Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training, I present the committee's report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled Shared vision, equal pathways: Inquiry into the perceptions and status of vocational education and training, together with the minutes of the proceedings. Despite the evidence that VET will continue to be crucial to Australia's economic prosperity, many Australians hold negative perceptions of the sector. These perceptions are often driven by a poor understanding of VET and the careers it can lead to and also because of policy decisions and media representations that reinforce the belief that university is a better pathway to personal and professional success.

During the inquiry it became apparent that current and prospective VET students, employers and the public lack a single trusted source of reliable information on VET. While the National Careers Institute, the NCI, was created as a kind of one-stop shop for information on VET qualifications and careers, evidence to the committee suggested that the NCI was not functioning effectively and required a significant overhaul or substantial enhancement. Many of the witnesses who participated in the inquiry were not aware of the NCI or its work. Others said that it failed to meet its core objectives. The AIG said that it did not believe that the National Careers Institute was reaching its target. The Australian Centre for Career Education reported that the NCI did not have a prominent role in schools, including in supporting career advice.

The website also came under scrutiny. The National Careers Institute's Your Career website did not provide sufficient or relevant information on skill based careers, with one of the witnesses noting that if you typed in 'I would like to work with my hands in construction' you don't get a recommendation for a trade pathway until the 40th option. Instead, it suggested 'If you'd like to work with your hands in construction then perhaps consider becoming an architect.' It's a perverse outcome, noting that the National Careers Institute was originally set up to focus on promoting vocational careers. If I can be frank, the National Careers Institute may not be able to be saved, and it may be better for it to be scrapped and start again.

While I have highlighted one area of focus in my comments today—the National Careers Institute—I know that many of the other committee members will focus on other key parts of VET that the report highlights. There is a need to focus on supporting more women and diverse cohorts into VET. There is also a strong need to focus on strategic partnerships between schools, TAFEs and employers, which will be critical to enhancing VET within schools, as well as ensuring sufficient school funding to enable schools to achieve this outcome. The VET sector must deliver on training that is relevant and adapts to the economy, technology, environmental turmoil and changing human demographics. This will require reimagining how we develop and accredit qualifications and units of competency. This is not to say we need to abandon the cornerstone of VET programs. Apprenticeships and traineeships will remain a core part of the sector. However, there's compelling evidence that many apprentices are leaving due to a lack of adequate support, and therefore there is a need to enable industry led support networks.

There's not enough time to really focus on what we covered in the report. But, in closing, I'd like to thank the numerous organisations and individuals who contributed to the inquiry, particularly the students and the educators. Real change will be difficult without engaging those who are impacted the most. In this report, the committee has made 34 recommendations on how to enhance VET and lift perceptions of the sector. The findings were informed by over 100 submissions, over 30 hours of public hearings and direct engagement with VET and secondary school students. I'd particularly like to thank the school students and teachers who participated in our inquiry. I commend the committee's report to the House.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to rise this morning to speak on behalf of the coalition in my capacity as deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training Committee on the Shared vision, equal pathways report, which is about the inquiry into the perceptions and status of vocational education and training. I'd like to thank the chair, Lisa Chesters, the member for Bendigo, and all the committee members for their genuine engagement in this most important of inquiries. I'd also like to thank the committee staff, headed by the secretary, Fran Denny, for their excellent work, and all those who gave evidence, submitted submissions and attended hearings, either public or private, in person or remotely. You have certainly opened my eyes to some of the challenges that we face.

I was very excited when this inquiry was launched, as I come from a generation where most of the school leavers, particularly boys, left after attaining their junior certificate after completing year 10. It was mainly those who wanted to attend university that continued on to year 12. This, of course, has resulted in what we see now: a shortage of tradies. For a couple of decades, out of good motivation, we have encouraged our children to get a degree, even if they weren't suited to or desirous of getting a university degree. It got to the point where, as a society, we were basically, either subconsciously or consciously, treating people without a degree as second-class citizens, to our own detriment. I'm very pleased that this attitude is slowly changing and that those with VET qualifications are valued as much by society as those with a university degree. Supply and demand issues will have this effect.

On most things, we as a committee agreed, and I support, in the main, the final report, but as coalition members we have included the following additional comments:

1.2 Members are concerned that the recommendations overlook the role of private registered training organisations (RTOs). For example, zero of the report's 34 recommendations mention the inclusion of private RTOs. This goes against the will of secondary education providers who stated in paragraph 4.133 that they preferred to engage with private RTOs due to their ability to be flexible and more cost effective.

1.3 Furthermore, in discussing the Government's recent Australian Universities Accord, the Minister for Education almost exclusively refers to university and TAFE while refusing to recognise the substantial number of students who choose to study with an RTO.

