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This study explored the changing role of staff development for vocational education and training (VET) teachers and trainers in Australian public and private registered training organisations (RTOs). Substantial reforms in the VET sector over the past decade have had considerable impact on the work of teachers and trainers. In this context of rapid change, the nature, direction, delivery, access and funding responsibility of staff development are undergoing transformation. The purpose of the research, therefore, was to examine current staff development provisions, research a range of issues relating to the staff development of VET teachers and trainers and make recommendations in the light of the new education and training environment. Show less

Mature-aged workers are becoming increasingly important in all Australian workplaces. In a tight labour market, organisations need to retain workers well past the age at which in previous decades many workers began to think of retiring; and better health means that people are keen to keep working for longer. Increasingly competitive markets require organisations to encourage higher performance and flexibility from all workers meaning that job roles change and expand constantly, with concomitant training needs. Therefore it is imperative that the pedagogical issues associated with the training of mature-aged workers are examined closely. This project was commissioned to draw together existing knowledge about the training of mature-aged workers augmented by a limited amount of fieldwork in the Australian manufacturing industry.

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The phrase ‘skilled work’ is often used to describe only those jobs that have traditional apprenticeships attached to them. The dangers of this outdated way of perceiving skill have been all too apparent in the recent debates over migration and international students, where it has been easy for influential commentators to affect government policy in ways that are detrimental to the service industries. This project seeks to challenge such notions of skill and realign the way that Australian policy makers, analysts and industry stakeholders think about skill. It will consider why relevant Australian policy-makers and practitioners think some jobs are skilled and others are not. Furthermore, this project will move towards a superior way of looking at skill by developing a conceptual framework for examining and analysing skill in jobs specifically for the service industries. By producing an initial exploration of the topics this project is intended to function as a pilot for a future project that will involve comparisons with other industry areas and conduct additional research. The aims of this pilot project are to: provide an initial critical account of the attitudes towards skill that are held by different stakeholder groups in the training and workplace relations systems; involve stakeholder groups in the development of an evidence-based multiple-frame model that can be used to examine skill; validate the multiple-frame model in a range of jobs and service industry areas, and verify its utility for policy development; and shape the multiple-frame model into a practical tool for trial use in policy and practice as well as a theoretical model.

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This research study aimed to find out how teenage workers developed their employability skills in their first formal jobs and set out to document the processes by which first-time workers develop these skills while at work. During mid-2002, case studies were carried out in 12 Australian enterprises (including three group training companies) of varying size, and drawn from different industry areas. The enterprises were located in four states: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland, and included examples of novice workers who were part-time student workers as well as school leavers in their first jobs. Industry areas chosen were indicative of those employing the majority of novice workers, and included fast food, retail, electrical, electronics, hairdressing, hospitality, administration, local government, manufacturing and newspaper delivery. The study found that although employability skills may be developed through a range of activities and at a variety of locations, there are reasons why workplaces are appropriate and even vitally important sites for their development. Employability skills are developed throughout a person’s working life and hence employers need to view the process of employability skills development as a whole-of-workforce issue. Finally, there was little indication from the research that employers desired novice workers to be any different from the way they were already. They accepted that, in employing a teenager who had never worked before, they would have to put some effort into making the employee a functioning worker. The report is therefore not advocating any radical departure from existing practice, but merely an extension of such practice to more workplaces. The report also offers a number of suggestions for formalising many of the strategies which already exist. Show less

This research examines the ‘psychological contract’ or the unwritten expectations of employers and employees in an employment relationship. The particular aim of this study was to discover whether mismatched expectations have any effect on retention in apprenticeships and traineeships. The research indicated that overall there was a very high level of agreement on the obligations of the two major parties to the employment contract. In most cases these were the same obligations as exist in any employment contract, but with a much greater emphasis on training as an obligation on both sides. The provision of training was seen as the most important obligation of employers, while serious attention to learning was seen as apprentices’ and trainees’ most important obligation, second only to attendance and punctuality. The set of training obligations overall rated higher scores than the set of employment obligations. Paying greater attention to the areas perceived as deficient, such as employers providing specific time for training, fair treatment and resources to do the job, may be a means of improving retention. Show less

This report begins with some background information about the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system, its students and its teaching workforce. A brief overview of VET teachers in Australia follows this. Three main aspects of the VET teaching workforce are then covered: (1) working conditions of vocational training teachers, including wages and working hours, compared with other occupations; (2) qualifications and professional development for vocational training teachers; and (3) career development, career guidance, and career management for vocational training teachers. A number of Appendices are provided for further information, and as templates that could potentially be adapted for implementation.

