AVETRA day 2

 A shorter day today, beginning with a welcome and recap of yesterday's programmed activities. Kira Clarke welcomes everyone back to the second day of the conference and Natasha Arthars introduced today's keynote. 

The keynote is with Claire Field who presents on AI. Claire is in Dubai and the presentation was recorded. Spoke on how Gen AI is changing the world of work so that what VET teachers and how VET is taught must also change. AI is changing work for many occupations, examples were provided, drawn from the literature and from her work. Also provided examples of tools used in business administration to automate workflows, coaching, construction management, consulting, creative industries (writing music), healthcare (medical imaging), law, marketing, meat processing, retail.

Future of jobs is being impacted as companies adopt AI across their business and there is a critical need for professional development is key. Jobs and skills Australia is undertaking a capacity study of Gen AI for the labour market and the education and training systems. The pervasive and speed of change as Gen AI develops requires shifts of how VET updates curriculums and pedagogy. ASQA has undertaken work on the risk and priorities of AI (2024-2025) on academic integrity! However, there are no resources or guides for the VET sector. 

Used the work of Professor Rose Luckin (University College London) who has worked with AI for 30 years on concerns with AI - not to use AI to provide answers only; the inequality on AI's being a consumer product; the majority of young people think AI will solve a lot of problems; and the capability gap in education between teachers and their learners (as there is a focus on assessment integrity). Ai 'detection' is inherently biased! False positive is a problem. Surmised that checking for whether students use AI is therefore challenging.

Shared a diagram of how AI can be used across the learning journey. Also a summary of personalised learning to improve student outcomes. Paper on AI in personalised learning - systemic review by authors from Hong Kong (Li & Wong, 2023). Deakin CRADLE provides guidelines for assessments in the worlds of AI. Digital Education Council has a good overview on 'best practice' on the dimensions for using AI - understanding AI, critical thinking and judgement, ethical and responsible use, human centricity, emotional intelligence and creativity and domain expertise.

Provided examples of best practice from Aotearoa NZ including Ako Aotearoa project to support foundation learners, UK (policy paper), EU (European strategy on AI) and CEDEFOP's focus on the impact of skill demands in the workplace); European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training - policy camp on applying AI for real-world impact; and European EdTech companies well-advanced with personalised learning (especially Ireland and Scandinavian countries). 

Identified research gaps:

- what are the experiences of Australia's dual sector providers in adapting to Gen AI?

- could Australian VET researchers partner with TAFE Directors Australia to examine difference approaches?

- what support do community based providers need in an era of Gen AI?

- what insights specialist private providers offering ICT/digital courses have on AI skills?

- How can RTOs best balance requirements of outdated training packages with the increased pace of change in the workplace?

- What assistance do RTOs need to be more nimble in the face of change?

I then participate in a panel session on AI and VET chaired by Natasha Arthars. The panel members are Don Zoellner, Thomas Corbin, Patrick Kidd and myself. We extend on some of the ideas from Claire Field's keynote and discuss the issues of keeping up with how quickly AI has developed and the strategies required by VET to keep up with the pace of change. 

After morning tea, the three streams of presentations/workshops begin.

First up, .Future-Ready Educators: Redefining PD for Behavioural Transformation in VET'  with Michele Tocci. Discussed how behaviours need to be changed to enable the outcomes of professional development workshops (or similar) to have impact. In many cases, attending PD is a requirement and a 'tick box' exercise. How can we do better, to bring into our practice, the learnings attained from PD? We lose much of new learning over time. To progress change, we need to engage with new information to ensure that the new information and ways of doing are more anchored. Long term potentiation (LTP) is more effective if there are more frequent touch points are undertaken. Rick Hanson 'encoding of lasting change' model involves encoding, consolidation, activation, installation, state and trait. We tend to not move from activation into installation. Learning is difficult and new learning, if brought back and washed over by a busy work life, does not have the opportunity to be 'installed'. 

