High Performance Workplaces some issues and potential research
questions for VET ? 1 Robin Shreeve CEO, Skills Australia 28
October 2011
Slide 2
What is High Performing Workplaces? High-commitment management
(Arthur, 1994; Pfeffer, 1998) High performance work systems (Becker
& Huselid, 1998) High-involvement management (Guthrie, 2001)
Four types of work organisations: Discretionary Learning
Organisation Lean Production Taylorist Traditional Discretionary
Learning Organisation outperforms other work organisations 2
Source: Leadership, Culture and Management Practices of High
Performing Workplaces in Australia, SKE 2011
Slide 3
Selection of staff is important for HPWs Human capital
advantage results from having better employees than your
competitors Organisational process advantage comes from having more
effective ways of working Attracting, engaging, and retraining the
best employees is vital Aligning people to goals and values; and
collaboration, training and effective skills utilisation 3 There is
a growing body of evidence that strategic Human Resource Management
plays an important role in creating HPWs Source: Leadership,
Culture and Management Practices of High Performing Workplaces in
Australia, SKE 2011
Slide 4
Skills utilisation 4 Is about how well employers harness and
develop their workers abilities and talents to gain maximum value.
Skills Australia, 2011 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN BETTER USING
EMPLOYEE SKILLS Strong leadership and management support (including
middle management)Open communicationCulture and valuesGood HR
practicesTransparency and AccountabilityIntegrity and
trustSustainable and continuous improvementPartnership and
collaborationRespecting and cultivating difference
Slide 5
Leadership in High Performing Workplaces 5 Leaders in HPW
Prioritise people management Involve people in decision making
process Are responsive to customer and stakeholder needs Encourage
responsiveness to change and learning orientation Enable staff to
fully use skills and abilities at work Source: Leadership, Culture
and Management Practices of High Performing Workplaces in
Australia: The HPW Index. SKE 2011
Slide 6
Selection and recruitment of the right staff is important to
HPW What do we know about this in VET / TAFE? 1.Productivity
Commission Report on Vocational Education and Training Workforce
(2011) 2.NCVER report on Careers in VET by Michele Simons, Roger
Harris, Val Pudney and Berwyn Clayton (2009) 3.NCVER Report on
Human Resources Management in Australian registered training
organisations by Andrew Smith and Geoff Hawke (2008) 6
Slide 7
Productivity Commission on Recruitment and Selection No
widespread shortages difficulties in specific locations and
occupations / industries Looks principally at the attractiveness of
pay and conditions as a means of recruiting and retaining staff in
VET Get pay and conditions right and they will come Recognises the
fundamental issue that VET professionals are dual professionals
with capabilities in education and industry Recommends greater
autonomy to allow individual Institutions the flexibility to vary
pay and conditions to respond to regional and specific industry
variations 7
Slide 8
HRM in Australian RTOs High-quality, well-integrated and
strategically focused HRM is key to organisational success and
improved capability HRM is not strategic in TAFE institutes HRM is
a well-established function in TAFE institutes, but operates within
tight constraints by state government HRM policies/ procedures
Governments need to relax their grip on HRM polices/ procedures HRM
in private RTOs is informal While they have higher degree of
flexibility, private RTOs need to develop more effective HRM
polices/ practices to ensure their successful future growth With
rapid growth in their businesses, private RTOs face the challenge
of formalising HRM, but at the same time they need to find ways to
avoid excessive bureaucratisation of this function 8
Slide 9
Smith and Hawke on Recruitment and Selection Describe HR
management in the TAFE sector as professional detailed job
descriptions, rules for selection panels but not strategic in terms
of being a key business partner Subject to Public Sector Rules
about process including where to advertise Resulting in an emphasis
on uniformity, equity and procedural fairness Contrast this to best
practice in the private sector that use a variety of selection and
assessment techniques 9
Slide 10
Government of WA, Public Sector Commission - Rethinking
Recruitment Do your research Review your website Advertise wisely
Consider statements or values that genuinely describe culture of
organisation 10 Tips for creating an Employer Brand Consider the
type of candidate you want Where do candidates generally come from?
