Brendan O’Connor, who announced last week his resignation as Minister for Skills and Training, departs with gratitude and appreciation from the TAFE sector.
Mr O’Connor has been one of the most significant ministers to preside over the portfolio. He has undertaken a comprehensive overhaul of the architecture of VET, struck landmark skills agreements with states and territories, and steered TAFE back to the heart of the training system.
His senior Cabinet position, his deep knowledge and experience, and his keen interest in VET has seen the sector afforded a new level of significance in the policy space. The establishment of Jobs and Skills Australia and the ten Jobs and Skills Councils has given impetus to industry engagement, and prompted deep thinking about skills needs and workforce development.
His drive to revitalise TAFE and create national TAFE Centres of Excellence is spurring innovative partnerships that will be central to the industry transformations for years to come. It was entirely fitting that one of his last official duties was to unveil the TAFE Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care in Adelaide last week (image above).
TDA enjoyed a warm and fruitful relationship with Mr O’Connor and his ministerial team, for which we extend our immense appreciation.
We thank him for the passion and determination that has seen VET and TAFE set on a fresh path, and we extend our very best wishes for the future.
From Jenny Dodd, CEO – I’m on holidays so I have invited University Fellow at the Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Don Zoellner, known to many of you, as a guest writer for the opening opinion piece in today’s Monday TDA newsletter. Don’s message is that TAFEs are and should be “educational investors-of-first-resort” – thank you Don – please read on all.
The advent of the National Skills Agreement, the Universities Accord recommendations and plans for a dual-sector regulatory strategy present a once in a lifetime opportunity to seriously reconsider TAFE’s contribution to the nation’s socio-economic development.
As the limitations of a mature competitive VET market are now obvious, the advantages of re-invigorating the educational institutions originally envisaged by the Kangan Committee is an obvious policy choice. This 1974 review considered TAFEs to be equal in status to universities while serving the majority Australia’s communities and preparing workers for those occupations not catered for by higher education. Re-establishing these educational institutions requires that several of the 1990s neoclassical market economic attributes that were assigned to TAFEs should be replaced by those from a more contemporary understanding of economic policy that recognises the productive role of the state.
The old ideas that must be jettisoned include market-enabling mechanisms that view TAFEs as producers of public good and having community service obligations. In particular, public educational institutions do not exist as last resort correctives to market failure, nor are they examples of government failure. Because markets are always incomplete and imperfect, a more appropriate conceptualisation considers how TAFEs create public value when driven by public purpose as championed by authors such as Mariana Mazzucato.
New complex challenges, such as conversion to green energy sources or reducing entrenched socio-economic disadvantage, require governments to create and shape new mission-driven markets that incorporate the most productive features of public institutions, private actors and civil society to create public value. TAFEs will be crucial to both market creation and market shaping as the nation uses public institutions to move beyond correcting market failure and focuses on defining and producing widely shared public benefits.
The outsourcing of operational capacity undermines the ability of the state to create public value as demonstrated by the current skills shortages experienced throughout the economy, partly attributable to relying upon more contestable VET markets since 2009 and the resultant decrease in public production of occupational skills and knowledge. As state-sanctioned providers embedded on local communities, TAFE’s roles can now be better understood as co-creators and shapers of skills markets that are preparing a workforce that can contribute to national missions such as the energy transition, an expanded caring economy and rapid advances in innovative technologies.
In the production of a public value socio-economic environment, TAFEs resume their role as educational investors-of-first-resort in an individual’s skills development while also shaping and co-creating a range of markets that are necessary to create and share public value.
Don’s latest published article is Theorising the status of VET from the institutional logics perspective.
The former Minister for Immigration Andrew Giles has been appointed the new Minister for Skills and Training as part of a ministerial reshuffle announced yesterday by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Mr Giles, pictured, takes responsibility for skills and training within a wider portfolio shakeup which sees Senator Murray Watt become Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, replacing Tony Burke.
Mr Burke becomes Minister for Home Affairs, Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, replacing Clare O’Neil who stays in Cabinet but moves to the portfolio of Housing and Homelessness.
The reshuffle was prompted by the resignation last week of Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney.
Unlike Mr O’Connor, Mr Giles will not be in Cabinet, but Mr Albanese stressed yesterday that the the sector will be represented in Cabinet through Mr Watt, with Mr Giles responsible for skills and training delivery.
Mr Giles is a former solicitor who represents the seat of Scullin in Victoria. Before entering parliament, he worked predominantly in employment law, and acted on behalf of asylum seekers on the MV Tampa, as well as working on the staff of two Victorian MPs.
TDA extends its congratulations to Senator Murray Watt and Andrew Giles on their appointments.
See the full ministerial arrangements
The federal and South Australian governments have announced a TAFE Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care at TAFE SA’s Adelaide campus.
The governments are jointly investing $28 million to establish the TAFE Centre of Excellence which will be a skills leader in early childhood development.
It will leverage training partnerships with industry, universities, Jobs and Skills Councils and unions, and facilitate alternative pathways into the sector to strengthen employment pipelines.