1.4 As such, members are concerned that private RTOs have been forgotten about in the recommendations of the final report where there is a strong emphasis on government providers and Members request that RTOs be considered alongside TAFE as part of the report's recommendations. Doing so will provide choice for students and secondary schools between public and private education providers.

1.5 We believe that Government should be supporting both public and private RTOs equally to provide the best outcomes for all.

It was interesting to speak during the inquiry to several employers that said that, if they were faced with two applicants with similar qualifications, the applicant with the qualification from an NGO provider would, in their eyes, have an edge when getting the job advertised. This is another reason why we believe that greater emphasis must be given to private RTOs, while ensuring that we have a strong TAFE sector. Neither TAFE nor private NGOs on their own are the solution, but together they can be.

I commend the report to the House.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was really delighted to be able to have the opportunity to be a part of this report and the inquiry that has informed it, and I commend it to the House. I'd like to thank the chair and deputy chair for their work. I'd like to thank all of the committee members, the secretariat and all the participants, who provided important evidence and were so generous with their submissions and sharing their experiences to ensure that we were able to get a really strong picture of the vocational education and training sector in Australia.

This is a piece of work that's very close to my heart. My work previous to entering the parliament was working through some ways that we could strengthen the vocational education and training system in Victoria, noting particularly the very low completion rates in my home state. Anything that we can work towards together as a parliament to improve the perception and status of vocational education and training is a very good thing indeed.

In particular, the recommendations that go to aligning vocational education and training in a better way across the country are quite significant. The emphasis on ensuring that students, at all levels of schooling, understand the VET system better and that their teachers and parents understand the VET system and the opportunities available through vocational education and training better is particularly important in terms of the recommendations. In light of the Universities Accord final report, lifelong learning as a critical part of vocational education and training is something I'm pleased to see come through in the recommendations, as well as the seamlessness between vocational education and training and other higher education providers, such as universities.

A lot of the evidence that we heard throughout this inquiry was echoed locally with me in my conversations with students, teachers and providers in the electorate of Chisholm. I was particularly interested recently to hear year 12 leaders in their schools talk about the importance of better embedding careers counselling and an understanding of how to navigate the various postsecondary education options while students are in the earlier years of their secondary education. I'm really pleased to see that come through strongly in the recommendations in this report. As I said, I was delighted to have the opportunity to participate in this inquiry. I commend the report to the House.

Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak to the Shared vision, equal pathways report and recommendations resulting from the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training VET inquiry. The committee took extensive evidence from students, teachers and other stakeholders about the workings of the VET system and the gaps within it. This, I believe, was particularly timely given the intersection between vocational education and training and universities, as outlined is in the just released Universities Accord report.

As our economy continues to evolve, transitioning into renewable energy, artificial intelligence and an increasing reliance on the care and services sectors, an effective VET sector will be critical to creating the educational and skills base that we need. We must dispel the negative perceptions of VET not only by more effectively promoting it within schools and to families but also by strengthening the VET system by addressing the complex barriers faced by students when it comes to entry into, and effective outcomes from, VET. The committee has recognised, for example, that the emphasis on ATAR scores may be counterproductive to students who may wish to take a VET pathway but are diverted to university, when it may not be appropriate for them. The inquiry revealed very clearly the need to highlight for students diverse pathways that not only match their needs but also build the skills base that Australia needs across a range of sectors. It also became clear that effective careers education in schools is central to the success of this approach, especially considering that children aged as young as seven are beginning to develop decisions about what they may do later in life.

I have particular interest in the gendered nature of VET and have had input into several of the recommendations relating to the way that women interact with the system and how to encourage more women and girls into VET pathways. These include encouraging women and gender-diverse people into male-dominated industries, ensuring equitable employment and addressing gender based violence and barriers to women in trades based workplaces, targeting women and gender diverse people with additional apprenticeship places, and implementing promotional and educational campaigns that challenge gender stereotypes. The report also recommends an increased focus within VET on female-dominated industries, including fashion and textiles—currently worth some billions per year to the Australian economy.

Australia has one of the most gender-segregated workforces among OECD countries. Women and men largely work the same jobs they did 35 years ago. Caring and clerical professions remain dominated by women, while construction, trades and labouring professions are dominated by men. The ABS reports that women currently comprise around 16 per cent of trade and technical workers. They currently make up just three per cent of the trade workforce and hold only one in every 100 trade apprenticeships. While the number of women in trades is increasing, they still make up only three per cent of all electricians and one per cent of construction workers. As reported in the weekend papers just gone, an enormous shortage of trades will thwart our capacity to build the housing we need in coming years, among other things. One avenue to increased capacity and productivity is women.

