2025 review

 Well another busy year that has flown by rather quickly.

Next year, we are Te Pūkenga no more and return to being Ara Institute of Canterbury. An organisational restructure in mid- 2025 saw the Ara departments being dismantled and repackaged into three faculties. Each is helmed by a Dean of Faculty and supported by portfolio managers and a small number of faculty operations managers. My work team is now part of Ako (teaching and learning) Quality. We still do the same things, but the larger team is now made up of quality, learning design/educational development, kaiako (teacher) capability, and research.

This year, we have had a catch up on programme reviews. Many of our degrees, which are supposed to be reviewed every 5 years, were not reviewed through Te Pūkenga. The large institute was working through all the degrees under its wing, and unifying them i.e. based on one programme of learning. So far, only a handful of programmes were unified. So a large backlog of programmes now need to be reviewed, leading to my team's chief busyness this year as we work through many degree programmes and 'sub-degree' programmes for review and re-registration with the NZ Qualifications Authority.

AI and its implications on education has also been a focus. The AARIA 'Using Gen AI to support foundation/bridging ākonga (learners) was completed and launched in August. We are also piloting Cogniti - developed by the University of Sydney to provide support to teachers to build AI agents, and PebblePad, an eportfolio platform. 

Highlights include final publication of the book 'AI in Vocational Education' at the end of May. The book had a good number of downloads and a positive and supportive review.  

Three weeks  in Europe, culminating in the Journal of Vocational Education and Training Research (JVET) conference at Oxford, provided for R & R opportunities, a catch up with my cuzzie in Scotland and networking with VET researchers from Europe, South America and Africa. 

Presentations across the year have largely been on AI. I presented a plenary at the local NZ Vocational Education and Training Research Forum in November. There, the presentation of the lifetime award for the forum was extra special as NZ VET moves into another era and into post Reform of Vocational Education. 

The cessation of Ako Aotearoa, and the Centres for Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) will mean that funding for VET research will be very thin on the ground. Thankfully, my institute is supportive of research activities in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) space, so we will continue with the various AI pilots/projects. 2026 will be very much a year of reconsolidation for the institute, so its a 'watch this space' process for the next year or so.

 

Plans for 2025

 It looks like another busy year coming up.

Details of what post Te Pūkenga looks like will help clarify what is likely to occur at an organisational level and some of these may affect the composition of my current work team, our lines of management, and our objectives. Whatever happens, there is still a great deal of work to do!

Firstly, we have many programmes in review. In Aotearoa, all programmes of study are reviewed every five years. The responsibility for these, devolved to Te Pūkenga 2 years ago, but only a small number of programmes were 'unified'. Hence, we now have a substantial backlog of programmes, several over 3 years beyond their review timelines, to work on and have presented to NZQA by July. Therefore, my  educational development team (down to 5 from 8) are fully occupied with working through all the programme reviews.

Secondly, AI is not going away. Capability and professional development for our teaching colleagues, has been patchy, as lines of responsibility for who does what, have been unclear since Te Pūkenga disestablishment was announced late in 2023. Te Pūkenga was at the beginning of bringing together a consolidated approach to capability and development but this all came to a halt and individual institutions have been working on financial stability, maintaining quality etc. before looking at capability.

Thirdly, I am now about half way through scoping another group of scholarship of teaching and learning projects for this year. The focus will be on integrating AI into programmes with strong practice-based learning as currently, AI has text/writing focus. Multimodality of AI is not as common as integrating AI through text. Also, it is important to have AI available in practice-based learning environments - i.e. workshops, training kitchens / salons / studios etc. plus the need to have customised / bespoke or 'wall-garden' AI tools as the generalised AI (e.g. ChatGPT, CoPilot) often do not use specialised occupational vocabulary, with information drawn on being very North American-centric.

Therefore, it looks like there is quite a bit to do, making it difficult to even think about retiring for the moment!!

2024 review

 A rather busy year, filled with leading an interesting project - supporting foundation/bridging learners using AI -, a flurry of work in curriculum/learning design as all of this returns back to us post Te Pūkenga disestablishment, and participation in a range of relevant and important professional development opportunities.

As I write this, there is no greater detail on what happens to the various polytechnics and industry training organisations (ITOs) post Te Pūkenga disestablishment, apart from the brief details from the consultation information provided in September. The government's budget going into the next few years provide some inkling of what may happen to the Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) and Centres for Vocational Education Excellence (CoVEs). WDCs funding ends 2026 but they will likely continue due to their essential role as standards setting bodies. However, their actual roles going into the future are unclear. The CoVeEs for construction ((ConCOVE) and FF CoVE (food and fibre) will likely cease to exist beyond 2025. Both the CoVEs have funded a range of important vocational education and training research projects and it is a shame that they will not be continuing on to act on the recommendations and findings.

AI has been prominent across the year. At my institute, we have run a number of department focused and institute-wide research tools or teaching and learning AI integration workshops. Our staff capability runs the usual gamut from utter rejection of AI to having several with high levels of understanding and application towards using AI to support research or teaching/learning. 

VET like all other education context, must make key decisions about the role of AI and how it should be/ or can be leveraged to support teaching and learning. The 'holy grail' of education, personalised learning for every learner' is availed if AI is used carefully to augment and support learning - see this summary, one of many models, that shift teaching and learning from 'factory - one-size fits all' to individualised mastery learning for each learner.

Hence, another busy year but looking forward to next year, when hopefully, we begin to have productive conversations in shifting the current way teaching and learning occurs, towards a more learner and learning-centred model.

AVETRA Day two

 Notes taken on the second day of the AVETRA conference, held at the University of Technology, Sydney.

The day started with a 'panel' on the theme - the past is a foreign country, or is it/ The curious journey of Kangan discourses over 50 years. Dr. Kaye Schofield responds to Don Zoellner. A good overview of the history of TAFE since the Kangan report in 1974. This report provided the blueprint for the formation of TAFEs in Australia.

