1. VET practitioners for the Service Industries: What they do well and how they could do better Erica Smith (UB), Ros Brennan Kemmis ( Charles Sturt University ), Lauri Grace ( Deakin University ) & Warren Payne (UB) Project funded by Service Skills Australia

2. How we researched the Service Skills VET workforce 9 industry focus groups in 5 States - 60 participants International benchmarking via interviews and email conversations with senior UK experts in VET teacher qualifications, & in retail and hospitality sector skills councils. 33-question survey of all Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) delivering Service Skills qualifications, a return of 208 valid responses (13.3%). The survey covered the RTO, its workforce, and its staff development strategies and needs. Case studies in 8 RTOs, one public and one private in each of the following areas: retail and floristry, hospitality, hair and beauty, fitness and community recreation. Interviews with managers in 3 enterprise RTOs, and analysis of international student issues (4 interviews plus case study data) Validation by 2 UK experts & 2 Australian focus groups

3. What Service Skills RTOs are like Almost three-quarters of Service Skills RTOs are micro or small in size (with fewer than 500 students enrolled). Service Skills RTOs are quite diverse, with some evidence of a bimodal distribution in delivery mode - those who deliver primarily in the workplace and those who deliver primarily in an institutional setting. Most Service Skills RTOS do not deliver in more than two industry areas. Smaller RTOs have the opportunity to control their teaching/training staff better than larger RTOs do. It is easier for them to monitor teaching/training quality and to enforce requirements such as those for industry currency. Links with industry are more straightforward.

4. What do VET practioners do? There are different types of practitioners, which within themselves vary among type of RTO, size of RTO, Training Package area and so on). There are 4 main types: 1. Employed by an institutional RTO, delivering primarily in an institutional setting; 2. Employed by an institutional RTO, delivering primarily in employers’ workplaces; 3. Employed by an enterprise RTO, delivering nationally recognised training; 4. Employed by an enterprise, delivering non-nationally recognised training. The project focused on the first three although we did receive comments about the latter group. Each type of teacher/trainer needs a different set of skills and attributes, and has varying development needs.

5. What are VET practitioners like? More likely to be female than male (56% of RTOs reported that 51% or more of their staff were female). About as likely to be full-time as casual/sessional ((50.8% of RTOs reported that 51% or more of their staff were full-time). However RTOs seemed to be quite differentiated, with 20.8% having no full-time teachers/trainers/assessors, 51.8% having no part-time staff, and 42.6% having no casuals or sessionals. They were somewhat more likely to be older than younger. Only 10% of RTOs had 51% or more of their staff under the age of 35 while 54.9% had 51% or more of their staff between the ages of 35 and 50.However, very few RTOs had 51% or more of their staff above the age of 51. This seems to contradict a belief about the ‘greying’ of VET practitioners or perhaps indicating that Service Skills is an atypical area.

6. How well qualified are VET practitioners? Considering the huge expectations placed on VET practitioners, it is a challenge that teaching/training staff are generally qualified at a fairly low level in teaching – predominantly Certificate IV level in Training and Assessment (TAA). Most respondents (but not all) thought that higher level teaching qualifications were desirable There was also a general dismissal of the Certificate IV qualification as being in itself poorly delivered. However a small number of respondents in the focus groups and case studies felt that the Certificate IV TAA set too high a bar and discouraged participation of enterprise in VET. In the UK there are multi-modal qualification levels for VET practitioners including special arrangements for certain enterprises; it would be worth considering these as possibilities

7. Desired nature of VET practitioners Flexibility Effective communication skills Regular accessible reporting on student progress Rigorous attention to detail Monitoring students’ progress Respect for students Exchanging ideas on teaching and training Disposition towards constant learning and improvements in teaching and learning Passion Teaching/training (pedagogical) skills Balance between industry currency and educational qualifications

8. Flexibility to be able to be nimble and fast in the VET environment. You can build your processes all around a so-called great course and it becomes airtight, and the funding falls into place. It all moves perfectly, but that’s not the real world. The whole ideal approach needs to have this in built wobble board (Teacher). So it’s not about being a people person, it’s about understanding the multiple clients that you are meeting the needs of in the one scenario. … and maintaining a level of professionalism and credibility in all layers of those relationships (Training manager)

