Industry insights on skills needs
The Education IRC's 2019 Skills Forecast suggests the top three priority skills for the Education industry are:
- Understanding, implementation of, and compliance with, regulatory changes
- Demonstrating an ability to adapt to changes and continuously deliver high quality training
- Undertaking and applying research to training practice.
The Skills Forecast states that the top five generic skills required in the Education industry are:
- Learning agility / Information literacy / Intellectual autonomy and self-management (adaptability)
- Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) (Foundation skills)
- Design mindset / Thinking critically / System thinking / Solving problems
- Communication / Virtual collaboration / Social intelligence
- Managerial / Leadership.
The Skills Forecast also identifies the top four priority industry and occupation skills as:
- Skills to identify individual learner needs
- Working and catering for learners with disability
- Planning, organising and delivering learning in both group based and workplace learning environments
- Facilitating of online and face to face learning.
According to the job vacancy data, the top requested skills by employers were communication skills, followed by planning, building effective relationships, research and English. The most advertised occupations were Performing Arts Teacher, Co-Educator and Literacy Teacher. The top employers were the Government of Victoria, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University and the Government of Queensland. The top locations for job advertisements were Victoria and New South Wales.
The Education IRC's 2019 Skills Forecast acknowledges that the level of skill required for workers in the vocational education sector is high due to the requirement for contemporary industry expertise, as well as specialist training and assessing skills. In addition to specialised skills in subject areas, key current competency needs for VET sector workers include:
- Identifying individual learner needs, including learning style and language, literacy and numeracy skill needs
- Designing and developing learning strategies, resources and programs
- Planning, organising and delivering learning in both group based and workplace learning environments
- Facilitating online and face to face learning, including active listening, monitoring and presentation skills
- Designing and developing assessment tools
- Planning and executing activities and processes to assess competence and participating in validation of assessment.
The ability to apply these skills requires VET trainers and assessors to have a developed understanding of the psychology of learning, of different learning styles and the pedagogy of the sector.
The Education IRC's 2019 Skills Forecast highlights several key drivers in the vocational education sector:
- Structural economic changes – Structural change often means that while some industries grow, jobs in some industries will disappear in response to industry decline. Workers in these industries will be required to gain employment in other sectors and may require reskilling to do this. Growth in services exports (education and tourism), health and social services (including aged care), and some professional services (notably finance and technology services) will mean that many new students will need to be trained to fill positions in these industries. It will be important to ensure that all learners and workers are prepared for careers, rather than for a single job role, and that they have the right skills to take advantage of emerging opportunities. The VET sector has a critical role to play in enabling this training and ensuring that learners and workers are prepared for future industries and occupations. Additionally, it will be critical that the VET trainer and assessor workforce continues to upskill and seek professional development in order to retain currency. These structural changes also mean that where there is an increased demand for new workers or upskilling in an industry, there is potential for an increased demand for VET trainers and assessors in those growth industries. Conversely, there may be a reduced demand for VET trainers and assessors in slowing industries. Overall, the increasing sophistication of the economy will require VET trainers and assessors to be better skilled and prepared for these changes in the workforce.
- Technological advances – In the VET sector, the impact of new and emerging technology is dual faceted. Technological developments are impacting how vocational education material is delivered, thereby impacting the necessary skill requirements of trainers and assessors, whilst simultaneously impacting the content of vocational training.
- Regulatory reform – The regulatory and policy environment pertaining to the VET sector is complicated, with numerous layers of State and Federal regulation and standards. This creates a complex operating environment for organisations as well as individual trainers and assessors who must stay abreast of varying requirements.
- Learner cohort changes – Key trends are changing the composition and characteristics of the VET learner cohort and it can be challenging for VET teachers to address the needs of a very diverse learner population. Reskilling and upskilling across industries as job requirements change will likely result in a learner cohort that encompasses a variety of ages, backgrounds and experiences. VET has a high level of engagement with diverse learner groups including Indigenous learners and learners with a disability.
The Education IRC is undertaking a project to review the TAE Training Package to ensure it aligns with the current skills needs of the VET sector and provides greater pathways into the profession. The TAE Training Package was last reviewed in 2015 and uploaded in 2016. In the years since, the VET teaching, training and assessment landscape has drastically changed. The Education IRC considers that the TAE Training Package is currently not fit for purpose and does not fully address the needs of the VET sector for the following reasons:
- TAE units of competency do not deliver the variety, nor depth, of skills and knowledge that are relevant in a modern VET teaching, training and assessment environment.
- The packaging rules of TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment do not provide adequate flexibility for learners pursuing the variety of VET teaching, training and assessment job roles that exist in the modern labour market.
- The TAE Training Package does not make use of 'stackable' skill sets that allow for a 'scaffolded' approach to skill development and attainment of qualifications.
- The TAE Training Package is not structured to support the range, and diversity of career pathways available to workers in the VET industry, meaning that existing qualifications (beyond TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment) are often underutilised.
