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

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1 . E x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y1. Executive SummaryRecognising synergies between the Council OfAustralian Governments (COAG) agenda to deliversignificant improvements in human capitaloutcomes for all Australians and the plannedNational Quality Council (NQC) work to identifyimprovements to Training Packages, in mid 2008 aJoint Steering Committee (JSC) of the NQC andthe COAG Skills and Workforce Development SubGroup was established to bring the work together ina joint project called ‘VET Products for the 21stCentury’. This report summarises the workconducted by the JSC and presents a ProposedPolicy Framework and related recommendations toachieve these objectives.1 . 1 T e r m s o f r e f e r e n c eThe Joint Steering Committee was charged with theresponsibility of ensuring that nationally recognisedtraining products within the VET sector are flexibleand responsive to changing industry, business andindividual needs and workplace practices.Improving outcomes for clients included work onimproving the design of units of competency,Training Packages, VET qualifications, accreditedcourses, credit systems and recognitionarrangements to support reforms for a more clientand demand driven system. In particular, the JSCwas to develop a policy framework to enable VETqualifications and products to:• meet the needs of businesses and industry; and• equip individuals with broadly based skills andknowledge.1 . 2 M e t h o d o l o g yThe project sought to address issues identified bythe Joint Steering Committee as fundamental to thepolicy framework for VET training productsincluding:• the way in which competence is currentlydefined and assessed in the Australian vocational education and training (VET)system;• the kinds of qualifications necessary to meetthe needs of and ensure consistent outcomesfor the diverse groups of learners in the VETsystem;• the extent to which the needs of individualenterprises are being effectively met by the current VET products;• the structure of National Training Packages; and• credit systems.The project was completed through a two stageconsultative process. In the first stage a draftconsultation paper was developed and then refinedthrough consultation with key peak bodystakeholders. A paper was also commissioned fromNCVER to support the consultation process,Competence and competency based training: Whatthe literature says 1 and should be read inconjunction with this report.In the second stage, feedback on the issues andoptions presented in the refined consultation paperwas sought from VET stakeholders more broadlythrough a second round of targeted consultations,public workshops in each State and Territory and awritten submission process. Pending theestablishment of the equity peak body, the NationalVET Equity Advisory Council (NVEAC) acomplementary targeted consultation regardingequity considerations was also undertaken. Inparallel to these consultation processes, a numberof Industry Skills Councils were invited to conductsome exploratory research to test the capacity ofthe current Training Package model to providesolutions to meet the training needs of particulargroups of learners.Over 500 people attended public workshops orparticipated in the various consultations. It wasalso clear that many of the 35 submissionsreceived were from organisations that hadthemselves consulted others, and sometimes quitewidely.1 . 3 M e e t i n g d i v e r s e n e e d sAlthough not identical, the JSC sees a convergenceof the needs of business, industry and individuals inrelation to boosting participation and productivity.During 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 and accreditedcourses are seen as having the capacity to meetthe needs of niche markets and emerging andconverging industries or technologies. This enablestraining and assessment methodologies to bebetter customised to meet the diverse needs ofemployers and individuals. However, there is stillroom for improving responsiveness.The JSC acknowledges that literacy, numeracy andother foundation skills are the building blocks of1available at www.nqc.tvetaustralia.com.auVET PRODUCTS FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY - 3
human capital and COAG has established theliteracy and numeracy levels of working age peoplein national and international surveys as anindicative performance measure. Rapidly changinglabour market demands (including the impact ofstructural change in the economy and the economiccycle) mean that workers will need to be able toadapt to new roles related to their currentoccupations and rapidly acquire new skills andknowledge 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.The VET system is therefore a key mechanism fordelivering the nation’s productivity, workforceparticipation and social inclusion objectives.If the VET sector is to meet national participationand productivity targets and ensure that it maintainsits strong reputation of making a difference to thelives of those who struggle to learn or work, thentraining products and services must be sufficientlyflexible to cater for learners whose life experiences,capacities, motivations, resources and need forparticular educational and other supports areincredibly diverse, complex and in some cases,expensive.1 . 4 P r o j e c t o u t c o m e sThe outcomes of this project signal unanimoussupport for the key pillars of Australia’s VETsystem: one single national system, with industrydeterminedoutcomes relevant to work, reflected innationally portable qualifications. The desire topreserve and protect these aspects, and in somecases extend them is very evident.Many feel that change is happening, and realimprovements are being made. Further change,they believe, is still needed, while preserving gainsmade to date.1 . 5 P r o p o s e d P o l i c yF r a m e w o r kBased on the outcomes of the nationalconsultations, the Joint Steering Committeeproposes the following policy framework to improvethe flexibility and responsiveness of the VETsystem.It should be noted that all of the associatedrecommendations have resourcing implications.VET PRODUCTS FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY - 4
Page 1 and 2: ContentsVET PRODUCTSFOR THE 21 STCE
Page 3: L e t t e r f r o m t h e C h a i r
Page 7 and 8: 1 . 6 R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s
Page 9 and 10: 2 . I n t r o d u c t i o n2. Intro
Page 11 and 12: 4 . M e e t i n g d i v e r s e n e
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

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