9. Effective communication skills …..from a trainer’s perspective, they’ve got to have the ability to relate to people and have that natural flair and enthusiasm and ability to communicate and lead a group of people. The technical side is, again, important, but nowhere near as important as the soft skills and the teaching skills. I see a good teacher is someone who can stand up in front of a group and inspire them and motivate them and to give them the teachings that are really important to be able to stand them in good stead. (Training manager)

10. Reporting on student progress The reporting mechanisms were very strange and it was difficult to get back to the employer and make real recommendations. I think we became very generic with our reporting structures and just about said nothing of help. And so employers were saying to me: ‘I don’t understand what these mean. I mean this is a computer print out….what does it mean? I want to know what they are like’. So now we have introduced a portfolio system and it is much more helpful. (Educational Manager).

11. Rigorous attention to detail The RTO is an example of good practice, the environment is great, the are good at finishing everything - they take no short cuts. My staff who come out of [this RTO] are thoroughly trained and I have no problem with them at all. [The RTO]has thorough industry awareness and very good reporting (Partnering enterprise).

12. Monitoring students’ progress So they don’t necessarily need to wait til the end of the semesters to get that (student feedback), because we are constantly assessing different things, different criteria, developing different matrixes, learning like different ways of assessing. (Teacher)

13. Respect for students I feel there are some good teachers here that are very good at showing you how to do something and they don’t mind if you ask a question and they’ll go over it but they won’t skip it. (Student) A good TAFE teacher was “somebody who is committed, who actually cares about the students, who has done the preparation so the students are getting the most out of it.” (Teacher)

14. Exchanging ideas on teaching / training Communication amongst the staff members is so crucial. We have morning meetings every month Friday fortnight, but you know, I’m in the hub as well in that office and that’s where the teachers come up through to their staff room. If they’ve had any issues, they often throw it on my desk and we discuss it. We need to keep communication open, it’s very important for the education as well…Communication is the number one key in keeping the training going. (Operations Manager).

15. Disposition towards learning & teaching Through our research we looked at what we were going to make of these competencies and we went out there and did the training, worked in the salons. And we’ve come back and taught other staff members and now they’re going out there and working in industry, as part of work experience. This has made us innovative and outstanding training providers (Beauty Coordinator)

16. Passion I think it’s really important to have a teacher who is passionate about it. I suppose being amongst, you know, students and teachers who absolutely have a love of this industry it will hopefully, naturally, translate across to the student. I think that’s probably what I would prefer … as opposed to having teaching skills. Yeah, I think it’s definitely important to have someone who is really passionate about the industry. (Student)

17. Teaching/training (pedagogical) skills I love education and I love being educated, like I love being open to the fact that, you know, every day that you wake up you can have the opportunity there to learn something wonderful and for me I would hate to… one of my trainees said to me today, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks and I said I never want to wake up being that old dog that can’t be taught new tricks, you know? (Traineeship trainer)

18. Balance between industry currency and educational qualifications Overall, respondents felt that industry currency was more important than educational qualifications The expert in the field is not necessarily going to be the best trainer and the best trainer is not going to necessarily be the best if they don’t have (industry) skills or the knowledge with it. (Teacher) I think you can convert a retailer into a trainer if they’re the right personality, but I don’t think you can convert a trainer into a retail trainer as easily. (Training manager)

19. ‘Good RTOs’ RTOs with effective teaching/training workforces had: A strong individual or champion (or team) driving an organisational culture in RTOs that encourages high quality among teachers; Involvement by senior managers and departmental managers with industry liaison; An evangelical approach to quality in VET; An overarching communication of the importance of passion for the industry among teachers; Good learning resources; Regular team meetings; Tight performance management and quality systems; A culture encouraging innovation and risk-taking (within parameters). RTOs with international students need additional structures and features to achieve high-quality teaching/training.

20. Contact details Erica Smith 03-5327 9665, e.smith@ballarat.edu.au e.smith@ballarat.edu.au