The National Centre for Vocational Education and Research (NCVER) Annual “No Frills” conference opens on Wednesday, 6 July for a three-day fully online event on the theme “VET’s role in transforming the future”.
Featured speakers include Sophie Renton, social researcher, trends analyst and Managing Director at McCrindle Research; Alex Jackson, Executive Designer specialising in behavioural psychology and gamification at ThinkPlace; and Megan Lilly, Australian Industry Group - Centre for Education & Training. Other speakers will be Dr Don Zoellner, Charles Darwin University; and Dr Kira Clarke, Brotherhood of St Laurence – both of whom will speak at CCA’s Annual Conference in September.
CCA’s CEO, Dr Don Perlgut, will also speak at ‘No Frills’, on the topic “Inequality in Australia: what can vocational education and training do?” – with a particular emphasis on the value that adult and community education providers bring to engagement of disadvantaged Australians.
In preparation for the conference, NCVER has released an official discussion paper by Bridget Wibrow. For ACE providers, two important and inter-related themes stand out: (1) how to support – and increase – the depleted trainer workforce; and (2) how to manage the transition to the digital and online learning. “Online delivery is likely to become a more important mode of delivery, given the digital savviness of the new generations of learners.” CCA’s selected extracts below:
The Current VET Challenge
“Without a doubt, the past few years have been both difficult and unpredictable for many, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters such as bushfires and floods. This paper therefore also considers how the VET system has been able to adapt to these unforeseen events and what can be learnt from these responses and adapted for the future.
“The VET sector plays a pivotal role in skilling individuals. It provides young people with initial qualifications to enable them to enter the workforce; it reskills people who are changing careers; it provides a pathway to higher education; it upskills individuals to allow them to progress in their careers; and, along with technical skills, it helps to build soft skills that can be transferred to different occupations, such as communication, teamwork and, more recently, digital skills and adaptability. It is estimated that 21.7% of the Australian resident population aged 15 to 64 years participated in nationally recognised VET during 2020. That means one in five Australians are engaged in the VET sector over the course of a year, potentially transforming their futures, as well as enabling them to contribute to the economy.
“VET is a vital pathway for those who leave school without completing Year 12. Around 75% of early school leavers re-engage with education by the age of 25 — 51% of these through apprenticeships and traineeships and a further 34% through other VET courses. This aspect of VET further highlights its role in transforming the future of individuals.”
Building the VET Workforce
“There is a shortage of VET educators, exacerbated by a level of remuneration that is often below that of industry, a lack of career pathways and a high degree of casual employment arrangements.
“To guarantee that VET educators can meet these future demands, two issues need to be addressed: firstly, how to ensure that educators are equipped with the appropriate skills and knowledge to teach the requirements beyond the technical skills, and, secondly, how to attract more industry experts to become VET educators to safeguard future supply.
“Improving the digital skills of educators should be a priority, since future students are likely to have greater levels of digital skills than previously and will also expect educators to use digital technologies to create an engaging and flexible learning experience. These changes are crucial, given the direction in which the sector is moving, with the introduction of industry clusters and the increased use of online delivery by RTOs.
“Additionally, in the wake of the events of the past two or so years, disaster management should also be considered in the design and delivery of VET qualifications to ensure that any disruptions to learning are minimal. These measures will help to safeguard VET’s ability to be adaptive to skill needs and unpredictable events, as well as help individuals themselves to be adaptive into the future and continue to support the economy.”
The Digital World and VET Teaching
The paper summarises insights and recommendations on how to deliver VET online, drawn from an NCVER report by Deniese Cox (February 2022):
- Draw on a combination of both instructional content, such as text-based and multimedia resources, and participatory learning opportunities that encourage student engagement.
- Draw on a combination of both real-time and non-real-time delivery.
- There is no ‘one size fits all’ model as the content needs to be adapted to factors such as class size, the subject and student needs.
- Technology should support good online education, not drive it.
- Structure and clarity are key to ensuring that students can navigate their way through learning content.
- Not all content is essential for all learners and this should be communicated to students so they know what is essential and what is supplementary.
- Adapt content and training approaches for the online environment and do not attempt to replicate in-person classes.
- Live online sessions should be used to convey information that is difficult to understand through other mediums, and to allow students to receive real-time support, answer questions or work with other students.
- Shorter video content is more beneficial than long videos as students like to revisit content.
- Create opportunities for students to develop relationships with their peers and to feel part of a learning community.
- Educator training around teaching online should focus on both how to use a tool and why using it in a specific way is good practice.
