Qualifications debate  

The December newsletter outlined the findings from the NCVER report on the need to make VET Diplomas more competitive in the eyes of industry employers.

The debate on qualifications has now stepped up with Geof Hawke (Centre for Research and Learning and Change, University of Technology, Sydney). questioning the importance of qualifications.  Hawke argued that international research finds that " all qualifications are not equally valuable (Training and Development , Dec 2007, p04)  He advises the key findings of this research include:

• higher level qualifications are more valued than lower level ones, regardless of their appropriateness to a particular job;
• vocational qualifications are more valuable to men than women, but academic qualifications are equally valuable to both;
• vocational qualifications are more valuable if gained while employed than before employment; and
• employers generally value experience more than qualifications.
  
  Hawke observes that qualifications do not seem to serve the expectations of political and policy decision makers yet there is still a strong focus from both these agencies on theimportnace of qulaifications.  There seems to be a change in practice however with  Governments responding to employer demands for establishing skill sets and short courses customised to the needs of enterprises and industry.

What does this mean?  Hawke predicts that for the next 10 years or so, qualifcations will be reduced as a driving force government policy.

The Australian Institute of Training and Development journal (Vol 34, no 6, December 2007), explored the industry demand for full qualifications versus the need for specific skill training within the current era of skill shortages.
Jenny Ferber,head of ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) learning, presented the view that, for the ABC, training priorities are "determined by the acquisition of new skills as and when they are needed .... Qualifications are an added bonus, but not the driver." (December 2007, p08)  Jenny went on to explain that the ABC has designed entry level programs specifically to meet the needs the ABC requires of those working in, or entering into, broadcast technology and television production.  These entrylevel rograms have been mapped against qualifications from training packages and will eventually lead to complete qualifications.  Jenny argued, " ...but the issue it is not the qualification, it is the urgent need for skills." (ibid, p08) 

Skill sets and the TAA

Margaret Kling, (AITD vol 34 No 6, December2007 pp 9 - 11) extended the qualifications versus skill sets debate into two different dimensions when she explored the relationship between skill sets and the TAA 04.  The two dimensions of debate are:

• the need for completing the full TAA qualification before utiling the skills inherent within the qualification; and
• the importance of the use of the skill sets within TAA to assess the skill sets required within enterprise workplace

In essence, the question raised by Kling is whether it is necessary, let alone desirable, for assessors to obtain the full TAA qualification before using their skills to assess skill sets within the workplace.

Underpinning Kling's debate is the concern that "skill sets must be seen to deliver the skills to trainers that will support learnes' requirements and to also meet the needs of of businesses. "(p 11)

The conundrum expressed is how do training organisations  deliver the skill sets within existing qualifications  yet distinguish these skill sets from the full qualification and how do training organisations approach the training and delivery of the TAA to support the assesment of skill sets without necessarily requiring the completion of the full TAA qualification?

Vocational Education and Training - debates in the media

 The Australian Financial Review reported on the approaches used by universities in Australia to address industry expressed need for syllabus content more relevant to industry needs.  Erica Cervini (AFR 10 December, 2007) outlined approaches planned by Curtin University, Victoria University, University of Western Australia and Melbourne University. The approaches loked like the inclusion of the generic employability skills supported by extensive work experience will be evident in many courses in 2008 onwards.

The Financial Review also asked the questions on how what approach the Rudd government will use to implement its election promise to increase the federal funding outlay in support of the education revolution.  Many interested onlookers are carefully watching how the federal Government increases spending in certain sectors whilst being mindful of a need to reduce government spending following the expected inflation trends. Refer to John Freebairn's article "Trends point to growing public outlay" (Austraian Financial Review, January 5 - 6 2008, p 62)
 

The Atlas of Australian public VET is a new dynamic resource available on the NCVER website. The Atlas presents a snapshot of various vocational education and training data for all parts of Australia. It includes data from NCVER's Students and courses collection, and Apprentices and trainees collection, and a small amount of population data sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The data is presented in a selection of maps and tables at the national and state/territory levels, and in tables for the statistical divisions.

To access the Atlas of Australian public VET please visit:

http://www.ncver.edu.au/resources/atlas/intro.html

Will we run out of young men? Implications of the ageing of the population for the trades in Australia

NCVER has produced a report on the ageing workforce, particularly relating to the impact of ageing on skill shortages in the future.

Tom Karmel and Koon Ong argued that the ageing society will significantly impact on the size of the potential trades workforce, but it will be unlikely that ageing will resultin skill shortages. In fact, the authors argue that any skill shortage is likely to occur if the trades lose their attractiveness in comparisons to other occupations.

 The ageing society has been attracting the attention of policy-makers in Australia and in many other countries. This paper considers the labour market for the traditional trades in Australia over the next 40 years and investigates whether the ageing society will pose a workforce problem. The broad conclusion is that the ageing society will significantly impact on the size of the potential trades workforce, but that this is unlikely to result in shortages. Rather, any shortage is more likely to occur if the trades lose their attractiveness relative to other occupations. Moreover, the age distribution of the trades workforce will remain largely unaltered.

http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1935.html