Employability Skills

1. Employability Skills What are they? Definitions of employability skills range from • A vague notion of having something to do with preparing for a first job • To • Very precise lists of specific skills with employability seen as a learning process

2. Employability Skills Over the years, you may recall having seen one or more of the following terms • Key Skills • Core skills • Life skills • Soft skills • Essential skills • Key competencies • Necessary skills • Transferable skills

3. Employability Skills Where does the term come from ? Employability Skills are a natural progression from the Mayer Key Competencies developed in 1992. The Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in consultation with other peak employer bodies, produced the “Employability Skills for the Future” report in 2002. The report indicated that business and industry require a broader range of skills than is provided for in the Mayer Key Competencies

4. Employability Skills What is happening overseas..? Employability Skills are not unique to Australia and are of growing importance in the international context. Canada and Singapore have their own systems, also referred to as Employability Skills, while the US (SCANS Competencies) and the UK (Key Skills) address a similar set of generic or soft skills. Each of these systems are similar in that they were developed for vocational education. The exception are the UK Key Skills, which are primarily directed at secondary students. A scan of international literature in this area shows that there is no agreed definition of the term ‘employability’.

5. How do we define these skills in Australia? Definition (National Quality Council, Feb 2008) • “….the skills required to gain employment or establish an enterprise, but also to progress within an enterprise or expand employment capability, so as to achieve one’s potential and contribute successfully to enterprise strategic directions”

6. What are these skills? There are 8 Employability Skills • Initiative and Enterprise • Learning These 8 skill areas with their corresponding facets form the “Employability Skills Framework” • Self Management • Communication • Teamwork • Problem solving • Planning and Organising • Technology

7. What are they? (cont) Teamwork - its facets include: • working with others irrespective of gender, race, age, religion or political persuasion • working as an individual and as a member of a team • knowing how to define a role as part of the team • applying team work to a range of situations. For example, future planning, crisis resolution and problem solving • identifying the strengths of team members • coaching, mentoring and providing feedback

8. Why are they important? In a nutshell • Employers generally view Employability Skills along with technical skills as highly desirable attributes for employees • Employability Skills can assist employees to gain jobs, perform effectively at work and win promotions • Employability Skills can also lead to success in other domains of life

9. Training Package requirements In mid 2005, an approach to embed Employability Skills within Training Package qualifications and units of competency was endorsed by the then National Training Quality Council. As a result, from 2006 Employability Skills progressively replaced key competency information in national Training Packages. Today, every new Training Package must provide an Employability SkillsSummaryfor each qualification. This involves the mapping of each unit of competency within a qualification against the Employability Skills Framework. Summaries broadly identify the application of each Employability Skill in the context of the job role coved by the qualification.

10. Further developments The National Quality Council has agreed to a new process for moving to new Employability Skills reporting arrangements. • The new reporting arrangements are being put in place in response to the July 2007 decision by the council to move to descriptive reporting on Employability Skills. • This in turn addresses the recommendations of the report“Assessment and reporting of Employability Skills in Training Packages” published by The Allen Consulting Group, March 2006.

11. Further developments (cont) At its March 2008 meeting the NQC agreed to the following two step process for moving to new reporting arrangements: • from 1 July 2008, Registered Training Organisations would be required to inform all students issued with Training Package qualifications that Employability Skills Summaries for Training Package qualifications can be downloaded from http://employabilityskills.training.com.au • from 1 January 2009, Registered Training Organisations will be required to add the following mandatory sentence to all qualification testamurs issued for Training Package qualifications—‘A summary of the employability skills developed through this qualification can be downloaded from http://employabilityskills.training.com.au/'. Will accredited courses be required to follow suit?

12. Issues for TAFE NSW The Training Package Development Handbook (Aug 08) states that Employability Skills must be explicit and must be embedded within units of competency. This means that Employability Skills will be: • Embedded in units of competency and will appear in the elements, performance criteria, range statements and evidence guides • Explicitly describedwithin units of competency to enable Training Package users to accurately identify the performance requirements of each unit with regard to Employability Skills In terms of reporting, how will TAFE NSW do this?

13. Problem area The report “Assessment and reporting of employability skills in Training Packages” published by The Allen Consulting Group in March 2006, suggests in its conclusion, an Integrated Assessment and states • “…success depends on the facets of Employability Skills to be accurately assessed, being clearly and explicitly defined in the units of competency. It is important to any approach on assessment and reporting that Employability Skills are addressed adequately at the Training Package design level…” • It would appear that this has not yet been achieved.