Stressed the importance of educators to role-model the skills of learning and to action learning that is picked up through PD. The design of PD needs to be about transformational change and not just about content. PD with impact (behavioral change framework) need to know, understand, do, reinforce. Shorter sessions to allow for spacing and repetition, coaching-based delivery, learner-centred methods, and post-training support and reinforcement. As an example, a PD structured as 90 minutes once a week over 6 weeks, had know (workshops, resources, exposure), understand ( peer discussions, reflective activities), do (practice, implementation, coaching), reinforce (nudges, follow-ups, feedback) and sustain (community of practice, mentoring, review).  

Then, a presentation on 'From blind spots to bright spots: Filling the intelligence gap for VET recognition of prior learning (RPL) excellence' with  Deb Carr. Summarised the 5 blind spots with regard to RPL. 

RPL data not always easy to find and not always collected. A change in how data was collected and presently data collections are not capturing all RPL activity n Australia. Some types of RPL are also not recorded due to the many ways RPL is structured/delivered. Data collections do not capture demand as RPL candidates are turned away, dissuaded, diverted or ignored. There is also low awareness of ROL by individuals and employers. We don't know who pays for RPL Data on student outcomes is not available. Summarised a systematic review of the impact of RPL on individuals - high psychological impact and improved ability, good economic impact and some social impact. In Australia, there is limited visibility of RPL RPL data needs are different to that of training. Argues that RPL is an important part of any skills agenda. Data collection is an essential process to better understand how RPL is used, how can it be improved for people seeking RPL and to ensure that RPL is a viable and supported. Suggested the data needs to help inform RPL processes and systems. Shared a list of research required to address the challenges faced by RPL

After lunch, I facilitate the annual workshop on 'publishing your article in the International Journal of Training Research. As per usual an overview of the journal is provided, along with processes to get an article published. Also workshopped how to build an effective abstract.

A panel on 'Lessons from the AVETRA/VSA partnership (moderated by Andrew Williamson) is the last session for the conference. The project commissions work that can be useful to inform policy makers in Australia. 

The panel participants were Craig Robertson, Kira Clarke, Deb Carr adn Seth Brown. Craig provided the background for the importance of VET research through the VSA projects and their contribution to policy development and other decision making withing the sector. Kira discussed the rationale for the partnership, to raise awareness of what is VET, how the system works and what are its challenges. The partnership also draws on the expertise available. Seth was the researcher in the first project - the student voice - which was on the student experience from the macro and meso levels (see the report). Deb is at the start of her project and provided a background on progress on the project and why the partnership approach/process is important and of relevance. 

Discussion ensued as each shared their experiences, learnings and progress. Craig provided good background on the relevance and importance of the process, to bring the right people to create/develop current 'state of the play' records that can be drawn on to inform policy development. Craig updated on potential projects and updated on current projects outside the AVETRA/VSA partnership. Deb noted that the current economic climate, with flux in the employment supports her project's profile, so timing is important in what topics are selected. Andrew thanked all the supporters of the project from AVETRA and from VSA and welcomed questions. 

Overall, a busy but effective conference. A smaller number of conference participants, but this made it easier to touch base with both established and new AVETRA members. 

AVETRA - Day 1 afternoon

 After lunch, I attend a session with Steven Hodge and Reshman Tabassum on 'provider practices to enhance curriculum relevance in dynamic industries. Reshman set the scene with a scenario. The project was to explore RTO methods of interporeting and translating training packages. Conruses were in vet nurising, agriculture and rural operations. Did the RTOs approach qualifications with different intended outcomes and purposes? Posited that learning qualifications lead to a specific occupation, is for multiples occupations and have cross or multi-sectional interest. Process on interpretation goes from pre-translation, to translation and then mobilisation. Pre-translation requires understanding VET system, provider organisation, students, industry, training context. Translation involves interpreting, organising, elaborating, framing and structuring (through the quality assurance processes). Mobilisation is a continuum between educator and resource 'delivery'. Used a series of interview vignettes to unpack the processes of interpretation. What is important here is that no matter how detailed or prescriptive a standard is, currency of the standards and how they may align with diverse contexts are not guaranteed. Educators will use agency to work with, around and outside of standards, as required, to bring about learning. 

