National Sharing on Capability Development
PODCAST | Bernadette Cavanagh, for TAFE NSW ICVET
The fourth National VET Workforce Development Managers’ Meeting was hosted by ICVET in Sydney on Monday, April 28th and Tuesday, April 29th, 2008. With key representatives from across Australia these meetings provide an opportunity to share information about workforce development and major state and territory strategies and initiatives. The specific focus of this year’s event was national directions and priorities specifically in the area of VET workforce capability development. In addition to providing a forum for representatives to meet, share and discuss in relation to national strength and diversity, the occasion was also used for stimulating guest presentations and national initiative sharing.
Susan Hartigan, Relieving General Manager, TAFE Business, opened the forum, providing a snapshot of VET issues facing the host state. In particular, Susan highlighted the growing breadth and increasing demands of the VET customer base and implications for the changing role of the VET practitioner and how the organisation supports and develops staff. She led the group into two days of dialogue and discovery stimulated through a number of engaging presentations from both within the group and guests.
Century 21 – a NSW perspective
Elizabeth McGregor, Institute Director, TAFE NSW North Coast Institute, presented an overview of the TAFE NSW response to challenges being faced by VET in the 21st century. Issues common to all states and territories are the focus of this major initiative, including the critical importance of aligning capability development to context and the need to work with a ‘common language’ around workforce development. How workforce skills are formed, used and supplied is under examination in the C21 project.
Select areas Elizabeth explored included:
- the overarching aim of C21 for a holistic model of workforce development as a fully integrated system in TAFE
- the focus on responding to ‘context’ as a key priority for the whole organisation
- the need for coherence between internal practices and external services, ensuring TAFE NSW staff are being developed in the same way recommended for the businesses and customers served
- a resistance to the concept of a single approach to developing the workforce, examining options and possibilities in context and responding to diversity
- examples of a movement from a deficit model of developing capability to an opportunity, strength based model
- capitalising on the opportunity to evaluate and simplify systems to support staff in serving the needs of the customer
- recognition that capacity to innovate will be the competitive difference in the future
- importance of incorporating an active risk management strategy throughout the organisation which allows for ‘learning focussed failure’
In addition, Elizabeth provided an overview of relevant North Coast Institute initiatives and approaches to bringing people together around a business problem allowing for risk, failure and learning to occur. She describes an approach that is strategic, contextual, collaborative and personalised.
Research colloquium update
Dr Michele Simons, Associate Professor and Acting Head of School, University of South Australia, provided an overview of findings from VET Research Colloquium Project 2, Understanding Career Pathways in VET. This project examined how a sample of the VET workforce understood the concept of career and how career pathways unfolded during their working lives. Forty-three private and public RTO’s across Australia participated in the study, with 1095 staff completing the comprehensive survey.
Key research messages include:
- Careers in VET are unfolding in a context that drives particular organisational responses. These forces are equally felt in the public and private arena.
- Entry into the VET sector is characterised by a number of distinct pathways for different groups of staff.
- Industry and previous experience in the workforce is the foundation requirement for a teacher. They tend to be older, with the VET career being only a part of the working life. Whilst 2/3rds of respondents had been in the workforce in excess of 20 years, only 1/5th had been in the VET workforce for more than 20 years. The teacher career pathway is characterised by a gradual progression from part-time casual work to full time and permanent roles. This pathway assumes a gradual movement away from industry and ongoing currency challenges for providers.
- General staff are often younger on entry, with limited or no previous experience in the workforce. The starting point for general staff in VET is generally a permanent appointment.
- Management career pathways are characterised by internal promotion. This was particularly evident in the public sector and to a lesser extent the private. Very few managers entered directly into a VET management role, they tended to move into it from within, highlighting the importance of VET leadership capability and educational management development.
- A standout feature of the VET workforce is high mobility in relation to moving between jobs within the organisation. 84% reported movement during their VET career, with one example citing 23 moves in 10 years. These movements tended to have two key outcomes; the securing of permanent or ongoing employment, and the changing of a job title, such as from teacher to manager.
- Job satisfaction tended to drive career decision making across all role types (80-90% respondents) with security and work life balance also featuring as key factors impacting on pathway.
- Whilst large numbers of respondents engaged in professional development and commented on its usefulness, it wasn’t necessarily helpful in changing job roles. People in management positions consistently rated their professional development higher both in terms of satisfaction and access.
In summary, the research found VET staff are redefining their understanding of ‘career’ with an increasing emphasis being placed on satisfaction, job security and colleague support. A shift has been noted from a traditional career progression and upward mobility to a pathway that recognises personal growth, development and enrichment.
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