AVETRA 2022 - Day one - morning

 The AVETRA conference this year moves into hybrid mode. On the first day, some conference attendees are able to meet f2f in Melbourne with others zooming into the sessions. Day two is a fully online event.

Day one starts with welcome from Steven Hodge and acknowledgement of country with Elder Tony Garvey from Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation. Steven continued with a tribute to Peter Noonan, an introduction to the theme of the conference. Welcomed the large range of VET connected people who are part of AVETRA.

Keynote one is with Professor Ly Tran from Deakin University who presents on ‘Connecting policy and practices: Australian strategy for international education 2021 – 2030 and the internationalisation of VET’. The presentation started with details on the Australian Strategy for international education; the offshore delivery approach through International Skills training; internationalisation of VET; and key questions going forward. International students are important in many countries economies. Shared the diversity of student cohorts of Australia, US of A, UK and Canada – across all sectors. Delivery offerings have diversified – especially with digital technologies shifting to more online and blended education; transnational education increased both in home an abroad leading to increased affordability.

Outlined the Australian approach including setting up VET micro-credentials (1.3 million$$) and supporting the delivery of critical skills in partner countries (1.4 million$$+). There is a shift of policy into practice at government level and across VET sector. Includes the sharing of good practice in developing initiatives and frameworks to design and deliver online/blended programmes; transnational education and internationalisation at home.

International  Skills Training courses approved for delivery by RTOs; learners who complete a course are awarded certificate carrying Australian government crest; priority courses in cybersecurity, engineering, transport and logistics, tourism/hospitality, retail/wholesale and health. Countries include Asian and South American countries.

Challenges include the need to contextualise content to target countries, translation required, training packages often too complex, expensive and sometimes impossible to adapt for off-shore delivery. Described the case study with Vietnam with the ‘online international students at home’ graduating with internationally recognised qualifications.

Shared the learning / model built from a ARC discovery project – interviews with 150 international students, teachers and leaders from 25 TAFEs and a ARC DECRA project – interviews with 102 VET staff. Both established better understanding of international education in VET. Implications for internationalising VET also detailed – to accommodate, be empathetic, to integrate and de-westernise the content, to connect, reciprocate and build relationships. Provided examples. Introduced her 2013 book - teaching international students in VET - as a resource. Wrapped up with key questions to consider going forward. 

 Next up a panel discussion on the topic of Equity is then convened by Linda Simon. The panel is made up of Annie Carney (emphasis on UDL), Shuyan Huo (Victoria University) and Jane Newton. Linda provided an introduction and details of WAVE. Each panelist will speak on each of these questions: Why is equity important in VET? What does it mean for teachers, researchers, leaders in VET? and what strategies are possible to address equity. Each provided good summaries and overviews with reference to their own work / recent projects, context, state and institute. In general, students from lower SES, aboriginal and disabled students have increased in numbers in VET but outcomes have not improved. 

After a short break, two sessions follow. 

First up Professor Erica Smith from Federation University on ‘researching VET in the pandemic’. Covers how the pandemic changed how and what was researched March 2020 to 2022. How the pandemic affected research and going forward. All stages of research affected and there was psychological stress for all, including researchers. Although existing projects delayed due to many logistical challenges, new opportunities for research presented. Summarised the projects completed related to the pandemic - learning to be safer project - on how people learnt about the things to do to keep safe during the pandemic. Shared projects conducted by colleagues. Literature to inform studies came up early, especially the science-based papers. Discussed challenges. Data collection went online. Impact of carrying out research within a 'specialised' context - will it generalise? and how contemporary will it be in 5 years time? Shared observations of how pandemic changed the patterns of dissemination - papers read/cited; journal review challenges; and despite being able to present/participate in more conferences but still not have much have contact with other researchers. 

Second presentation with Professor Don Zoellner from Charles Darwin University on ‘disadvantage, ontological politics and VET research: governing the groups that live on the margin’. Presented work on why we continue research on disadvantage in VET when not much seems to have changed! Surmised that the continuing perspective is of a 'wage earners welfare state'. Individual responsibility placed on obtaining employment. Marginalised the 'unable/unwilling to be employed'. Therefore, access provided but personal responsibility still on individual to participate and perform. Dividing practices are used to try to engage them, research used to try to increase outcomes and continual checking used to ensure they participate. Premise that education would 'fix' disadvantage, be able to create better choice/economic outcomes etc. 

Encouraged the use of discourse analysis to try to untangle the complexities. Introduced the concept of ontological politics and how researching the disadvantaged is 'productive' work. Good overview and a paper will be available soon on VOCEd. 

 Keynote two is with Professor Michael Brennan who presents on ‘contemporary challenges for VET research’. He presents from his perspective as chair of the Australian Productive Commission. Begun with the observation that since 1820, and despite an massive increase in human population to 7 billion, only 10% of the present world's population is living in abject poverty. Summarised how focus on skills has led to the associated increase in productivity. Example in 1901, average worker has to work 20 minutes to buy a bar or soap, but now, only 5 minutes. This applies to many consumables. Productivity growth also aligns with rise in living standards. The dividend is also that working less, provides more which also includes more downtime. In general, we can afford what was considered good value in 1980 in 70% of a working life. However, most people do not get off the thread mill due to societal pressure. 

Progress with productivity is uneven and may accelerate due to new technologies, processes etc. research helps to track the ups and downs as economies grow/decline/stagnate etc. Explained cycles of productivity growth. The future of work is about change in job tasks rather than a change in the actual occupation. Human skills of building relationships, problem solving, critical thinking etc. now more important as these are difficult to replace. Human tasks shift focus from routine tasks to more personal interactions. Greater need for social skills with high levels of adaptiveness. Higher education prepares all for the flexibility needed to continually learn as jobs continually evolve. 60% of Australian workers engage in continual professional development. Most do this to keep up with requirements of their work. Many of this PD is not provided by the VET system or by RTOs, private bespoke programmes fill this need. Micro-credentials may not be the right way to respond and investigation of other means to accredit continual learning is required. VET system does many things well as graduates obtain work and often earn more than other graduates at the outset. However, does not contribute to the continual development beyond initial qualification. Also VET tends to be occupation specific and re-skilling can be time consuming and costly. The greatest challenge is in retaining wisdom in current population. Challenge for VET to stay current and also be relevant into the future.