Shifting boundaries of entry level training in Australia and the search for new partnerships.

Jeff Malley

Senior Research Fellow

Australian Council for Educational Research

Summary of presentation at the 3rd International Conference "Researching Vocational Education and Training" July 14 - July 16 1999, Bolton Institute

Since the 1970’s the Australian Federation has pursued an ongoing process of structural change in the field of vocational education and training. This process of change has been led by successive Federal Governments and has been successful in moving vocational education and training away from parochial State based systems with varying standards and conditions to a national system based on agreed standards and qualifications. The process of change towards this unified national system is though reaching a critical point as questions emerge about the relevance and efficiency of a now highly controlled and centralised system of credentialled training and education.

The Vocational Education and Training (VET) system in Australia is characterised by post school Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Institutes even though Federal Government policy since 1996 has been to create a competitive training market with a greater range of private sector and public sector providers (Kemp 1996). The continued centralisation of vocational education and training during the 1980’s into TAFE Institutes and the accompanying creation of State Training Authorities resulted in the deconstruction of employer and organised labour based Industrial Training or Apprentice Commissions. These Commissions were usually associated with Departments of Labour or Industrial Relations. In their place emerged a national network of Industry Training (Advisory) Boards (ITB’s or ITAB’s) associated with Departments of Education or Training. This structural separation of work from training during the 1980’s was accompanied by a significant decline in the number of apprentices and the detachment of vocational education from most of the State and Territory based secondary school systems. The Traineeship concept introduced by the Federal Government in 1986 (Kirby 1986) to extend the principles of apprenticeship with reduced time frames to non traditional trade areas met with an initial lukewarm reception. The report to the Federal Government by the Employment Skills Formation Council (Carmichael 1992) elevated the Traineeship concept and the NETTFORCE Companies of the Working Nation White Paper (1994) dramatically expanded their take up by employers. This laid part of the foundation for the later arrangements of New Apprenticeship introduced in 1996. (Kemp 1996).

By the late 1980’s a mounting concern emerged from industry about the abilities of youth proceeding from school to the world of employment and structured training. The Federal Government initiated a series of reviews about entry level skills training which led to the specification of education, training and employment targets for youth (Finn 1991), a set of “Key Competencies” considered as appropriate for the entry level needs of youth into work or structured work based training(Mayer 1992) and a structural redesign of skills training based on a linked multiple pathways concept which encouraged secondary schools to re enter the vocational education and training marketplace (Carmichael 1992). To facilitate the development of a coordinated national approach to vocational education and training the Federal Government also established the Australian National Training Authority in 1992.

The capture by the entrenched Institute, State and Federal bureaucracies of that part of vocational education and training which dealt with the transition of youth into entry level jobs and training frustrated the Minister of the day. Consequently through a White Paper process (White Paper 1994) he created two semi autonomous agencies to act as brokers respectively between employers and unemployed youth(NETTFORCE), and secondary schools, vocationally inclined secondary school students and local enterprises (the Australian Student Traineeship Foundation).

In 1996 the newly elected Federal Government continued and extended many of these initiatives started by the Labour Government in the early 1990’s. Sharing a similar concern about the capture of vocational education and training by a professional and largely Institute based training elite this new government sought to promote the concept of competitive training markets and reformed the apprentice and traineeship system under the banner of New Apprenticeships. This latter reform continued the encouragement of secondary schools into the delivery of entry level vocational training through school based New Apprenticeships and other Vocational courses which fitted into the general education model embedded within the end of school curriculum and certification process.

Whilst still in an early stage of development the growth of secondary school participation in delivering entry level vocational education and training suggests that it will probably become the principal form of direct engagement of employers with the VET system. However, the rise of VET provision through schools offers employers a choice in the type engagement they might have with schools and young people.

One type of engagement is with students doing a non wage based structured workplace learning placement with an employer. As a result of the cumulative reforms since the early 1990’s, and particularly the promotion of the work based learning concept by groups such as the Australian Student Traineeship Foundation (ASTF), employers can now provide time slots within their enterprises for secondary school students who are studying skill competencies equivalent to first or second year apprentice level. As long as the employer can provide these students with structured on the job training in designated areas with appropriately qualified staff, he or she is not generally not charged a fee. In many cases, particularly in hospitality, retail and office administration these Year 11 and 12 students become productive members of the enterprise workforce. Typically an employer might receive 3 or 4 students a year either on a two or four week block release, or on the basis of attending 2 days a week for either a term or throughout the year. Many employers are now using this process as a substitute for a traditional recruitment process of newspaper advertisement, selection interviews and probationary periods of employment as the placement process provides a passing parade of youth who spend time under supervision within the firm without the associated costs of advertisement, selection, wrong choice and training in entry level skills. In traditional trade areas this new process allows many employers to offer stage 2 apprenticeships to students who have been trained within this system to at least stage 1. By doing this the employer saves on a stage 1 apprentice salary and gains by selecting someone more likely to continue an apprenticeship to completion.

The other type of direct employer engagement in training is through the traditional indenture or training contract. Under the New Apprenticeship arrangements an indenture might not necessarily be the traditional four year indenture, but could be constructed as an initial two year Traineeship followed by a further two year contract if Trainee or Apprentice and employer are satisfied with each other. What ever the arrangement the employer is still tied to an employment and training contract with a specified trainee wage rate.

