VECO Online Guests: Harris van Beek & Eric Sidoti
Bright Futures and You!

Bright Futures for young Australians
Summary 2 of 3: Principals part 1
by Janine Bowes

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overview

This summary is adapted from the posting to the bright-futures discussion list on Wednesday May 17, 2000.

Yesterday saw a flurry of postings making hence this interim summary to assist anyone having trouble keeping up. Several threads are running at present (see summaries below) and some issues raised in the opening postings have yet to be taken up.

Perhaps this summary will help busy coordinators and others to jump into the conversation. After reading all of the postings, I think we need a list of acronyms!

Wayne Craig introduction

On Friday May 12, Wayne Craig opened the Principals' session with his posting about the Vocational Education program at Box Hill. He outlined the successes and the challenges and cited 
- Long term financial viability
- How well is school preparing students to participate in a global workforce
- How well do current programs (including VET) provide or develop the
skills students are likely to need over the next thirty years?
- are there programs (particularly in the IT area) that do not sit in the AQF but are worthy of implementation in schools?
- How will schools deal with a looming shortage of teachers/trainers in some key areas?
- What additional data does the school need to collect to assist in
decision making in these areas?

Jo Lynch (May 16)picked up on his reference to VET being still deemed "second rate" and described how this is not the case in her region and wondered whether this might be attributable to the lack of large industry. Or are other factors at play? 

She went on to emphasise the importance of workplace skills for ALL students in the interests of lifelong learning and transferable skills. 

Joy Short  introduction

On Friday May 12, Joy Short described the vocational education program at Bethlehem College and emphasised the importance of community partnerships thus adding weight to that thread from last week's discussions.

Roy Rogers (May 15) responded and raised several questions based on Joy's posting. Joy tackled these by starting new threads in the conversation.
- Preparing Students for Workplacement
- Professional Development of Teachers
- teacher involvement in industry links

Jo Lynch introduction

Jo Lynch arrived on the scene on May 16 following technical hitches. She oriented herself by posting comments on the initial Bright Futures discussion pointing out the importance of the community partnerships from the schools' point of view as well as that of industry. 

In describing the program at Albany, she stressed the importance of leaning beyond the classroom being integral part of the senior school curriculum for all students. She described the 1999 trial of a "Skills Recognition Project" which accredited students for skills gained outside of school. She indicated the challenges Rural Australia faces in implementing "learning beyond the classroom for all".

Mike Frost (May 16) asked whether there was an intention to explore training outcomes recognition to which Jo replied that indeed they did do this but the cost of implementation for all students was prohibitive. This led the school to apply to become an RTO and they are awaiting that decision at present. Towards this end, staff have also been encouraged to undertake the Workplace assessor qualifications available as PD paid by the state education department. 

Discussion threads that have emerged from the introductory postings:

- Preparing Students for Workplacement
- Professional Development of Teachers
- Teacher Involvement in Industry Links

Preparing Students for Workplacement

Roy asked "What do you do in terms of preparing your students prior to going on their workplacement and when does the preparation begin. Also, is industry a part of the preparation process?"

Joy Short (May 15) responded that teachers prepare students as part of their classroom practice using resources such as handbooks from the Catholic Education Office in Sydney (their RTO, these handbooks having been developed from feedback from employers. Students are also encouraged to meet prior to placement. She invited comment from others as to how they manage this preparation with scarce resources.

Wayne Craig (May 15)gave a different perspective and described the variation in workplacement models for the 300 students involved at Box Hill. There the students are expected to organise their own workplacement though assistance is provided if needed. As with Bethlehem College, students are prepared by their teachers, supplemented by employers where appropriate, throughout their VET program using the VCE subject "Industry & Enterprise Studies". Materials used have been developed by the school with the guidance of industry personnel.

Jo Lynch (May 16)described how students at are selected for workplacement via an interview panel that includes employers. This plays a formative and summative role in that feedback is given to students with those failing the interview being assisted to meet the requirements for the next round. Following this process, induction procedures are conducted for students and employers.