- The structure and content of the TAE Training Package does not address the skills gaps of those working in other education sub-sectors such as VET for Secondary Students or enterprise training.
The holistic review of the TAE Training Package will review six qualifications and 55 units of competency in the TAE Training Package. This project will run until the end of 2022.
The Education IRC is also undertaking an E-assessment project. This project was created as an urgent response to address an identified gap in e-assessment in the TAE Training Package involving the development of two new units of competency. This project will be completed in early 2022.
The opinions of currently employed VET trainers and assessors were investigated to identify what should be included in a program of learning that will prepare them and others to be effective in their roles of supporting Australian industry and enterprise. The report VET Practitioners: A Front-Line Investigation, identifies the competencies that VET trainers and assessors require in order to perform their roles effectively.
Conceptualisations about teachers and teaching have important implications for teachers' practice, expectations of their practice, their initial education and continuing professional development. The journal article Teacher as Person: The Need for an Alternative Conceptualisation of the 'Good' Teacher in Australia's Vocational Education and Training Sector, presents empirical data from a qualitative multiple case study to discuss conceptualisations of good teaching in Australia's VET sector. It argues that the sector's contemporary discourse, influenced by neoliberalist reforms and accompanied by the development of a culture of performativity, reflects a predominantly 'reductionist' approach to conceptualising teaching – one which seeks to atomise teaching to produce a prescriptive list of capabilities VET teachers need in order to teach well. There exists, however, an alternative, more holistic approach which focuses on the personal, recognising the importance of the individual teacher. Developing ways to describe VET teaching using a holistic approach may help to provide an even more insightful and comprehensive understanding of 'good' VET teaching, which may in turn inform strategies for the education and development of VET teachers in the future.
The rise of Industry 4.0 and the digital economy has highlighted the need for the general workforce to hold digital skills. Teaching Digital Skills: Implications for VET Educators – Good Practice Guide highlights the implications for VET educators of the increasing need to include digital skills in VET delivery. Key findings include:
- It is critical that VET educators have the capacity to: use technology effectively in their teaching practice; use technology that is relevant to their industry; and help learners to develop their own digital skills.
- Professional development activities for building the digital capability of VET educators can take many forms, including self-assessment tools, competency frameworks and short courses.
- Key to the successful uptake of digital skills capability development by VET educators is a whole-of-organisation approach to the adoption and utilisation of digital skills.
VET teachers often begin teaching with limited or no teaching qualifications, and necessarily much of their learning to be a teacher takes place in the teaching workplace. The journal article What Novice Vocational Education and Training Teachers Learn in the Teaching Workplace, considers what novice VET teachers learn in the workplace and what enables and constrains that learning. The author argues that teachers learn to undertake their teaching role primarily in the same way as others in their teaching department undertake the role. The article introduces the concept of three different groups of VET teachers whose learning is enabled and constrained in different ways: fringe teachers; favela teachers; and those who have an employment contract or are permanently employed. Using the theory of practice architectures, the author shows that teacher learning in the workplace is impacted by various site based conditions: including material arrangements; arrangements related to the use of VET language and of industry related language; and social-political arrangements.
The report The VET Teaching Workforce in Australia, begins with some background information about the Australian VET system, its students and its teaching workforce. Three main aspects of the VET teaching workforce are then covered: (1) working conditions of VET teachers, including wages and working hours, compared with other occupations; (2) qualifications and professional development for VET teachers; and (3) career development, career guidance, and career management for VET teachers.
Quality student outcomes are reliant on quality teaching. Equally important is student access to pathways at school that enable them to succeed post-school. This includes high quality VET options and as such there is a need for a high quality and sustainable workforce of VET teachers/trainers and assessors in schools that can meet the diverse needs of secondary students, and maintain the quality and industry relevance of the VET being delivered. The Building a High Quality and Sustainable Dual Qualified VET Workforce: Final Report proposes a series of recommendations, supported by underpinning principles that aim to improve the availability, sustainability and quality of the VET in schools workforce.
Educational research has highlighted the importance of having trained professional teachers to teach, nurture and support students who wish to enter a trade or technical career. The closure of the Bachelor of Technology Education course, the only initial teacher education (ITE) course in Victoria dedicated to the task of preparing high-quality industry experienced VET and technologies teachers, has left Victorian schools without a source of qualified VET and technologies teachers. Why Victoria Needs High-Quality VET and Technologies Teacher Education argues that while the Certificate IV TAE Training and assessment qualification is currently the minimum qualification required to train and assess VET curriculum in Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) in Australia, it was never designed as a teaching qualification for students, so if high-quality teaching and learning is indeed a priority in Victoria, then the Certificate IV TAE should never even be entertained as an acceptable substitute for an ITE qualification. The Campaign for VET and Technologies Education (CVTE) aims to establish ITE programs in Victoria capable of producing a sustainable supply of high-quality and professionally qualified Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registered VET and technologies (Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies) teachers to resource Victorian schools.