Does job description accurately reflect the skills/ characteristics
needed to do the job? Where are candidates found? What motivations
of candidates can we appeal to? What are the current motivations/
background of current workforce? TAFEs are subject to State Public
Sector Rules
Slide 11
For TAFE teachers the most usual entry point is via a casual
contract appointment Productivity Commission Report found that,
.....job mobility data indicate that, of the permanent or ongoing
employees now in the VET workforce, three-quarters joined as casual
or fixed-term employees originally (P. xxxv) NCVER Report on
Careers in VET found that, Recent estimates found that
approximately three in every five TAFE teachers were employed on a
casual basis and that this varied considerably across
states/territories.The number of teachers employed on a non-
permanent basis in New South Wales was estimated to be as high as
78% of all teachers, while it was approximately 50% in four other
jurisdictionsVictoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the
Australian Capital Territory (P.12) 11
Slide 12
A casual career entry point as the norm - it was not always
thus..... Date of entry into TAFE teachingPercentage whose entry
appointment was permanent on-going 1964-197468% 1975-198550%
1986-199627% 1997-200623% 12 Source Careers in VET, NCVER (2009)
Table 10, p 29
Slide 13
Is there a link with funding - VET Government Real Recurrent
Expenditure All Governments 13 Source: ROGS Edition 2011
Slide 14
Well known advantages and disadvantages of casual engagements
Positives Flexibility to respond to changing industry demands
Trainers with contemporary industry experience Suit some
individuals lifestyle choices Greater output in terms of AHC for
same $ (efficiency) Negatives Uncertainty of employment for
individual Poorer rewards for individual Less ability to
participate in staff development and program management Greater
workload for remaining permanent staff 14
Slide 15
What is important for VET students? Teachers with contemporary
industry experience Flexibility in the provision of training
methods More focus on practical skills Better access to training in
regional/ rural areas Better alignment of skills taught &
relevance to job Higher quality and standard of training More
tailored/ specific training that is relevant to job VET training is
too expensive 15 Source: Employers use and views of the VET system,
NCVER 2009
Slide 16
Some issues that may need investigation? 1.Is the public sector
recruitment process too passive or reactive in recruiting potential
VET teaching staff from industry? Responding in a very stylised way
to an advertisement in a newspaper or on web-site (however well
targeted) is not a common way of recruiting in some industries.
2.If a casual engagement is now the standard entry point is VET
missing out on good industry staff as not everyone can afford the
time to acquire some casual teaching experience as well as do their
main job? 3.Does several years service as a casual teacher mean
that teaching staff are already socialised into conventional ways
of doing things in TAFE before they achieve permanent status and
does this make cultural change in the sector more difficult?
16
Slide 17
HPWs have an emphasis on quality and continuous improvement New
National Regulator Australian Skills Quality Authority New National
Skills Standards Council Australian Quality Training Framework
17
Slide 18
VET quality concerns Quality across the VET sector was a major
focus of the Skills for Prosperity report Key recommendations
included: Building robust national VET regulation Implementation of
mandatory external validation of assessment High-quality and
rigorous delivery of the Training and Education Training Package
Growing a professional and skilled VET workforce Information
transparency and increased outcomes focus 18
Slide 19
VET quality concerns Quality in the VET sector has also been an
issue in recent research reports, e.g. The Productivity Commission
Inquiry Report Caring for older Australians Concerns were raised
about the variability in quality of accredited training in the aged
care sector The Commission recommends an independent and
comprehensive review of aged care courses 19
Slide 20
VET quality concerns The Strategic Review of the Student Visa
Program 2011 report raised concerns about Australias international
reputation as a quality provider of education Report stated that in
recent years some low quality providers entered the sector
particularly, but not exclusively, in some parts of the private VET
sector Australian brand depends on quality Compromises in quality
can also tarnish Australias reputation for quality beyond the
education sector 20
Slide 21
The AQTF Audit process 21 Audits may also occur at other times,
such as monitoring or strategic audits, or when an RTO wants to
extend its scope of registration The FOCUS of an AUDIT is ON the
OUTCOMES ACHIEVED by the Registered Training Organisation
Slide 22
Preparing for an AQTF Audit Dates are negotiated Agenda sent
beforehand giving details of: Type of audit Membership of the audit
team Indication of what evidence auditors will want to see Evidence
may include: Results of data collection from stakeholders and use
in continuous improvement Training and assessment strategies and
materials Resources relating to each qualification on scope of
registration Student and staff records 22
Slide 23
English system of regulation and inspection
OrganisationRegulates or quality assures OFSTED (Office for
Standards in Education) Regulates and inspects publicly funded
provision in Further Education and Skills Sectors Skills Funding
AgencyFunds public provision in Funding and Skills Sectors. Sets
contract guidelines and Minimum Levels of Performance (MLPs) Ofqual
(Office of Qualifications and Examinations regulation) Regulates
examining and awarding bodies in School, Further Education and
Skills Sectors UK Commission on Employment and Skills (UKCES)
Licenses Sector Skills Councils who are responsible for
Occupational Standards Awarding and examining bodies in Further
Education and Skills Sector (such as City and Guilds or Edcecel)
Externally verify examinations and assessments conducted by
providers 23
Slide 24
OFSTED Common Inspection Framework Looks at 5 key questions:
1.Overall effectiveness 2.Capacity to improve 3.Outcomes for
learners 4.Quality of provision 5.Leadership and management Four
point grading scale (Outstanding, Good, Satisfactory, Inadequate )
24
Slide 25
OFSTED Process Periodic inspections and annual monitoring
visits Great emphasis on provider annual Self Assessment Report
(SAR) Two key metrics - Qualification success rates - Lesson
observation profile 25
Slide 26
Provider Self Assessment Reports Bottom-up from Section to
Faculty to whole Institution Address key questions of Common
Inspection Framework Judgments have to be data driven Penalties for
over-estimating grades 26
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Inspectors comments on achievement in a Grade 4 provider
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Inspectors comments on achievement in a Grade 1 Provider
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Inspectors comments on teaching and learning in a Grade 4
College 32
Slide 33
Comments on teaching and learning in a Grade 1 provider 33