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Vocational Education and Training and Registered Training Organisation NewsWednesday February 8, 2012 Good Morning everyone I hope your week has been fine so far. Last week Gillard announced her plans to introduce HECS style loans to many students participating in VET courses in order to increase Australia's skill base and ebcourage job growth. To those that are unaware of HECS, it's pretty much a system, already offered to univeristy students, that allows you to defer the payment of your course fees until much later in life by taking a non-interest loan from the government (for uni you start repaying your loan automatically when you begin earning more around $44,000/year). I really think this is a very good idea and although it doesn't sound like it's going to be offered to all VET courses (I hope it will), it's a good step towards wide access to VET courses to all Australians, hopefully the government will follow through with these plans! (Read the news.com article here).
Wednesday September 28, 2011 Hi there, just a short update today on some news from the NCVER and our post on Friday will include a large summary of all the VET and RTO news these week. The first is an 'at a glance' publication released yesterday called 'Innovation: Its links with productivity and skill development'. At a glance publications are an important kind of paper as they condense important information into a kind of fact sheet and simplify the language slightly so it is much easier to read by you and me. The report itself found that innovation, particularly technological was a factor in increasing productivity and important in cultivating skills, however the matter is not as straight forward and more complex than that. In relation to VET qualifications, the report found that formal VET training was important in keeping tradesmen and technicians informed and thus encouraging innovation such as electricians having a broad knowledge in elctro-technologic theory to operate and work on solar panels. In fact a recent survey by Toner found that only two of his 17 tradesmen and technician respondents did not think a formal qualification was useful with their job. It's a very interesting report and I encourage you to read it here) Anyway that's all from me this evening, please read her on Friday evening or Saturday morning for a detailed wrap up from the week. See you then! Monday September 26, 2011 We're back! I'm sorry for the break in posts we've had recently, we have been through a really busy period but VET & RTO news is back for good and it will be better than ever. We have decided to make each post a regular thing so rain, hail or slow news day we'll have a post up for you by bed time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Not only this but our twitter account will display articles and sites of your interest every day of the working week (find our twitter account here). Our facebook account will also be running to keep you up to date with Southern Cross news and any new blog post (find it here). Ok so I guess it's time we get started with some news. As expected we've had some very interesting news from the NCVER. The most interesting publication was only released last week, it provides an insight into whether there should be a VET equivalent for completing year 12 at school. The report found that there could be VET equivalent at the certificate III at the very minimum. However the NCVER managing director, Dr Tom Karmel stated that "Vocational pathways should be considered an alternative to school completion rather than a literal equivalent” which I have to agree with as year 12 and VET training have very different outcomes and complexity to each other. Anyway I think this is a great idea for those that don't want to finish year 12 but wish to get some non-apprenticeship training, it will be interesting to see how the government responds to this. Read the article and more NCVER articles here In other news, I'm sure you've heard advertisements recently encouraging you to up-skill or re-skill, it supports the governments $3 billion budget package called Building Australia's Future Workforce. We hope the campaign is a success and I will hopefully be reporting the results form it soon. Our final bit of news today is that the ASQA recently released their 'September Update'. It doesn't contain any 'news' just pretty much reminders on how the ASQA conducts it's audits and regulations. In a nutshell however, it seems the ASQA is taking a hardline approach to it's regulations. It states that responsibility of compliance rests with the RTOs, audits will be conducted in areas that are most likely to fail and if there is a non-compliance the repercussions will be 'meaningful'. The good news is that VET standards will probably increase however will it be at the expense of some smaller RTOs that are more susceptible to mistakes and misdemeanours? Time will tell I suppose. To read the update find the ASQA website here That's all from me today, for more news click here Wednesday night or when you wake up on Thursday morning. Bye for now. Monday August 29, 2011 Hello, welcome everyone to a new week and welcome to a new VET news blog post. I bring with me a fresh publication from the NCVER. The publication is called Employability Skills: At a Glance. It pretty much defines employability skills as the set of fundamental skills that are considered very important to an employer. The good news is that since 2002, employability skills have begun to be included in training packages and thus helping increase skills such as communication, problem-solving and teamwork in Australian employees. However the report states that there is still improvements to be made. Teachers/trainers are still unsure on how to teach and assess employability skills and thus consistency when assessing employability skills continue to be an issue. Some ways that this could be changed (according to the report) are: - An operational definition of 'employability skills' to reduce confusion. - Professional development programs to ensure teachers and trainers are equipped with these employability skills. - Integrative assessment and descriptive reporting to help make assessment more consistent. The