There have been many challenges, changes, innovations but also setbacks, years when VET was continuously restructured, deconstructed, re- constructed!,  found status and supported by some governments and other times when they were neglected. NZ could learn from this history, to not politicise education and to hold on to the principle that education, is a public good. Especially to not use education as a political football, but for each government in power, to work collaboratively, for the long term betterment  of the country. The presentation covered how Kangan should be read now, half a century later. What core principles and propositions have stood the test of time? and where are the continuities and discontinuities? 

Presentations across 3 streams then begin.

Before lunch, 3 presentations.

First up, Dr. John Howse from Toi Ohomai, Tauranga, Aotearoa. He presents on an aspect of his PhD thesis with ' exploring the symbiosis and tensions between vocational practices and the aspirations for VET in Aotearoa NZ. John was awarded the AVETRA conference abstract :)  Covered the practice-theoretical approach to VET research. Thpractice study was to challenge VET vocational practice. Used practice architeture architecturetheory helped cover helped how learning could be understood better as patterened, embodied, networked and emergent as 'sayings, doings and relatings'. Ethnographic context was bee keeping in the workplace, and campus-based learning. Hive work and seasonal colony management were selected for focus. Bee keeping required an affective dimension of care, something that is difficult to capture in assessments. Practice was then compared to graduate outcomes in current apiary qualfications. Emphasis in the qualifications on production and no mention of the affective dimension, the community of practice and localised context of beekeeper work. Challenges to the relevance of how VET qualifications are constituted, cycles of reform in VET, the shifting of beekeeping into commercialised production, sustainable, beekeeping practices and been keeping as a way of life. Opportunities could be in changed qualifications, reimagined graduate profiles, micro-credentials, a mixture of work and block courses. Contributions of this study to the continual review of qualifications. 

Then, Associate Professor Melanie Williams and Angela Tsimiklis from William Angliss share their work on 'evaluating collaborative challenge-based learning: teaching for the future. Introduced CCBL as a 11 step process with both students and tutors working in teams CCBL needs to be mapped back to the training packages. detailed a pilot in Cert IV patisserie where a challenge takes place across a term and evaluated at the end of each cycle. Evaluation was to understand teachers experiences. Determine how it may improve student learning and adjust to allow for self-managing teams. CCBL requiries teachers and students to compile weekly reflections. Data collected and analysed through mini research cycles to allow for adjustments to the process as the CCBL process continued through the year. After the first term, all were excited but also frustrated and confused as students needed to be self-directed. Teachers observed high levels of student engagement and focus, more advanced technical skills covered, time constraints led to shortcuts, coordination was ad-hoc, it was challenging to align session planst to actual class happenings. In term 2, master classes extracted and taught traditionally for first 4 weeks. Challenges and teamwork delayed until week 5 and reduction from 2 to 1 teacher per room. Student valued a slower pace but excessie repetition led to boredom and decreased motivation, complaints of inconsistent teacher instructions, students awareness of 21 cnetury skill development grew through the use of self-assessment rubric. Teachers felt classes ran more smoothly, one teacher in a room was management, students had improved confidence, critical thinking, multi-tasking, teamwork, produce multiple products. It seems that the extraction of master classes from challenges resulted in bybrid model, teachers view it as an improvement, but hybrid runs cunter to CCBL. Maybe CCBL is too low for Cert IV. teacher collaboration still important. Teachers enthusiastic, students less so. Students developed greater technical proficiency. Cert IV may be problematic for CCBL. Two more terms to be evaluated. 

Third up, Anthony Allan and Associate Professor Steven Hodge present on 'understanding complexities of user acceptance and considering the influence on digital evidence collection in VET'. Rationale for the project was the need for frequent job change, micro credential opportunities and the influence of new technologies that can help capture evidence of learning. Observation of practice, eportfolios, digital badges all possible. Participants were trainers, managing leaders, expert leaders and system leaders. Drew on the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1986) on percieved usefuness, percieved ease of use and attitudes towards use. In tVET, modification of TAM ot C- contextualised, TAM and E (extension). (CTAME). Went through the findings as they were connected to CTAME. Acceptance of technology changes over time - usually becoming more positive. Therefore acceptance is a complex concept, identifying specific types of acceptance could enable future research to shift from aiming to determine use, to aiming to determine the effective of use. \

After lunch, there are two presentations. Starting with Professor Erica Smith on 'a new and different look at women's participation in the apprenticeship system in Australia. Started with 3 vignettes to illustrate that the thinking on gender and VET has not moved along very much :( Then summarised the history of apprenticeship. Over 60 plus years, most reports on did not involved few females writing them and many did not include the female aspect. Trade apprenticeships (maingly male) much higher than non-trade apprenticeships (mainly female occupations in health, retail, cleaning etc). In general, women then to be in traineeships/shorter training times. Suggested the need to increase women's participation in traditional apprenticeships. WAVE has been doing important work to ensure women are not discriminated against in occupations which are non-traditional for women. Men going into women dominated work, probable need similar support. With skill shortages, there have been encouragement to 'conscript' women to help alleviate the shortage. After WW2, women returned to domestic duties when the men returned. So there are deep seated perspectives on what are womens' jobs or men's jobs. The social construction of skill (Smith & Teicher, 2017) means that jobs that have professional or industrial power, gain formal training and qualificaiton structures. Women work in care, customer skills etc. considered not really skilled and are generally low skill and low wage. another concept is to view people (the unemployed, women gig workers) as 'the reserve army of labour (used by Marx but likely Engels). Therefore important to avoid tokenism, include the female voice, value jobs that women do and provide pathways that are as good as those for men.

