New systems of working VET business realities
SKILL
ECOSYSTEM THINK PIECE | Belinda Smith for
TAFE NSW ICVET
Skill Ecosystems Capability Development Strategy (728KB)
Building on the skill ecosystem exemplars, research and thought pieces published on the site over the last months, this Capability Development Strategy proposes a strength based approach to developing the skills and knowledge VET practitioners need to participate effectively in a skills ecosystems, industry partnership and community or regional development environment.
- Key aims of a skill ecosystem
- Types of skill ecosystem
- Different roles for VET organisations
- What are intermediaries?
- The business/industry context
- Changes in industry curriculum requirements
- Increasing training for existing workers
- VET system constraints versus industry demand
- Bibliography
As mentioned in previous articles Skill ecosystems are communities of interrelated and interacting organisations working as a coherent entity to increase opportunities for sustainability, innovation and growth.
Skill ecosystems offer a vehicle for two key functions, economic and workforce development. Economic sustainability is as important to partner companies as it is to VET goals of addressing industry needs and building new capacity.
Skill ecosystems can take many forms such as:
- a national industry concentration,
- a sectoral grouping, or
- regional cluster
and all incorporate their supply chains.
Examples of the different forms of skill ecosystems include the UK Automotive Alliance case study which employs a national industry model, with workforce development undertaken by the cluster-initiated Automotive Academy. The Automotive Academy is organised as a central hub with regional spokes. On the other hand Riverina Wine and Food Technology Centre and the New York Garment Industry Development Corporation take a sectoral approach, while the Sutherland Shire Hub for Economic Development (SSHED) and the Shearer Training case studies implement a regional approach.
Many industry training provider partnerships are based on a service provider model where the RTO provides customised or onsite training for a company to meet an existing skill need. Most of this service provision addresses the current training needs of the organisation and may lead to additional training. Essentially these partnerships are narrow in application and based on an outside organisation coming in and delivering a specified product, then leaving. On the other hand, skill ecosystems are systems with interdependencies and collective interests creating opportunities for VET organisations to draw on all their expertise and education networks. The TAFE NSW skill ecosystem case studies are examples of partnerships that are skill ecosystems or on the way to becoming skill ecosystems.
Different roles for VET organisations
It is not surprising that the roles of VET organisations and their staff are changing given the changing environments in which they operate. Many of the methodologies now in use in the VET sector such as communities of practice, self directed learning, action learning, work based learning, and problem based learning, for example, all reflect changes in work across industry where an emphasis is placed on individual responsibility for work and learning and the rise of teamwork and networking.
The roles adopted by training organisations vary across skill ecosystems and may involve more than one training organisation. The New York Garment Industry Development Corporation is a deliverer of training programs, a process and technology consultant and a supply chain broker, whereas the Automotive Academy acts as a training broker and provides a training quality assurance role. The TAFE NSW person in the Sheep Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) interprets CRC innovations to develop skill training for delivery by a range of VET providers, while the Riverina Wine and Food Technology Centre provides training and testing facilities for industry innovations.
Some demand driven roles that VET organisations have adopted in the case studies and in the research literature include:
- Specialised work based training
- Recruiting and placement
- Workforce portals (covering teacher and student skills)
- Bringing buyers and sellers together
- Providing access to facilities (business accelerators/ testing laboratories)
- Business development services
- Hosting business seminars and local trade shows and
- Marketing and lobbying
The range of involvement strategies is limited only by the needs of the business partners in the skill ecosystem and market opportunities for the VET provider. The broadening of VET involvement in industry partnerships is occurring as a direct response to industry requests and shows the complexity of the VET marketplace. The continuous change experienced by industry will be reflected in a widening and changing role for VET.
VET practitioners working closely with industry find their roles changing to support the new directions and services required by industry. During interviews for the case studies, TAFE practitioners noted that their role was changing in order to involve more quality assurance of workplace training, more resource development for specific workplaces, more mentoring of workplace supervisors and more administration. Teachers also noticed that companies were requesting less complete qualifications and requiring training for smaller groups in areas that did not always involve technical skills. Teachers were also using more sophisticated analytical and negotiating skills when identifying realistic career pathways for a sector or when negotiating roles and responsibilities for partnerships.
Intermediaries are a central cohesive source of support and stability to help steer and keep momentum going during the life of the skill ecosystem. VET practitioners are well placed to be intermediaries as they are skilled at facilitation and working with groups. Intermediaries are more than facilitators and need the skills and knowledge to motivate and keep communication flowing and open. The more people within a skill ecosystem who can take on this role the more likely the skill ecosystem will succeed as the partnership will not be based on personal relationships that end when people move jobs or burn out.
Working in partnership with other educational organisations can add flexibility to the suite of workforce development choices available to members of the skill ecosystem. Drawing on VET networks can create the same tension that many of the companies in the ecosystem experience when working collaboratively and openly with competitors. Yet the benefits for VET organisations of working collaboratively are similar to those of the partner companies. Partnerships with economic development agencies such as Area Consultative Committees and NSW Department of State and Regional Development broaden the skills and number of intermediaries working with partner companies and encourage the dynamic development of the skill ecosystem. Inter-government collaboration creates additional funding opportunities, yet has its own set of challenges including identifying operational responsibility for funding of initiatives and recognition of effort.