report is quite clear, simple and well written. Employability skills are very important in Australia's workplace so let's hope that some of these reforms can be put in place so Australian workers can continue to be trained into a strong workforce. Friday August 26, 2011 Good morning, welcome to another training news blog post. This week has been fairly quiet with not even a peep coming from the NCVER. However the DEEWR has announced the the National Workforce Development Fund is now open for applications. For those that are not dure what this is, it is a $558 million fund set up by the government to support training and workforce development in areas of current and future skills needs over four years. If your business is interested in funding then this website may help you work out if you're eligible, click here. Anyway I am short of time this morning so I shall log on again tonight or tomorrow to update you with some more training news. Bye for now. Friday August 19, 2011 Hi there! Sorry about the quiet period we've just had, I've had a few days off and gone on a mini holiday with some loved ones. Anyway we've had a fair bit of news since the last post, particularly from the NCVER. I'll give a summary of some of the more important articles: - A study from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth that assesses the effectiveness of various educational paths taken after school at the age of 25. An interesting publication, you can read it here - A survey which finds the first qualification of our VET trainers in both the private and public sector. It found that the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment was the most common initial qualification and also gave recommendations on how its quality issues can be addressed. Read the study here - There are some more interesting stories, read the rest of the news here In other news, the National Workforce Development Fund has been announced by the Minister for Skills and Jobs, Chris Evans. It will provide $558 million over for years in funding to training and workforce development. That's all from me today. Read the next blog next week. Tuesday August 9, 2011 Hi there welcome to another VET news post. Since July 29, the NTIS has been replaced by training.gov.au, a new website with information on current accredited courses, RTOs and Training Packages. It is a really useful, reliable and objective tool if you are looking for unbiased information on a course or RTO or even if you just want to check that a particular RTO is registered. To view the website click here. Apart from that there really isn't much news at the moment so I thought I would report some news around the world. Did you know the Sri Lankan vocational education sector largely arose out of two youth movements in 1971 and 1989. This article provides a good, brief idea on the Sri Lankan VET industry. To read click here. Anyway that's all from me for today, I'll have another post up by the end of the week. If you guys have any interesting news or articles that you think should be put up on here, please email us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or post it to us on twitter @traininginfo_ Thank You! Friday August 5, 2011 Good Morning! There's not too much that's new in the world of VET & RTO. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations have released news on the Queensland Natural Disasters Jobs and Skills Package. The package will include $83 million in funding and will assist 10,000 jobseekers, employees, businesses, industries and communities. In a nutshell, the package will focus on businesses retaining trainees and apprentices whilst helping train people so that communities will have the skills to rebuild and recover their economy. It sounds like a good plan but the federal and state governments have been less than responsible when it comes to being efficient with their money and the Queensland government hopefully won't become lazy and wasteful, or we may see this $83 million dry up very quickly without much effect at all. The NCVER released their newsletter the other day but it doesn't really contain any information that I haven't already reported on this blog. However one thing it did contain was a reminder for a free 'webinar' that will discuss the growing emergence of mixed sector tertiary education, i.e. institutions that offer both VET and University qualifications. To register for this please click here. Anyway that's all from me for now, i'll have another post up and running in the next couple of days. Monday August 1, 2011 Hello! Today I'm going to get straight into the news. Firstly, the NCVER released a couple of publications late last week about apprentice completion rates.Here's what the subsequent media release had to say, "the data shows that individual completion rates for trade apprentices are 57.4% who started training in 2005 and 56.4% for those who started in 2006. For trainees who started training in 2005 and 2006, the individual completion rate was 54.1% and 54.3% respectively." It should be noted that a panel on apprenticeships in February estimated the completion rate to be at about 48% so it is good news I suppose that these figures are slightly better (I think the panel didn't take into account those apprentices that changed employer but ended up completing their apprenticeship). Find the publication here. In other news, the ASQA released it's first update today. This was a short document that briefly reflected on it's first month since it began operating. Chris Robinson, the acting chief commissioner has described the month as vey busy with answering more than 2000 calls and 1300 email enquiries. However the seem to be responding to people's request and updating their website to make it more user friendly. An online application system called ASQAnet is now up and running, and the website now has a Frequently Asked Question section. For more information you can find the ASQA website here. Thursday July 26, 2011 Hi There, I hope everyone's start to the week is dandy so far. We have news from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations from a few days ago. It details the government responses to the recommendations set out by a senate inquiry into the Industry Skills Councils. For those who are unaware of the Industry Skills Councils, they are not-for-profit, independent companies that are broken down into 11 industry specific organisations such as agrifood or transport and logistics. These councils are largely funded by the government and are used to give advice and support to government, Skills Australia, RTOs and any other relevant organisations. I won't go into all the responses to each recommendation but if you would like to read through them then please click here. The implementation of the ISCs a few years ago seemed to be a bit of a gamble so it was pleasing to read that the senate report reflected the message that (according to the report): - the role and work of the ISCs was valued by VET stakeholders; - ISCs were operating well; - they were viewed as fundamental to the effective operation of the national VET system