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The VOCEDplus landmark documents are key documents considered by history and authoritative commentary to have influenced the development of the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system, providing vision and/or leading to significant change. This paper is part of a series of overviews that analyse and describe how these landmark documents impacted on the development of various aspects of Australia's VET sector.

The paper focuses on the influence of four significant and central landmark reports on the development of the apprenticeship system in Australia, along with a consideration of the important role played by two later reports that extend past the landmarks document timeline, included because of their significance and specific focus on apprenticeships. Three key themes relating to the apprenticeship system are explored with reference to these six core reports: (1) system size; (2) gender participation in the system; and (3) the key concerns of the reports. A brief overview of a further six landmark documents with a secondary emphasis on apprenticeships rounds out this overview. The following landmark documents are examined: Commonwealth-State Apprenticeship Inquiry [Wright report] (available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 119.1095); Education, training and employment: report of the Committee of Inquiry into Education and Training [Williams report] (TD/LMR 85.677); Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Labour Market Programs [Kirby report] (TD/LMR 85.649); Report of the Review of the ANTA Agreement (TD/LMR 85.652); The employment of apprentices: the barriers [Marshman report] (TD/LMR 85.655); Skills training for the 21st century: a report on skills training: apprenticeships and traineeships (TD/LMR 85.661); The Australian Vocational Certificate Training System [Carmichael report] (TD/LMR 85.646); Creating a future direction for Australian vocational education and training: a discussion paper on the future of the VET system (TD/LMR 102.715). The two later, significant reports examined are: Apprenticeships Reform Advisory Group: recommendation report (TD/TNC 125.117); A shared responsibility: apprenticeships for the 21st century: final report of the Expert Panel (TD/TNC 103.740). Show less

This report is a review of the literature, available research and current Australian practice relating to work placements. Its purpose is to draw together findings on work placements from three educational sectors in order to inform policy and practice in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector. The review has uncovered many gaps in the literature, indicating the need for further research in the VET sector. It is suggested that a major gap is the lack of a scoping study carried out in the school sector. Many critical challenges in work placements are highlighted, such as resourcing, professional development, tensions between workplace and provider cultures, variations in quality of workplace learning environments and equity in access. Show less

This report presents the main findings of the ILO survey on national initiatives to promote quality apprenticeships in the G20 member states. It was conducted between September and December 2017 as an ILO initiative to take stock of and widely share good practices in this area. The study focuses on the G20 economies, collectively representing a large part of the world, accounting for around 85 per cent of global economic output, two-thirds of the world's population, and 75 per cent of international trade, thus providing a good starting point for a global overview of apprenticeship. Another reason for the focus on the G20 is its strong policy commitments to apprenticeships and related initiatives in recent years. The survey was designed to document initiatives and promote knowledge-sharing with a view to facilitating social dialogue on skills development, particularly on quality apprenticeships. The socio-economic contexts in which apprenticeship training takes place vary from country to country. Hence the national initiatives presented in the report may not be directly comparable.

It is important to note that the aim of the survey was not to describe the differences among apprenticeships systems nor to make an international comparison of apprenticeship promotion efforts. It is thus beyond the scope of this survey to compare and gauge the effectiveness of policy interventions and actions taken by the ILO's tripartite constituents. The report has four main sections and eight appendices. The main sections are: (i) introduction; (ii) findings and good practices A: government actions (referring to appendices 3 and 4); (iii) findings and good practices B: social partners' actions (referring to appendices 5, 6 and 7); and (iv) summary and conclusions. The appendices are as follows: (1) the three survey instruments; (2) list of organizations responding for each category in each country; (3) tables of the governments' quantitative responses; (4) tables of government quantitative responses by country; (5) tables of employers' organizations' quantitative responses; (6) tables of workers' organizations' quantitative responses; and (7) tables of employers' and workers' quantitative responses, by country.

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This study provides a comprehensive picture of the way in which employers navigate the Australian training system and establish partnerships with registered training organisations (RTOs). In terms of evolution over the last 20 years three key factors emerge: (1) while the take-up of nationally recognised training by employers has not increased substantially, this type of training is being used in different ways; (2) the nature of the partnerships between RTOs and employers has changed, from a relationship based on fee-for-service provision to one based on long-term mutual collaboration; and (3) a change in the role of the training function and training staff in organisations has been observed.

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