Following is Karl Hartley from Epic Learning reporting on the ConCOVE funded project 'AI-generated assessments in vocational education: enhancing quality and accessibility through cognitive design'. Customisation of assessments is one way to meet individual learners' needs. Assessment writing is complex work and manual assessment development is slow, consistent and inequitable. How can AI be used with safety and integrity to assist. Use a case study of developing assessments for a 'trades essentials' micro-credentials. applied cognitive science, ethical AI and educator validation. Began by selection of GPT-based model. Prompt engineering informed the working memory theory. 3-rounds of subject matter expert review process, and stakeholder consultation. Gen AI can generate multiple-choice and short answer quesitons, adapt the tone and language complexity, contextualise questions by trade/experience and enable personalised based learner profile. Personalisation features include literacy-adjusted versions, industry-specific variants, support for neurodiverse learners (format, language). A robust AI workflow to develop generic base assessment, then use base assessment and use AI to apply customisation. Prompt engineering strategy included the use of chain of thought prompting, using variables around writing style. providing example questions, assessment guides and for Gen AI to produce in batches of 5 assessments. Development loop was taking too long and involved too much time. Now development 5 assessment in batches. Seek rapid initial feedback for a 'go or no go' call to do a full review. Flip the feedback from 'what is wrong' to 'what is good'. Provided example of how the process looked, prompts and outputs. 

Challenges include AI constantly evolving, AI have been heavily trained with US of A assessments and are biased and AI will make mistakes. Risk and mitigations of Ai hallucinations by using structured prompt design and ensuring a human view is added. Cultural bias with ethics review and co-design with Māori and Pasifica advisors. Need to be wary of over-reliance on AI and issues of privacy. Benefits include the ability to have more inclusive and relevant assessments for learners; reduced workload to get to a quality product for teachers; and an opportunity for greater consistency and innovation. Plans for the next steps are to seek learner feedback and validation; finalise an ethical framework, expand to writing assessments for other microcredentials and disseminate findings and guidance.

The project demonstrates viable use of AI in assesment design; establishes moderation alignment proof of concept; builds foundation for personalised learning, and aligns to system transformation. 

Then a session on 'Planning and Actioning VET Research Studies: issues to consider' with  Llandis Barratt-Pugh. Shared 10 'critical incidents' that have informed his research practice, each supported with the narrative of how these came about. Used autoethnography, critical incident technique, reconstructive memory theory and the experiential learning cycle. 

The pointers include: tell industry what you can do for them then listen to what they want doing; start with the end in mind and plan toward it with frequent monitoring; seek out lions in the field and engage them as mentors; gain top commitment or the project may be swept away; publicise research studies to gain collaborators; collaboration is the key to multiple publications; a research proposal should be developed by serendipity as we don not know what lies ahead; when confronted with data collection dilemmas the options are to change the plan, call for support and the wisdom to know which is best; the research plan should include resources and action to use the finding constructively; taking a framework from a close discipline may shed unique light on the data in a wat that has not be done before; and the only certainty about a research project is that it will not progress as planned!

After afternoon tea, Craig Butler presents on 'Uncovering the Complexity of VET Teacher Identity' which is part of his PhD study. Summarised his background and his interest in the topic. Provided a overview of the study, with a theoretic framework of 'funds of identity', the research methodology, participants (25 VET teachers) and analysis method. Shared some of the findings around practical funds of identity resources (experiences, across many specialised contexts within and without a field) of vocation focus, VET practitioner, learner (life-long learning), expert performer, mentor, non-vocation (hobby , community work etc.) and institutional funds of identity through organisation role, employment type, and employment status. 

