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Association for Tertiary Education Management Queensland Branch

Conference 26 May 2006VET innovations: some challenges associated with the

development and implementation of the new vocational

graduate certificates & diplomas

Alicia Toohey, Lynda Robertson & Liz Ruinard, Project Managers, Educational Partnerships Unit, Southbank Institute

Presentation Overview

• Policy surrounding the emergence of Vocational Graduate Certificate and Vocational Graduate Diploma (VGC and VGD)

• Challenges in writing the curricula

• Pedagogical underpinning to delivery of curricula

Commonwealth and State policies

• At a national level by MCEETYA – need for qualifications at a graduate level with “outcomes oriented to the specialised needs of industry and enterprise” www.aqf.edu.au

• 100,00 people can’t be wrong - “Each year, more than 100,000 people with university qualifications enter training.” National Skills Shortage Strategy, DEST, http://getatrade.gov.au/training.htm

• At a state level - Queensland Skills Plan 2006 – policy reform agenda for the state’s Vocational and Education Training sector

Characteristics of VGC/Ds

• Support development of high level vocational capabilities in broad and / or specialised areas of knowledge and skills www.aqf.edu.au

• Curricula written in competency standard format for national consistency

• Strong emphasis on the application of knowledge and demonstration of skills in a workplace setting, not just the acquisition of theory

• May be designed to articulate into higher education programs at Graduate Certificate or Masters levels

• 6 months full time and 12 months part-time for the VGC

• Formal qualifications not required for entry

Examples of VGC/Ds: Queensland

Qualifications being developed by the public sector

• VGC Architectural Digital Illustration

• VGC Adult Literacy and Numeracy Teaching

• VGC / D Project Management

• VGC / D Sales Management

• VGC / D Entrepreneurship

• VGC / D Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

• VGC / D Culinary Arts and Kitchen Management

• VGC / D Strategic Business

Examples of VGC/Ds: nationwide

• VGC Community Services Management Challenger TAFE, WA

• VGC Management (Leadership) ESSET, Tasmania

• VGC Education (Leadership) ESSET, Tasmania

• VGC Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Teaching Institute - Western Autistic School, Vic

Refer: www.ntis.gov.au

Context of curriculum writing

• Project based at SBI with a lead responsibility with the Educational Partnerships Unit.

• Qualifications to be developed across a range of vocational areas reflecting industry advice and potential market demand, e.g.

VGC in Architectural Digital Illustration

VGC/D in Culinary Arts & Kitchen Management

VGC in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Teaching.

• Curriculum to be developed according to specific guidelines for their structure, form and language.

• Accreditation responsibilities rest with the Department of Employment and Training through the Product Services Unit.

The writing: Model

• EPU project managed the writing through drawing on the skills of teaching teams in SBI faculties and external consultants.

• EPU set up Curriculum Development Advisory Committees (CDAC) who ensure that industry needs are met.

• SBI funded by the Department Employment and Training to write curriculum and then prepare initial resources.

The writing: Challenges

• Identifying the ‘look, content and feel’ of the VGC or VGD. What are they?

• Needing to ‘educate’ our SBI directors, teams and teachers as well as CDAC members about what they are and are not.

• Balancing the vocational flavour with the requirements of qualifications at AQF 8 or 9 – at graduate level.

• Balancing the practical, underpinning knowledge with the academic rigour and graduate level.

• Learning to write in competency based format• Making sure that the responses/thoughts of the CDAC• Conforming to VET guidelines for writers

More challenges

• Learning to think and write in competency based format at this level.

• Making sure that the responses and thoughts of the CDAC members are incorporated in the final documents.

• Conforming to VET guidelines for writing.

• Progressing the process of consultation, development and curriculum editing in the context of the departmental funding timelines.

The writing: Positives/Challenges

• Expanded horizons for VET programs - “In general it was a pleasant experience seeing the generation of something new and exciting” (Mike Gibson).

• Positive and enthusiastic responses from industry and higher education partners – “It was good to be involved and we found it rewarding” (CDAC members VGC in Architectural Digital Illustration).

Pedagogy of vocational graduateproducts

• Consisting of competencies encoded with Employability Skills

but delivered in a manner that seeks to be as learner-centred as possible

• Delivered in a mode that aims to facilitate situated learning as far as possible

• Implemented in a fashion that seeks to privilege the principles of andragogy

VGC/D Culinary Arts & Kitchen Management

• Competencies in culinary arts, management, financial management, innovative marketing, strategic leadership, entrepreneurship

• To be delivered in lectures, tutorials, practical workshops & sessions in the kitchen, industry forums, field trips

• To be conducted in tandem with the establishment of industry mentoring networks

VGC Architectural Digital Illustration & VGC/D Sales Management

• Training to be delivered using the classroom as simulated workplaces or as liveworm studios

• Simulation to be supplemented with some connection with a real enterprise in order to supply some of the human, social and organisational dimension of transactions with a real world organisation

VGC/D Applied Biotechnology

• Curriculum being written in conjunction with skills audit being conducted through teacher consultation with industry

• Networking with industry facilitated through SBI teachers’ participation in Office of Biotechnology and Dept of State Innovation - Pharmaceutical/Nutraceutical Industry Strategy Focus group

• Training will be delivered in SBI laboratories, in laboratories in and on behalf of industry and possibly in concert with internships in industry for students

Potential impact of vocational graduate products

• Possibility to reinvigorate suite of products offered in vocational sector

• Possibility to challenge/blur to a certain extent cross-sectoral divide

• Possibility for vocational sector to construct a discourse around higher-level skills and knowledge

• Possibility for vocational sector to develop capacity for practical research, praxis and innovation

Acknowledgements:

In preparing this presentation/paper we consulted with the following who

contributed their ideas and thoughts:

• SBI teachers and curriculum writers Mike Gibson, Ann Kelly, Jonathan Edwards, Alison Taafe, Richard Egelstaff, Richard Bowen

• Product Services team, TAFE Qld, especially Peta Day, David Spray and James Knynenburg