These school based vocational programs are of interest for a number of reasons:

  • other than traditional apprenticeships they represent the most significant direct form of employer engagement in formal VET programs.
  • they provide employers and learners with a higher level of servicing than that provided by TAFE Institutes for the off the job training component of traditional apprenticeships. This is partly attributable to the traditional “duty of care” component embedded within the secondary teacher culture.
  • they present the beginnings of a restructuring of the post school sector where VET is not so much a discrete sector with its own bounded area but is shared between secondary schools, technical institutes and universities.
  • they provide more young people with opportunities to try vocational pathways and learning styles before they make that full transition from school to the labour market or further education.
  • they promote the concept of educational partnership and shared responsibilty for the education and successful transition of youth from school to work and further education. School groups, in conjunction with regional authorities and enterprise groups have spear headed the development of collaborative models of vocational education and training. In many instances these collaborative community models include the local TAFE Institute and Group Training Companies.
  • employers often participate not for their own immediate recruitment needs but for a wider commitment to “give something back” to either the community or the industry.

While these developments have accelerated since 1996 the policy implications have not been clearly grasped by State, Territory and Federal Government agencies. Issues yet to be resolved or recognised include:

  • the different levels of government funding (less to schools, more to TAFE Institutes) for the delivery of the same vocational course outcomes.
  • the recognition of the service component provided by schools to support local employers who participate in VET programs.
  • the provision of Staff Development programs for secondary school teachers to either contextualise curriculum into appropriate vocational domains (eg school based mathematics and physics into vocational engineering, English into work based communications) or to acquire appropriate industry level competencies to teach particular skills.
  • the flexible allocation of teaching staff between publicly funded TAFE Institutes and secondary schools based on student and employer location.
  • recognition that this VET in schools movement is shifting much of the effort for entry level training into secondary schools away from TAFE Institutes and employers. For employers this shift is a short term shift away from initial extended contracts of wage based training to participation in structured work placements.
  • a lack of incentive to encourage more enterprises to participate in structured work place learning provision. Even though there is a growth in students and schools there are insufficient participating employers to meet demand. A tax concession regime for equipment and personnel time used in structured workplace training could be one form of incentive.
  • the emergence of community and industry driven models of entry level vocational education which by their actions are seeking to override the traditional administrative and functional separation between sectors. Models such as these are operating in Kwinana, Western Australia; Mackay, Queensland; across South Australia in the Engineering Pathways Program and in Bendigo, Victoria.

A number of models will be presented to demonstrate the workings and implications of these shifts in the provision of VET within Australia.

From these models and case studies propositions about the optimum formation of VET systems will be suggested. Issues of lag and response within federal policy and program contexts will also be considered.

References

Ainley J. and Fleming M. (1997) 1996 School – Industry Programs. A National Survey. Australian Student Traineeship Foundation. Sydney

Australian National Training Authority (1998). Principles and Framework for the Consistent Application of the National Training Framework within Secondary Schools. Consultation Paper.

Australian National Training Authority (1998). Equity in New Apprenticeships Background Paper. March.

Australian National Training Authority (1998). New Apprenticeships Qualifications. Training Packages - Links to New Apprenticeships. April 16.

Carmichael, L. (1992) The Australian Vocational Certificate Training System. Employment and Skills Formation Council of the National Board of Employment, Education and Training. AGPS, Canberra.

Cochrane, D. (1974). Australian Labour Market Training. Canberra, Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Training, Australian Department of Labour, AGPS.

Coffield, F. (1998). “A Tale of Three Little Pigs: Building the Learning Society with Straw.” Evaluation and Research in Education12(1): 44 - 58.

Finn, B. (1991). Young People's Participation in Post-Compulsory Education and Training. Report of the Australian Education Council Review Committee. Canberra, AGPS.

Green, A. (1998). “Core Skills, Key Skills and General Culture: In Search of the Common Foundation in Vocational Education.” Evaluation and Research in Education12(1): 23 - 43.

Kemp, D. (1996). Challenging Outcomes. Australian Training Update Seminar, Brisbane, Australian National Training Authority.

Kirby, P. (1985) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs. AGPS, Canberra.

Lamb, S. Long, M and Malley, J. (1998 ) Access and Equity in Vocational Education and Training. Results from longitudinal surveys of Australian youth. Australian Council for Educational Research, Research Monograph Series. Camberwell, Victoria.

Malley, J. Frigo, T. and Robinson, L. (1999 in press) Case Studies of Australian School – Industry Programs. Australian Student Traineeship Foundation. Sydney.

Malley J. (1997). Entry- Level Training and the New Apprenticeships: Delivery and Funding Options. Centre for the Economics of Education and Training, Working Paper No. 15. Monash University, Clayton.

Malley, J. I. (1996). “Education, Training and Employment: Tectonic Plates of Doctrine, Policy and Change in the Creation of a Knowledge Based Society.” Australian Economic Review4: 431-442.

Mayer, E. (1992). Putting General Education to Work: The Key Competencies Report. Melbourne, Australian Education Council; Ministers for Vocational Education, Employment and Training.

White Paper (1994). Working Nation: Policies and Programs. Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service.

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