Saturday July 23, 2011: Weekend Addition Hi there, as you know usually my blog posts are Monday to Thursday but as I have been slack this week I've decided to come online and write a weekend post. This week has been a fairly average week in training news, NCVER has released next to nothing over the last week. The only thing of interest was a media release after a recent VET conference in Coffs Harbour called 'No Frills'. The release describes an award given to Leanne Pagett for her involvement in an international research network so that she can attend the Learning and Skills Research Conference in the UK. This is rather dull news but it's good to know that NCVER are rewarding people for their good work. In other news, an ABC story on Thursday found that the mines in WA are suffering a shortage of trainers in high-risk jobs such as crane driving and rigging. So if you are thinking about becoming a trainer in high risk mining jobs then go for it, however the root of the problem according RTO manager, Bob Hollingshead is that to become a trainer in such an industry one must hold the appropriate licence for 5 years and be accredited by WorkSafe (the state safety watchdog). As promised a few posts back, I have asked around for some feedback on how the transition to the ASQA has gone so far. The consensus seems to be that although some RTOs are worried about the ASQA's higher registration fees and the whole system seems to be simpler and the consistency throughout Australia will be a big plus. Some RTOs are uncertain about how audits are conducted but they have responded positively to phone calls (bit slow with emails though) and are contemplating holding some seminars on the audit requirements. Anyway that's all from me. I will have a new post up and ready for you on Monday or Tuesday. Monday July 18, 2011 Happy Monday everyone! I hope you have all had a fine weekend. Recently I have had a large NCVER focus on my blog, which is great as NCVER are very important in providing new research for the Australian tertiary education sector. However in this post I am going to focus on news from some of the other important contributors to our Vocational Education and Training. The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) have released a bunch of stuff over the last week or two about clean energy and sustainability. Some of these are quite interesting and newsworthy. One of them summarises a report commissioned by the DEEWR on ways to 'upskill' VET trainers on sustainability. Basically the report found that although it would be great to increase a VET trainers skills so they can teach ways to be sustainable, they already have a lot on their plate and thus they don't have a lot of time to do all this, plus the general imperative to take action is not strong enough in most cases too. The report recommends various reforms in leadership, resources and people in order to combat these problems. Another item reports on a 'Clean energy and other skills package', which is pretty much a $32 million package that will train and aid tradesmen and professionals in providing clean and sustainable goods and services. This sounds like a good idea on paper but as we all know, that many of the government's recent initiatives like this have not been money well spent so I would like to see how this turns out in the future. To see all the news items from the DEEWR click here. As we all know, the big move from a state regulated to a (mainly) nationally regulated system for VET happened nearly three weeks ago and so far all is well, I shall be in contact with some contacts in the industry to hear what they feel about it so far. And lastly, Skills Australia and the Industry Skills Council are holding a conference (which has sold out) about the state of skills in Australia on Thursday. I shall be looking forward to hearing how it goes. Anyway that's all from me for now. You should hear from me again tomorrow. Wednesday July 13, 2011: New NCVER publications I hope everyone has been having a lovely Wednesday. Yesterday the NCVER released some very interesting research. The report called 'The Effect of VET completion on the wages of young people' studies whether people's wages tend to do better if they have completed a VET course post-secondary school than those who haven't. However what makes this piece of research different is that it distinguishes between those that started and didn't complete a VET course with those that started and didn't finish a VET course. The results simply are as follows: for VET completers, wages tended to increase in the 3 years following the course but over the long term a completion in a VET course weren't beneficial compared to non-completers. However for university completers, they tended to have higher wages over their lifetime compared to non-completers. Should this mean we all should ditch VET and go to uni? I don't think so. University courses tend to be set up for life, however VET courses are designed for the short-term, they train you for a new or existing job, but as all RTOs know, VET courses are replaced every 3 or 4 years as new knowledge is added and out-of-date knowledge is taken out. So keep studying VET as they will probably increase you wages in the medium term, whilst offering experience and training for life. Tuesday July 12, 2011: Formation of the ASQA Hello! Many sorries for belated post, I have been having internet