Eggert, Marlene - Leading Age Services Australia

Response:

1.1 What does industry engagement mean to you?
Industry engagement has evolved over time and appears to be strengthening however needs to be further expanded to ensure we capture all of the proponents of the system on a consistent basis not on an ad-hoc basis.
Industry engagement is the connection in a consultative process of bringing all of the participants within the VET system together that is: employers, peak body/associations, RTO’s/GTO’s (all training providers including secondary schools offering VET programs, enterprise, public and private offering accredited and non-accredited/informal programs), and include our Australian Apprenticeship Network Providers. 
Let us not forget about the student. How do we capture the student voice? Is it being captured via the NCI (National Careers Institute)? How do we engage with prospective students who have not yet connected with us? Are schools, youth organisations possible avenues? Connectivity with past students would enable the sector to learn about the relevance of their learning content from a student’s perspective. Do we implement something like a student peak body/alumnus to connect to past students? 
Engagement as a peak body is to have a “seat at the table” to contribute the voice of industry.

1.2 How can industry be encouraged to connect with and use the VET system? What does this look like?
It is important to demonstrate to industry how engagement with the VET system will help build/improve their industry through workforce development, skills development that improves the capabilities or competency of their workers – Such engagement by industry would expand the opportunities to encourage new workers into the Human Services Industry and this in turn this will help evolve and build a more robust and quality training system. 
Identify at a national level the industry representatives and service businesses who should be connect and who is not connected. There needs to be greater emphasis on connecting employers with RTO’s- even though this is mandated against RTO compliance with the standards, using a regulatory approach does not appear to have been successful in connecting the voice of the employer with that of the training provider/s. 
To encourage connection, it needs to be identified clearly to stakeholders who owns what role within our VET system at state/territory-based or national level of representation.  Industry needs surety that there is no duplication on engagement/consultation – this is currently happening and as a result consultation is looping with little to no action. This discourages industry engagement with the VET sector. 
It needs to be ensured that the voices who connect are being heard and that the outcomes from those voices are communicated – so there is a full circle communication loop. Stakeholders may have historically found that the time commitment in engagement outweighs the outcomes or maybe they have not learned what outcomes have been achieved because it has not been communicated. 

1.3 Are there any roles for industry in the VET system that are not covered or outlined in the case for change?
We have not seen the connection of secondary schools regarding their curriculum development for consultation as a national stakeholder at a national level.  Individualised connection may be undertaken in this space if schools are registered to deliver VET in Schools programs or are aligned with an RTO to deliver programs.
Should there also be representation of behalf of our Australian Apprenticeship system? 

Response:

Yes

Response:

3.1.	What works well and what could be improved? How could it be improved?
As an industry peak body/association we are fortunate to have representation on a number of advisory groups both nationally and state/territory based.  We are afforded the opportunity to respond to consultation papers in all areas related to the design and development of VET qualifications. However, points raised within our submissions as representatives of industry do, at times, not result in the improvements sought by industry. 
During our process of engagement, we do find that number of representative bodies who seek engagement are seeking feedback for similar topics for discussion.  We find that this information loops with limited output or outcomes and is re-visited a number of times even over timeframes as little as 12 months between the varying representative bodies. Notwithstanding, we have seen improvements in the training system with unprecedented speed in accreditation/endorsement of training programs in response to industry needs, this is also in consideration of the emerging needs encountered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
To broaden the engagement with stakeholder groups consider accessing a range of respondents from within each stakeholder group to allow for breadth of input from the varying levels of expertise.  
While LASA understands that there are 66 IRCs supported by six SSO’s we would like to see additional representation from the VET System’s National Regulator ASQA, or the State regulators for Victoria VRWA or Western Australia TACWA to better inform the consultation process. Being part of the process and being “present” in understanding would enable these bodies to better understand the industry training needs, intent of certain training packages – their unit selections and current unit content.   They could also seek feedback from the stakeholder group about the quality of certain training providers who consistently do not meet industry needs.  
With regard to state/territory funding opportunities we identify having limited requests for engagement in this space and would call for a broader opportunity to engage in this area. We would also like to see state/territory funding bodies requesting our endorsement of RTO’s seeking funding to ensure we are bringing to front of mind approving those RTO’s who we know provide the quality training demanded by industry. 

3.2.	How well are you (or your organisation) represented by these arrangements?
We are well represented. However, in some instances we discover consultation we had been unaware about and/or have to place assertive requests for participation. Our response to Q1 above offers strategies that would ensure that engagement is sought consistently by all stakeholders. 

3.3.	How well do current arrangements allow collaboration across industry sectors on common workforce and skills needs?
Within the Human Services Sector we see frequent collaboration under the current arrangements across these sectors and understand that the workforce and skills needs are very similar. We rarely collaborate across other/external industry sectors beyond Human Services. 