Followed on by Teressa Schmidt, Tracy Flenady, Dr. Julie Bradshaw, Shweta Singh and Rachelle Cole on their work 'progress, benefits and barriers: supporting scholarly activity and development of VET teachers in a regional university. Began with the challenges and rationale. Important to apply scholarship to supporting VET teacher 'currency' the usual tools to recognise this, did not exist in the reporting structures! The changed labour market, technological innovation, global responses, future pandemics etc. need the curriculum to be updated. 19 participants in cummunity services, health and nursing, all female most 50-59 and most have taught 5-9 years. Pilot involved particpants assembled into teams to undertake a literature review. Workshops monthly to undertake the review across 12 months. By the mid-point, 8 participants left, and engagement was low. Workload increased due to enrolments doubling. Learning did take place. Summarised the barriers and suggested solutions. There is a desire. Barriers included organisational and personal. To succeed, additional support in the form of allocated time for scholarly activity, mentorship, and recognition of the scholarly activity.

The conference closes and is followed by afternoon tea and final networking. Steven Hodge closes the conference beginning with thanking the sponsors, Skills Insight and the NCVER. Then reviewed the learnings from the conference. Landis Barrett-Pugh then officially closed the conference with plans to meet next year in April in Melbourne.

Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) - proposal for change

After some delay, the proposals for reversing or changing many of the intentions and outcomes of RoVE have been released for consultation.  The consultation time is short but perspectives and viewpoints are sought on three items.

1) redesigning of the polytechnic (ITP) network to replace the recently established mega institute, Te Pūkenga.

2) two options for industry-led standards-setting and industry training

3) changes in vocational education funding from 2026.

The proposal's rationale and details are found in the 'regulatory impact statement'.

The options for the ITPs include allowing former ITPs who have had a stable financial record, to continue as stand-alone, autonomous institutions and all others to be brought under a federation umbrella with the Open Polytechnic providing a range of systems and resources that smaller polytechnics would struggle to provision. There are therefore advantages for the handful of former ITPs to basically return to their previous iterations. Market competitive forces will become part of the life again for these polytechnics. For others in the federation, the advantages are shared expertise and resources. Open Polytechnic was no doubt selected due to its national reach but it has had little experience with campus-based, hands-on programmes and the danger is that many of the programmes at small polytechnics will become distance learning (with some tutorials perhaps held in regional centres). Given that learners select f2f learning for good reason, foisting distance learning on regional learners is not an equitable solution.

The standards-setting function of Work Development Councils (WDCs) will likely be maintained and several have been doing a good job of 'filling the gaps' by developing qualifications for niche industries which are important sectors of the economy. Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) will perhaps be merged into WDCs (or not) meaning that workbased training is again separately supported. One of the advantages (which did not take place as yet) was to bring both campus and workbased learner support into one entity. It looks like this will now not take place.

Funding is really a key to maintaining a national network of VET provision. Commentators including most recently by ex-Otago Polytechnic CE, Phil Ker and ex-MP and Minister of Education, Steve Maharey, both call for the assurance that the funding system review, will lead to the sustainability of the ITP sector, 

Overall, the proposal is pragmatic, given the scope of work that has to be undertaken. However, there seems to be little advantage, from the learner's point of view (so far) despite lots of funding used to firstly form Te Pūkenga and now, to disestablish it and in many senses, return to the status quo. Option 3 for funding reform will need to be well thought through, otherwise, we return to the state pre-RoVE of a financially unsustainable vocational education system. 

Post Te Pūkenga disestablishment

The consultation process and document for VET reform to replace Te Pūkenga and the accompanying structure of the previous Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE) was released today. The consultation period is six weeks.

The recommendations are to enact the current government's objective to replace the large VET entity (Te Pūkenga with a system that restores greater input from regional and industry towards the governance of Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs), create options for the Work Development Councils (WDCs) and Industry Training Organisations (ITOs). As noted and recommended by many other commentators (for example from Roger Smyth and with Phil Ker (ex. CE of Otago Polytechnic) and the Tertiary Education Union), funding mechanisms will need to be reformed and this will be undertaken for the 2026 round.

In essence, the proposal is to provide a mix of granting autonomy to the ITPs who have performed well (i.e. Ara, Southern Institute of Technology) and for the smaller regional ITPs to be clustered and supported by Open Polytechnic under a 'federation arrangement'. WDCs look like they will continue, but perhaps in a different form, there are currently 6 but the proposal sees them going up to possibly 8! and the ITOs being re-organised into similar industry groupings to the WDCs.

There is therefore a return to much of the system pre-RoVE, so I am not sure if there are many gains after 5 years of disruption and the spending of lots of taxpayer funds (sigh). Of note is that the competitive market driven model does not seem to have laid to rest. The proposed model will see the larger ITPs at least, focused on retaining and increasing their student numbers to maintain their viability. For the regional ITPs, there is a risk that there will be fewer choices with regards to delivery modes as these may become, 'study centres' for distance learning rather than campuses offering a range of full-time/hands on learning. It will be important to keep an eye on the tone of the consultation as it will indicate the direction the final structure and system will take. 

From a personal note, there will be little change for my institution if we retain a high autonomous status. Innovations required to meet the challenges to shift pedagogy and outcomes due to the increased adoption of AI across industries will require resourcing. Finding that resource will be a major challenge. 

Workforce development councils (WDCs) to be disestablished - what will replace them?

 As the current government dismantles the various initiatives of the Aotearoa NZ Reform of Vocational Education (RoVE), this year's budget announcement last week, provided another confirmation the final moves.

Te Pūkenga's disestablishment is moving along. The Regional Skills Leadership Groups (RSLGs) funding ended at the beginning of the year. Funding for Work Development Councils (WDCs) and Centres for Vocational Excellence (CoVEs), end next year. 

At the moment, there is little from the present government on what will replace Te Pūkenga and what happens to the many functions undertaken especially by WDCs. An opinion piece by Jeremy Sole in the Contractor MagazineAn opinion piece by Jeremy Sole in the Contractor Magazine, provides some food for thought on the roles of WDCs and what may happen next.

We therefore await details on what will happen next, as the sector reverts to pre-RoVE (sort of) and the various responsibilities of the disestablished organisations are dispersed to other existing organisations or alllocated to possible new entities. 

