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Our 2011 research 'Paths to promotion' found that head teachers in TAFE NSW valued their positions which mixed teaching and leadership. They said that the most important aspects of their role were educational leadership, section management, increasing quality in teaching, working with industry and other providers, and supporting innovative teaching and learning practices. They valued the tertiary education qualifications they held. However, they also said they needed to further develop their skills and capabilities so that they could be part of the future direction of TAFE. They needed to develop their financial management skills, technological skills, entrepreneurial skills and leadership skills. Given the current focus on professional development of vocational education and training (VET) practitioners/professionals and the consideration of a national VET professional association, the time is right to find out what is happening in the rest of the country. This research paper will tap into similar positions in TAFE institutes in the other states and territories, to find out their views. How do they manage educational, management and leadership roles? What qualifications do they have? What skills and capabilities do they think they need for their roles in a changing VET sector? What qualifications do they believe they need to effectively undertake their jobs in the future, and how can they gain such qualifications? This research has the opportunity to impact on current policy development around capabilities of the VET sector, and to influence funding allocation for professional educational leadership skills development.

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This survey was undertaken in February 2011 of Head Teachers and Special Program Coordinators in TAFE NSW, and those who either aspired to be Head Teachers or managers who had once been Head Teachers. The survey was sent out to some 1200 respondents across TAFE NSW, and when closed on 18 February, there were 420 responses, around a third of the number of Head Teachers in TAFE NSW. Given it was a busy time of year, we may have been able to gather more responses a little later in the term. Eight-five per cent of respondents said that they were currently Head Teachers or Special Program Co-ordinators, and an additional 30 respondents said they were currently acting in Head Teacher positions. The aim of the survey was to provide a basis for a paper entitled 'Paths to promotion' which focused mainly on the current skills and capabilities of Head Teachers, their current and future challenges and the qualifications they would need. It is a follow-up to the work we undertook during 2010 on 'Raising the bar on VET teacher education qualifications', where over 500 TAFE teachers responded and overwhelmingly said that they needed tertiary level teaching qualifications to do their jobs effectively. TAFE Head Teachers have been identified as holding possibly the most critical positions in TAFE NSW, in which they undertake both leadership and management roles. This frontline role has been described as 'where the rubber hits the road as far as doing business is concerned' (Mulcahy 2003, p.57). In his 2009 research 'Head Teacher voices', funded by the TAFE Teachers Association, Stephen Black detailed the concern of Head Teachers that they were not recognised and appreciated in their roles. As one of the respondents to his survey said, 'I love my job but am frustrated constantly by unrealistic expectations'. We wondered whether anything had changed in almost three years, but in the main we wanted to focus not on the jobs but whether Head Teachers believed they had the skills and capabilities to effectively undertake the jobs as they saw them, and what skills and qualifications they might need in the future. It is about the future of the Head Teacher role, and as such the data collected may provide some useful advice to TAFE management and the State Government. It is not however about the current industrial agreement that operates in TAFE NSW and is under review. Consequently we hope to be able to ask similar questions of frontline managers in some relevant private [registered training organisations] RTOs in [New South Wales] NSW, to consider any possible similarities or differences. The survey is separated into four sections: (1) general information; (2) qualifications; (3) skills and capabilities; and (4) issues for Head Teachers. We wanted to know which aspects of the job they saw as being most important, what they saw were the challenges for the future, the qualifications they currently had, and what skills and capabilities they thought they might need to continue developing in their roles. The survey and this report are also very timely in also picking up on the work of John Mitchell and John Ward on advanced VET practitioners, and the Productivity Commission's report on the vocational education and training workforce.

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