The business /industry context
Many of the competitive pressures facing business are complex and require multiple solutions rather than one-off interventions. Companies are moving to competing less on price and more on value adding, as more production moves offshore where low wages keep costs low. The movement away from Taylorist management and broader Fordist systems sees post-Fordist labour practices of flexible specialisation, just-in-time production, and outsourcing as the focus of many businesses. The interrelationship of supply chains in skill ecosystems increases the complexity and the specifics of the business /industry context. New systems of working create demand for new types of skill sets often involving specific contexts and specialised skills requiring cross facility contribution. Cross facility involvement can present challenges to VET organisations that have no mechanisms for recognising effort and resources that are deployed across organisational boundaries. Finding teachers in other facilities that have a solid understanding of the skill ecosystem’s specialisation and context is an important consideration. Given the feature of specialisation in skill ecosystems and industry clusters, cross facility staff will require an understanding of the skills context to maintain partner trust and provide effective training. A deeper and comprehensive understanding of specialist contexts will evolve through these ecosystem partnerships as all collaborate in problem and solution identification.
Changes in industry curriculum requirements
New
and incumbent workers will need specialist skills developed through immersion
in the workplace and through customised training. Specialisation in skill
ecosystems is likely to create the demand for clusters of competencies and
vocational streaming rather than occupationally based national qualification
pathways. Skill ecosystems stem from common economic interests and needs
while occupational clusters arise through common skill sets. Occupational
clusters cut across many industry clusters and the workforces of any given
industry include many occupational clusters. The uniqueness of (skill ecosystems
and) industry clusters is context; the uniqueness of occupational clusters
is content.’ The question VET organisations will need to ask is ‘what
are the unique features of this workplace in this skill ecosystem that provides
competitive advantage?’ and ‘what are the changing content needs
of this vocational stream?’
The Riverina and Western Institute case studies highlight a changing role for VET practitioners from primarily one of delivering training to one of providing assessment, quality assurance and resource development. Attitudinal changes are also occurring amongst teachers involved in these case studies. Teachers are more involved in their particular industry, entering competitions and supporting workplace innovations, all of which increases the perception of professionalism and profile of the teachers.
Increasing training for existing workers
Training
of incumbent workers is featured in several of the accompanying case studies.
Research commissioned by the Business Council of Australia and the Dusseldorp
Skills Forum predicts that the number of new entrants into Australia’s
labour force is expected to slump to 24,000 a year by 2040 – compared
to 190,000 in 2002-03. Existing workers often require training to cover skill
gaps, not necessarily for upskilling purposes, taking the emphasis off hierarchical
occupationally based career paths. The numbers of companies requesting existing
worker training is already prevalent, and with the aging population, will
continue to grow in importance. This will create a shift in emphasis for
VET organisation target groups.
VET system constraints versus industry demand
Current funding and data collection arrangements have difficulty capturing information that reflects versatile activities such as collaboration building activities. The current system rewards prescribed outcomes, one size fits all (with some customisation) in an increasingly complex and changing work environment. Data collection of this kind is important for accountability purposes and for providing readily understood information to the general population. As a Taylorist model for the mass ‘production’ of training, the funding and data collection system reinforces the paradigm of large companies who require standardised occupational skills with one best method for performing particular tasks.
The system emphasises national qualification outcomes that may not be required by the companies involved in skill ecosystems. Current realities however, see companies drawing on two formerly opposed logics - one of deskilled routinised low discretionary jobs and the other of skilled, autonomous, high discretionary jobs. New work organisation models highlight the complex realities of competition. VET data collection systems need to be expanded to capture more broadly demanded side issues. Currently there is little recognition of time and resources spent developing relationships, negotiating roles and services and administration of workplace training. The shifting role of the VET professional is in direct response to industry need, yet the effort is not receiving any recognition in data collection and funding systems. An added bonus of broadening data collection systems to reflect business realities may result in a paradigm shift within VET organisations as people naturally focus on their key performance areas.
There is a misguided belief that meeting industry requirements only involves delivering national Training Packages. Unfortunately, changing business complexity, innovation and competitive realities means effort needs to be more targeted and focused on the specific context. Skill ecosystems pose several challenges for the Australian VET system. Global business development shifts are creating emergent challenges regardless of the implementation of skill ecosystems. More companies are looking for holistic services, which require greater sophistication in the solutions offered. Driving the impetus for new VET delivery models is the necessity for precise workforce development strategies and accurate planning through inter-government coordination to underpin economic development strategies. Skill ecosystems offer VET organisations multiple and changing roles in workforce development with opportunities for partnerships across facilities, government departments, VET organisations, higher education and business.
VET organisations are not immune to the pressures facing industry. The need to be flexible in structure and service/ product roles are as important to the success of VET as they are to the survival of industry. Yet VET accountability systems as they stand are dragging VET backwards. Skill ecosystems are useful when the two key functions of economic and workforce development are pursued. Economic development and capacity building are just as important to business as they are to the VET sector.
ACCESS
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See also
Skill Ecosystems/Industry Partnerships | A-Z Resources
Partnerships & Entrepreneurship | Research & Exemplars