Training & Education

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA recently honoured several 50 year anniversary members and among them was one of the state’s most respected and long running schools.

St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls was founded in 1896 and has since developed a proud reputation for providing opportunities for young women entering a whole range of careers.

Principal Joy Shepherd has been at the helm for the past 11 years, giving her an opportunity to see many changes in the hotly debated education sector, among them frequent curriculum overhauls and the growth of education as a business.

"During my time the curriculum change has been considerable," she said.

"There is now consideration of a national curriculum and after so much change in WA recently secondary teachers in particular will be a little weary, which makes it difficult to get them to engage."

Ms Shepherd explained that while curriculum change was a necessary and important fact of life in the school system, there needed to be flexibility for teachers.

"I understand what is behind wanting change but I worry that it gets too prescriptive at times," she said.

"There should be a minimum core content that is then left to schools to present."

Employing dozens of people and being responsible for millions of dollars in funding leaves no doubt that schools are big business. 

Ms Shepherd said schools had to come around to the idea that they were true businesses, albeit in the business of education.

"In the last 15 or 20 years the whole accountability for the business side of a school organisation has grown enormously," she said.

"Schools which traditionally have been slow to see themselves as business now have huge responsibilities which is where we rely heavily on and are grateful for organisations like CCI."

Like many businesses, recent and planned industrial relations changes have made things more complicated for St Hilda's.

"Where we just used to look at the award and pay our teachers above it, once we got into bargaining and negotiating that made it more complex," Ms Shepherd said.

"There were changes with WorkChoices and now there are changes again - and they are enormous.

"The whole idea of employer-employee sit down negotiations needs to be done at a broader level again. In a school like St Hilda’s teachers don't have a lot more to give in terms of productivity and are pretty much 24/7 in their roles."

The global financial crisis is affecting all business and Ms Shepherd said the school had predicted some changes as a result.

"I'm sure the crisis will affect the school eventually, though we haven't seen it yet," she said.

"When we were doing our budgeting we took it into account and organised our budgeting differently to release funds for a worst case scenario of students."

St Hilda's is yet to experience a drop in numbers and believe that while people will still work hard to get their children into the prestigious school, it may come later in their education.

"What's most likely to happen is that local people may delay sending their children to the school. Once students are in the senior school people work very hard to keep them there," Ms Shepherd said.

Another potential drop will come as people who were in Australia as temporary residents to work on many of the projects associated with the boom begin to leave, or at least do not continue to arrive with the same frequency as before.

The assimilation of education with technology has been one of the biggest shifts in the sector and one which St Hilda’s has been at the forefront of.

"It's a change which needs a lot of thought on how to integrate," Ms Shepherd said.

With the government rolling out technology for schools in increasing amounts, including the 'computer for every student' promise from the Federal Government, Ms Shepherd said it was important to remember that technology should be in schools to enhance the learning process.

"It's important to keep up with technology and to balance it out with human contact," she said.

By Luke Nieuwhof

CCI Journalist

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia has welcomed Professor Denise Bradley's report on the Higher Education Review and its recommendations to the Deputy Prime Minister.

In particular, the recommendations recognised Australia's tertiary education sector as a provider of education services which represented Australia’s third largest export sector.

From a business perspective, the recommendations that capitalise on the sector's export advantage and provide greater flexibility to providers in a market environment will strengthen and advance the sector for the benefit of all Australians.

CCI recognises the value that higher education brings to the nation's economy through building a highly skilled, innovative and technologically competent workforce and thereby ensuring sustainable supply of skilled labour to Australian industry. The higher education sector has become an increasingly important training provider for industry. 

It is critical for business and industry to invest in education and training to maximise our future skilled labour requirements and to focus on skills across the board. Users of the education and training system need to be aware of the diverse range of education and training opportunities that are available from the vocational education and training and higher education sectors.

The recommendation to gradually introduce a student entitlement scheme across higher education and upper levels of VET funding is consistent with the Australian Chamber of Commerce recommendations made in Skills for a nation: A blueprint for improving education and training 2007-2017.

The demand driven, student centred entitlement model would provide the benefit for students to have direct influence and choice of course offerings and institutions, and see public institutions facing stronger competitive pressures. For this recommendation to have full effect, tertiary institutions will need to liaise closely with businesses to provide comprehensive career advisory services to students making career choices.

Recommendations to develop innovative, collaborative and local solutions to the provision for higher education in regional and remote areas are welcomed. Higher education institutions play a key role in economic development within Australia's regions. This activity proposes funding to develop innovative local solutions through a range of flexible and collaborative delivery arrangements with other providers. To ensure better choices are offered to students, collaboration and work with industry is encouraged.

