VET Products for the 21st Century - National Skills Standards Council

More documents

Recommendations

Info

3 . B a c k g r o u n d a n d c o n t e x t3. Background and contextAt its meeting in March 2008 the Council ofAustralian Governments (COAG) agreed to a policyframework in the areas of skills and workforcedevelopment which is designed to boost Australia’sparticipation and productivity. The policyframework identifies four key outcomes:1. The working age population have gaps infoundation skills levels reduced to enableeffective educational, labour market and socialparticipation;2. The working age population has the depth andbreadth of skills and capabilities required for the21st century labour market;3. The supply of skills provided by the nationaltraining system responds to meet changinglabour market demand; and4. Skills are used effectively to increase labourmarket efficiency, productivity, innovation, andensure increased utilisation of human capital.To deliver these outcomes the vocational educationand training (VET) sector needs to engage people,both in and out of the workforce, who requirefoundation skills; stimulate demand from individualsand businesses for higher level nationallyaccredited training; and enable providers torespond to the differing needs of individuals,businesses and industry. The capability andcapacity of the VET sector is therefore critical. Toachieve these outcomes, COAG identified six policyand reform directions:1. Reforming training products, services,information systems and regulation to meet amore demand and client driven system;2. Driving further competition in current trainingarrangements and strengthening capacity ofproviders and businesses to build thefoundation and deeper and broader skillsrequired by the 21st century labour market;3. Creating an investment environment andsettings that optimises investment from allsources (governments, individuals, businessesand industry) including funding for delivery, taxpolicy, employment programs and incentives;4. Renewal of governance framework to reinforcethe role of industry and maximise effectivenessand efficiency in intergovernmental relations;5. Ensuring that skills are fully utilised andwastage of human capital is reduced; and6. Identify barriers and implement changes neededin the structure and operation of the trainingsystem (both nationally and locally) to improvequalification completions and participation inhigher level qualifications by IndigenousAustralians.The JSC recognises that Australia’s VET systemhas a role to play in boosting Australia’sparticipation and productivity. In particular, the VETsystem will be critical in achieving COAG targetsrelated to an increased:• proportion of the working age population at literacy level 1, 2 and 3 (in the Adult Literacyand Life Skills Survey 4 ); • proportion of 20-64 year olds who have a qualification at or above Certificate III (with a target to halve the proportion of 20-64 year olds without qualifications at Certificate III level by 2020, and to double the number ofhigher qualification completions by 2020Notably, the Commonwealth Government’sresponse to the Review of Australian HigherEducation (Bradley Review) sets new targets of (i)40 percent of all 25-34 year olds with a qualificationat bachelor level or above by 2025; and (ii) 20percent of higher education enrolments atundergraduate level should be of people from lowsocio-economic backgrounds by 2020; andexplicitly acknowledges a key role for VET inachieving these targets. 5The National Quality Council’s (NQC) 2008 WorkPlan included a project designed to develop policydirections in relation to the next generation ofTraining Packages, including a broad consultativeprocess. This project was to build on researchconducted on behalf of the NQC in 2007 andadvice provided to MCTVE in 2006 that‘consideration be given to’ ‘providing greaterflexibility and adaptability within the next generationof Training Packages’ and ‘building on the currentcompetency approach by incorporating thedevelopment of personal capabilities and attributes(e.g. employability skills) and placing greateremphasis on cognitive rather than functional(technical) skills’.This project therefore represents a convergence ofthe COAG workforce participation and productivityagenda and NQC work to identify improvements toTraining Packages and nationally recognisedvocational education and training (VET)qualifications.4Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, Summary Results,ABS, 20065from the Deputy Prime Minister’s speeches of 4, 5, 9 March2009VET PRODUCTS FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY - 9
