Another busy day at the conference :)
Greg Durkin, Director of the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) opens the day. Greg began with an appropriate whakatuaki (Māori proverb). He summarised the contribution of VET to supporting and progressing the Aotearoa NZ economy and the need for parity of esteem and recognition of qualification levels for all disciplines.
The day's first keynote is with Honourable Erica Stanford, Minister of Education. Detailed the work being undertaken to review the education system to increase equity, parity of outcomes, and lifting the standards of school-based education. Teachers are being provided with development to enact structured literacy and numeracy. By the time students complete their schooling, their literacy and numeracy will support their further educational journey along with their lifelong learning. National qualifications also need reform and require review as well. There is a lack of consistency and a lowering of the bar of the entry into tertiary education. Therefore, standards in literacy and numeracy require focus to ensure all NZers are set up for future success. Vocational and educational pathways need to be on par. A National qualification needs to have industry-led and educational that have parity.
Encouraged the need for industry to be engaged to ensure that the curriculum has the knowledge and skills required to young people as they leave school. The Industry Skills Boards (ISBs) will need to play a key role in connecting the different workflows. Curriculum reform to a knowledge-based and industry-led will be a key. Equal value is assigned to these so that it increases the parity between vocational and academic.
Then the second keynote is with Craig Robertson, CEO of the Victorian Skills Authority. He presented on 'The vocational renaissance (with some international reflections)'. Began with a overview of the VET landscape in Victoria / Australia and the history of the TAFE sector's ups and downs along with the ways VET is structured (stand-alone / independent, federation model and centralised). Then discussed the similarities and differences between Australia and Aotearoa NZ.
VET in both countries inherited from the UK and still follows this model still. Reiterated the importance of policies, government roles on how education systems affect the country's economic and social aspirations. Used fireworks as an example of a linear process and digitisation which is much more flexible in the way the data can be reconfigured to create many variations, Summarised industry 4.0, examples and its impact on VET. The historical impact on jobs shows that males with lower education have had relative wage decline. Society has had a narrow, one-dimensional view of human talent and privileged cogntiive/white collar work. The cost is that there when AI arrives, we are unprepared for its competition. Work is more than cognitive. Summarised the changing nature of work with the rise of the new technician. Division of labour from the late 1990s is now shifting with there being less managerial and intermediate/coordinating jobs. Small businesses do not fit the larger organisational companies. The new worker needs to have a broad occupationally oriented skills, coupled with a sound understanding of the relevant theoretical principles. Check Lewis (2025) innovation, tehnician and VET in JVET.
Introduced the work of Jobs and Skills Australia's report of the impact of AI on work. Compared the % workforce potentially exposed to automation and those to augmentation by AI. AI will have most impact on cognitive work but less so on VET type work. VET workers will rise to the fore as a choice for sustainable careers. Shared a report from Vietnam of the effect of technology as an example, Critical thinking, written/verbal communication, numeracy, complex problem solving, etc are much higher in necessary than basic digital skills. AI is set to increase GDP due to its potential to augment human capabilities. It is important to think beyond a linear approach to training. Need to think about new skills with many 'programming/writing' jobs compared to physical labour. Focus needs to be put on science and thinking skills (i.e. the critical technical skills - VET).
Summarised how various countries deal with the above. England has continued reviewed qualifications - e.g. O, A, T, V levels in an attempt to cater to the large range of students leaving school. NZ moving from unit standards to skills standard. VET in schools moving to skills standards and equal volume of learning. focus on competence, provide flexibility and assessment and portability of learning. Australia moving into purpose-driven qualifications - type 1 competency to occupation; type 2 - competency to industry; type 3 - application of skills and knowledge driven by learning outcomes. Implementation of this concept has been a challenge thus far. Recommended to read Mark Carney's book 'and economist's to guide everything that matters'.
Sessions continue.
First up, Greg Durkin and Phoebe Gill (Scarlatti) present on a ConCOVE supported project 'The $750 million question: who really pays for apprenticeships? Began by introduction of the rationale for the project. In the construction/infrastructure context, industry, government and taxpayers want a highly training workforce, better quality housing and buildings and who is doing the investing in training. Asked 'do you think employers spend more on wages or time spent on support? How much time does an employer spend on support per apprentices per month? What extra costs employers cover for their apprentices?
