TAFE’s Culture Makeover

The ICVET Learning Powerhouse Conference

ROVING REPORT | Jennifer Macklin, Relieving Project Officer, TAFE NSW Access & General Education Curriculum Centre

Is innovation just a trendy word that we should all ignore and hope falls out of fashion? 'No', said Tess Julian, Director of Ratio innovation consultancy, just one of the Learning Powerhouse presenters concerned with TAFE’s organisational culture and need for change. 'Innovation is the essential ingredient in all successful organisations!' she enthused in her session Building a Culture of Innovation within the VET System. As TAFE is integral to the knowledge economy it is essential that it can lay claim to a culture of innovation, but Tess believes the TAFE system is not currently equipped for the job.

As TAFE is integral to the knowledge economy it is essential that it can lay claim to a culture of innovation.

Tess Julian

Tess has been working with some teachers at Victoria’s Kangan Batman TAFE. She was brought in as a 'fresh pair of eyes' as part of the push to make innovation a core business function of the Automotive Centre of Excellence.

The work she facilitated helped generate new attitudes and even brought two ‘warring’ sections together to heal their differences. Looking at their work from a different perspective led the Automotive Centre to offer new services such as ‘lean manufacturing’ and Formula One car servicing. Sick leave dropped from 4.4% to 1.7% and staff satisfaction jumped from 47.8% to 74.75%.

After the presentation the audience was eager to discuss the task of changing TAFE’s culture.

'The bureaucracy wants innovation but it doesn’t have the ability to force "innovation" down through the organisation, said one teacher'. Several people agreed with another who argued that '…you would have to work outside TAFE if you truly wanted to be innovative'. Most agreed that innovation is fuelled by collaboration, but one teacher lamented 'Innovation means breaking therules so innovators don’t share in case they get stamped on.' There was much murmuring of agreement when another contributor claimed that dividing TAFE into competing Institutes has discouraged sharing.

TAFE Illawarra’s Teaching and Learning Resource Unit (TLRU) wants to empower teachers to cope - and ultimately be comfortable with - the rapidly changing technological landscape. 'In the future we will need to live and teach in both the "real" and the "virtual" world', Steven Parker, the unit’s Resource Development Administrator said in his presentation Teacher Empowerment through Technology.

Steven explained TLRU’s method forupskilling teachers in technology called TeacherSmart.

Based on the idea that teachers prefer to learn from other teachers, learning groups are carefully put together. Teachers who are techno-novices are teamed with those with intermediate skills as well as one or two teachers who are expert. The groups are given a task and asked to complete it together. This collaborative, constructivist approach allows knowledge to be shared with the ‘newbies’ and has the benefit of requiring far less trainer time.

TLRU sees their software, designed to make it simple for teachers to create their own computer-based resources, as a great way to build confidence in using technology.

While many audience members could be seen raising eyebrows and shaking heads at the idea of easily creating electronic resources, several others expressed their enthusiasm for Steven’s message. Some shared their success stories, such as the teacher who got a Learning Management System up and running in his college. Others conveyed their frustrations, like the teacher inspired to try out elearning only to realise it wasn’t possible in her section where six teachers share one ancient PC. At this point another passionate contributor interjected, 'TAFE is getting its butt kicked by private RTOs who are more willing and able to embrace new technologies!' TLRU is a great example of how TAFE is embracing this emerging educational reality.

The infectiously optimistic Marie Jasinski jollied up her eager audience with some refreshing ideas for ‘reculturing’ organisations in her interactive presentation Appreciative Inquiry: Positively changing!

We are currently straddling two very different paradigms, Marie said, and people are coping as best as they can. We are no longer living in the Industrial era, yet we’re still hampered by the legacy of inflexible bureaucracies – a construct that no longer fulfils our needs.

We are no longer living in the Industrial era, yet we’re still hampered by the legacy of inflexible bureaucracies – a construct that no longer fulfils our needs.

Knowledge based industries need to nurture their talent. Marie argued that it is important to throw off the chains of the Industrial era’s ‘deficit model’ based on ‘Let’s find out what’s wrong and fix it.’ 'Behaviour orients to the light - like a sunflower', she said, and we would do better to look for the good things - the things people do well - and enhance and encourage them. The results of this approach have been shown to be happier, more energetic and innovative staff.

People are gifts to their organisations – not liabilities!

Marie Jasinski

Marie advocated ‘intrapreneurship’ and ‘insourcing’ and put forward some innovative ideas of her own such as, 'People are gifts to their organisations – not liabilities' and 'You are your organisation’s best asset!'

But, if teachers are TAFE’s best asset, what happens when 80% of its ‘Head assets’ (head teachers) disappear over the next 5 years?

One person trying to do something about the looming problem of teacher retirement is Kathy Willis, a Teacher at TAFE Ulladulla Campus. At her conversation called Professional Development and Workplace Succession Kathy described how the results of her Reframing the Future research 'blew her out of the water'. She found that half of the Head Teachers in her area will be retiring in the next 18 months! This concern was echoed by a Teachers Federation rep who commented that the issue of succession planning is of critical importance for all TAFE Institutes.

So, what should TAFE do to stop the bulk of its corporate knowledge travelling out the door and up the coast?

Kathy believes strategies should be implemented soon that will put part time teachers into full time positions and full timers into Head Teacher positions. Mentoring and job sharing would also be good ways to ’harvest’ corporate knowledge before the opportunity is lost.

So, what should TAFE do to stop the bulk of its corporate knowledge travelling out the door and up the coast?

The ICVET Learning Powerhouse was a wonderful opportunity to glimpse some alternate futures for TAFE NSW and the VET sector generally. Time will tell if TAFE will become merely a chain of deserted colleges, empty but for the ghosts of teachers past or if it will transform itself into the vibrant, innovative force that so many believe it can be.

Judging from the excited and inspired teachers leaving the Learning Powerhouse eager to try out new ideas in their own classrooms, we can be quietly optimistic.

ICVET Promoting Emerging Practice, TAFE NSW International Centre for VET Teaching and Learning

November Headlines

The Learning Powerhouse

TAFE’s Culture Makeover