In another posting on May 16, Jo Lynch referred to the importance of the continued ASTF funding to enable schools to make a difference in workplace training and work readiness. She saw that moving the readiness programs to lower school (Ed years 9 and 10) as a positive step though cautioned against younger students undertaking workplacement.

Professional Development of Teachers

Roy asked "You wrote about professional development of your teachers. My interest is only in terms of the "world of work" and how many teachers maintain current knowledge".
- Could you please outline exactly what the PD process is?
- Does the PD include any input from industry?
- How much individual teacher release time is in your budget or are the teachers expected to fund their own PD with their own time and resources?
- "Do your teachers do any "work experience"?
- Is the PD mandatory and if so how is it monitored?

Joy Short (May 15) responded by describing how all teachers of vocational education (Ed in the catholic system) are required to undergo initial training recognised by both education and industry. This training included off the job training and industry placement and is funded jointly by the school and the Catholic Education Office, Sydney. Ongoing PD needs are met via the Business Education Partnership as well as the Catholic Education Office with industry reps invited to input into meeting. Teachers are required to maintain current industry knowledge and experience and this is achieved mainly by supervising students in the workplace. PD costs are met from within the school PD budget though this does not allow for significant time release for industry placement.

Jude Nettleingham (Roper, May 16)from the Seafood ITAB picked up on several points made by Joy and suggested that perhaps the PD as described might fall short of what is really required by industry as "current industry knowledge and experience". Acknowledging that the full context was not clear she suggested that "teachers will be gaining valuable experience in supervision and an appreciation of the work environment beyond their own (primarily as school) but that's about as far ass it can be argued. This is a very important issue and one that needs to be properly addressed so that school based VET programs can achieve their aims.". She recognised that there are no simple answers to these issues.

Steve Berry (May 16)picked up on Jude's comments and gave some further perspectives from the school's "side" of VET describing the various ways in which industry involvement has occurred as the program has evolved over time from a careers program, through to the current situation with the BEP operating within the network of contacts established by schools cluster. He outlined the differing situations in urban and rural Australia thus adding weight to the local variations advocated in Bright Futures. He described how the AQF 2 qualifications can be extended through partnership and how the close working relationships between stakeholders provide an interface through which the "generic skills" mentioned by Wayne in his opening comments might be fostered. He added that the school program does not seek to replace apprenticeships and traineeships but rather provides stepping stones or launch pads to further career options.

Steve went on to mention the positive cultural changes that are occurring and while acknowledging that Bright Futures addresses concerns about funding, it is a "bit short on implementation detail". He mentioned the "Collegiate Education" approach suggested in NSW and currently the cause of industrial dispute which would see amalgamation of school and TAFE teacher awards and the establishment of "super schools" with TAFE and University course options running within the HSC.

Jo Lynch (May 16) cited the qualifications held by teachers involved in the delivery of VET as training in the subject delivered, teacher training and Workplace Assessor Category 2 Certificate 4 qualifications. EDWA (Ed Dept of WA) funds the Assessor training as well as the Teacher in Industry Placement scheme. 

Teacher involvement in industry links

Roy asked:
"You acknowledge the benefit of the BEP in your support network. Could you please outline what employer contact your own teachers have and do your teachers participate in the quality review of the student placements".

Joy Short (May 16) responded that the BEP manager if often the first point of contact with industry, liaising between schools and employers to ensure that needs are clearly communicated. From there, teachers make contact with employers to further develop the relationship as well as visiting students in the workplace to monitor and evaluate their progress. Sometimes the teacher-employer relationships lead to further outcomes through the involvement of the employer in the off the job delivery or through sponsoring awards.

Jo Lynch (May 16) asked whether other Principals receive complaints about staff spending time making industry contact rather than being in front of a class.

In another posting, Jo Lynch (May 16) spoke about the involvement of the Workplace Learning Coordinator and Careers and Industry Awareness teacher in the quality review of student workplacements, thus ensuring consistent messages.

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First published June 27, 2000. Last modified June 30, 2000.