May 2019 Volume 13
VET REVIEW 2019: WHAT CHANGES HAVE BEEN RECOMMENDED? Alan Maguire The Australian Government commissioned the Honourable Steven Joyce to conduct a review of the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system. He has completed the review and his report titled, Strengthening Skills: Expert Review of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training System was released on 2nd of April 2019. The report is comprehensive and very well structured. It consists of 71 separate recommendations covering: • Strengthening quality assurance, • Speeding up qualification development, • Simpler funding and skills matching, • Better careers information, • Clearer secondary school pathways, and • Greater access for disadvantaged Australians. The VET Review report was released on the same day as the Federal Budget 2019-20. The Budget announced a $525.3 million Skills Package to be known as Delivering Skills for Today and Tomorrow. The government funding will support VET Reforms that have been recommended by the VET Review. The VET Review report has a range of recommendations. If implemented, some would have a significant impact on Australia’s VET system. The following is a small number of selected recommendations to be considered. The first recommendation of the VET Review report is about establishing a new vision for VET that places workbased learning at the forefront of Australian skills development. VET is about work-based learning, and Australia’s VET system has been about work-based learning for decades. It is
interesting that the VET review looks to have a ‘new’ vision when it could be said that it is the same as the current vision. The VET Review report also encourages Australia to create one integrated tertiary education system. It talks about the ‘vocational education sector’ and ‘skills education’. VET as an ‘education system’ is far more dominant in the report than VET being a ‘training system’. Transforming VET into an education system could lead to making the VET system less work-based. It is vocational training that really makes VET work-based. It begs the question, what would happen to Australia’s current work-based training system if a new vision of an integrated tertiary education system is implemented? Another recommendation is to enhance the role of the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) so that it could take over the functions of the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC). Would this mean industry leadership of VET would be replaced by a government agency? The VET Review 2019 is a platform for many big ideas. It may in fact be a lost opportunity to set government policy based on sound ideas that would improve the Australian VET system. There are some controversial recommendations that have the potential to change the shape of VET in Australia; such as: • Changing VET from a training system to an education system • Replacing competency-based training with time-based training (recommendation 3.9) • Separating training and assessment functions (recommendation 3.10) • Replacing competencybased assessment with proficiency-graded assessment
(recommendation 3.12) • Taking short-cuts to develop training packages quickly (recommendation 4.1) This article highlights only some of the recommendations. There are many more that, if implemented, will affect Australia’s VET future. The VET Review invokes healthy, robust questioning and debate about the direction of Australia’s VET system. Will the VET Review report be used by some in years to come to pursue unworkable and unnecessary change? Will the recommendations add further complexity? As passionate advocates of VET in this country, it is critical that we continue to educate ourselves. To take time to look at the big picture. It is our responsibility to stay informed and have our say about the future of our industry. I encourage you to stay knowledgeable: Read reports and do your research, network at seminars, conferences, workshops, discuss issues with colleagues at work, and use LinkedIn to connect and converse with others. Alan Maguire is an independent consultant and owner of On Target Work Skills. He has extensive experience working in Australia’s VET system, and proactively provides information and services to enhance the capabilities of the Australian VET workforce. For more information visit: ontargetworkskills.com or read Alan’s LinkedIn articles that give more details about the VET Review.
ontargetworkskills. com Alan Maguire
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