Progress on the qualifications framework is long overdue: TAFE

Research shows that by 2034 automation will displace 2.7 million Australian workers from jobs, 56 per cent of whom are male.

More than 500 days have passed since federal education and skills ministers heralded a bright new future for vocational education and training and higher education, thanks to the proposals put forward from the routine review of the Australian Qualifications Framework. Michaelia Cash, skills minister at the time, wanted to test the recommendations with her fellow state and territory skills colleagues.

The only outcome has been the experiment in higher education certificates, and that is a break away from the design put forward by the expert panel.

Fair enough, ministers have been preoccupied with Covid-19 pandemic, but they have had time to dabble with various forms of education reform.

Does it matter that there has been so little progress?

Disruption to the regular routines of learning, dislocation of labour markets leading many to engage in new learning to redirect their careers, and the surge in micro-credentials as a ready solution, would suggest that it does matter.

The consequences are profound if there is another year or years before Australia takes the steps needed to put the new AQF in place. If some current levels of qualifications in the existing framework are redundant, as the review has found, what does that mean for students enrolling in them now? If the current pathways policy limits guaranteed credit to VET certificates only, then what prospects for advancement do we offer students starting their learning journey?

And if all forms of non-accredited micro-credentials are flooding the market, how does a citizen decide on value?

Of public interest significance is the impending Industry 4.0 where the demands of automation, digitisation and artificial intelligence will require new capabilities across the Australian workforce.

A recent report from the Digital Transformation Expert Panel in VET, The Learning Country – Digital Skills Transformation Strategy, cites research showing that by 2034 automation will displace 2.7 million Australian workers from jobs, 56 per cent of whom are male, and it will augment the work capacity of 4.5 million Australian workers.

However, this report and many others tell us that the future of work will be human, driven by capabilities to engage with technology and with each other.

Among the education sectors this matters most in VET. The transformation needed in vocational education and learning is profound because many of the jobs facing change are supported by the VET sector.

And logistics are critical: failing to take on new qualification design principles for a new world of work is like sending someone into battle with a slingshot. Governments have announced they are experimenting with VET qualification reform but there is no news on the place of the new AQF.

Other sectors have more flexibility and are on the journey. Recently I was privileged to join education leaders under the banner of the Learning Creates Australia alliance established last year through a collaboration between the Foundation for Young Australians, the Paul Ramsay Foundation and PwC Australia, where these issues are being canvassed, guided by the student voice.

There has been great fanfare and effort since the 2019 Strengthening Skills: Expert Review of Australia’s Vocational Education and Training System as a road map of recovery for VET. Last year Peter Shergold painted a transformative vision for recognising a broader range of learning to facilitate a lifelong journey of learning in Looking to the Future, his review of senior secondary pathways. In conjunction with the AQF Review an enlightened future for education and training is on offer. At best, all three reports are being dealt with in a piecemeal way – the very dilemma they were addressing.

It is not too late and the opportunity is enormous. From my observations, education leaders recognise the challenge and are ready for the journey. The government has the makings of a good battle plan. And when it comes to preparing for digital transformation, Stuart Robert, the new minister for skills has firsthand experience given his responsibilities for the Commonwealth’s Digital Transformation Agency.

There’s more reason to get going. The Learning Country estimates that uptake of digital alone could lead to a 15 per cent capacity uplift to Australian businesses.

In addition, the proposed AQF is built on the integrity and coherence of learning outcomes, very sensible at face value as it provides the ladder for progression. The focus on students and learning means VET qualifications will need to go beyond task-centred and job focused competencies – perhaps the cause of the delay and the real battle we face.

Craig Robertson is chief executive officer of TAFE Directors Australia