Building Capability and Quality in VET Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges examines the form and content of current teacher capability models and frameworks in VET and other sectors to understand what defines competence and quality in VET teaching. The research also explores issues relating to the registration and accreditation of VET trainers, trainer entry-level requirements, ways of attracting practitioners to the industry and the development of a capable VET workforce.
VET teachers often begin teaching without teaching qualifications, and much of their learning necessarily takes place in the workplace. VET teaching is recognised as complex and requiring a broad range of skills and capabilities. At the same time, support for VET teacher learning in the workplace has been limited and ad hoc, with little focus on what work-based arrangements might better support teacher learning. Drawing on a study of novice VET teachers, Developing a Trellis of Practices That Support Learning in the Workplace highlights the importance of VET teacher learning in the workplace and considers the site-based arrangements that enable and constrain novice teacher learning. The paper argues that when practices that support learning are interconnected to form a trellis, teacher learning is better supported than when practices that support learning are isolated and do not interconnect with each other.
An important aspect of VET teaching is education that is strongly linked to current industry practices. While this is a desirable pursuit, there are considerable challenges in it being implemented owing to increasingly changing work environments and the notion of 'industry currency'. Teacher Industry Placement in Australia: Voices From Vocational Education and Training Managers reports on an exploratory study of the views of VET education managers of business studies on the value of teacher placement in industry (TPI) which is one way for VET teachers to remain up to date with contemporary industrial practices. The benefits of TPI may include enhanced teaching practices and the development of deeper, long-term links with industry, however, TPI opportunities are not without their challenges. The authors conclude that TPI should be an integral part of any VET professional development for teachers, but that, in order for TPI to be successful, appropriate resourcing and the development of strong industry networks are paramount.
The Nature of Teacher Professional Development in Australian International Vocational Education calls for more support and investment in VET teacher professional development tailored to their needs to operate, teach and learn effectively in a context of increased internationalisation.
Literature has previously reported that student-centred practices are the mark of good pedagogy in online education. In contrast, the competency-based nature of vocational education in Australia has been understood to encourage teacher-centred pedagogy. The likely tensions between these two teaching contexts are not yet understood, and little is yet known about the pedagogy of fully online vocational education teachers. Understanding Fully Online Teaching In Vocational Education aims to begin understanding pedagogy in this context. A wide-ranging digital survey was implemented and the findings revealed that online VET teachers conceived good online pedagogy as student-centred, yet student-student learning opportunities were rated lower than teacher-student practices. Notably, enacted practice was consistently more teacher-centred than teachers' ideal, and factors within the teaching context were perceived by teachers as a limitation. They reported their workload to be dominated by marking and administration ahead of student-centred practices such as building rapport.
A notion of being a professional and acting with professionalism suggests particular standards associated with identity and practice. For VET educators in Australia, the notion of 'professional' that is encased within association and registration does not apply. Yet these educators operate in contexts where a discourse of professionalism influences their enactment of their vocation. Constructing a Professional Identity in VET: Teacher Perspectives reports on the findings from an exploration of professional identity in relation to vocational teachers in the VET/further education sector in Australia. Twenty-six TAFE teachers provider participated in semi-structured interviews that explored current practices associated with continuing professional development, key motivations to act as a professional, and the consideration of appropriate qualification levels for VET teaching. The aspects of the research reported and discussed in this paper relate to the teachers' perceptions of themselves as professionals and the bases on which they made those judgements. The findings reveal a clear belief in themselves as professionals, and ultimately as dual professionals. The teachers were strongly grounded in their industry vocation but regarded their second vocation, teaching, as legitimising their right to be regarded as professionals, even without teacher registration or membership of a professional association.
Based on a review of the literature, Unpacking the Quality of VET Delivery explores current definitions of quality in VET, the factors that impact on the quality of delivery and the various measures used to make judgements about it. It also explores the debate in the sector on whether professional teaching standards will assist in raising the quality of delivery in VET.
In 2020, all Australian governments agreed to progress reforms to strengthen the training system to support Australia's immediate economic recovery under the Heads of Agreement for Skills Reform. In acknowledgement of the importance of the VET workforce, this commitment included developing a VET Workforce Quality Strategy. The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) is developing the Strategy which will span a period of three years, commencing from early 2022, and include short, medium and long-term measures. The Issues Paper provides an overview of the key themes for the development of the VET Workforce Quality Strategy. The Consultation Feedback document summarises findings from the initial consultation with RTOs and other VET stakeholders, which have been used to inform the development of the draft Strategy. The Consultation Draft of the VET Workforce Quality Strategy was released in September 2021. It provides detailed information about the context, key themes raised during the consultations (including capability frameworks and professional standards, industry currency, professional development and support, and supporting learner cohorts) and strategy support measures.
Based on recent conversations with employers about their recruitment plans, Hays has developed a list of The Most In-Demand Skills for 2021. Within Australia's education jobs market, the skills in greatest demand are Qualified Trainers and Assessors within vocational education with industry experience and training qualifications, especially in growth sectors such as health, technology and cleaning services.