Unpicking Te Pūkenga - commentary on what is happening and what may work

 Roger Smyth  has had a long association with Aotearoa NZ tertiary education and his occasional blogs  provide viewpoints from his background as a policy analyst. He draws from both his experiences, scholarly work and his networks, to provide commentary on contemporary issues affecting tertiary education.

His latest blog, discusses a 'where to next' with regards to Te Pūkenga' as the process of its disestablishment begins. He summarises the reasons for the formation of Te Pūkenga, as a solution to the challenging financial position almost all of the country's polytechnics faced before merger. Discussion is had on the many facets of the reform of vocational education (RoVE) and the problems with combining the two arms of VET, the polytechnics with the industry training organisations (ITO).

He then discusses a few options for the creation of a network of regional polytechnics, how to try to bring some synergy between the objectives of polytechnics and the work-based support provided by ITOs, what do do with the funding system, and how to ensure employer and industry representations on skill needs is carried through to the standards setting function, currently held by Work Development Councils (WDCs).

It will be interesting to see how prescient some of his suggestions are, given that to date, little information has been available on what the post-Te Pūkenga landscape might look like going into the future. 

Plans for 2024

 Back at work today, after an exciting trip down to the Sub-Antarctic Islands, followed by a camping trip into the Canterbury high country. We await the next steps and details on how the disestablishment of the recommendations from RoVE pan out.

From the usual business as usual perspectives, it looks like we will be back to being a singular institute with campuses across Canterbury and the West Coast. I assume that the usual work of supporting departments and learning design will continue to ensure the institute fulfils its many functions and obligations to students, NZQA and government.

The six AI in VET projects will need to be written up by all the researchers involved and I need to finalise the chapters I author by the end of March. The process of editing everything before we submit the manuscript to the publishers at the end of April will keep me busy for the first quarter of 2024.

Additionally, there is the work to begin the four projects on AI in foundational VET, funded by Ako Aotearoa. Semester one will see each of the projects introduce AI to their students and to evaluate the tools/apps or platforms most appropriate to the programmes' contexts.

In all, semester one will roll by quite quickly with so much to accomplish in a short timeframe!! Alongside will be the following through of whatever process is pronounced with regards to the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga. I will miss the collegial interactions with colleagues from throughout the VET system but the relationships have now been kindled. It will be important to prioritise the nurturing of these despite the move back to individual institutional silos.

Therefore, I am looking forward to an interesting year. Let's see what happens and what can be done to ameliorate some of the disadvantages of disestablishment and to capitalise on the collaborations and networks formed through the last two years.

2023 review

This year has been a bit of a roller coaster. There have been several highs and a few lows with the movement between each providing some exhilarating or challenging emotions.

Across the year, Te Pūkenga moved along towards establishing its organisational structure. The upper levels of management were to be in place by April 2024. However, we have had a change in government and the new centre-right coalition government has implemented, within their 100 day plan, to disestablishment of Te Pūkenga. There have been little detail as to what will replace the current situation. Hopefully, there will be more information in the new year. Meanwhile, Te Pūkenga has halted all work on the organisational structure and awaits instructions from the Minister.

On a brighter note, I launched a series of projects to better understand how we can integrate AI into vocational education courses / programmes. These projects began in June and we are now in the process of data analysis. The main output will be a book, to be published by Springer mid-2024.

The above projects involve courses, students and teachers at levels 4 to 7 - certificate to bachelor degree. We drew on the research allocation of teachers teaching on degrees, to carry out the participatory action research studies. In October, I recieved an invitation from Ako Aotearoa to put in an expression of interest, for research project which cover AI, foundation and Māori learners with equity focus. We will now have funding to bring in foundation and career/study skills courses from levels 1 to 4 into the project. We hope to identify ways AI can be usefully deployed to support learners, attaining foundational academic study skills. Then, the findings may be used to develop 'bespoke' AI tools or apps to localise, customise and indigenise AI support. All something to look forward to in 2024.

My work team has been considerably stretched as several of our colleagues have moved to other organisations due to the uncertainties with Te Pūkenga structuring. For the moment, we are in a 'holding area' until the main organisational structures are put in place. Now, we may likely revert to the management lines existing pre-Te Pūkenga. Last week, our ex-CE, who was appointed rohe four (area or sector) director for Te Pūkenga, reverted back to his role as our institute CE. This provides an indication of the move back into individualised institutions. 

Bringing 25 organisations into one large entity is no mean feat. Yet, the incoming government has decided not to progress the formation of one large VET organisation. A large organisation brings some economies of scale, especially with IT, information systems, student and learning mangement systems etc. along with more holistic approaches with regards to curriculum and learning development. As an example, AI holds great possibilities for supporting personalised learning environment. Developing these systems is resource hungry. With the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga, we will perhaps have lost the opportunity as devolving back into individual institutes will not provide the economies of scale, collaborative / shared workflows, leveraging off the expertise of many, and the large student pool to test and refine the system. 

So let's see what 2024 brings and regroup, restrategise to meet the requirements of the new VET world in Aotearoa NZ. 

AVETRA - Australasian Vocational Education and Training Research Association - Conference - DAY 1 morning

 Finally able to get back to f2f conferences :)

This year's AVETRA conference is being held in Melbourne with streaming online of keynotes etc. and some presentations.

The day opens with sharing of the welcome to country from yesterday evening's welcome reception and introduction to the conference's themes by Kira Clarke, AVETRA president. 