The survey undertaken with 317 BCITO employers, industry specific pates online and modelling and extrapolation. Five categories of employer contribution - annual wages and block course fees; wages during block course; development support; time for pastoral care and engaging with provider. Interpretation complicated as there are many ways to define support, employers may not actively measure this, some could happen without formal training, no ROI, benefits and the study is selective pool of employers.
On average $28,000 per apprentice (range from 10000 to 70000). The vast majority is time put into pastoral care and provider engagement. These include one-on-one check-ins, career guidance, buddy system etc. Around 17 hours a month across supervisors, peers and apprentices. A bit of time saving if there are multiple apprentices. Time mostly in meetings with training advisors, reviewing workbooks, and completing evidence. Average of 10.5 hours from employers/supervisor and apprentices with BCITO. $$ support mostly for consumables, tool allowances, transport, meals/drinks and counselling services. Therefore, estimation of $100 per apprentices per month - which excludes consumables and tool allowances. 2/3 accessed subsidies to support block courses (fees and apprentice wages). Common to pay annual and block course fees, some split the costs, in general it was an all or nothing approach though. 90% paid apprentices for attending block course.
Most of the $$ is in the form of time ($637 million) but these are engaged employers and there will be wider variants across the construction industry. For BCITO/earnlearn apprentices (22,000apprentices) $659 million and Connexis/earnlearn (3,600) $104 million. What the employer gets back is more productive workers, return of 3x to 10x on the $$ /time put in. Well trained employees are crucial to a successful business and they can only import them, steal them or create them through apprenticeship.
Then Dr. Mark Bradford, Claire Le Grice and Fiona Melrose from Skills Group/ Institute on ' ideas that RIPPL: a system level practical approach for disseminating research and innovation. Change is challenging, so how can people thrive through change? Fiona began with an introduction. The team work at Skills Group which exists within a wider sector context of reform, consolidation and disruption. RIPPL is a system level reproach that connects research, teaching and professional learning. Research belongs to everyone in the organisation. Uses a community of practice framework to bring together teams and to help socially construct solutions. The process needs to be psychologically safe so that people feel safe to experiment without fear of judgement, learning and creativity accelerate (Edmondson, 2019).
Mark overviewed the background and ways RIPPL was developed. Used ZEME as a case study of the application to increase creativity and innovation. Ran 34 workshops and generated 90 pieces of work to disseminate what was learnt.
Fiona continued with examples on how research can be empowering for many people. Research can be undertaken by everyone. Claire continued with details of the process. Especially how to engage people in the process - trust is important - opt-in freely, keep it playful, experiment with joy, honour the clock.
Plenary from Dr. Michael Johnston from the NZ Initiative on 'vocational subjects for senior secondary school: What will it take to get it right? ' from his work on 'trade routes: charting new pathways from secondary school to industry training. Shared data of activity for 16-19 year olds and 20-24 years. In general, at 16 - 19 60.1% still at school, 10.9 in degree and 10% involved in workplace learning, dip study, certificates 1 -4 and workplace based training 11.3% are NEETs. By 20-24 most have left school, 23 % in university 55.7% in employment, 10% in via and 13% still as NEETs!
Schools primarily geared to teaching the NZ curriculum which morphs into a track to university at around year 10. We do not want to have a sieving mechanism earlier (as per countries in Europe/Asia). There is no equivalent of university entrance for VET. Limited basis for young people to make informed decisions (pathways and earning potential important). Culture seeing VET as a second rate option. A step in the right direction starting with the current change to the school curriculum. The NZ Certificate and Advanced Certificate of Education will replace NCEA in 2029 and 2030. Assessment for vocational subjects is likely to be through industry skills standards (replacing unit standards). Each subject can be split in two to total to 40 credits. These will either provide the NZCE with 40 credits in vocational learning or be used to provide students with an opportunity to try out a few industries.