Shared framework to visualise how participants, across their life-course, had at a point of time (the interviews) had a particular role identity. Implications include a need to better understand the integration of vocational and VET identities; and recommendations for further study. Shared how study could inform VET support of teacher identity and limitations of the study.

I offer the last session of the day, providing an update on our Gen AI projects with ' AI in Vocational Education and Training: Progressive learnings on the integration of Gen AI into vocational programmes'. The primary purpose was to provide an overview of the projects to date, the challenges and learnings and propose a way forward as to how VET can use AI to support learning and teaching.

AVETRA AGM is conducted and the conference reception and awards round of a busy day.

AVETRA - DAY one - morning

 At the annual AVETRA conference in Melbourne which runs for 3 days. Workshops focused on specific topics were head yesterday afternoon.

Today, there is a full programme of activities.

The conference is opened with a welcome to country and the conference with the AVETRA president Kira Clarke. Kira thanked the conference sponsors, the conference committee, and the conference abstract reviewers. New membership directory was launched to help people find VET research experts. Niall Smith provided a demonstration of how the site works. 

The first keynote is with Craig Robertson, presented his thoughts on 'when robots replace VET, what's next?' Discussed the springboard into the digital, the challenges of competency in Australia, the new potential for VET and the research challenge. Used the example o Kodak and their rejection of moving across to the digital and how that ended up in their demise in 2012. VET needs to meet the challenge now, as the implications for its future role and direction, need to be considered now, at the cusp of great change through the rapid changes which will impact not only on work but also across society.

Suggested looking at the special issue in 2016 of the International Journal of Training Research on competency education to review the challenges through the system. Summarised the way in which so much of our lives of being changed by the digital economy. Use Frey & Osborne (2013) - 47% of the jobs in the US at risk of automation over the nes 10 - 20 years. Australian Computer Society 2021 report that proposed that by 2034, automation would displace 2.7 workers, 56% who are male. David Autor proposed the hollowing out of the labour market and the delayering of the middle-management layer, in assessing the impact of digitisation, there is the move from skills substitution to task substitution. 

The OECD - do adults have the skills they need to thrive in a changing world, summarises the types of skills needed to move into the future. Challenges of the current competency regime for VET in Australia include 'designing down', constrained learning and unitised standards. The 'outcomes' education model is too focused on 'education's contribution to the economy' and that they contribute to 'increasing efficiency'. Therefore, there are to many 'products', too many unclimbed qualification ladders, outcomes for the labour market are too near-term, and inputs are proxy for quality.

So are 'robots' here yet? There are over 200 data centres in Victoria with plans to build another 3 +. Although some skills will become obsolete, there is still a need to be able to work with non-routine tasks and the demand for new workers is still high post-CoVID. Therefore VET needs to re-orientate towards thinking more about the types of application, skills and knowledge (ASK) that enable workers to move to work tasks that are not always clear cut. A progressive VET qualifications system needs to uncouple from division of labour, transferability, tertiary harmonisation, and manageable product set.  Research needs to shift towards an educational focus, have a cultural component, capability needs to be rebuild and collaboration is required. We need to bring the best aspects of capability and competency together. 

Following is a panel discussion on - the rise of applied research in TAFE - 2017 to 2025. The panel was chaired by Karen O'Reilly-Briggs. Karen opened with a overview of the nature of applied research and its journey across the TAFE contexts. 

Panel consisted of  Teressa Schmidt, Melissa Williams, Katrina Jojkity and Sam Duncan. Sam began with an overview of the work undertaken at Holmsglen. Provided an overview on TAFE's role in the research and innovation ecosystem. TAFE provided a point of difference as it is often hands-on, industry integrated and solution orientated. The objective is to use applied research to solve real-world industry problems. Often conducted by educators with industry expertise rather than traditional academic researchers. Often with SMEs and community organisations. The doing-using-interacting (DUI) model ensures applied research translates into practice. Investment and recognition needed to support along with clear role and strategy and the need to build capability among educators.

