|
Global industries such as the oil and gas industry understand the
value of training and do not need to be convinced to conduct training
or to train more. Lack of engagement with the formal
vocational education and training (VET) sector is not necessarily a sign that
these industries disdain training: the oil and gas industry spends many
millions of dollars annually on training. Lack of
engagement with the sector, however, may be a signal the sector might reflect
on.
- Workers' attitudes are key in developing a high performance/high
skill workforce. Commitment to safety, a willingness to question
and to learn are attitudes required to be recruited to the oil and
gas industry.
They are non-negotiable. VET providers working with candidates at
entry level need to understand that developing appropriate attitudes
in students
is as important as their acquiring specialist skill and knowledge.
This adds a considerable challenge to the training task.
- Competencies are more important than qualifications in the oil and
gas industry because, when it comes to assigning work, competencies
are the only currency. Qualifications on their own are insufficiently
informative—a view shared by employees and employers.
- Skilled workers are different from entry-level learners in that,
on the whole, they are far more confident learners and, in this industry,
thrive on challenge. In a workplace that affords them the opportunities,
they effectively take charge of their own learning program; they act
like the autonomous professionals they are. This is a reminder that
VET produces professional workers in the true sense of the word.
- Advanced skill learners reported requiring training with 'bite'.
This means training where, to quote Dewey, people learn by doing,
'but the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking'.
This requires thoughtful instructional design where the trainer
perceptively judges
the degree of challenge ('bite') in light of each workerís
capacity to meet the challenge.
- There is a market for assessment and recognition of competencies.
The 'safety
case' regime, which identifies major risks in a facility
and outlines ways of avoiding them or dealing with them should
they occur,
is now in effect in the oil and gas industry. This means that
evidence of workers' skill and applicable knowledge
must effectively meet a legal standard, which requires expert
assessment of
competencies.
The VET 'recognition system' (where recognition of
competence is formally granted) is more important than the
traditional TAFE 'training
delivery system' in this industry, and is in urgent
need of attention.
- The role of time in learning needs re-thinking. Extended and
repeated experience appears to be a critical element in acquiring
advanced
skill. No one is suggesting a return to 'time-serving',
but we need to better understand whether (or where) repeated
practice does
not stall progress but actually opens out new horizons and expertise.
- Developing advanced skills in global industries has implications
for Australiaís immigration policies. Experiential learning
to master leading-edge skill requires the learner to work alongside
an expert.
In global industries such expertise often resides outside Australia
yet it is exceedingly difficult to obtain permission to import experts
to work here for specified periods, even though a demonstrable outcome
is the growth of local capability.
- Enterprises ought to conceptualise the workplace as a learning environment
as well as the site where products/services are created.
Learning environments are characterised by the tasks people are given,
the
resources at their
disposal to complete the tasks, and the support offered.
Experience suggests that it is of real benefit for employers to envisage
their
workplaces in terms of this trio of learning 'affordances'
and observe the quality of the learning that emerges.
|