14. Problem area (cont) The Allen Consulting Group conclusion recommended Descriptive Reporting, supplemented by student portfolios of evidence to individualise the report for each learner… • “…a descriptive report could be generated automatically from the Employability Skills Summary attached to each qualification, as a result of the process of explicitly embedding employability skills…” The report continued: • “…Over time, reports at a unit level could be developed and provided to learners who do not complete a full qualification. These reports would detail the descriptors for each unit of competency…”

15. Problem area (cont) In May 2006 the PINR CC feedback on the Allen Report included the following: • Costs of implementation must be considered as these impact on RTO systems depending on complexity • Comprehensiveness of descriptive reporting could be an issue • Complex reporting issues for a large RTO could result in potential confusion at teacher level • It would NOT be cheap to implement as suggested, given recommended reporting proposals • Staff development requirements would be significant • The voluntary student portfolio is a good theory in principle but if it is not compulsory the majority of students would be most unlikely to keep it • If the portfolio were a mandatory aspect of assessing and reporting of Employability Skills it would then have resourcing implications for teachers

16. Problem area (cont) Currently there is only one way an RTO can report on Employability Skills especially if the report is required at unit level. • The RTO would need to obtain the Employability Skills Framework mapping documents produced by the Training Package developer. (Remember: Training Package developers are required to map each employability skill and corresponding facets in each unit for every qualification using ES Tool 5from the TP Development Handbook. Yet it appears developers are not permitted to include this information in the Training Package).

17. Accredited CoursesExample: Course in Holistic Management. 6599 Accreditation Date 26 - 8 - 2008 TARQS are saying to “list the employability skills under Section B 3.3 ‘General Competencies’ in the Course document template”. And to “provide a short statement how the course addresses each employability skill. Provide examples by nominating those units or elements within the units which better address each employability skill”. Similar to current key competency requirements and in effect will become a pseudo Employability Skills Summary Therefore, it stands to reason, a similar mapping document (ES Tool 5) will need to be produced for each qualification and corresponding units which are required to undertake the Accreditation process

18. What About the Unit Guide This is where the confusion lies in my opinion TARQS thinking at the present time is… In section 2.1, ‘Unit Descriptor’… Add the following line “ This unit incorporates Employability Skills”That’s it….? However, Remember… we are to… Explicitly describewithin units of competency to enable training package users to accurately identify the performance requirements of each unit with regard to employability skills and provide a report as suggested in the Allen Consulting Group report..?

19. My Suggestion is In the unit guide or template where Required Skills and Knowledge are stated… Perhaps we could list the required skills and include those employability skills relevant to the elements and performance criteria for that unit. However, this would require some careful thinking and wording to ensure all employability skills are captured. Use ES Tools 5 & 6 for assistance… To me this would be just as effective for Institute staff and easier to report on…

20. This will look like…. Example only! REQUIRED SKILLS. This section describes the skills required for this unit and the Training Package ES Tool 6 may help.Communication skills to interact with clients, colleagues and suppliers of fishing rod building equipment, components and materials Written communication skills to complete workplace documentation and reportsProblem solving skills to respond appropriately to technology advancements and to determine techniques and equipment to use when building or repairing fishing rods.Problem solving skills to decide on appropriate rod building and repair equipment and materials Literacy skills to read, interpret and implement rod building and repair information, instructions and material data sheets Planning and organising skills to organise commitments and plan work activities Organisational skills to source appropriate rod building and repair equipment and materials, and ensure all gear and equipment is in good working orderLiteracy and numeracy skills to calculate and estimate material quantities and lengthsProblem solving skills in checking, preventing and repairing common fishing gear and equipment faults and deficienciesTechnology skills to use required equipment, tools and materials to build and repair fishing rodsProblem solving skills to cast a fishing rod, evaluate its performance and accommodate changeSelf management skills to review and reflect on own performance and set goals to improve techniquesFirst Aid and Emergency response skills appropriate to rod building and repair

21. Employability Skills We are not sure what direction head office is going to take in terms of Employability Skills requirements, especially in terms of reporting etc. This will also depend on how the new series of Training Packages have embedded employability skills and what the new TAFE NSW copy over system is capable of doing…

22. Future support In the future Trainers and assessors will be required to design learning and assessment strategies that address the facets of Employability Skills embedded within units of competency and Industry Skills Units will provide support and advice to institutes and teachers as procedures relating to Employability Skills in Training Packages evolve Information on Employability skills can be obtained from http://www.training.com.au/portal/site/public/menuitem.0216ca6f4edda8ef49be0a1c17a62dbc/

23. Employability Skills Stay tuned for further developments