Onsite training, using technology for practical teaching and embracing work-integrated learning are some of the ways education and training providers are responding to skills and workforce priorities.
It all starts with the needs of the employer, panellists said at an Australian Industry Group webinar last week.
Australian Industry Group Centre for Education and Training (CET) General Manager - Policy, Research & Projects, Brett Hall, welcomed:
“New research on driving productivity through skills and workforce development, released by the CET last month, highlighted that the connection between education and training and application in the workplace underpins the realisation of productivity benefits from education and training at the firm level and, by extension, for the economy more broadly,” Mr Hall said.
Training and Quality Management Services (TQMS) is a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that delivers Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the meat processing and food manufacturing sectors.
Among its clients is Australian Industry Group member Hilton Foods, a national company with a high proportion of people from diverse backgrounds who may work across more than one shift a day.
Sending workers off-site for training is not viable, TQMS Director John Price said.
“We embed our trainers in workplaces so they can cover shifts around the clock, providing face-to-face training in a classroom environment as well as providing structured training and assessment on equipment and processes in the workplace.
“It’s important to provide training when it’s operationally significant for the business. If we have an opportunity during downtime, or if there's an opportunity within operation time to do off-job training, we'll try to do that.
“When trainers are embedded in the workplace, they get a stronger understanding of the needs of each individual requiring training and can provide deeper support.”
TAFE Queensland celebrated the opening of its $47.7million Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Centre (RAMC) in Eagle Farm, Brisbane, in July.
It’s a project Kaz Harris-Brown has been heavily involved in.
“We've designed the building to link with our TAFE Queensland Ipswich and Cairns facilities to create a statewide learning approach with the best educators we have,” Mr Harris-Brown said.
“It means we can bridge the gaps across TAFE Queensland in both theory and practical work.
“It's important to our $20 billion manufacturing industry that people can receive high-value training across the state.”
TAFE Queensland learned valuable lessons from the 2020 launch of its Diploma of Applied Technologies — a higher-level apprenticeship requiring students to travel between the Eagle Farm and Townsville campuses.
Students were required to come to campus for 15 one-week blocks over two years.
The travelling proved difficult, which prompted the need to better link the advanced manufacturing hubs across the three campuses.
Mounted cameras are used in classrooms and workshop areas to aid practical collaboration.
“BirdDog cameras not only allow for digital twinning to occur but also allow students to send their work electronically, enabling teachers and trainers to embed it into the piece of equipment,” Mr Harris-Brown said.
“The camera can then see that piece of equipment move and perform the instructions it’s been programmed to do.
“We've worked closely with all types of government, and the Advanced Manufacturing Gateway to Industry Schools project allows us to bring students from the school environment through to degree level within TAFE Queensland.
“It’s great for industry to upskill participants right across the state.”
Carefully guiding TAFE Queensland trainers through the change process has paid off.
“Bringing those educators along for the ride from the start was crucial,” Mr Harris-Brown said.
“Welcoming their input into the design phase, talking about what would be happening and including them all the way was important to this journey.
“The educators have all jumped on board, grabbing hold of the new technology and using it.”
Federation University is Australia's first co-op university, integrating academic study with paid work experience.
Students have the opportunity to alternate between periods of full-time study and full-time employment in their field of study.
“We're getting feedback from both students and industry partners on what works well for them,” Mikaela Power said.
“The block mode is something we’re looking to expand; it’s like an apprenticeship in that students are required to spend blocks of time on campus to fulfil the practical application of the degree.”
Federation has set up an online portal for employers to register positions on.
Participating employers are asked to provide employees with at least the base pay for the equivalent award and adequate supervision and training.
The placement occurs for at least 60 days, with many students staying on, either in the same format or dropping back to one day a week for the rest of their degree.
Industry partners have also shown interest in Federation’s cadetship model, which involves supporting students from the start of their degree.
Students benefit from a year of networking opportunities before starting their formal placement in an agreement worked out with the employer.
For RMIT, establishing a mechanical engineering degree apprenticeship was all about solving a workforce challenge.
“In the engineering space, it links back to employers’ long-standing concerns that traditional university engineering graduates don't come equipped with enough applied engineering skills to be productive immediately upon employment,” Rick Ede said.
“Despite much effort by universities to work with employers to create more experiences and work-based opportunities, it was still felt that the amount of time needed for an employer to invest in an engineering graduate before they're fully productive remained a significant investment and a drain on resources.
“Creating a degree apprenticeship was the answer — literally blending the learning and working so the professional engineering qualification is gained while in full-time employment.”
