Standing Committee on Employment, Education
and Workplace Relations
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Submission 76
ACCI SUBMISSION TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON
EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION AND TRAINING ON:
- the appropriate roles of institutes of technical and further education;
and
- the extent to which those roles should overlap with universities.
NOVEMBER 1997
Introduction
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) is the peak council
of Australian business associations. ACCI members are employer organisations
in all States and Territories and all major sectors of Australian industry.
Through our membership, ACCI represents over 350,000 businesses nation-wide,
including the top 100 companies. That makes ACCI the largest and most
representative business Organisation in Australia.
Membership of ACCI comprises State and Territory Chambers of Commerce
and national employer land industry associations. Each ACCI member is
a representative body for small employers or sole traders, as well as
medium and large businesses.
Each ACCI member Organisation, through its network of businesses, identifies
the concerns of its members and plans united action. Through this process,
business policies are developed and strategies for change are implemented.
ACCI has worked closely with Government to ensure that the needs of business
are taken into account in the development of policies and has contributed
significantly to reforms within the education and training system.
There is general support from the business sector for the Federal Government's
package of education and training reforms. An industry led outcome is
critical to the successful implementation of these reforms. ACCI and its
member organisations have continued to emphasise at all levels of Government
the need for policies to focus on industry needs. Employers play an important
role in setting training policy, establishing links with education and
training institutions and providing training for employees.
The pressures to increase training and skills acquisition are enormous.
These mainly stem from technological and structural changes, industry
competition and workplace change. A well developed vocational education
and training system is crucial to the broader microeconomic reform agenda.
These pressures have also acted as a driver in determining the way in
which future education and training services must be delivered on the
ground.
The fundamental changes being implemented will help expand employment
opportunities for all Australians and particularly for young people. As
well as enhancing productivity the reforms promote pathways from school
to employment. Positioning of technical and further education institutions
(TAFE's) in the light of these changes is an important issue which needs
to be addressed as a matter of some priority.
Background
The new training initiatives will open up the national training market.
It has placed competitive pressures on training providers to deliver quality
customised training, particularly structured training for apprenticeships
and traineeships. Measures such as user choice, national industry and
enterprise competency standards and modernised entry level training arrangements
will all help to take industry forward. Industry also needs a responsive
and flexible training system.
TAFE's were set up to provide courses which articulate within the workplace.
This has largely been true of the trade areas and fee-for-service training.
There has been a growing tendency for elements of TAFE to enter the credential
race to get full articulation with universities or to maximise credit
transfer. Articulation pathways have become blurred and inconsistent.
TAFE's have often found it difficult to respond quickly and flexibly
to training demands. They have operated on a supply driven system, although
this has been slowly changing within some campuses. Over time, TAFE infrastructure
and facilities have become under utilised. The full use of capital assets
has slowly fallen away as a result of the need to move to more flexible
training options which cannot always be accommodated within existing facilities.
The need for training diversity has added to this problem.
As public funding for TAFE's has been tightened, Institutes have become
more reliant on other funding sources in order to remain viable. Significant
variations have emerged in delivery costs for comparable training.
ACCI's Position
ACCI supports education and training principles which:
- change the emphasis of the training market from a supply driven system,
based on the needs of the public training provider, to a system based
on demand that is specifically aligned to employer and student needs;
- encourage competition which will result in a more efficient and cost
effective process while increasing employer and student options irrespective
of the location of enterprises;
- diversify the supply of training and education and ensure all appointments
of practitioners are merit based;
- increase the participation of employers in the training market by
ensuring public funds are linked to employer demands and to provider
of choice;
- integrate education and training programs with nationally recognised
outcomes and standards;
- focus on training delivery models which are flexible and user friendly;
and
- promote training initiatives which are enterprise focused and devoid
of extensive bureaucracy.
User Choice
ACCI supports the full introduction of 'user choice' in the vocational
education and training system. It fosters a partnering approach between
industry and training providers which enhances the responsiveness and
flexibility of the training system. This in turn facilitates industry
expansion.
The new apprenticeship and traineeship arrangements enable employers
and trainees to determine the training provider and negotiate the means
by which the training will be delivered. ACCI supports moves to examine
the introduction of a voucher system which enables eligible people with
training needs to be issued with a training voucher enabling them to purchase
training from any accredited provider. This would enable a more complete
introduction of 'user choice.'
ACCI will maintain an active interest in the implementation of 'user
choice' particularly in:
- the operation of 'user choice' in rural and remote areas and exception
reports filed by State and Territory Training Authorities on instances
where 'user choice' has been deemed difficult to implement;
- access to publicly funded infrastructure by all training providers
to ensure all providers have the best available resources at their disposal
to meet the needs of employers at a given location; and
- quality assurance and audit arrangements.