CCI supports increasing funding for the access and participation of under represented groups of students. The recommendation suggests funding to be increased to a level equivalent to 4% of the total grants for teaching. This would be allocated through a new program for outreach activities and a loading period to institutions enrolling students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Additionally, CCI welcomes activities to review the effectiveness of measures to improve higher education access and outcomes for Indigenous people. This recommendation includes the need for the Australian Government to undertake this activity in consultation with the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council.

The Federal Government will consider the report and provide a response to the recommendations based on a set of core principles:

• opportunity for all
• academic freedom and autonomy
• research that advances knowledge and critical thinking
• access to university based on merit, not ability to pay

CCI welcomes the government's ongoing response to the recommendations throughout 2009.

By Sean Wrigley

CCI Education and Training Director

During the global financial crisis, a downturn in workloads has seen many businesses attending to maintenance, reducing worker hours or, in the worst scenario, implementing redundancies.

But some businesses are taking advantage of this period to educate and train their workforce, positioning themselves for the inevitable upturn.

Workers who may have left their roles are now taking up higher education opportunities, while high school students look to continue learning rather than step straight into work.

For industries starved of skilled workers, education and training is vital for the time when the economy picks up again.

Applications to study full-time courses at TAFE colleges in 2009 have jumped by 14% compared with last year.

WA Training Minister Peter Collier said with the current economic situation there was greater emphasis on the training sector.

"Now more than ever is a good time for people to gain new skills and qualifications not only through TAFE but also registered training organisations," Mr Collier said.

"This is particularly pertinent for mature-aged workers who want to keep their skills relevant and up-to-date, or re-skill and move into different industries or careers.

"In recent years, many Western Australians have been fortunate to obtain well-paid, unskilled positions, but going into the future the labour market is tightening and competition for jobs will increase."

Murdoch University experienced a significant increase in applications from mature age students for entry to the university in 2009.  

Deputy vice chancellor Professor Gary Martin said that in the last few years some prospective mature aged students had put their study plans on hold to take up well paid employment opportunities, but this had now changed. 

"The global economic crisis had caused much speculation about the job market and it appears that many mature aged students are now returning to university study," Professor Martin said.

"(It) may have been responsible for a slight decline in interest in commerce related courses while the same factor might have been responsible for sparking increased interest in economics."

Student enrolment numbers for agriculture degrees at Curtin University of Technology have seen a 25% increase on the back of the downturn in the resources industry.

Muresk director Professor Graeme Robertson said the boost in student enrolments could be the result of a number of current economic and social influences.

"Part of this may be due to the downturn in the resources boom, with more students looking to alternative industries," he said.

"The problem of a lack of graduates has been exacerbated in WA by the high employment levels associated with the resources boom with young people being able to obtain well paid positions without further study.

"The international economic situation has changed this dramatically and young people appear to be reviewing their career options and looking to position themselves with the skills for long-term careers."

The pattern is not isolated to Western Australia.

The Australian National University experienced a 12% rise in the number of places it was offering to Australian school leavers while demand from international students was up by a significant 30%.

The University of Canberra had a 30% increase in offers to total undergraduate students, with an amazing 66% increase in demand from prospective international students.

Central Queensland University took a unique approach and rolled out a special higher education program for employees and contractors in mining who had been affected by job cuts at the hands of the global financial crisis.

Deputy vice chancellor Angela Delves said the university was responding to the local impact of a global crisis.

"Our aim here is to get retrenched workers in Central Queensland re-skilled and prepared for the future," she said.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry called on the business community to work with governments, training providers and unions to nurture Australia's skills capacity during harder economic times.

ACCI called for a further jobs and skills focus including targeted incentives and wage top ups to employers for retention of skilled employees or those in skills training, such as apprentices; a scheme to encourage employers to give unemployed apprentices who have not fully completed their apprenticeship a second go; streaming retrenched employees into active labour market programmes, including retraining; flexible employment arrangements combining work with training funded by targeted subsidies; job matching skills of retrenched employees with regions and workplaces needing those skills; and fast-tracking engineers and related skills required for those infrastructure and capital works projects brought forward by governments.

ACCI chief executive Peter Anderson said such measures could limit the loss of productive skills to the Australian economy as unemployment rose.

Western Australia has experienced a drop in new apprentice numbers due to the economic crisis.  Although Western Australia is currently not experiencing mass cancellations of existing apprentices, CCI has echoed the calls of ACCI.

