Students in Australian VET and adult education teacher education courses

Erica Smith, Federation University Australia withSteven Hodge, Griffith University, andKeiko Yasukawa, University of Technology, Sydney

VET teachers and their special powers

Breadth and diversity of VET: industry areas and teaching contexts and modes;

Finding new markets; Interpreting Training Packages,

the Australian CBT curriculum; Regulation and compliance; Increased emphasis on

assessment; Dealing with diverse learners; LLN.

VET teacher qualifications

Prior to mid-1990s most full-time TAFE teachers undertook ‘in-service’ adult education degrees/Grad Diplomas.

Advent of the requirement for the Certificate IV in Assessment & Workplace Training 1998.

State TAFE systems gradually withdrew from supporting degree level study.

Private training providers (4000) don’t have any general requirement for VET teaching qualifications.

Now, c. 1700 students undertake higher education quals in VET pedagogy voluntarily, at around 12 universities.

Representatives of these universities are members of the Australian Council of Deans of Education Vocational Education Group

Current situation

Lack of confidence in the quality of the VET system; A national consensus that teacher quality must improve; A general agreement that higher level qualifications are

one way to do it; Unwillingness (and inability) of VET employers to foot

the bill for teacher qualifications, and by teachers to study in their own time or to pay for their own development;

The new Diploma of VET (VET sector) available but in danger of being poorly delivered.

The project

On-line survey at six universities of students in VET/adult education teacher-education programs - currently enrolled or graduated from 2011 onwards;

Courses included associate degrees, degrees, graduate certificates, and graduate diplomas.

Most embed Cert IV or have it as an entry qualification. Survey incorporated items from the widely used ‘AQTF’

‘learner satisfaction’ survey as well as tailored items; 135 responses; estimated response rate of around

17.3%.

What are our students like?

Over two-thirds already working as VET teachers: 47% in TAFE and 20% in private providers;

70% were aged 40 or over; 67% were female; Two-thirds had between 6 and 20 years’ industry

experience; Three-quarters had been teaching for 10 years or less; 72% worked full-time.

Why, and how, are they studying a university VET teacher-education course?

32% wanted extra skills for their job; 21% wanted to improve their general

educational skills; 26% wanted a better job or promotion.

82% were studying part-time; 99% studied by distance or on-line; 80% wanted to continue to further qualifications.

What do they think of their courses?

Over 90% satisfaction to most questions about the flexibility and support offered, the expertise of their lecturers, and the relevance of the skills an knowledge learned.

Lesser satisfaction (but still over 70%) with Appropriate balance of theory and practice; Expectations of standard of work clear; Able to learn from other students.

What are they learning?

Six broad areas emerged:Generic skills Academic writing skills ICT skills Personal skills

Content skills Skills related to the VET sector Pedagogical skills General business and industry skills

Specific VET skills learned

VET curriculum Working with industry LLN development of learners Teaching delivery Capacity to improve own practice Assessment Understanding learners

Examples of specific skills

‘How to unpack a [unit of competency] and write assessment tools’ ‘The passion to implement e-learning into the Trades Training. Since this

course, I have implanted e-Learning into our entire Cert III qualification’. ‘The fundamental paradigms of learning and how this process is transferred

to its maximum potential for teachers and learner’ ‘How to run training sessions smoothly based on theories of education’ ‘A clearer understanding of training needs and delivery of training programs

to suit these needs’ ‘The qualification refines existing skills and provides greater understanding

of theories, application of different learning strategies to various learner groups’

Examples of general outcomes

‘A breadth of knowledge on subjects related to teaching that I had not previously been exposed to (broadened my general knowledge of teaching/learning and the world around me)

‘It has improved my literacy/numeracy and academic writing skills.’

‘It has been an amazing networking experience. Sharing from each other.’

Self-development as a reflective practitioner ‘I now question current practices and procedures with

confidence’. ‘I gained confidence that I know what I am doing’. ‘Allows me to be more confident in my discussions as I

can back up issues with references’. Reflection on my own workplace through essays has

helped me to understand the greater organisation and how I fit in’.

What does it add to the Certificate IV?

‘From an industry perspective, it is a valuable course which needs to be promoted as a value-add to the TAE40110 [the Cert IV]. The qualification refines existing skills and provides greater understanding of theories, application of different learning strategies to various learner groups (to assist in overcoming any challenges).’

We are still analysing the data in this area.

What did they want to see improved?

Wanted more help with selecting subjects and more support from lecturers;

Didn’t like ‘generic’ subjects which were ‘shared’ with students from other education sectors, or school-sector textbooks;

Wanted more varied assessment tasks: ‘Writing essay after essay is very draining’.

Lessons for TAFE leaders and colleagues

Teachers find a higher-level qualification in VET pedagogy beneficial;

The courses are flexible in delivery and teachers can study while working, basing assignments on their current situation;

Teachers report higher-order skills that would benefit their organisation.

Improving TAFE practice in relation to teachers’ qualifications The problems of time release and ‘who pays’ remain, but

are worth tackling; Engagement of Institutes with higher education providers

would enable courses to be improved and meet TAFE needs even more closely;

Encouraging teachers to upgrade their qualifications would have results for the teachers and the Institute;

TAFE cannot assume that universities will continue to provide these courses without the numbers.

How will universities use the research to improve teacher-education courses? Universities have been provided with their

results benchmarked with the national findings. We will be looking collectively at the following: More help with selecting subjects and more support from

lecturers; Try to avoid ‘generic’ subjects which were ‘shared’ with students

from other education sectors; Develop more varied assessment tasks.

But… our courses are in danger of closure; HE policy environment adds extra risk.

Latest developments New draft standards for RTOs at least mention degree

level pedagogical qualifications; More analysis of our data will be valuable for the current

debates; Two of the researchers (plus two others) with five VET-

industry partners, have recently won an Australian Research Council Linkage grant to investigate whether higher level qualifications for VET teachers would improve the quality of VET. The project reported in this paper was a pilot for the ARC project.

New project: Research questions

What differences do VET teachers’ levels of qualification (pedagogical and discipline-based) make to their teaching concepts, approaches & practice?

What differences do VET teachers’ levels of qualification make to their ability to navigate complex training contexts, to teach a diversity of learners, and to achieve improved student outcomes?

How do levels of qualification affect VET teachers’ engagement in further professional development activities (pedagogical development and industry engagement), and how can PD be tailored for different groups?

How do more highly-qualified VET teachers contribute to improved quality in VET? What actual and potential barriers and facilitators are there, including resourcing issues and necessary policy changes?

New project: method

Development of a survey to investigate differences in teacher attitudes and practices by level of teaching qualification – administered through ACPET and six TAFE Institutes.

Case studies in four TAFE and four non-TAFE RTOs Analysis of professional development activities. ‘Delphi’ exercise with two streams of stakeholders:

policy/industry people and senior TAFE/RTO managers. We are seeking TAFE Institutes willing to be

involved.

Contact details

Erica Smith e.smith@federation.edu.au

Australian Council of Deans of Education Vocational Education Group (ACDEVEG)

http://www.acde.edu.au/pages/page51.asp