/publications/all-publications/begin-with-the-end-rto-practices-and-views-on-independent-validation-of-assessment. Don't be afraid to reconsider the structures of the system. The lack of an integrated tertiary education system has cost VET dearly. Design of the system must take into consideration that skills and learning is a lifelong commitment. Foundation skills must be established early.