Keynote 1 is from Professor Peter Dawkins, the interim Director for Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA). He speaks on 'job and skills Australia: Expanding the evidence base to inform skills needs and strengthen the VET sector'. Began with some overview of the various 'authorities' tasked with working out the job and skill needs for Australia, their roles and responsibilities and contribution to informing the National Skills System. The conceptual map means the National jobs and skills roadmap informs strategic activity, in turn driven and connected to labour market skills analysis (to expand the evidence base) and all trying to come to grips with the complexities to enable better decisions. Overviewed the range of programmes, projects and products and detailed 5 JSA papers relevant to VET. Shared statistics on mobility of learners (remote/regional learners tend to access local programmes); jobs in demand (nurses, aged care etc) and the categories of these shortages (including 'quality gap' -enough applicants but not of sufficient quality; skills mismatch). Reported on work in progress to expand the VET evidence base - VET national data access and Registered Training Organisation (RTO) typology. JSA is relatively 'new' but working hard to provide sufficient evidence base for better decisions for learners, employers, industry, providers etc. 

A ministerial address from Minister Brendan O'Connor follows. Thanked researchers for their work which help inform on how policies etc. impact on communities. Supported the importance of VET to Australia. Skills shortages creates challenges and also opportunities. Announced increase from Commonwealth to all the States to fund VET, to enable more inclusive VET so all Australians are able to skill up and contribute to the occupations which are experiencing shortages. Reiterated the importance of research to inform how these initiatives impact where they are targeted and how they can be improved to provide better solutions. JSA created to provide stronger evidence to inform future development of VET. Support for sustainability/green jobs to help Australia meet carbon zero targets. Care and support sector also prioritised. Support provided to lift the status to VET and also the number of VET researchers. Suggested opportunities for research - understand why half VET learners do not finish; getting more women in to male dominated occupations; 4000 RTOs and how to assure quality and consistency and how they operate, business models etc; how to extend TAFE and what does it look like into the future; and high quality VET workforce required. Evidence informed actions needed in these. 

The conference is then officially opened by Craig Robertson, CEO for the Victorian Skills Authority. Updated on Victorian education space; detailed underlying principles to think through VET; and how the new world of collaboration across VET. Helped to 'connect the dots' between federal and state requirements - moving away from national compliance etc. towards impactful implementation that works at the state level. 

After a short morning tea, presentations then follow across three streams: Challenges of our time, challenges that lie ahead and challenging times.

Notes of presentations I attended follow:

Associate Professor Gary Husband on 'revealing challenges faced by further, adult and vocational education providers through a detailed study of college governance in the UK'. From the project - Process and practices of governing colleges of further education in the UK: Uncovering the complexities of governing - a large 3 1/2 year project. Shared the range of research questions which revolved around the role, and relationships, practices, processes, strategic decision-making, accountability and aspirations and enactments inherent in the governance of further education colleges. Summarised research method which used observations of board meetings, interviews with key players and desk research of governing body paperwork. Then ran through context for the study. One of the rationales was that 45% of colleges were at financial intervention and guidance on governance was seen to one solution towards improving viability. Then summarised findings: non-standing items were key components which often did not receive sufficient attention. Outlined the policy churn and related impacts caused by Brexit and the pandemic which became crucial focuses for college councils, and the impacts of constitutional changes and financial pressures. National economic drivers and funding foci also impact on outcomes and experiences of learners. Concluded that colleges could respond to external factors, both positive opportunities and difficult challenges presented, colleges need to be able to respond quickly especially given the significant future changes. Also shared future work. 

Then Professor Antje Barabasch on 'Radical institutional change - the transformation of the New Zealand VET system'. Data gathered across 6 months in Aotearoa whilst working on another project. Worked on finding how NZ VET works, how is work integrated learning facilitated and what innovations were availed? Interviewed 60 people - government reps, managers, lecturers, industry, students and apprentices. Detailed the profound changes - see book for more detail. Summarised some of the challenges possibly inherent in the new system caused by creation of new entities. Then discussed the various institutional change theories which need to be drawn on to assist the shift of the sector into newer system. Ran through some of the characteristics and justifications for radical change - the market, externalisation, economic, organisation and social inclusion arguments. Compared apprenticeships in Switzerland and Aotearoa NZ contexts. Range of programmes from foundation to post-graduate post a challenge for VET providers i.e. Te Pūkenga. Discussed what may happen - continuation of RoVE; possible reversal as proposed by currently opposition political party; and delays requiring compromises. Encouraged development of VET research, especially to study the system, its efficacies and future possibilities. 

Professor Stephen Billett presents on 'Vocational education futures: purposes, processes and practices'. New challenges are being presented with current increased in geopolitical tensions leading to the need for national self-sufficiency. Development of further adaptable occupational capacities enabling problem solving and to initiate and secure workplace innovations and to remake their occupational practices. Reviewed the personal capacities required - canonical occupational knowledge, situational competence, adaptability. Workplace contributions include ability to innovate and maintain sovereign capacity. Focuses for VET future - assist identifying of occupations which suit; initial occupational preparation; continuing education and training; informing and engaging young people in VET and occupations; and initating and enacting workplace innovations. Without adequate interest and engagement by sufficient numbers and kinds of students, VET occupations' future is perilouf; personal and institutional investments wasted, initial occupational preparation needs to promote adaptability as a foundation for future applicability; CET provisions aligned to working people's needs. 

Therefore need to enhance engagement in VET as a worthy education sector; assistance in identifying 'suitable' occupations; initial occupational preparation needs to include occupational adaptability; educational processes promoting adaptability; provisions for CET needs to be accessible, flexible and responsive; possessing lots of work experiences, making it relevant and engaging. Workplaces provide access to knowledge required for both occupational capacities and situational performance. Initiating and enacting workplace innovations needs to be supported. Therefore localised engagements important and the need to promote learner agency and engagement. 

Followed by Dr. Don Zoellner on 'Optimising Australia's conceptually confused National Training System: One economic option for post-market VET'. Went though with an analysis of the VET policy trail in Australia. Understanding how policy has been made in the past informs what might be possible post-competitive markets with optimisation of a system rather than contestability amongst thousands as one solution. Declining VET markets is part of the market cycle. Applied Foucault's archaeological era discourse analysis to understand the discontinuities. Warns of conceptual confusion, especially in VET research. Multiple realities exists, requiring 'field experts' to interpret into various contexts. Proposed six maps of the notional national VET system and discussed each chronologically with their impacts. 

