AVETRA 2021 conference - online

The online conference for the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) runs afternoons (Australian Eastern time) all of this week. NZ is 2 hours behind, so most

The first keynote is with Professor Ewart Keep who speaks on ‘VET 2030 – what roads shall we take’. Caveat of the presentation being mainly from UK perspective. Explored some of the big challenges facing VET. Aims to pose more questions than provide answers.

Work is based on project carried out through Cardiff University with Singapore SkillsFuture and also with his own work at SCOPE at Oxford.  Warned that generalisation is difficult as impact of economic change and technology varies massively by sector, occupation and company size. Gap between leading and trailing companies getting larger and different countries follow divergent paths.

Future is very uncertain, as globalisation is under debate and full impact of Covid still not known.

Employment and labour market – where is UK going? Skill biased tech change weakening, demand for some forms of skill falling, proportion of graduate jobs has stalled, training times are down, high performance work adoption has fallen, work intensification risen and analysis in UK shows since 1997, training hours provided by employers has fallen 70%.

About ¼ of UK employees are on short/fixed term, zero hours or gig work contracts. 1 in 8 self-employed. This has impacted youth transitions (see Precarious pathways project (Institute of Employment, UK). Without an actual employer, who trains the workers?

With covid, some sectors hit harder, large job losses loom and young people will be particularly hard hit. Office workers 9-5, 5 day week model no longer applicable. Work from home continues, with downsized offices. Large companies already have lower staff numbers for core HQ functions and project/contracts the norm.

Digital change – no one narrative. Between country differences will be large. Creation of new digitally-centred jobs and associated skills. Need for digital skills in jobs are not primarily digital. Wider changes in work and jobs – Payton & Knight, 2018 Australian study suggest workers now spend 2 hours less a week on physical/routine tasks when compared to 15 years ago.

2 useful studies of impact of digitisation on jobs – BiBB (Germany) study 16 occupations and Singapore – 23 sectoral job transformation maps.

Broader forecast of skills need indicate the usual need for non-technical /’soft’/human relationship/team collaboration requirements. Introduced Shadbolt review of computer science degrees (2016). Shadbolt dilemma – fundamental principles and learning models to enable students to learn and adapt vs specific skills in the latest software systems. Shadbolt paradox – employers want skills best gained though WIL but do not offer such experience to students.

Training in the workplace – Edtech is coming – firms delivery integrated software to cover pre-hire assessment, recruitment and selection, talent matching, workforce planning, career pathways, succession planning, performance management, training and mentoring, assessing and awarding micro-credentials (see Degreed, Workday, Fuel, Gloat, Talent Guard, Microsoft ect.)

Integrated bundles of data and management software, offer low cost offer of personalised training, unprecedented data and coherent talent management overview for company. Possible future of awarding body, company and training all in one. Tension between jobs vs occupations. Traditional certification process often expensive. Rise of micro-credentials.

VET and HE – what social status and space is left for not HE VET once you go beyond training for the skilled trades? In the UK, clear signs HE marketplace is over-extended. Many institutions unstable (financially); 25% of graduates, 10 years after graduating are earning under 20,000 pounds. Student loan system described as ‘a giant Ponzi scheme’. Instead of ‘vocational’ being associate with institution or level, perhaps 0- academic/general preparation for intellectual development and generic employability skills (and labour market entry) and vocational preparation for intellectual development and more specific occupational skill sets and labour market destinations.

Meta challenges in a disputatious age – a skills revolution but little change and what is education for in an age of change? Increased % of workforce with degree – 11% in 1979 compared to 44% now, but not much has changed in productivity, income inequality increased, low paid, insecure work grew, inequalities between parts of UK increasing.

So what is learning? A better educated populace will be a more tolerant, open minded and rational populace. However, populism and populist beliefs have surged; culture walls prevalent; and in a congested labour market, a finite supply of good jobs.

What should VET aspire to and how should it deliver it?

An international panel then discusses implications from their country’s perspective. The panel includes Associate Professor StevenHodge, Professor Emerita Berwyn Clayton, Dr. Renee Tan (Singapore), Professor Robin Shreeve, Professor Michele Simons and Professor Emeritus. StuartMiddleton (NZ). The panel unpacks the various items presented by Professor Keep and then discuss implications on the future of VET.

Then a series of presentations begin.

