Students and industry – each need their own lens – comment by Jenny Dodd

I’ve heard people say RTOs have a tension between having a student focus and having an industry focus. While I don’t think there is a tension, I do believe students and industry each need their own lens. We also need to make sure the investment in the national training system reforms is balanced between these two lenses.

As we know, the purpose of vocational education and training is to prepare students for jobs. In this process there is often a direct three-way partnership between student, TAFE, and employer. This partnership might also involve a financial contribution from the employer, such as an apprenticeship. There are also indirect partnerships such as work placements where the employers might use the student work placement to determine likely candidates for future employment.

However, there are a multitude of other motivations that drive students to enrol in a TAFE qualification. Sometimes that might be to grasp foundation skills or at other times it might be to gain an outcome that is about aspirations of a future career. Regardless, these students are on their way to being lifelong learners, acquiring valuable transferable skills.

As large training providers, TAFEs invest heavily in supporting diverse student cohorts and divergent student motivations. TAFEs know that it is students, generally, who make the purchasing decision. That requires a student lens. As our training system reforms continue to gain momentum, do they sufficiently recognise the importance of the student lens?

While employer engagement and industry-driven training is essential, have we moved too far in the pendulum towards industry? Is there sufficient emphasis in the reforms on the manifold number of motivations that cause a student to purchase a vocational education and training qualification? Does the system itself include a student lens or do we leave that to the provider? These are questions we should ask as we look at the investment going into these national reforms.

This week at the Australian Training Awards we will see on display fantastic partnerships and collaborations between TAFEs, students, and employers. And those partnerships will embrace the whole of Australia and will demonstrate enormous diversity. This week is about celebrating the students; TDA wishes all students great success. This is their moment in time and, we hope, one part of their commitment to lifelong learning and their investment in tertiary education.