Two great webinars and some common themes – comment by CEO Jenny Dodd

Last week over 900 people registered for one or both webinars hosted by TDA on Wednesday and NCVER on Thursday. Jodi Schmidt of HSSO, Paul Walsh of AIS and Philip Clarke of IBSA joined TDA for TAFETalks: Imaging an integrated VET and HE future. They provided a perspective on this topic from the viewpoint of industry. The following day, at the invitation of NCVER, I joined Andrew Shea of Builders Academy to reflect on the presentations by researchers Melinda Waters and Hugh Guthrie about their findings in: Making delivery better: Perspectives from RTOs.

While these two webinars were on very different topics and were from quite different perspectives, a few interesting themes emerged. I’m going to detail five reflections on common themes I have drawn out.

Underpinning our ability to be responsive to students and industry is the importance of the policy settings. As our industry speakers stated, industry wants higher education and VET to come together, including around pathways. To achieve this goal, funding and regulation must be supportive. Our NCVER researchers also found there was a desire within RTOs for the regulatory environment to be supportive of quality. There were comments including around increasing trust for those RTOs doing the right thing, fostering teacher and trainer professional judgement, and increasing funding to support quality. Therefore, policy settings affect our aspirations, whether they are in RTOs whose focus is on student learning, or among industry leaders whose focus is on meeting skill shortages. For both to be achieved funding and regulation must be supportive.

A flow-on theme in both webinars was the importance of continuous improvement. As Melinda Waters said, their research found that RTOs saw ‘high quality delivery adapts to changes’. This then is part of a continuous improvement cycle. Similarly, although with a different lens, our industry speakers outlined that market forces will impact their workforce planning focus, resulting in innovation in training product development.

This brings me to the third theme – one size does not fit all. There was discussion in the TDA industry webinar about diplomas. The perspective of our TAFE respondent, CEO of Holmesglen Institute, Mary Faraone, is that training packages may not be right for Diplomas. Last year I wrote about one size does not fit all in a TDA newsletter and stated, ‘that training packages begin to diminish in value at these levels of the AQF’. Once a student is studying a Diploma or an Advanced Diploma, they should be able to be assessed in a holistic manner. Thus, we need to have different training product solutions for specific outcomes. Although a different discussion, in the NCVER webinar, it was said RTOs never rely on one size to fit all in their delivery. They all used many tools to deliver and to gauge how students are learning.

The fourth theme, regardless of whether we are focusing on ‘making delivery better’ or an ‘integrated VET and HE future’, was the importance of networking and collaboration. All five presenters at various times and in different ways talked about the value of networking between peers and collaborating between industry and RTOs.

And finally, the last theme is not about content but about the value of webinars.  I reflected that one of the positive aspects of our last two years is the ready availability of professional development for all people without leaving their desk. Both these webinars were free of charge – part of the thought leadership of both TDA and NCVER. Access to great researchers like Hugh and Melinda and terrific industry leaders like Jodi, Paul and Phil has never been easier. While it is wonderful to be able to make those connections online there is still place for the face to face. So, don’t forget to put in your diary the TDA convention in November in Adelaide! Read about it in this newsletter.

It is Easter next weekend and the TDA newsletter will be having a break – Have a good week and a safe Easter weekend.