RMIT welcomed its first intake this year.
Mr Ede said the qualification would not have been possible without the support of Australian Industry Group and Ai Group CET’s Peter Canavan, in particular.
“I really want to acknowledge the leadership Australian Industry Group has shown in championing the development of degree apprenticeships in Australia,” he said.
“And, as well, the consortium of employers the Group pulled together to help us co-design what a degree apprenticeship program could look like in engineering and find a way to make it practically achievable given that, apart from in South Australia, degrees are not part of the apprenticeship system in Australia.
“We took a lot of learning from what was happening in South Australia, noting that the model over there was different: they already had the underpinning architecture of degrees being part of the apprenticeship system, as well as training contracts and plans and so on.
“We had to create a model that could work in Victoria. The way we landed was to start with as much of an apprenticeship-type experience as possible, by creating a degree apprenticeship model that started with the Advanced Diploma of Engineering for two years, conducted as a traineeship, already part of the Australian apprenticeship system.
“That's a familiar existing pathway that has all the attributes of a traditional traineeship.”
As a dual-sector institution – one that offers both higher education degrees and VET qualifications – RMIT has created a formal curriculum process with agreed credit recognition for all vocational to higher education transitions.
It means RMIT has a full pathway from the Advanced Diploma of Engineering into the Bachelor of Engineering Honours that allows it to take a year and a half of credit for successful completers into the Bachelor of Engineering Honours.
“And RMIT's STEM College has adapted its degree to what's called an industry practice model in which the final two years of the degree consist of almost 50% project-based learning.
“In a way, we've created a degree apprenticeship model that starts with a traineeship then ends up with full-time work-integrated learning as the delivery model.”
Entry into RMIT’s program is by employment.
“This is not a placement model of RMIT enrolling students and finding jobs for them,” Mr Ede said.
“It’s about RMIT partnering with employers who agree to participate by advertising the jobs, making the employment decisions and admitting students into the program.
“Starting with a vocational qualification at the front end means we’re widening the entry gate into the engineering profession because the ATAR is no longer a relevant consideration. Completing Year 12 VCE is the main prerequisite.”
The degree apprentices are employed on whatever award is relevant to that employer's enterprise.
Industry partners play an important role in keeping trainers up to date with the latest skills.
“We send our trainers on professional development throughout the year,” Mr Harris-Brown said.
“They visit our industry partners and see what's coming and undertake professional development in the workplace.”
Mr Price said some of TQMS’ trainers also consult in the industry, which enabled them to acquire and share the latest skills with fellow TQMS trainers.
“Working with employers gives us an opportunity to look at the new and emerging technology they're bringing into their plants," he said.
“We get to be part of those commissioning processes and training programs and can provide that training back to the students.
“We also have detailed PD programs to ensure trainers have the VET knowledge and keep up with new standards introduced into the industry."
There’s a challenge for educators to balance upskilling students and workers for the here and now with emerging technologies or practices — all the while navigating issues such as workforce shortages and training fatigue.
TQMS’ Certificate III program caters for both, Mr Price said.
“Our Certificate III is specifically about the skills for now, but we’re also looking to the future — identifying the talent within our Certificate III cohorts who can be the new team leaders, supervisors, quality managers and food safety inspectors.
“We need to get them job-ready quickly, specifically in understanding food safety, WHS and product quality. We're dealing with high-risk products and a highly regulated industry — both the meat and food industries.
“We need our students to be engaged and to feel supported. We want them to turn up the next day for another shift, so their employers are not losing staff.”
Mr Ede and Mr Harris-Brown are both fans of flexible learning in the form of micro credentials and the like.
“There are so many different pathways, and we understand not everyone likes to train the same way,” Mr Harris-Brown said.
“Adapting our training to the needs of the students is vital for staving off training fatigue.”
Ms Power said many units in Federation’s larger courses could be delivered as micro credentials.
“The key thing is making sure they meet the needs of industry,” she added.
Mr Harris-Brown said: “Over the past couple of years, TAFE Queensland has seen more than 60,000 units completed as micro-credentials, and the most successful ones are when we partner with industry and work towards fixing a skills gap in that industry.”
Success builds success, Ms Power said.
“It’s a significant commitment from industry to do this, but they and the broader community really see the benefits when students and trainees have a successful pathway into the workforce.”
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Wendy Larter is Communications Manager at Australian Industry Group.
A former journalist for newspapers and magazines including The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Metro, the News of the World, The Times and Elle in the UK, she is passionate about giving businesses a voice.