First up – Dr Peta Skujins, Director of Australian Apprenticeships and Traineeships Information Service (AATISZ) and Dr. Mark Dean Research and Data officer (AATIS) on ‘don’t think of a robot! Improving parents’ knowledge of the future of work to positively influence young peoples’ attitudes towards apprenticeships. Introduced each other and also AATIS -role, funding and the study, 2019 to 2020. Summarised the research background, methodology, early findings and implications for further research and policy. Takes on the perspective that Industy 4.0 requires new skills for work transformed by digital technologies with a revival in manufacturing industries and broadening rance of related services. Trade and apprentice-based careers are critical, yet status of VET still low. Shared the 2013 Oxford study and critiqued some findings - studied whole occupation rather than tasks, US 9% jobs automatable, but across 32 countries 14% of jobs. Robots are not coming! Technology affects all work, not only middle level, manufacturing jobs. Parents are key in career choice. Career choices still rooted in present and young people have limited awareness about impacts of automation on work. 

Online survey used for parents. Supplemented with in-depth interviews and focus groups with parents. Findings - impact of media on parents' perceptions and attitudes, understanding of technological change, parent's perception of their childrens' understanding - younger children have lower/less understanding and lack of linkages in education between tech use and its application to careers/work; limited future-oriented careers education in schools, rapid change of technology and work related; . Need to enahnce careers information about VET pathways. Further research on better targeting VET careers information to provide guidance on the positive impact of tech on trades and apprenticeships.

The ‘CBT: What is to be done?’ with Ms Rhonda Fuzzard, Manager of student support at the Canberra Institute of Technology and Dr. Martha Kinsman, visiting fellow at the Australian National University. What is the problem and case study of VET community services qualification. There is a need to seek a new paradigm for CBT. The capabilities approach is proposed. CBT aim is to help learners be 'job ready'. Reviewed training packages in the Australian context. However, they are a 'one size fits all' concept and do not distiguish between workplace and institutional leanring. Privileges employers and apprentices over future orientation of most other learners. Tends to be fragmented, disaggregated and paper work heavy.

Summarised the work of Sen on capability - as a fuzzy term. Implications for curriculum design have not been fully explored. Modified to focus on occupatinals streams and related vocational capabitlites. Vocation is a domain of practice performed by humans at work. Emphasis on occupaitional streams rather than individual work tasks. dimissive of separate attention to foundatoin skillls as these are included in occupational contexts, This is a challenge for some types of work. 

Capabilities approach depends on strong 'social partner willingness' for each industry at a national level which slows things down when consultation takes place. A relational curriculum framework recognises holistic outcomes and enables students to achieve learning outcomes that help thei successfuly navigate the future.

Case study compares subject and competency based currila and applies these to the development of a new curriculum based on capabilities for community services Certificate IV. Provided background and context. Summarised rationale for change. Compared the restricted scope with newer more extensive curricula. Applied threshold concepts as one way to identify focus for new programme. Defined threshold concepts. Used grounded theory to identify the threshold concepts. Found 4 possible - community services work, client0centred approach, evidence based approach, power and control. Provided an exampe from the 'evidence based practice' TC. Detailed challenges - including that experienced teachers with a strong capability for college-based curriculum development are able, when supported to create change. However, this is endangered with new generation of CBT-trained teachers, unfamiliar with other ways to design learning. 

Last presentation of the day ‘ Emergency? what emergency? The slow response of Australian VET curriculum to the pandemic’ with ProfessorErica Smith. One way to deal with the pandemic, was to write about it. Looked into the formal curriculum response to covid-19 across 3 disciplines - aged care, security and VET teachers. Reviewed briefly the general covid literature. Most of the educational research was around the social issues but now a switch to online learning challenges etc. Summarised the curriculum development process in Australia VE - complex and time consuming! Revised two curriculum theories - Walker 1971 the dynamic/interactive platform and Print 1993 on hidden curriculum. Ran through details of the 3 qualifications. The addition of an elective to the ageing and disabiilty specialisation occurred in Septemebr - after most of the covid-related illnesses and deaths occured :( Security officers were souce of significant community spread. However the security qualifications did not include infection control. Online training module  for health workers was suggested but not suitable for security workforce. Again, additions to curriculum too late as second wave in Victoria was already underway. VET teachers' work shifted to the need to teach online but Cert IV qualification did not include core unit on e-learning or eassessments. Online learning for VET was generally discouraged due to its practice-based nature and few people were trained to teach online. The slowness of response means the VET sector not able to meet national emergencies. Swift identification of training gaps not possible. Privatisation of VET and long running governace and funding structures meant TAFE could not be mobilised for public good. Consideration must be given to re-buildig and to permanent changes in the economy and society, not just for immediate crisis. Governance matters require review and action to improve responsiveness. Critiqued the flawed curriculum platform and there is no national vision for VET curriculum. The hidden curriculum needs to be acknowledged and for aged care workers and security officers, undervalued and hidden, requires the valuing of their roles. 

A workshop - researcher development intensive - runs after the presentations.