issues. Anyway, we've been through a lot since my last post. On the 1st of July the transition from the state regulated VET system to the nationally regulated system was made. Many of the organisations that were involved in the training sector have been changed. The main change however has been the set up of the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA). This is pretty much a new VET regulator that will 'take the reins' from the state regulators (except the VIC and WA authorities will still maintain some power). The NSW, ACT and NT authorities have already made the transition with the other states awaiting state legislation expected to be made later this year. The main goal aimed out of all this is to have less bureaucracy and to have one constant regulator nation wide. For Southern Cross Training (and many other RTOs I expect) it is good news as we no longer have to run by Victorian audits and standards (as we are registered there) despite our offices being in Sydney. For more information on all this visit the ASQA website here For information on the other transitions and also some of the new NCVER publications, I will be posting on this blog over this week with all the relevant news. See you tomorrow! Thursday June 30, 2011 Over the last few days we have had a rife of activity on the NCVER front. Out of this we have two main publication. Firstly, yesterday the NCVER published a monograph (which is pretty much a really detailed study of one particular subject). The report found that among lower paid workers, training (in particular VET training) wasn't necessarily beneficial as they often have to undertake training in order to retain their job, not to get a better one. It is quite an interesting report and I would recommend a read, or at least a quick flick through. You can find the report here The second report that was released today, also seems to be very interesting. I haven't read the whole thing yet but the media release states that for women, in particular, not completing year 12 means they could be unemployed up to 5 times longer than women with a degree. The fact that women tend to not take apprenticeships as much as men means that this doesn't surprise me hugely but it is still a big difference. To find the media release click here Finally the VRQA June newsletter has been released and according to a well-known figure in the industry it is "mainly government ramble". Nonetheless it has a couple of interesting sections, the main one being (that I was completely unaware of) was that from the 1st of July that restricts a business from having the words "TAFE", "further education" and/or "technical" in it's name. Obviously TAFEs and universities or exempt and a business can apply for these words to be put in the names. The newsletter can be found here Monday June 27, 2011 Hello, I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Today the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research released a new publication along with a handy little media release. Basically what this is, is a report that amalgamates statistics of what students study after school, i.e. the higher education sector (university) and VET (TAFE and/or RTOs). The data is from 2009 and thus the findings are slightly dated but this seems to be the quickest that NCVER can publish their data (looking back at other publications). In a nutshell, the report finds two things. 1. Although the two different sectors are crossing over in the type of degrees they offer (about 15% of diplomas are completed at university rather than RTOs), the two sectors are still doing what they normally do with uni offering mainly bachelor degrees and RTOs offering certificate qualifications. 2. Students enrolled are from "all walks of life". Although the report provides some interesting reading it is rather unremarkable and to put it simply, it tells us things we basically already know. Nonetheless it is worth reading and you can find the report here Wednesday June 22, 2011 The past week has been rather slow in terms of VET and RTO news, however one big thing has been the release of NCVERs online e-newsletter 'Insight'.The main story provides some extra insight (pardon the pun) into the NCVER report about the 2009 enrolment data I talked about last Wednesday. NCVER is re-iterating the previous call of making enrolment data of private RTOs compulsory as about 2500 RTOs do not submit their data whereas only about 1775 voluntarily do. Other stories include an update on VOCED (a VET research data the was launched in April), the question of whether training creates a net profit in organisations and various other stories. Make sure to click hereto read this e-newsletter. Also, the Australian Institute of Management have released a survey finding the 82% of organisations have a skills gap in the workplace. It also found that those organisations that didn't have a skills gap said 'training and development' is the key. This is re-iterating Australia's need to close the skills gap and that training is one of the main solutions to closing it. The Australian article for this survey can be found here. Tuesday June 21, 2011: New Edition of 'Insight' The National Centre for Vocational Education Research have released their June edition of their newsletter 'Insight'. Commentary on the newsletter plus some other industry news from the last couple of days are to come in tomorrows news post but for the who are keen to read it now click here See you tomorrow! Sunday June 19, 2011: Competency Completion Data for RTOs is due on June 30 As all RTOs would know, the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) quality indicators are due in by June 30. RTOs are required to collect, use and submit data on three quality indicators that have been endorsed by the National Quality Council (NQC). These are: 1. Learner Engagement. According to VETAB this is "a summary of surveys taken of learners including their perceptions of the quality of their competency development and the support they receive from RTOs" 2. Employer Satisfaction. According to VETAB this is "a summary of employers evaluation of their learners competency development and the relevance of learner competencies for their work and training." 