Skill standards tend to have a workplace-based assessment, This may be difficult for schools to organise. Advantages of skill standards have potential to escape the stigma attached to unit standards (atomised, disintegrated); common requirements in skill standards as they need to be conducted in the workplace; 'indicate content' could facilitate curriculum development; and partially completed vocational subjects can be ported into tertiary institutions.
Challenges of skills standards include common requirement to be conducted in the workplace, intention to report on 100-point scale with overall grades for each subject; and higher grades at the subject level will be needed to establish parity of esteem. Therefore, there will be higher grades for subjects (rather than standards); criteria for skill standards should represent as many levels of performance as assessors can reliability discriminate; graduate profiles for level 1 and 2 qualifications could be a good place to start; and purpose-built standards may be more coherent than using existing ones. Contextual considerations include that work-integrated learning opportunities will be essential; students should often be expected to transition during the school year; dual enrolments should be commonplace; VET must become business-as-usual for schools; and ISBs must be in it for the long haul. Schools need a better integrated system as currently they are independent entities and this has let to too many variations.
After lunch, a session with Dee Earle, Principal research analyst from the Ministry of Education on 'from school to skilled work: monitoring the impact of Gateway and Trades academies'. This is based on a recent report. Gateway started 2001 and trade academies in 2010. Summarised the objectives of each. in 2024, 15,455 in 380 participated in Gateway and 11515 students in 24 trades academies across 402 schools. Both increase student retention, raise NCEA level 2 achievement and support transition into further education and employment. 17% of students participated in both.
Followed 2014 cohort - 16 then and 24 in 2023; and 2018 cohort who are 20 in 2023. Included students that took part and did not complete and students who did both.
Limitations were summarised - what it does and what it does not. Evaluated if they completed school/tertiary qualification, ever been an apprentice and in employment.
Findings are: similar outcomes for Gateway and Trades academies; most stayed in education at 17 and achieved level 2 or higher by 18; men likely to enrol in apprenticeships but low for women; men in employment, positive benefits, Covid 19 resilience identified, and trade academy effectiveness maintained even when numbers participating increased in 2019.
Both programmes improved outcomes for participants. Pathways into VET stronger for men, smaller effect for Māori and Pacific and little to no effects for women. Employment outcomes revealed strong effects for men and than women. Smaller effects for Māori and Pacific. Q & A followed.
A panel convenes to discuss the 'future of VET research'.
On the panel are Arthur Graves and Katherine Hall with Josh Williams as moderator. Katherine shared a vision for centre of excellence Summarised the challenges laid out for VET, completions, funding, qualifications and skills. Large number of workers needed to support infrastructure but training plays an important way. Whether the changes to VET / school curriculum is able to deliver the skilled/trained workers required. There is already research out there and we need to draw on these to inform the way forward.
Arthur shared the food and fibre centre CoVE story - there is value in applied research. F & F had beginnings through collaboration - government agencies, providers, industry. The CoVE was positioned to be industry-led, government funded and learner focused. The value proposition was to invest in transforming of the talent pool and growth of the food and fibre sector.
Summarised some of the projects undertaken. Discussed the challenges of implementation. Funding in research has been funded through CoVEs, Ako Aotearoa which are external to where the challenges occur. Collaboration is still required to apply research towards solutions.
What does CoVE mean? Katherine shared the vision of how to reimagine the centre of excellence. Innovation Lab (design) informs education (future proofing) and resources (to benefit industry). Also can be used to support advocacy plus feed back into think tank (research) to continue the process.
Arthur discussed the need for an interface between school/tertiary education/industry rather than to think about the process as transition. Making progression and going on a journey are not transitions. They are inter-related and should be a progression. A structured interface (from 16 - 19) needs to be better organised. Dual enrolments are possible through legislation etc. but leadership is required. Dual enrolment needs to be explicit and be a standard rather than an option.
Katherine was asked to select 3 ConCOVE projects. Difficult but degree apprenticeships, Tui Tuia, and the 'bystander series' were the ones that she selected.
What can we do as a sector that can be done to support future VET research? Use the opportunities for the secondary/tertiary system change. Slido pol followed to collect perspectives on the forum and to gauge appetite for another forum next year.
