Stephens, Chris - Phoenix Compliance Management - Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government

Related consultation: Submissions - Skills Reform: Improving industry engagement and reforming qualifications in Vocational Education and Training discussion paper
Submission received: 23 February 2021

Does the role of industry need to be strengthened or expanded across the VET system? Why/why not? What does industry engagement mean to you? How can industry be encouraged to connect with and use the VET system? What does this look like? Are there any roles for industry in the VET system that are not covered or outlined in the case for change?

Response:

Industry consultation is largely ineffective and irrelevant as most industry engagement is fabricated. Industry representatives do not understand training packages, training and assessment strategies or assessment tools. This is exacerbated by SafeWork that insists on having its own licencing process to credential various equipment operators.
CASA insists on credentialing pilots because they do not have faith in VET.
Given that to this point in time, industry has failed to effectively interacted with VET, it is hard to see where industry should be able to interact.
The industry currency requirement for trainers should also be discontinued as an audit requirement.
The involvement of City and Guilds and Microcredentials as an alternative to Nationally Recognised Training should be encouraged.
"Industry" should produce the assessment tools which should be uniform across all RTOs; the current writing and auditing of assessment tools is counterproductive.

Are you aware of the current industry-leadership arrangements led by the Australian Industry and Skills Commission?

Response:

Yes

How effective are the current industry engagement arrangements in VET in meeting your needs? What works well and what could be improved? How could it be improved? How well are you (or your organisation) represented by these arrangements? How well do current arrangements allow collaboration across industry sectors on common workforce and skills needs?

Response:

I do not believe the interaction of industry is productive.

Training package production is slow and often produces units with excessive requirements.

The current legislation and auditing regime does not improve the quality of training and assessment.

What can be done to drive greater collaboration across industries to broaden career pathways for VET graduates and maximise the workforce available to employers? How can workers be equipped with skills that can be applied across different jobs? How can industry support this through the VET system? How can we break down silos and improve collaboration across industry groups?

Response:

Industry to write the assessment tools and learning materials
Industry to set the performance benchmarks required to demonstrate competency.
Industry to supply industry experts at technical audits such as construction, aviation, automotive, all of the trades.

There are no silos: industry just cannot cross the void between audit requirements , units of competency and training.
The cheating, plagiarism and other fabrication of records through sub-standard trainers should be recognised and fixed.
Industry should train the trainers/assessors within their chosen industry: they provide mandated continuing professional development and meaningful training within the industry and teaching.
Video evidence should be encouraged to confirm competency.

Are qualifications fit-for-purpose in meeting the needs of industry and learners now and into the future? Why/why not? 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?

Response:

The conduct of pre-enrolment interview to confirm the training needs are often not relevant: we do short courses only and the student well knows why he is doing the particular course and yet yet it an essential practice.

Industry needs are replaced by the requirements of the auditors of ASQA.

Microcredentials should be more widely offered.

The Standards for RTOs (2015) should  be replaced by ISO21001

Are there any further issues in relation to improving industry engagement in the VET sector that you would like to provide feedback on?

Response:

I think I have said enough.