Industry Training Organisations & Foundation Skills

1. Industry Training Organisations & Foundation Skills ITF Research Forum, Wellington, 4 April 2005 Ruth Schick PhD, Development Manager Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 2 Vermont Street, Ponsonby. PO Box 56571, Dominion Road, Auckland, New Zealand Ph: 64 9 361 3800 Fax: 64 9 376 3700 Email: admin@workbase.org.nz Web: www.workbase.org.nz

2. Outline of the presentation • Purpose, rationale, and context • Methods (sample, interviews, analysis) • Findings • Discussion – links/implications to other work in the industry training sector ITOs & Foundation Skills

3. Purpose of the project TEC commissioned work to: • Fill an information gap: How are ITOs dealing with Strategy 3: Integrating workforce literacy within the industry training environment? • Identify ITO perspectives, knowledge, current actions • Scope challenges • Propose forms of support ITOs & Foundation Skills

4. Rationale The industry training sector role in addressing foundation skills 1. Industry training sector is purpose built to build the skills industry needs - these are not just technical skills, they include foundation skills 2. Industry training sector has potential to build foundation skills 3. Little is known about ITO perspectives, capability or actions in this area 4. ITOs have not focussed on foundation skills in the past To support ITOs to address foundation skills, we need more understanding of ITO perspectives and capability regarding foundation skills ITOs & Foundation Skills

5. Why Workbase? Working with key sector stakeholders ●Workplace Learning Solutions: Over 50 tailored workplace literacy programmes since 1994 ●Research & Development :Conducting empirical research and applying international best practice to work with ITOs, providers, practitioners, and policy makers ●Practitioner and Provider Support:Organisational and professional development with ITOs, providers, and vocational and literacy practitioners ●Sector Leadership and Funding:Advice to Government and business on policy and investment decisions; administering the Workplace Basic Skills Development Fund ITOs & Foundation Skills

6. Context • Industry training sector is main source of vocational education/training for workforce with no, or few, formal qualifications • Government has charged ITOs with taking a leadership role, and with addressing foundation skills in their industries ITOs & Foundation Skills

7. What are foundation skills? • Oral and written communication and reasoning, using numeric and English language media • Referred to as “literacy, language and numeracy” • Metacognitive skills – thinking skills necessary for: • employee success in training and on the job • business performance ITOs & Foundation Skills

8. What will build employees’ foundation skills? • Training of longer duration (to achieve foundation skills gains as well as technical skills or unit standards) • Teaching that ties technical and literacy skills togetherby linking training to real activities on the job • Teaching that supports applying knowledge to new situations • Assessment linked to what is taught on the job – that includes real life workplace literacy demands ITOs & Foundation Skills

9. Context • Labour and skill shortages are increasing • Foundation skills requirements of jobs are changing and increasing • Gaps between employee literacy and job demands limit individual opportunities and business performance • 750,000 employed people (40% of the workforce) have low literacy in relation to modern work demands • An estimated 50% of trainees (about 67,000 currently) have significant literacy needs (information provided by the ITF) • Literacy demands of Level 1 Unit Standards may be above the skill level of many employees ITOs & Foundation Skills

10. Methodology (research design) • One hour semi-structured interviews with six ITO chief executives • ITOs selected by: • the size of the industry coverage & trainee numbers • implement in level 1-3 qualifications • limited experience in workplace literacy ITOs & Foundation Skills

11. Data collection, checking, analysis • One hour long, face-to-face interviews – two interviewers • Data recorded by written notes, tape • Tapes transcribed and summarised • Summaries sent to interviewees to check accuracy • Summaries were analysed to identify themes and key observations ITOs & Foundation Skills

12. Interview prompts • ITO structure, coverage, relationships with employers and training providers • ITO and industry priorities & needs • ITO and industry perspectives on literacy needs and impacts of skill gap • ITO approaches and challenges to addressing these • Addressing foundation skills in skill shortage survey • Tracking causes of low retention • Monitoring impacts of training on on-job performance • ITO perspectives on support that would help them address foundation skills in training ITOs & Foundation Skills

13. Transcript analysis guide • Industry coverage • ITO structure • Industry and ITO priorities and needs • Sector relationships, perspectives and initiatives (providers, employers, other ITOs) • Foundation skills - perspectives, expertise, initiatives, challenges • ITO perspectives on help/support to address foundation learning needs ITOs & Foundation Skills

14. Findings: challenges • There is no single approach that will support all ITOs to build foundation skills • There are shared experiences, challenges and principles that can guide the design and implementation of support ITOs & Foundation Skills

15. Findings: shared experiences • ITO resources: time, money, understanding and expertise, industry structure • Employer priorities, attitudes/understanding • Competing priorities: new regulations, compliance, labour shortages • Funding structures don’t readily support foundation skills in industry training (time and cost of foundation skills provision) • Provider availability and expertise ITOs & Foundation Skills

16. Findings: shared experiences Employers - the major drivers of training • Tend to be driven by compliance, regulation or wanting to do something for their workers • Have limited understanding of impact of literacy on: • training participation and on-job learning • job performance • company performance • wastage error rates, rework, absenteeism, morale, on job communication and conflict, health and safety, customer service Providers may address foundation skills - 1:1, adhoc, not linked to training programme ITOs & Foundation Skills

17. Findings ITOs would like support to: • include foundation skills in their industry skills analysis • address literacy needs among the pre-vocational group • identify possibilities for literacy and vocational tutors to work together • address the added cost involved in providing additional foundation skills support with NZQF oriented training ITOs & Foundation Skills

18. Analysis/Discussion: ITO Impact Areas ITOs can build literacy into industry training in several ways: • through messages to industry and employers • through messages to providers via moderation and assessment processes and through: • design of unit standards and qualifications • design of trainee resources • management of assessment • professional development for ITO staff and workplace trainers and assessors ITOs & Foundation Skills

19. For ITOs to develop industry-specific literacy strategies, would involve support to ITOs in: • surveying foundation skill shortages • prioritising target groups (industry, occupation, employee groups) • setting goals and monitoring progress against goals • developing and trialling approaches ITOs & Foundation Skills

20. This will require considering: • designing qualifications • assessing of training • moderation • monitoring outcomes/impacts of training • communicating with employers • leadership role and foundation skills ITOs & Foundation Skills

21. Discussion • System driven by enrolments and completed assessments – versus – • Teaching and learning inputs and on-job performance gain ITOs & Foundation Skills

22. Summary comments To build foundation skills into industry training, ITOs will need support to: • identify the foundation skill demands of jobs and industries • identify the gap between employee skills and the demands of jobs and industries • identifying training that would address these gaps • monitor and revise training design based on evidence of the impacts of training on employee skills, job performance, and on business performance) Result: increased industry training participation & learning, reduced non completion ITOs & Foundation Skills