Flinders University and the University of South Australia are two key industry partners that will help with the design and delivery of new training products and apprenticeship pathways.
“This Centre of Excellence will help strengthen the VET sector by providing high-quality and responsive skills training for the education and care of our youngest Australians,” the Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor said.
It joins several other TAFE Centres of Excellence announced in recent weeks – the Care and Support TAFE Centre of Excellence at TAFE Queensland’s Cairns campus; the Electric Vehicle Centre of Excellence at Canberra Institute of Technology; and the Clean Energy Skills National Centre of Excellence across the West Australian TAFE network.
Training is not consistently meeting the needs of Australia’s finance, technology, and business industries, and VET needs to play a greater role in addressing workforce needs, according to the latest workforce plan from the Future Skills Organisation (FSO).
The 2024 plan builds on an initial outline in January, and identifies key challenges for the sector, including lack of workforce diversity, poorly understood pathways into the industry, and unsuitability of training products.
Only 34% of survey respondents believed that finance, technology, and business (FTB) training products were meeting industry needs. The ICT training package received the lowest rating, with only 19% support.
“Multiple stakeholders suggested VET could play a greater role in addressing skills and occupation shortages, but industry and student perceptions were impacting the ability of VET to do so,” the workforce plan says.
It says that many stakeholders expressed concern around the pipeline of young people interested in FTB occupations, particularly in high schools, and particularly the lack of women interested in technology careers.
The report finds that FTB industries employ almost 1.5 million Australians, representing 11.5% of the national workforce. But these industries have low proportions of workers with VET qualifications as their highest qualification.
“Our Agenda for Action includes proposals to increase vocational training enrolments across all genders and priority cohorts and improve the suitability of these training packages for industry needs,” Patrick Kidd OBE OAM, Chief Executive Officer of FSO, said.
FSO has initiated six projects to enhance Australia’s digital capability based on previous research. Additional projects informed by the new workforce plan are under consideration.
TEQSA has registered the Navitas Professional Institute, trading as the Australian College of Applied Professions (ACAP), as a University College.
TEQSA says it made the decision after the presentation of new evidence, following a previous decision by TEQSA in 2021.
TEQSA Acting Chief Commissioner Adrienne Nieuwenhuis said the national higher education regulator accepted that ACAP now meets the standards for registration as a University College.
The University College category was established in July 2021 following reforms to the categorisation of Australian higher education providers. There are now eight providers in the University College category.
ACAP began as the Australian College of Applied Psychology in 1983. It was acquired by Navitas in 2006 and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in fields such as psychology, mental health professions, human services and business.
Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) has partnered with Our Watch, a national violence prevention organisation, to take action to prevent violence against women and all gender-based violence.
Since 2023, CIT and Our Watch have worked in partnership to implement the Our Watch Respect and Equality framework across the whole institute. The Respect and Equality framework has five key domains: students, teaching and learning, workplace, communication and industry and community. The Respect and Equality framework includes a four-step approach:
CIT is currently at the third step of this process and are finalising an action plan to be launched in September 2024. Called the gender equity action plan, it covers all 5 domains. This incredible achievement and CIT is leading the way to prevent violence against women across the entire TAFE community.
The VET Development Centre (VDC) has a proud 19-year tradition of providing one of Australia’s leading teaching & learning conferences for Vocational Education and Training. The VET National Teaching & Learning Conference 2024, to be held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on 15 & 16 of August, promises to be a fantastic in-person conference.
This year’s theme is ‘From Competence to Excellence – Strive to Inspire’. Over two days there will be an array of professional learning opportunities with a focus on TAFE VET practitioners, as well as a stream of sessions featuring VET applied research for other VET sector professionals. The conference will showcase the VDC partnership with WorldSkills Australia ahead of the team leaving for the 47th WorldSkills International Championships in September in Lyon, France.
Building on the successes of previous years, ‘From Competence to Excellence – Strive to Inspire’ is designed for VET professionals to be empowered to reflect on their own practices and strive to inspire learners and student capabilities for the VET workforce. Delegates will be able to hear from high-profile keynote speakers, engage in a range of presentations and panel discussions, and attend concurrent interactive workshops, and research sessions; it is the perfect opportunity to be inspired and expand on your role as a TAFE educator whilst networking with colleagues from across Australia.
Victorian TAFE Association
TAFECreates 2024 State Conference
8-9 August 2024
More information
VET National Teaching & Learning Conference 2024
‘From Competence to Excellence – Strive to Inspire’
15-16 August 2024
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre
Register here
National Skills Week 2024
‘It’s a Game Changer’
19-25 August 2024
www.nationalskillsweek.com.au
47th WorldSkills Competition
10-15 September 2024
Lyon, France
More information
WFCP World Congress 2024
22-27 September 2024
St James, Jamaica, West Indies
More Information
AVETRA 2024 Conference
3-4 October 2024
Deadline for abstract extended to July 8
University of Technology, Sydney
More information
2024 National VET Conference
31 October – 1 November 2024
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
More information
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