3. Competency Completion Rates This data is required to be collected as the AQTF intends to have a system that ensures quality through evidence-based data. Many VET and RTO websites contain information on quality data however it is rarely clear so be prepared for some reading. Here are some of the best websites I found: http://www.training.com.au/pages/menuitem91680afeb6aca8d49215a2b917a62dbc.aspx http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/aqtf-2007 http://www.vetab.nsw.gov.au/quality_indicators_reporting.php Thursday June 16, 2011: VETABs Final Newsletter Last week VETAB released its final newsletter before it is to be transitioned to the new National Authority, ASQA. The newsletter contains a farewell by the VETAB Director, Margaret Willis which then proceeds to a description of the transition of renewals and applications of registration for RTOs. Finally it talks about the National Training Information Service (NTIS) being replaced with a new service called training.gov.au, and the National Quality Council (NQC) which overseas the quality of training offered by RTOs (according to the Australian Quality Training Framework guidelines) being replaced by the National Standards Council on the 1st of July. To view the June VETAB newsletter click here On a final note, TVET Australia are currently running a forum-like conference called 'Policy in the Pub' where Policy and Issues will be discussed particularly concerning literacy and numeracy numbers after a report by the Industry Skills Councils found that millions of Australian workers have insufficient literacy and numeracy numbers. The next (and perhaps final) Policy in the Pub conference (with guest speakers) will be held at the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel on Monday (4.30-6pm) and you must RSVP by 2pm on Monday. To view details about the event click here Wednesday June 15, 2011: NCVER releases 2009 Enrolments Data On the weekend, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research released statistics on enrolments (this is actually the first time they have been allowed to do this). Upon review of the publication there are two issue that become apparent. Firstly, the report only published data from 680 public and community providers and 1,775 private providers. This leaves another 2500 private providers that did not release their data. Dr Karmel, NCVER managing director stated (according to the Australian) that this highlights the need for private RTOs to release their data as a compulsory part of their registration. Secondly, the report found that out of all the publicly funded vocational education, the top 70 institutions provided 87% of the training, leaving 1506 other institutions with the other 13%. According to the Australian, this highlights the difficulty of assuring the quality of the sector as any Training Quality Authority would have to look over so many small providers. To find the data yourself, find it here (please note you will have to register with NCVER before you can view the publication). You can also find these articles in the Australian concerning the statistics:
Too skilled for your job? Your job satisfaction could be suffering This morning the National Centre for Vocational Education Research released a publication about the link of being over skilled and/or over educated to job satisfaction and/or wages. This seems like an interesting study and the general verdict seems to be that it is "detrimental" to job satisfaction. Anyway I shall write a whole lot about it on my first blog post on Monday. You can find the link to the publication here New National VET Regulator Most RTOs may already know this however it is important information and thus worth iterating. On the 1st of July, the Australian Skills Quality Authority or ASQA will become a new national regulator and the State regulators will thus be gradually phased out over the rest of 2011. The ASQA will be an independant authority, up the top will be a Chief Commissioner and two other commissioners that are appointed by the Governor-General. The government havn't clearly told us why they are doing this however it is obviously being done to increase productivity of the VET regulators and to open up the State borders a bit more so that it is easier for RTOs to operate nationally and internationally. Although this is a big reform, RTOs shouldn't be worried as it will have virtually no impact on most RTOs. The ASQA will work with your state authority to automatically transfer your RTO registration information and records. When it does come to re-registering, some of the ASQA processes will be different but RTOs will be well informed and they have already included fact sheets and details of their processes on their website (see below). However if you are registered in Victoria or WA, the state bodies will continue to regulate your RTO if your only operate in your registered state and not nationally or internationally. This is a necessary reform that will keep tax-payers money going in to these regulators down and will make it much easier for RTOs to operate in other states. If you would like more information on this visit the ASQA website here TUESDAY JUNE 7, 2011 Hello! Welcome to Southern Cross Training’s first ever blog post. This will soon become the top news site for Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Registered Training Organisation (RTO) news. Here we will write weekly articles discussing news, events and important information coming up in the VET industry. We will also be frequently posting relevant news articles and links from external sources onto the website so that you will stay up to date all week. You may be wary of this blog as we are ourselves an RTO and thus may use it as a source of advertising. However this is not the case, we have recognised the need for a good news source for VET and RTOs and thus this will be its only use. If you have an interest in the VET industry then make sure you follow this blog as the best and most frequent source of news, discussion and information. You can also follow us on twitter @traininginfo_ or even like Southern Cross Training on Facebook. Our first blog post will be released early next week but in the meantime we will be posting frequent news articles as per usual. Happy Reading! |