CCI education and training director Sean Wrigley said continued investment in education and training was required to drive productivity and economic growth. 

"Australia's future success and wealth is largely attributed to a highly skilled and productive workforce and therefore the strength of the Western Australian economy," he said. 

Additionally CCI has called for the State and Federal Government to help companies to retain skilled employees and those in training completing an apprenticeship.

CCI's Commonwealth Bank Survey of Business Expectations from the December 2008 quarter showed the labour shortage was still a problem, with 42% of respondents describing labour as scarce.

"We know from experience in the 1990s that when faced with difficult economic circumstances a number of companies cut back on training programs and on the number of apprentices in order to save," said CCI chief executive James Pearson.

"We learned the hard way that when economic conditions improved there were not skilled workers available to meet the rapidly growing demands of industry."

By Luke Nieuwhof

CCI Journalist

This transition program is an innovative and practical program run in partnership between industry and secondary and tertiary education.

Partners include Curtin University of Technology, the Catholic Education Office, the Association of Independent Schools of WA, the Department of Education and Training, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia on behalf of private hospital and aged care members.

It aims to give students a broad understanding of nursing before they commence university studies. The 18 month transition program will commence in second semester this year, when students will commence off-the-job training and Structured Workplace Learning in acute hospital and aged-care settings.

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Over the coming months, Business Pulse will be featuring articles, comprised from a suite of policy papers composed for the Board, summarising CCI’s general policy objectives on a range of areas across the spectrum of commerce and industry.

These papers reflect the broad scope of CCI’s behind-the-scenes policy work and give members a snapshot of some of the issues and areas in which CCI is working to create an economic and legislative environment that encourages the development of free enterprise.

CCI supports an education and training system that provides choice, promotes flexibility and is responsive to the needs of individuals and industry.

The Australian education and training system is characterised by different, and often diverse, state and territory policies overlayed by the Commonwealth’s policy positions. However, all jurisdictions separate the system into three distinct areas: schools, vocational education and training (VET), and universities.

Although the policy framework in the three sectors is often developed and applied separately, there is considerable overlap and it is increasingly difficult to consider each sector in isolation.

Major policy overlap may be seen in areas such as:

• credit transfer and mutual recognition of qualifications between schools, VET providers and universities
• the student contribution to the cost of VET and university courses and the disparity of costs between sectors
• articulation
• the provision of vocational programs in the post-compulsory school years and the issues this raises for the VET sector
• the graduation of school students with low level literacy, numeracy and employability skills and the issues this raises for the VET and university sectors
• the debate about tertiary entrance requirements and the best way of assessing student capabilities for university entry

Funding and choice

Across all three sectors, public funds and individual choice should be inextricably linked. Student-centred funding allows individuals to take control of the public funds allocated for their own education and training.

In the schools sector, parents who choose private sector education for their children are denied access to the state-provided public funds allocated for their children.

Commonwealth funds are provided to private schools to allow some subsidisation of fees. However, there is no mechanism available for parents to exercise educational freedom and access the public funding to purchase a place for their children at the school of their choice - be it public or private.

Serious consideration should be given by all governments to a range of student-centred funding modules such as student vouchers and charter schools.

The user choice model in the VET sector allows employers of apprentices and trainees to choose the registered training organisation their employees will attend.

The public funds available for this training then follow the student to the provider of choice.

However, all states and territories have progressively moved backwards from full user choice arrangements. The current user choice system is characterised by bureaucratic processes that discourage the entry of new private training organisations into the market, by fixed quotas and ceilings on numbers of apprentices and trainees that can be trained by private providers and by a thin market approach that restricts access in regional areas or occupational areas with low enrolments.

All state and territory governments should immediately implement full user choice arrangements for all employment-based training programs.

In the university sector, individuals are able to exercise choice over course and institution. However, student numbers have been regulated by fixed quotas and student demand controlled by fixed funding models.

The recent higher education reforms will provide greater competition, encourage choice and ensure value and demand are factors that will be considered in determining course offerings.

Choice promotes quality, responsiveness and flexibility. The provision of public funding to support choice should be an essential element of the education and training system.

Literacy, numeracy and employability skills

Parents, post-school education and training providers, and employers share a common expectation that students graduating from the school system will have an acceptable level of literacy, numeracy and generic skills. Unfortunately, these expectations are often not met.

For employers, many young people presenting for employment lack a range of basic skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, initiative, planning and organisation skills, self-management and an appreciation of technology. These basic skills are essential to enable an individual to secure and maintain employment.