Response:

4.1.	How can workers be equipped with skills that can be applied across different jobs? How can industry support this through the VET system?
We need to ensure the qualifications have enough electives to ensure we can “stream” them better than is currently allowable under the packaging rules.  This will allow for the ease of transferability of employees within the sector.  We do provide the opportunity to collaborate with RTO’s on behalf of our members to better customise training products to suit their purposes – albeit by manoeuvring within packaging rules. We have responded to a number of consultation papers to Skills IQ.  In particular we provided feedback to work placement, the re-imagined personal care worker, suitability of skill sets and update to the packaging rules, unit selections within the Certificate III in Individual Support, Certificate IV in Ageing and content update to the unit criteria.
Micro-credentialling or customised short courses play an important role as they allow employers to professionally develop their workforce to suit purpose.
Transferability – a mechanism similar to a Skills Passport (already implemented for the Electrotechnology & Mining industry https://www.skillpass.com.au/about-skillpass/) should be considered.  A skills passport or skillspass is a tool or document allowing people to record their skills, competencies and knowledge. These can be the result of formal, informal or non-formal learning. This could be developed by ASIRC in association with varying umbrella peak bodies representing the Human Services Industry. The skills passport not only enables users to record their skills, competencies, knowledge and work experience; it also allows them to request previous employers to endorse skills that have been obtained on the job allowing for future employers to grow their workforce.

4.2.	How can we break down silos and improve collaboration across industry groups?
And drive collaboration from providing a clear picture and drive this from a specific landing point. The body/bodies responsible for driving the collaboration need to be identified.
 Provide good communication channels across the stakeholder group/s. Show there are outcomes from previous collaboration – gain trust in that this process works.  Incentivise collaboration. Provide the most efficient means of collaboration rather than clunky processes and systems.  Avoid duplications of discussions and make them productive and outcomes focused. Create communities of practice amongst the stakeholder groups to share the opportunity for cross industry collaboration allowing for different perspectives and to look beyond their own environments. 

Response:

5.1 This question is a hard one to answer and the upshot is that we believe the qualifications such as the Certificate III in Individual Support and Certificate IV in Ageing, skill-sets in Case-Management, Medication and Mental Health and contents contained within the units of competency are not fit for purpose – they are outdated and do not meet current industry standards. Part of the reason for this is the extremely slow progress of the consultation processes involved.  Even LASA’s consultation response written in 2019 has had little to medium impact to the outcomes of draft 1 - Aged Care and Disability Training Package Review which has just been released for consultation. 

 The Sector has expressed concerns about the variance in skills within direct care staff due to the inconsistency of RTO’s practices, relevance of core units and also the choice of electives.
The industry has lost confidence in Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes because many Registered Training Organisations lack understanding of the current operating environment in aged care. Further, the length and quality of course offerings in the sector varies significantly. LASA believes that future VET training should ensure that content is relevant, current and reflective of the age services environment now, whilst also forecasting the needs of the future.
To date the sector has dealt with the poor vocational preparation of aged care staff by employing people with the right attitude and personality to care rather than focusing on applicants’ qualifications only. Many aged care providers then teach the skills necessary using the staff’s right values as solid vocational foundation.
To relieve providers from providing entry training to staff new to the sector it is critically important for every aged care worker to complete some form of mandatory aged care training of relevant and comprehensive content. This training should be followed by ongoing support through a broad continuous professional development learning program incorporating both practical experience with formalised study.
The Age Services Sector has not been disparaging of the structure of some of the qualifications, rather the content that is included and just as importantly excluded in current core electives. The majority of providers believe that the ability to obtain dual specialisations is a positive move and assist with workforce attraction, retention, upskilling and provides them as a service provider with skilled and competent staff, with a similar benchmark (as they all do the same core units), to respond to their changing clientele.
Training package reviews/development take too long and so therefore have not evolved in time with the changing needs of the Age Services Sector, its clients and their expectations. 
As it currently stands there is a question as to whether the content of our units of competency has the risk of promoting a task orientation, rather than that of a person-centred approach to supporting individuals. The Sector has expected that in particular the Certificate III in Individual Support qualification will be transformed, but it seems that an incremental approach has occurred instead.

An exampleof the challenges, we  continue to refer to the Certificate III in Individual Support qualification, the proposed qualification does not address all essential learning needs for entrance into aged care employment. Whilst the approach of core and elective units is understandable in the design, we believe there should be an increase in core units. Skills IQ has explained the reason for retaining the number of core units is to ensure alignment against the the Certificate III in Individual Support, however we believe core learnings are missing.
LASA believes that future VET training courses should contain core components that have been informed by the learnings of the Royal Commission.
We believe these electives are appropriate to job roles in aged care as this allows for many choices and flexibility, however this raises questions regarding how it will work in a practical sense. Will RTOs develop a ‘generic’ program developed to attract as many course participants as possible? If this occurs, the result will be similar to the current situation where new employees are not ‘job ready.’ Some of these elective areas represent critical job ready skills and it is our view they should not be left to choose.
Leaving electives to RTO’s to decide is not the preferred way forward. Decisions on content will be made which reflect the RTO’s own objectives and not those of aged care providers. There should be a greater number of core units reflecting the need for consistency in the sector. 
The Australian Government and the Age Services Industry should want a better “entry requirement” for aged care entry, e.g. English language entry requirements for this qualification for people with English as a second language.

Response:

Older Australians should be supported to live their best life possible, and a strong relationship focus is critical in achieving this. A client’s best life goes far beyond the completion of basic tasks. Our qualifications need to reflect a more ambitious focus and skill set for the aged care workforce, now and for the future.
There is definitely a challenge to create a qualification framework for aged care that develops the important skills for success both in a Home Care and Residential environment, skills that are more complex and more difficult to learn. Increasingly, workforce flexibility is going to be necessary to create the workforce of the future that can operate across residential aged care, home care and disability. The use of micro credentialing and skill sets are important considerations in building the flexibility that our qualifications will require for the future.