Lunch provides good opportunity to network and catch up with many across the AVETRA community. 

Professor Antje Barabasch on VET in Switzerland - new learning cultures in enterprises

 Notes from this afternoon's presentation by Professor Antje Barabasch, head of research at the Swiss Federation University of VET who is currently in Aotearoa NZ for several months. She has been exploring the NZ VET system and presents on work undertaken to study VET attitudes of enterprises (business entities); innovative approaches to apprenticeship; and conditions shaping innovative learning culture (processes, strategies in training, forms of work organisation).

Began with an overview of the Switzerland, the Swiss education system, the various pathways through the system from school into tertiary/VET and how the dual track VET works. 73% of each school leaving cohorts enter apprenticeship. Explained how apprenticeships work. Firstly, the apprentice needs to find the position. A contract is set up and the apprentice is paid by the company. Training occurs on job with a competency orientation. In general, 3 - 4 days work in the company and 1 - 2 days at VET school. 'Branch course' also may occur in specialists occupations (equivalent to block courses).

Funding comes from the federal government, the cantons (regions) and private sector. 

Rationale for studies include external competition leading to structural and cultural innovations. Work organisation changes and innovation evolve in apprenticeship traning due to changes in the organisational culture. Study undertook 10 case studies across 6 industries - telecommunications, public transport, postal service, pharmaceutical industry, retail, and machine-engineering).

Learning culture - learning is embedded in cultural settings. 

Shared one major move to 'transversal skills' critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, communication, flexibility etc. Apprenticeships also need to be supported to attain and maintain motivation and enthusiasm. Motivation can be supported by providing opportunities to increase competency and confidence; provision of autonomy is important; and the work in different teams and be open to new team members etc. (i.e. teamwork skills). 

Reported some findings. Used the fitness training enterprises as an example. Then shared a collation of the 'innovations in workplace learning' which help enhance apprentice learning. Themes include mobility and exposition, take over responsibility and entrepreneurship, preparatory courses and special training, and supporting creativity. 

Closed off by summarising how to translate industry expectations into workplace learning. Innovative ways to extend and augment apprenticeships lead to increased attractiveness of the industries and better recruitment. Commitments required from enterprise management to allow for success in innovations. Important for VET teachers and trainers have sufficient skills to ensure coaching and teaching is also able to be flexible to support innovative approaches. Also shared the challenges as it takes time, effort, commitment and good systems to support innovation. 

Workforce Development Council (WDC) - Toi Mai - presentation at CITRENZ

 The annual Computing and IT Education in NZ (CITRENZ) is held at Ara across this week. Some of my educational developer colleagues have been attending some of the presentations which are of relevance to our work - technology and learning and education, learning analytics, integration of māutaranga Māori through ICT education etc.. This morning's keynote is with the CE of Toi Mai, one of the WDCs tasked with a range of objectives, as required through the Reform of VET (RoVE). This WDC represents a wide variety of industries including  creative, technology, entertainment, hairdressing and barbering, makeup artistry, skincare, journalism, radio and television broadcasting, gambling, and sports and recreation - and eclectic mix of disciplines.

Here are notes taken at the presentation:

Jenni Pethig, General Manager for Qualifications and Assurance, began with an introduction on WDCs, their roles, rationale for establishment, and industries they support. Summarised briefly their strategies from 2022 to 2025 and commitment towards shaping the curriculum and to support change to keep up with industry needs. Shared their operational model. The main focus is to engage with industry so that qualifications being reviewed, re-developed etc. reflect present and future workforce needs. Key role also in qualification assurance and moderation. 

Overviewed the qualifications Toi Mai oversees - 160 of them - Diplomas and Certificates to Level 7. In the process of reviewing them. Provided details of computing qualifications and identified those to be reviewed next year. Feedback on these qualifications are being sought. Detailed the process for qualification development and review. Discussed their 'design principles' - collaboration, currency, ensure equity with underserved priority groups. 

Clarified differences between qualifications and programmes and provided definition of skill standards (about to be worked through NZQA processes to develop these). Skill standards are only mandatory if mandated by WDC. Provided details of NZQA move to national curricula, again these are developed by WDCs (where required) and it is optional for WDCs to undertake these. Encouraged submissions through the Toi Mai reviews and developments site. 

For the larger picture, NZQA rules consultation ends 21/10 and there is the NZQA microcredentials update.

Went through the over roles of Toi Mai including quality assurance (moderation etc.) Reminded about the programme endorsement process as WDCs need to endorse all programmes before submission to NZQA. Toi Mai is cognisant of how Diploma programmes pathway into degrees and there is a need to ensure there is congruence. The role is to facilitate, not direct. 

Geoff Simmons, General Manager for strategy, insights and impacts presents on how data has been used to inform Toi Mai direction. Technology and skills is very broad and there is a need to work with all the other WDCs to inform their strategy and also in aspects of digital literacy - as these have a discipline specificity. Now working on a major project which will be completed next year. DigitalNZ is a major 'partner'.

Covered the ICT sector workforce -  current and future work skills and occupational needs. The need to diversify the workforce which is still mainly pakeha (white) and male. Growth is still very high across the sector and recent low immigration flow into NZ has exacerbated skills shortages. The ICT education pipeline comes from large numbers through Private providers (PTEs) - especially in the Certificate qualifications. Discussed pathways, diversity and work ready graduates. There needs to be a clear pathway from a qualification into work. Pathways influence diversity - how these are made more accessible is a key. VET does provide work-ready graduates - along with people who are changing careers to shift. Work-integrated learning degree is being worked on  but has challenges, including employers unwilling to support learning while employees are still at work. ICT apprenticeships likely to start for Certificates and degree apprenticeship maybe in some specialisations e.g. software development. Interesting discussion followed with regards to the role of education, the challenges of developing and introducing a degree apprenticeship, increasing diversity across the industry. 

