Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT)
The Victorian Government reviews the new training system...and finds it isn't necessarily advancing the course of industry knowledge.
I remember writing a couple of years ago, after a trip to India, that over there the `knowledge' people had no practical skills, and the practical workers had no theory training. The result was very poorly run golf courses (unless they imported an Aussie to run their course!).
In Australia, our apprenticeship system has served us very well - the combination of on-the-job training with the boss and off-the-job training at a TAFE turned out very effective and efficient turf managers. Most of you will be aware that a number of changes have been made to trade training over the past couple of years. Some of these changes include,
- A switch from `time based' training (eg: three years of part-time schooling to complete an apprenticeship) to `competency based' training (the successful completion of a certain number of tasks, called `competencies', each of which is worth so many points towards your qualification). Competencies are named as `doing' words rather than subject titles, and the emphasis is in assessing what workplace tasks you can do rather than what you actually know.
- The system has been opened up to competition by allowing private providers (eg: Hortus) to compete with the TAFE institutes in both training and assessment of industry personnel.
- The new system allows both `on-the-job' training and assessment (either by the superintendent, a private provider or a TAFE instructor), as well as (or instead of) traditional `off-the-job' assessment at a TAFE Institute.
There are many reasons for these changes: Creating a more flexible workforce, encouraging competition, avoiding duplication and time-wasting and so on. A good example is tractor driving - an apprentice group at a TAFE Institute may consist of some students off farms who are quite competent at tractor driving, and other apprentices off bowling greens who may never have driven a tractor. What's the point of testing and assessing the farmer's son for tractor driving? Couldn't that be done at work, perhaps by the Superintendent or by a private Workplace Assessor who will come out to the workplace?
The answer to this question isn't as simple as you think - if you assess and pass an apprentice for tractor driving, and he or she then rolls the tractor and kills themselves are you liable? Potentially, yes.
As well as taking on the training role, a superintendent who undertakes ‘on-the-job' assessment of an apprentice also takes on new responsibilities. Industry personnel have been consulted at all stages of these reforms (initially John Bayliss, then Steve Tuckett representing Victorian Golf Course Superintendents).
Apart from the attempt to create a more flexible and efficient system, there is another reason for these reforms, a reason that is not stated: To save money. TAFE training is almost fully funded by the Federal and State governments. The standard fee that a TAFE student pays is $1 for each hour of training, and the government adds to this around $5 for each hour. So TAFE Institutes cost the taxpayer a lot of money. The strategies of encouraging `on-the-job' assessment (where the golf club pays all the costs for equipment and instruction) and the use of private providers (with low overheads for equipment and staff) will be cheaper. Even the concept of competency-based training instead of time-based training should save money, especially if the number and standard of competencies is lower than the old system (in other words, if you lower the bar).
One term that has been used is that the apprenticeship has been `dumbed down'. Dumbing down? Lowering the bar? Shouldn't we be raising it? Yet the apprenticeship training under the new competency-based system is easier and less demanding than the old system.
Noting some of these concerns, the Victorian Bracks Labor government initiated an investigation into apprenticeship training which has just been published, titled "A Review of the Quality of Training in Victoria's Apprenticeship and Training System", by Kaye Schofield (also knows as the Schofield Report). Some of you might have seen brief reports in the media recently, and some of the statements from that report are quoted below. If you're interested the full report can be accessed via the Office of Technical and Further Education web site at www.vic.edu.au (go to the `News' link).
T | he review used interview and survey methods to investigate the quality of training under the new system. It found many weaknesses in the current apprenticeship training, such as:
- Non-compliance by employers and providers with their legal and moral obligations to their apprentices, including a reluctance by employers to release apprentices for off-the-job training.
Remember an apprentice isn't just cheap labour. The low wage rates are paid on the expectation that you will provide good on-the-job training and experience, and eventually allow apprentices to complete their qualifications. In some cases that is not happening. Some apprentices are currently being trained and assessed completely on-the-job, which means that the apprentice is available full time for work at the club. This is especially attractive to rural clubs, or clubs where the turf maintenance is contracted.
- Apprentices can't develop the `underpinning' knowledge needed when completing competencies on-the-job. In other words they are not getting the theory component necessary to understand the practical tasks they are doing.
- `Tick and flick' approach to competency assessment. Can you drive that tractor? Yes - okay, tick off tractor driving. Is that your fertilizer program? Okay, tick off that one too.
- Some providers are not ensuring their staff are suitably qualified to teach and assess the apprentices. One would assume that the training provider, whether it is a private provider or a TAFE Institute, would be using instructors who are highly qualified and experienced in the turf industry and the specific competencies that are being trained and assessed, but this isn't always happening.
- There is evidence of abuse of the new system by unethical and possibly fraudulent organisations. In some cases the payments to providers are only made on successful completion by the student - so there is a further incentive to tick and flick the student to get the qualification done.
- Many apprentices are not challenged by their training program. Speaks for itself.
- There are widespread views that the new apprenticeship system is `dumbing down' the work force.
Some pretty serious problems have been identified. So what does it all mean? There are a few implications our industry needs to consider:
- The government would love to see employers do their own training and assessment as it saves money and passes on responsibility.
- Lowering the bar and dumbing down the workforce saves money.
- A trade ticket in future may not be worth much. That lack of credibility will apply up the line too, to Advanced Certificates, Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas. If there's one thing that will push this industry into an American style of training (where the superintendent has a uni degree and the workers have no qualifications at all) it is this threat to the credibility and quality of our technical trade qualifications.
- If it all goes wrong the government is in the clear, as the new system is `industry driven'.
- Unscrupulous employers now have the means to exploit apprentices and save money. Unscrupulous providers can now milk money out of the system without providing good training.
So what can you do about it? If you are uncomfortable about the new system you can still organise for your apprentice to attend a TAFE Institute for their `off-the-job' training and assessment, just like in the old system. If you do that, very little has changed at all. And just like in the old days, you should shop around for the TAFE Institute that best meets your needs and the needs of the apprentice.
You should also be aware that your organisation has a lot of influence with the TAFE Institutes, and can play a major part in ensuring that the apprenticeship program offered by TAFEs is relevant, challenging, interesting, and of good quality. This influence can also be brought to bear on the government authorities (eg: ANTA, OTFE, RTC etc) to argue against allowing a reduction in technical standards in our industry.
Think about it. |
