“Talking about Te Pūkenga” forum, 5 October 2022
RoVE : a crossroad in trades education?
Prabhat Chand
Senior Lecturer, Unitec School of Trades and Services
Vice President of the Unitec branch of the Tertiary Education Union Email: [email protected]
Outline of My Presentation
1. What is Vocational Education & Training (VET)
2. WBL (work-based-learning) : ITOs Vs ITPs based Apprenticeship 2. WIL (work-integrated-learning)
5. New Unified funding System (UFS) 6. Workforce Development Council
7. Lack of Educator Voice in Workforce Development Council 8. Skill Standards
9. Micro credentials
10. Conclusion: What would make RoVE and Te Pūkenga work
1. Vocational Education
• Vocational education and Training (VET) emphasises practical job- specific knowledge , skills and attributes
• Includes Trades + Diplomas + Vocational Degrees
• Vocational education is at a crossroads. Will RoVE:
o Fix skill shortages?
o provide qualifications that is fit for purpose?
o Improve polytechnic based education & training ?
• Vocational Polytechnic Degrees – focuses on real world learning and is different from Traditional Academic University Degrees
• Why is RoVE (Te Pūkenga’ s Review of Vocational Education) silent on Degrees?
2. WBL (work-based-learning) vs WIL (work-integrated-learning)
• What is WBL? Learning that occurs within a work environment such as
apprenticeship education and training – Learners in fulltime employment with part- time studies
• What is WIL? It refers to polytechnic based education & training where work learning experiences such as work placements and industry projects that are a part of their program of study- Learners in Fulltime studies with work learning experiences
• WBL on trades is at centre of change as ITOs and ITPs provisions are being merged
• Work integrated learning is growing in prominence in Australia
• However, there is no mention of WIL in its true sense in RoVE
• WIL and WBL terms are interchangeably used and this is problematic as the two are significantly different in concept, purpose, and implementation.
3. WBL
(work-based -learning): ITPs based Apprenticeship
• Polytechnic based apprenticeship is called Managed Apprenticeship
• Provides good balance of On and Off Job Training provisions
• Holistic education, focus is on educating for a long term career for the learners
• Currently it is SAC Funded
• Big misconception that only ITOs do work based learning
• Actually ITPs have been doing it for many years for example Unitec is doing it for more than 25 years.
4. WBL (work-based-learning) :
ITO (Industry Training Organisation) based apprenticeships
• Mainly on-the-job training with very limited off-job-training with ITPs
• Involves training model rarely provides for a well-rounded holistic education
• More Focus only on real time need-to-know basis
• Relies on employers doing the training
• ITOs do not have dedicated training facilities
5. New Unified funding System (UFS)
• Funding is key , education and training will naturally chase the funding model?
• New Unified Funding system incentivises WBL (work-based-learning) at the expense of polytechnic based learning and Work-integrated-learning.
• There is talks in regards to training employers how to teach. However employers have expressed concern over the lack of consultation and their capacity to teach learners.
• For example the concerns raised by Roofing Association (Mega-polytech's work- based learning preference sparks trade organisation concerns | Stuff.co.nz
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/129712982/megapolytechs-workbased- learning-preference-sparks-trade-organisation-concerns
• Employers will tend to only train people on skills that they need on an immediate basis with little or no focus on holistic education
5. New Unified funding System (UFS), continued
• This system will result in little or no reserve capacity in terms of skilled workers, and the resulting scarcity will result in poaching of employees occurring frequently.
• Our feedback from the employers has been: no time to train, little capacity or capability to do full on training.
• Employer may only require a limited range of knowledge and skills to benefit his or her business.
• New UFS (Unified Funding System ) could well lead to the demise of WIL (work-integrated-learning) and ITPs based education and training?
• Future managed apprentices will be handed to Te Pūkenga’ s WBL unit.
What happens to ITP staff engaged with managed apprenticeship.?
6. Workforce Development Councils
• WDCs (Workplace development councils) are responsible for developing and maintaining qualifications
• Functions similar to ITOs (Industry Training Organisations) minus the training provisions
• The WDCs:
o will set standards
o will develop qualifications
o will moderate assessments against industry standards o Are currently staffed by existing ITO employees
7. Lack of Educator Voice in Workforce Development Councils
• Ideally the knowledge, skills, and expertise of educators should be adopted and integrated at all levels, for RoVE to be succeed.
• However, the WDCs:
o Are lacking academic scrutiny, with no educator voices in the mix o It is very concerning that educational outcomes are being decided
when there is no or little input from educators.
o the lack of academic freedom of Te Pūkenga staff to regulate the subject matter of its courses is concerning
8. Skill standards
• Skill standards are the building block to qualifications
• The WDC (Workplace development councils) are responsible for
developing and maintaining skill standards with little ore no input from educators .
• It is good that they are different from unit standards
• On a positive note a typical skill standard is worth more credits, not as atomistic as Unit Standards and is more holistic
• Another positive they are not assessment standards- with Unit standards assessment being the driver there was little or no time for real learning
• Skill standards are not ideal for Higher qualification, diplomas and degrees
9. Micro-credentials
• Qualifications can be broken into many micro-credentials
• Small snippets of knowledge and skills are delivered and assessed, often in isolation from other areas of knowledge
• As little as 40 credits of courses can lead to a single micro-credential qualification. Compare this what is currently the case where a one-year qualification is currently 120 credits
• Micro-credentials can be developed by both providers and WDCs
• Can be effective for quick fill the gap skill shortage
• Not good for long term career prospects
10.
Conclusion :What would make RoVE and Te Pūkenga work• Both WBL (Work-based-learning) and WIL (Work-integrated-learning) needs adequate funding
• There is a equal need to Shift the focus to Work integrated Learning to have graduates ready to meet future job demands
• We need careers focused holistic education
• Greater consultation and inclusion of Educators Voice in WDCs and rest of RoVE is required
• The knowledge, skills, and expertise of educators must be adopted and integrated at all levels
• Inclusion of greater scrutiny from educators into the activities and decision of the WDCs (Workplace development councils and Te Pūkenga)
• We need to slow down the pace of change
• Skill standards should be limited to trade certificates type qualifications