ACCI is aware that the ACTU has taken a different view on the introduction
of 'user choice'. ACCI does not support the ACTU position. Earlier this
year a detailed study was undertaken by ANTA of ten selected user choice
pilot projects. The training outcomes from these projects have been much
richer than anticipated, even allowing for the short duration of most
pilots. Employers and community groups involved are strongly committed
to the user choice concept. Having a greater say has made them more active
participants in the training system.
The pilots also indicate that user choice has the potential to improve
access and equity by encouraging greater responsiveness by training providers
to the needs of disadvantaged groups. Disadvantaged clients have more
opportunities to express their needs and have grater confidence that they
will be met.
Third Party Access
As the training market becomes more competitive providers come under
increasing pressure to deliver affordable and quality training. ACCI supports
measures which enable alternative training providers to have access to
publicly funded VET infrastructure (facilities and equipment). There are
situations in which it is not economical and in the interests of the VET
system to duplicate this infrastructure. Also, opening up access creates
more training opportunities, particularly in regional economies.
Access by third parties is already being granted on commercial terms
in some cases but presently there is no general right of access. Competitors
in the training market have a right of access where:
- this right of access enables the training needs of employers to better
met;
- duplication of existing infrastructure is uneconomical;
- denial of access would unduly restrict entry to the market, limiting
contestability and competition; and
- fair and reasonable terms are established relating to price, terms
of access and related matters.
Third party access increases utilisation of facilities, maximises the
return on the public funded capital investment. A market based approach
for enabling access, as opposed to a regulatory approach, is important
in that it avoids complex bureaucratic rules and mechanisms which are
normally inherent in regulatory models. The market approach also encompasses
the need to separate the role of managing the public infrastructure from
the training and service delivery role. If there is separation, access
would be enhanced because of the asset managers need to maximise the rate
of return on the assets.
In most cases, TAFE's technical facilities are collectively operated
and form part of major TAFE complex. Disaggregating them would make them
more accessible to other providers, thus maximising their use.
The market based approach to third party access also:
- places emphasis on public providers to operate as business units;
- is consistent with user choice principles,
- maximises the return on public infrastructure; and
- reduces the potential of the public provider to forego some revenue
in order to maintain market advantage.
Third party access would potentially benefit public and private providers
wanting to deliver services within and across regions as well as those
schools involved in delivering VET services.
Articulation Pathways and TAFE/University Relationships
Articulation, credit transfers and recognition of prior learning are
important elements; however, they must be oriented towards nationally
consistent outcomes. Tradespeople who could reasonably expect to articulate
with technician type paraprofessional training often find themselves locked
out because of the pre-occupation of TAFE's with university transfer credits.
Two fundamental strategies are important in order to achieve articulation
between TAFE's
and Universities:
- acceptance of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) levels
as a standard continuum; and
- alignment of credentials (qualifications) with AQF levels.
It is important that pathways between the TAFE and University sectors
be maximised to enable flexibility of access by students. Articulation
arrangements between TAFE Diploma offerings and University Bachelor degrees
are presently unclear.
Partnership arrangements between Universities and TAFE should be established
to enable joint delivery of programs between the sectors. This maximises
articulation pathways particularly in terms of student access to opportunities
in both sectors. The development of positive relationships between the
two sectors, as opposed to a forced merger, is far more likely to be successful
in achieving effective and efficient outcomes.
Universities should not increasingly assume responsibility for TAFE activities.
There is a perception within the business community that if TAFE activity
is to become the responsibility of Universities, the capacity of industry
to influence training development is diminished. Also, Universities should
not regard TAFE as primarily a feeder into its degree courses. This is
just one of the many pathways available to students.
Positioning TAFE's
ACCI encourages all organisations, including TAFE, to recognise that
there is an active vocational education and training market. The move
to open up this market has placed the delivery of training squarely in
the commercial sector. This makes it a demand driven system able to respond
to industry needs.
Like other training providers, TAFE's must focus on a business culture
and operate within competitive neutrality principles. They must optimise
funding and operate as 'business units' with much more autonomy and control
over their activities. This will mean rationalising and modernising facilities
to meet training demands. As part of this, economies of scale must be
addressed. Efficiency in training delivery must be improved, achieving
maximum use of resources and at the same time not compromising the needs
of the business sector. TAFE's must be able to respond quickly to applied
skills training demands within the vocational education and training system.
Summary
ACCI supports the following initiatives:
- a demand driven training system focusing on full implementation of
'user choice';
- full and open competition within the training sector encompassing
competitive neutrality principles;
- introduction of a simple and flexible training procurement voucher
system;
- setting-up TAFE's as flexible and responsive 'business units' operating
within the vocational and education training market;
- third party access to TAFE infrastructure and facilities based on
a market approach;
- nationally consistent articulation outcomes which maximise articulation
pathways between the TAFE and University sectors; and
- partnership arrangements between Universities and TAFE Institutes
which maximise outcomes.
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