NZIST - work stream report summary - education services and online learning

The report, out of 7 workstreams. most relevant to my current situation, is the one providing recommendations on 'educational services and online learning'. This report combines two of the workstreams into one report and is of relevance to the day to day teaching and learning activities for NZIST.

The report takes a future focused view. In particular, the impacts of the future of work on vocational education. There is an emphasis on both ensuring outcomes for learners, especially Maori and Pacific; and meeting the current and future skill needs of employers and industries.

Therefore, there is the provision of learner support at NZIST envisioned as 24/7 learner support services and the formation of a learner digital home. The employer interface is more inter-relational in the form of an employer digital support service and the connection to a network of applied research that can be drawn on to support industry innovation.

On the teaching and learning front, there will be the formation of a distributed (but with centralised oversight?) network for Learning design and development. This will be underpinned by the learning library or repository of learning objects/resources. Teaching staff and academic leaders/management will be supported by a network-wide staff training and development service.

In the technology front, there will be an amalgation of all the usual services supporting education including student management and learning management systems including learning analytics.

Overall, the plan makes sense. The scale of integration and the complexities cannot be taken for granted as each of the current 16 subsideries (i.e. existing ITPs) have been independent entities since their inception. As such, it is often not so much the mechanics and strategic solutions which are the barrier, but the 'hearts and minds' of the people who will be operationalising the many proposed items.

Common 'ways of doing' need to be tempered by the flexibility to encourage and maintain innovation and 'thinking out of the box' solutions. As NZIST is essentially a monopoly, there will also need to be care taken to ensure that complacency does not set in, muting forward thinking and progressive developments to meet the challenges posed by the future of work.

The pandemic has shown the way forward for teams to work in a distributed network. This sets up good learnings going forward. There are many advantages in having common curriculum, shared resources, 'master qualifications', standardised processes and academic regulations and collaboration across the sector to support teaching and learning, curriculum development and research. The challenge will be the size of the undertaking. Smaller institutions will perhaps be most likely to feel their individuality is lost us various practices are subsumed into the standards of the large entity. It is important to not wrap processes into to many layers of red tape. All this does is stifle inventive and timely responses to local learner needs.

We now watch with interest how the recommendation encapsulated through the various working stream reports are intepretated. Submissions are invited and close on 15th June. The final strategic documents for NZIST will then be formulated. From experience, much of what is in the current reports will go forward unless there is a large volume of feedback to shift the direction and intent. On the whole, the direction makes sense. However, they do recommend centralised 'top-down' approaches. Management and leadership are essential to ensure the NZIST formation runs well. There will be challenges, especially given the current global and national impacts wrought by the pandemic. So, it will be a 'watch this space' scenario as the NZIST establishes governance, systems and management to meet the vocational education needs of NZ.

NZIST establishment board regional briefing

This morning, I attended a briefing offered by the NZIST establishment board, itself an outcome of the Reform of  Vocational Education (RoVE) in NZ. The roadshow began last week with the intention of briefing every ITP (Institute of Technolgy Polytechnic) in NZ as all will become one entity - provisionally called NZ Institute of Skills and Technology -NZIST and with a recommended name of Pukenga Aotearoa.

The briefing was presented by Murray Strong appointed as Executive Director to lead the establishment process. He provided an overview of what lead to the formation of the NZIST establishment board - being one of 7 key changes to come out of the ROVE process -, what is currently now taking place to ensure that the new institute is up and running on the 1st of April and some indication of the impact / implications following the 1st of April.

On 1st of April, it is envisaged there will be no real change to the day to day running of ITPs. All will become subsideries of NZIST / Pukenga Aotearoa. There will be one academic board, and the ITPs will have sub-committees of the NZIST academic board. The new board will take over governance with the newly appointed CE, Stephen Town, to begin in July. Business as usual with regards to marketing, finance, teaching and learning, research etc. with an emphasis on collaboration across the ITPs replacing the 30 plus model / mindset of competition.

ITOs - industry training organisations - who will morph into Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) are working on a transition plan to ensure a smooth shift of learners supported by ITOs to the ITPs. Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) have been set up in two sectors but many more will be forthcoming. NZIST / Pukenga Aotearoa will work with WDCs, CoVEs and Te Taumata Aronui to ensure the learner journey is supported and there is a seamless/ 'joint up' vocational education system for all NZers.

A positive briefing, with Q & A from the floor addressed well and respectfully. The briefing was well attended by Ara colleagues and a follow up briefing was also provided for stakeholders. The higher level strategy and management of the new entity look to have been thought through, despite the short timeframe. No major changes really for teaching and learning delivery to students. The devil will, as always, be in the implementation. Leadership and communication will be key to bringing everyone on board and working collaboratively.

NZ Institute of Skills and Technology - NZIST - establishment unit

The 'establishment unit' for the merging of all of the current NZ polytechnics and institutes of technology (ITPs) is now up and running.

The establishment board is made up of a group of people with backgrounds / interests in the ITP and Industry training organisation (ITO) backgrounds along with representation from the Tertiary Educaiton Union (TEU) and iwi.

The Day One Deliverables have been identified and there are 10 workstreams to prepare for the April 1st 2020 launch date of the new entity.

Plans include those required to ensure the NZIST is up and running at the planned date:

• selection of a Chief Executive
• establishment of implementation plan
• transitioning ITPs into subsidiaries
• Day one operational requirements --- etc.

Seven workstreams have been formed to work through the complexities of the merger. These are:

• student journey ma[
• employer and community engagement model
• education products and services
• work-based learning development
• new academic architecture
• online delivery model
• international education

Chair, facilitators and principal advisors for each of the workstreams and workstream members (10 people) have been set up (as of beginning of Ocotber). 

“The prime role of these working groups is to provide advice to the incoming permanent NZIST Council in April 2020. The new Council will consider the suggestions and recommendations of the working groups as it makes future decisions,” says Barry Jordan, Chair of the IST Establishment Board. “Co-designing the work programme outputs with wide ranging stakeholders and educators is an important foundation for the long-term sustainability of NZIST.”