Summarised the evolution of the Centre of Applied Research and Innovation at Holmsglen. The centre raises the profile of applied research and innovation and develop a culture of applied research. Shared the outcomes and outputs over the last decade.

Katrina presented on the International Specialised Skills Institute (ISS )institute international practitioner fellowship programme, funded by the Victorian Skills Authority over the last 23 years. 196 fellowship programmes awarded leading to continuing improvement and innovation across the VET sector. Provided details of the fellowships, their foci and the role of applied research fellowships. Presented several examples, their work and the impact and the repository of the fellowship reports. 

Melanie shared the work undertaken at William Angliss Institute to encourage practitioner research. Melanie completed an ISSI fellowship in 2019 to bring the Basque County's EHAZI model of collaborative challenge-based learning. Then piloted the pedagogy in 2024, ongoing evaluation to inform the review of the Diploma qualification in 2026. Presented on the challenges and lessons learnt towards supporting practitioner research. 

Teressa on 'what is needed to elevate the potential of applied research in TAFE'. TAFE is already doing applied research, mostly unfunded or underfunded, not always well supported and has limited promotion. There are many benefits including innovation, building capability, future proofing, and opportunities for industry partnerships. Challenges are the need for resources, the precieved value, capability development and the 'cloak of invisibility'. New opportunities include TAFE Centres if Excellence, recognition of TAFE's expanded capability, Government initiatives to build and increase R & and engage more stakeholders in research with impact. Used Canada as an example where by the Canadian colleges and institutes are valued as critical Canadian R & D. Specific funding is available to colleges for R & D. Encouraged the connections with SMEs which make up 98% of businesses in Australia. Shared the TDA recommendations to encourage applied research. 

After morning tea, presentations begin. The sessions are organised into three streams.

First up, Don Zoellner on 'theorising the elusiveness of an integrated tertiary education system: mirage, chimera or talisman?' Presented his 'plausible probe' into the unrealisation of the integration of tertiary education. There is a need to test the theoretical constructs to advance policy development and implementation. He applied Foucauldian post-structualist discousres to analyse policy artefacts and used institutional logics to explore VET and HE governance through the plausiblity probe. Caveats include that there is no absolute truth but to identify knowledge/power types and who gets to say it. Who and what knowledge/power are made visible. Introduced institutional logics debates with origins in North America which is unrelated to European logics - but which were applied to Australian VET analysis by Wheelahan. Shared the orders - state, profession, market, corporation, family, religion, community and elemental categories - basis of norms, source of legitimacy, source of authority, sources of identity; basis of attention, basis of strategy, informal control mechanisms and economic system.   Explained the differences between theories, frames, narratives and entrenched practices as building blocks of institutional logics and ideologies (which guide political norms and actions). 

Summarised the historical background that make VET different from HE. Until the late 1990s, integration of VET and HE was not a problem! After that, VET training packages were built on a very restrictive interpretation of competency-based training and assessment. VET reform arose from industrial relations rather than education and training! unitised VET knowledge that fit with industrial awards could be monetised and sold in a competitive market. HE knowledge also monetised but at the course level, Introduction of the hierarchical Australian Qualifications Framework created further VET/HE integration as a problem.

Compared the governance of VET and HE with HE being bureaucratic, hierarchical, managerial capitalism. Fundamentally, VET and HE is conducted through different perspectives which have little in common, Harmonisation is difficult as each is structured differently and the social actors have deeply held feelings and perceptions of who they are, how they are constituted, their objectives and purpose etc. However, harmonisation may not be a good thing as each contributes in a different way.

Then 'Action research as professional development for VET teachers with Suzanne Francisco from Charles Sturt University. Detailed the study based on four action research teams. Today, focused on two - in beauty therapy and nursing. Focused on what enables and constrains middle-leaders in supporting the development of quality VET pedagogy. In the presentation discussed, how, what and why action research was used. Data analysis using inductive/deductive approaches including the practice architectures framework. Summarised the advantages of learning in and through action research. Presented the enablers and constraints of action research. 

A good range of learning this morning :)