High Performance Workplaces – some issues and potential research questions for VET ?

1. Robin Shreeve CEO, Skills Australia 28 October 2011 High Performance Workplaces – some issues and potential research questions for VET ?

2. What is High Performing Workplaces? Source: Leadership, Culture and Management Practices of High Performing Workplaces in Australia, SKE 2011 • High-commitment management (Arthur, 1994; Pfeffer, 1998) • High performance work systems (Becker & Huselid, 1998) • High-involvement management (Guthrie, 2001) • Four types of work organisations: • Discretionary Learning Organisation • Lean Production • Taylorist • Traditional • Discretionary Learning Organisation outperforms other work organisations

3. Selection of staff is important for HPWs There is a growing body of evidence that strategic Human Resource Management plays an important role in creating HPWs Source: Leadership, Culture and Management Practices of High Performing Workplaces in Australia, SKE 2011

4. Is about how well employers harness and develop their workers’ abilities and talents to gain maximum value. Skills Australia, 2011 Skills utilisation

5. Leadership in High Performing Workplaces Source: Leadership, Culture and Management Practices of High Performing Workplaces in Australia: The HPW Index. SKE 2011

6. Selection and recruitment of the right staff is important to HPW What do we know about this in VET / TAFE? • Productivity Commission Report on Vocational Education and Training Workforce (2011) • NCVER report on “Careers in VET” by Michele Simons, Roger Harris, Val Pudney and Berwyn Clayton (2009) • NCVER Report on “Human Resources Management in Australian registered training organisations by Andrew Smith and Geoff Hawke (2008)

7. Productivity Commission on Recruitment and Selection No widespread shortages – difficulties in specific locations and occupations / industries Looks principally at the “attractiveness” of pay and conditions as a means of recruiting and retaining staff in VET Get pay and conditions right – “and they will come” Recognises the fundamental issue that VET professionals are “dual professionals” – with capabilities in education and industry Recommends greater autonomy to allow individual Institutions the flexibility to vary pay and conditions to respond to regional and specific industry variations

8. HRM in Australian RTOs • High-quality, well-integrated and strategically focused HRM is key to organisational success and improved capability • HRM is not strategic in TAFE institutes • HRM is a well-established function in TAFE institutes, but operates within tight constraints by state government HRM policies/ procedures • Governments need to relax their grip on HRM polices/ procedures • HRM in private RTOs is informal • While they have higher degree of flexibility, private RTOs need to develop more effective HRM polices/ practices to ensure their successful future growth • With rapid growth in their businesses, private RTOs face the challenge of formalising HRM, but at the same time they need to find ways to avoid excessive bureaucratisation of this function

9. Smith and Hawke on Recruitment and Selection Describe HR management in the TAFE sector as professional – detailed job descriptions, rules for selection panels – but not strategic in terms of being a key business partner Subject to Public Sector Rules about process – including where to advertise Resulting in an emphasis on uniformity, equity and procedural fairness Contrast this to best practice in the private sector that use a variety of selection and assessment techniques

10. Government of WA, Public Sector Commission - Rethinking Recruitment Tips for creating an Employer Brand Consider the ‘type’ of candidate you want • Where do candidates generally come from? • Does job description accurately reflect the skills/ characteristics needed to do the job? • Where are candidates found? • What motivations of candidates can we appeal to? • What are the current motivations/ background of current workforce? TAFEs are subject to State Public Sector Rules • Do your research • Review your website • Advertise wisely • Consider statements or values that genuinely describe culture of organisation

11. For TAFE teachers the most usual entry point is via a casual contract appointment Productivity Commission Report found that, “.....job mobility data indicate that, of the permanent or ongoing employees now in the VET workforce, three-quarters joined as casual or fixed-term employees originally” (P. xxxv) NCVER Report on Careers in VET found that, “Recent estimates found that approximately three in every five TAFE teachers were employed on a casual basis and that this varied considerably across states/territories .The number of teachers employed on a non-permanent basis in New South Wales was estimated to be as high as 78% of all teachers, while it was approximately 50% in four other jurisdictions—Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory (P .12)

12. A casual career entry point as the norm - it was not always thus..... Source – Careers in VET, NCVER (2009) Table 10, p 29