I look forward to working with the government to remove the structural and attitudinal barriers that stand in the way. We have so much to gain as a nation if this happens. According to Deloitte Access Economics, the Australian economy would be boosted by $128 billion if the persistent barriers to women's full and equal participation were removed. That equates to $12,000 extra a year per household.

I thank the committee—particularly the member for Bendigo, for chairing it—for the excellent and thorough recommendations for creating a thriving VET sector.

Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted that among the first inquiries I have participated in as a member of parliament has been one into the perceptions and status of vocational education and training. After detailed consultation and consideration of the stakeholder input, I am pleased that the inquiry's report, accurately titled Shared vision, equal pathways,is now being tabled. This report reconfirms the Labor government's commitment to strengthening and transforming our vocational education and training sector, VET, after a decade of neglect by those opposite.

At the outset, I would like to commend the chair, the member for Bendigo, for her exceptional work in spearheading this inquiry. This inquiry received a hundred submissions from a diverse range of stakeholders, unions, VET providers, universities, business groups and student organisations. Over the course of the inquiry, the committee conducted 15 hearings, including one at Cranbourne Secondary College, in my electorate. I am thankful to the students of Cranbourne Secondary College for presenting their firsthand reflections to the committee.

Over one in every four in Holt are under the age of 14—the highest in the country. As these students graduate high school over the next decade, they will make one of the biggest decisions of their lives: 'What do I do after school?' While university is no doubt a great career path for some, for others, the hands-on learning experience from VET is more suitable. Attending VET institutions like William Angliss Institute and Box Hill Institute of TAFE provided me a pathway to acquire skills that were workforce ready. I want to make sure that other students in my electorate and across Australia understand this, and this inquiry will go a long way in ensuring that.

This report lays out 34 practical recommendations for achieving this goal. While each of them deserves a mention, in the interest of time, I want to draw the chamber's attention to recommendations 10 and 18. Recommendation 10 emphasises the need for the Australian government and state and territory governments to work together to improve the quality and consistency of VET in secondary schools. The integration of TAFE in secondary schools is one of the great education reforms of this country. Everyone learns differently, and not every student can sit through lectures in a classroom all day. This system shows students early on the possibilities of TAFE and allows them to get a head start on achieving a tertiary qualification.

I also welcome recommendation 18, which focuses on addressing systematic barriers which hinder female participation in TAFE, particularly in male dominated industries. Only 12 per cent of construction workers are women, making it a mostly male dominated sector in Australia. Often women can feel uncomfortable in these highly male dominated spaces, leading to high early dropout rates. By tackling workforce discrimination and gender based violence and by introducing additional apprenticeship pathways for women, we can go a long way in addressing this gender imbalance.

I am honoured to commend this report in the chamber and thank everyone involved—the committee members, the secretariat and stakeholders—for their immense contribution to this inquiry. I recommend this report to the House.

Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak briefly on the report Shared vision, equal pathways and I start by thanking the chair, the deputy chair, my fellow colleagues and the brilliant secretariat of the employment, education and training committee. This is an area of policy which has been very dear to me for over 20 years as a former director of the National Careers Institute Advisory Board and after working in senior policy roles in vocational education at both the state and federal level.

As the report demonstrates, Australia's vocational education system is one of the world's most admired, not only for its diversity, flexibility and metropolitan and regional reach but especially for its provision of skills on which this country, and especially my electorate of Flinders, relies for its economic growth: building and construction; engineering and electrical; and nursing, aged care and child care, among others. Without vocational education, this country would be in a right mess.

But, as we heard from witnesses, what distinguishes vocational education from higher education in the main is that it is industry driven, taught where possible by practitioners in their field. We met many of these practitioners during the inquiry. In previous coalition governments, we focused on that industry leadership by creating Australian technical colleges, introducing scholarships for apprentices, providing toolkits to trades apprentices to get them on their way, and providing incentives to encourage employers and, as they were known back then, group training providers. Today, where this ethos of industry engagement and relevance still exists, it is almost by mistake, not by design.

Through this inquiry we had the most extraordinary stories from schools like St Columban's College in Caboolture in the member for Longman's electorate, where vocational education is celebrated and valued, whatever the career ambition and academic capability of the student. We also learned that where there is a blend of offerings, both public and private vocational education working together, the community benefits, as was demonstrated so greatly when the committee heard from the Frankston Mornington Peninsula Local Learning and Employment Network; Nepean Industry Edge Training, which provides flexible and affordable training across the entire care industry and supplies so many of our aged-care organisations; and the Advance Community College located in Rosebud, which works in partnership with Chisholm TAFE just next door to get young people ready for TAFE-level training. Private vocational education is an important and necessary part of our educational landscape, and this report fails to highlight justly how much of an important role it plays.