Advancing equity: merging 'bottom up' initiatives with 'top down' strategies

The purpose of this study was to investigate the way in which short-term funded 'pilot' equity initiatives permeate the TAFE institutes where they were located and to identify the factors which help successful equity initiatives seeded in these TAFE institutions through short-term funding to 'take root and spread'. The study highlights a message heard by the researchers, that the cause of equity seems to have lost traction during the past decade of vocational education and training (VET) reform. The study found that funds allocated through short-term pilot equity initiatives have been primarily used to purchase direct support for learners, including a substantial increase in teacher-to-student ratios. This individual support for disadvantaged clients, often with multiple disadvantages, results in good outcomes. However, the initiatives rarely permeate into the institutes to the extent of influencing other practitioners. As well, the most successful initiatives are those which had been established by people in the community rather than by government or government agencies, 'outsiders' who had a long-term commitment to the specific equity group. The study found that the funding model ('seed funding') is flawed, suggesting that one-off pilot projects rarely generate ongoing provision and need to be systematically applied in other contexts to test their long-term applicability. The overall conclusion was that such initiatives lack cohesion and their spread was minimal. Policy-makers and funding bodies responsible for equity in the VET sector need to rethink the funding mechanisms currently used to stimulate innovative equity practice.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the way in which short-term funded 'pilot' equity initiatives permeate the TAFE institutes where they were located and to identify the factors which help successful equity initiatives seeded in these TAFE institutions through short-term funding to 'take root and spread'. The study highlights a message heard by the researchers, that the cause of equity seems to have lost traction during the past decade of vocational education and training (VET) reform. The study found that funds allocated through short-term pilot equity ...  [+] Show more