13. Is there a link with funding - VET Government Real Recurrent Expenditure – All Governments Source: ROGS Edition 2011

14. Well known advantages and disadvantages of casual engagements Positives • Flexibility to respond to changing industry demands • Trainers with contemporary industry experience • Suit some individual’s lifestyle choices • Greater output in terms of AHC for same $ (efficiency) Negatives • Uncertainty of employment for individual • Poorer rewards for individual • Less ability to participate in staff development and program management • Greater workload for remaining permanent staff

15. What is important for VET students? Source: Employers’ use and views of the VET system, NCVER 2009 • Teachers with contemporary industry experience • Flexibility in the provision of training methods • More focus on practical skills • Better access to training in regional/ rural areas • Better alignment of skills taught & relevance to job • Higher quality and standard of training • More tailored/ specific training that is relevant to job • VET training is too expensive

16. Some issues that may need investigation? • Is the public sector recruitment process too passive or reactive in recruiting potential VET teaching staff from industry? Responding in a very stylised way to an advertisement in a newspaper or on web-site (however well targeted) is not a common way of recruiting in some industries . • If a casual engagement is now the standard entry point – is VET missing out on good industry staff as not everyone can afford the time to acquire some casual teaching experience as well as do their main job? • Does several years service as a casual teacher mean that teaching staff are already “socialised” into conventional ways of doing things in TAFE before they achieve permanent status and does this make cultural change in the sector more difficult?

17. HPW’s have an emphasis on quality and continuous improvement • New National Regulator – Australian Skills Quality Authority • New National Skills Standards Council • Australian Quality Training Framework

18. VET quality concerns Quality across the VET sector was a major focus of the Skills for Prosperity report • Key recommendations included: • Building robust national VET regulation • Implementation of mandatory external validation of assessment • High-quality and rigorous delivery of the Training and Education Training Package • Growing a professional and skilled VET workforce • Information transparency and increased outcomes focus

19. VET quality concerns Quality in the VET sector has also been an issue in recent research reports, e.g. • The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report Caring for older Australians • Concerns were raised about the variability in quality of accredited training in the aged care sector • The Commission recommends an independent and comprehensive review of aged care courses

20. VET quality concerns • The Strategic Review of the Student Visa Program 2011 report raised concerns about Australia’s international reputation as a quality provider of education • Report stated that “in recent years some low quality providers entered the sector particularly, but not exclusively, in some parts of the private VET sector” • Australian ‘brand’ depends on quality • Compromises in quality can also tarnish Australia’s reputation for quality beyond the education sector

21. The AQTF Audit process Audits may also occur at other times, such as monitoring or strategic audits, or when an RTO wants to extend its scope of registration The FOCUS of an AUDIT is ON the OUTCOMESACHIEVED by the Registered Training Organisation

22. Preparing for an AQTF Audit • Dates are negotiated • Agenda sent beforehand giving details of: • Type of audit • Membership of the audit team • Indication of what ‘evidence’ auditors will want to see • Evidence may include: • Results of data collection from stakeholders and use in continuous improvement • Training and assessment strategies and materials • Resources relating to each qualification on scope of registration • Student and staff records

23. English system of regulation and inspection

24. OFSTED – Common Inspection Framework Looks at 5 key questions: • Overall effectiveness • Capacity to improve • Outcomes for learners • Quality of provision • Leadership and management Four point grading scale (Outstanding, Good, Satisfactory, Inadequate)

25. OFSTED Process • Periodic inspections and annual monitoring visits • Great emphasis on provider annual Self Assessment Report (SAR) • Two key metrics - Qualification success rates - Lesson observation profile

26. Provider Self Assessment Reports • Bottom-up from Section to Faculty to whole Institution • Address key questions of Common Inspection Framework • Judgments have to be data driven • Penalties for over-estimating grades

30. Inspectors comments on achievement in a Grade 4 provider

31. Inspectors comments on achievement in a Grade 1 Provider

32. Inspectors comments on teaching and learning in a Grade 4 College

33. Comments on teaching and learning in a Grade 1 provider

34. Training importance and satisfaction

35. Employers’ views of VET system

36. Satisfaction and training relevance

37. Thank you