4 . M e e t i n g d i v e r s e n e e d s4. Meeting diverse needsAlthough not identical, the JSC sees a convergenceof the needs of business, industry and individuals inrelation to boosting participation and productivity.4 . 1 M e e t i n g t h e n e e d s o fb u s i n e s s e s a n d i n d u s t r yDuring the consultation process, businesses andindustry indicated strong support for thecontinuation of Training Packages and accreditedcourses as a single national framework.The increasing flexibility of the latest TrainingPackages is also highly valued. This is perceived toenable training and assessment methodologies tobe better customised to meet the diverse needs ofemployers and individuals. However, there is stillroom for improving responsiveness and theproposed policy framework therefore needs to buildon the strengths of the existing system by ensuringmore flexible packaging rules for Training Packagequalifications and accredited courses to meetindustry needs. This, together with improvedTraining Package development and endorsementand continuous improvement processes will ensuregreater responsiveness to leading edge industrypractice.Accredited courses are seen as having the capacityto meet the needs of niche markets and emergingand converging industries or technologies. Inaddition, they address changes in skill needs in aresponsive manner and also provide a mechanismfor meeting the needs of special groups, especiallythose with Language, Literacy and Numeracyissues.4 . 2 E q u i p p i n g i n d i v i d u a l sw i t h b r o a d - b a s e d s k i l l s a n dk n o w l e d g eThe JSC acknowledges that literacy, numeracy andother foundation skills are the building blocks ofhuman capital and COAG has established theliteracy and numeracy levels of working age peoplein national and international surveys as anindicative performance measure. The workforce willrequire both deeper and broader skills in the futuredue to the impacts of globalisation, structuralchange in the labour market and the economy,technological change, workforce aging (meaningthat workers will need to participate in theworkforce for longer), changing consumerpreferences, quality assurance and compliancerequirements and the need to produce goods andprovide services in a more environmentallysustainable manner 6 .Rapidly changing labour market demands(including the impact of structural change in theeconomy and the economic cycle) mean thatworkers will need to be able to adapt to new rolesrelated to their current occupations and rapidlyacquire new skills and knowledge to change jobs.Each year, the publicly funded VET systemprovides programs to over 1.6 million students, thevast majority of whom are engaged in VET toachieve vocational and labour market outcomes. Itengages with thousands of enterprises to deliverthese outcomes. Those 1.6 million VET learnersare comprised of a diverse range of groups. Thediversity is likely to grow if participation levels riseconsistent with the COAG outcomes. Thesegroups include:• students requiring foundation skills;• students undertaking VET in schools andother full time learners in preparatoryprograms;• apprentices and trainees;• new entrants to the workforce and those seeking to return to the workforce;• existing workers including:- those with gaps in foundation skills;- those undertaking training related to their work;- those wishing to change careersunrelated to their current work;- those facing unemployment orsignificant change to their workstructure;- casual and part time workers who havelimited access to work-based learningparticularly those only working on anintermittent basis.• students wishing to articulate to Higher Education;• higher education students moving to VET; and• international students (both onshore and offshore). Across each of these groups there are somestudents who also have specific learning needs andrequirements such as students with disabilities.Similarly, many indigenous students have bothspecific learning needs and may require trainingwhich is organised and delivered in a way which isconsistent with cultural and community needs.6 See DEEWR 2006 Overview Analysis on Industry SkillsReportsVET PRODUCTS FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY - 10
Page 1 and 2: ContentsVET PRODUCTSFOR THE 21 STCE
Page 3 and 4: L e t t e r f r o m t h e C h a i r
Page 5 and 6: human capital and COAG has establis
Page 7 and 8: 1 . 6 R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s
Page 9: 2 . I n t r o d u c t i o n2. Intro
Page 13 and 14: 5 . P r o p o s e d p o l i c y f r
Page 15 and 16: 5 . 1 D e f i n i t i o n o f c o m
Page 17 and 18: 5 . 3 A s s e s s m e n t r e q u i
Page 19 and 20: 5 . 6 N e w d e s i g n f o r T r a
Page 21 and 22: 5 . 7 I n d u s t r y e n g a g e m
Page 23 and 24: Targeted stakeholder consultations

VET Products for the 21st Century - National Skills Standards Council

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?