There should be a concerted effort to ensure all school graduates possess adequate literacy and numeracy skills.

The ACCI / BCA Employability Skills Framework should be adopted by the schools sector and the key skills in the framework embedded into the school curriculum.

Self-managed institutions

In the schools and VET sectors, a highly centralised and bureaucratic model is used for the management and operation of the systems.

The university sector operates under a decentralised, self-managed model, which has become further deregulated under the recent higher education reforms.

There is a need to move public sector schools and TAFE colleges to a self-managed model where responsibility for major operational issues such as staffing, asset and resource management and financial management is devolved to the schools and colleges.

Two key elements of this decentralised approach are single line budgeting and selection on merit.

Under current arrangements schools and colleges are unable to make major expenditure decisions. Staff costs are allocated and managed centrally and school principals have no control over this area.

Similarly, recruitment and selection processes are managed centrally. School principals have little control over teachers allocated to their school and a similar lack of control over the selection of teachers for senior or supervisory roles.

Teachers are promoted to senior positions based on a range of criteria with length of service being a key consideration.

Schools and TAFE colleges should be locally managed and supported by an expert external board drawn from local community and business and they should have direct control over expenditure, staff costs, selection, recruitment and promotion on merit.

Quality teaching and learning

The most important element of the educational process is the relationship between the individual teacher or trainer and the student. It is essential that all sectors of the education and training sector provide the support needed to allow quality teaching outcomes.

In the secondary school years, teachers should have access to industry access programs or return to industry programs that allow them to maintain links with the workplace and apply their teaching to real world situations.

There should also be a focus on providing programs to suit individual learner needs, which particularly in the senior secondary years will support student retention strategies.

Schools should enter into partnerships with VET providers and universities to offer integrated programs in an effort to make the post-compulsory schooling component meaningful and relevant to the students’ post-school needs.

The quality of teaching and learning will be enhanced by improving the articulation arrangements across the three education and training sectors and by ensuring closer collaboration and connection between schools, VET providers and universities.

Evaluation of program outcomes

Although there is some benchmarking of educational outcomes, there is not a standardised and systematic approach to benchmarking provider performance.

Employers cannot be confident that the same qualification issued by different schools, colleges or universities has covered the same content, been assessed at the same level and produced the same outcome.

There should be a standard approach to the measurement of education and training outcomes to ensure consistency of results.

Equality

All individuals regardless of gender, ethnicity or personal circumstance have a right to access education and training that is relevant to their needs.

With this right comes the responsibility to contribute financially to their own learning in a way that fits their personal circumstances.

There should be education and training opportunities available for disadvantaged groups and people with special needs and recognition that individuals need appropriate resources to support their learning.

CCI members will now be able to access cost-effective training in emergency management following CCI’s acquisition of UK-based training company RGIT Montrose’ Perth operations.

Previously, oil and gas companies from all over the world had to send staff to Scotland to access the world-class emergency management training provided by market leader, RGIT Montrose.

CCI now has exclusive rights to provide this type of training in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region. CCI is licensed to deliver key courses in Management of Major Emergencies, Control Room Operators Training and Person-In-Charge coaching and assessment.

CCI has secured a state-of-the-art control room simulator which allows course participants to learn skills in an interactive setting. Specialised software re-creates the cause / effect relationships that underpin the operations of an oil production or gas processing facility.

The simulator can also be adapted to imitate other environments that use a computerised control room, which means training programs can be developed for other industries.

During a typical course, participants will re-create emergency scenarios such as explosion and fire, a helicopter incident, a process incident, well control, collision or wave damage causing structural collapse, terrorist attacks and other possible causes for an emergency or crisis.

During training, participants act as both team leaders and members in a simulated emergency setting, thus familiarising themselves with different aspects of managing an incident.

Following the course, participants can be assessed for competency against the standards set by industry through the globally recognised Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation.

Steve Hyslop and Dan Robertson, staff previously employed by RGIT Montrose, have joined CCI to ensure the same high standard of service is maintained for local training programs as is provided elsewhere in the world.

This type of training became commonplace when new safety regulations were introduced following the “Piper A” disaster. However, many large operators in the hydrocarbon industry see such training as a means of managing risk and ensuring safety standards are improved.

The creation of new standards for major hazardous facilities in Australia will drive an increased demand for similar training.

CCI is currently developing a range of additional specialist courses designed to complement its three key emergency management training courses.

For more information contact Martina Stanley on 9365 7539 or e-mail: stanley@cciwa.com