Now a bit of a 'wait and see' if there will be 'reports on progress' before Christmas.

NZ Vocational Education and Training (VET) research forum - DAY TWO EARLY MORNING

Professor Pat Walsh, the Chair of the ITF opens the second day of the conference. A drizzly, grey and windy day in Wellington, so good to be indoors enjoying the conference and the company of kindred spirits.

Day two then begins with a keynote from the Honourable Steven Joyce, former Minister of Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment and author of an Australian report ‘Strengthening skills review of Australian VET sector: Skills training reform: a Trans-Tasman view’. Provided background on the Australian review and using this to comment on the current RoVE in NZ. The review is now followed by putting into place, the recommendations. From his viewpoint, Australia had viewed the NZ VET process as beening successful! And yet NZ is in the process of a major change. Both countries challenged by the rapid changes in the nature of work / employment and skill needs. All countries experience cycles of rise and fall of student numbers. When employment is high, there will be low in enrolments in ITPs. Australia has school leaving age of 18 and a very strong university sector, putting the squeeze on TAFEs with regards to potential students. Asked the question, what is skills training and if it did not exist, would we invent it? Yes. Common sense tells us that ‘learning by doing’ / ‘earn while you learn’ involving experience and applied learning are required. If we have VET, what are the attributes of the system. Most important to have support of employers. NZ has taken 30 years to have growing numbers of trainees and apprentices. Important to ensure the things that work are supported and enhanced. VET must provide clear pathways for learners – i.e. school to VET and then training to work. Always a challenge to start apprenticeships in new industries. NZ has Skills pathway and better accessible information on careers. Strong industry voice still required in schools. Pathways from study, whether uni or VET, into work still a challenge. A good VET system must provide the skills required by people to get a job. Flexibility and agility in updating qualifications is important. Addition of ‘academic freedom’ into VET system argued to perhaps not be required?! Moving to just one monolithic provision, may stifle choice and eventually quality. Regulation across the sector still important. Substantiated why NZ VET should not go through change as the system is not broken and reasons for change are to shore up the public VET sector, rather than enhance VET for learners and employers.

Then concurrent sessions begin and I attend the presentation by Mandy McGirr managing director of McGirr Training, on ‘helping youth to develop employability and to signal what employers seek--- soft skills, transferable skills and work experience’. One of the purposed of education and qualification system is employability development. Employability development can be envisaged as a short or long game focus. Short game is getting a job and can be any job, mostly low pay/security. Long game focus is to provide greater mobility / progression / security (i.e. career managing). Asks the question ‘ what are the employability development support roles (or potential roles) of the NZ public education / qualification system and its players? What is the role or ‘value add’ of the VET systems? Who will do what role and how? Defined for the purposes of her work, soft/non-cognitive skills, transferable skills, work experience, signals and employability development. One resource – UK based – what do employers seek when hiring young workforce entrants? In general employers seek past experience and a range of soft/non-cognitive abilities. Signals are important to connect the skills potential workers have with the perceived required work /occupational skills. Third party signal senders (training providers, referees, other verifications – drivers licence / badges / micro-credentials) are part of the loop. Implications for supporting employability include that gaining skills is only part of the challenge. Individual signalling capability is an important contributor. Work experience provides one key signal for suitability especially providing affordances for learning and practicing soft skills. So what is the role of VET in the provision of employability development?

Reform of Vocational Education - NZ - amendment bill

As part of the NZ reform of vocational education, the wheels have begun to move with the first official step - the passing of the Education (Vocational education and training reform) Amendment bill. This bill sets up the regulatory framework for the future structure and governance of the sector and is going through its first reading. When all sorted, the structures commence 1st April 2020 and the bill sets out transitional arrangements to shift the entire sector.

The bill will establish:
- the new framework
- workforce development councils (to replace some of the standards setting function of current Industry training organisations
- the one entity NZ Institute of Skills and Technology (combining the 16 current institutes of technologies and polytechnics)
- the transitioanal arrangements for a smooth transfer.

Submissions are being gathered through parliament and there will be some 'tweaks' before the final passing of the amendment bill.

Submissions - Reform of Vocational Education - New Zealand

Did a catch up on the Reform of Vocational Education in New Zealand. Submissions for the Minister of Education's proposals, closed in mid-April.

A large number (over a hundred)of submissions were submitted. Given the tight timeframe for submissions, the number shows the importance of vocational education.

Here is a summary of a few of interest to my research:

Ako Aotearoa's submission expressed the views from their role as the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence. Ako Aotearoa supported the proposal for a unified vocational education system. They saw the reform as an opportunity to ensure there was an emphasis on teaching standards and the development of teaching capability. In turn, to ensure all learners, during the transition, were supported through the 'new' systems' implementation.

The ITF (Industry Training Federation) representing the eleven Industry Training Otganisations, provided a different perspective. As the proposal affected ITOs in many respects, including their disbanding and replacement with Industry Standards Boards. Their core activities of supporting work-based apprentices and trainees, is proposed to be shifted to the mega-ITP. Hence, their submission was to rationalise the need to leave the support of workplace training with ITOs. Constructive advice was provided as a way forward including the strengthening of the roles of ITOs and their continuance and the introduction of an employer incentive scheme to encourage employers to join the system.

The union for tertiary teachers and allied workers, the TEU (Tertiary Education Union), agreed with the proposals as laid out by the Ministry. The provisos were to ensure the reforms met the requirements and commitments of the Treaty of Waitangi, an opportunity to address aspects of gender equality within the NZ VET system, a commitment to support VET and to engage unions in the processes of transformation, transition and implementation.

The NZ VET sector is now awaiting the government's response to the consultation process. Almost all the consultation documents decry the short length of time availed for response. However, the number of responses, many of them supportive and proactive, has at least raised awareness of the size and importance of VET contributions to the economical and societal aspects of NZ.