An overview

A focus on outputs and outcomes

A very important development in the Australian vocational education and training system has been the focus on outputs and outcomes from the vocational education and training sector. This focus accompanied the shift from a largely provider-determined training system to an industry and demand-led training system.

The outputs from vocational education and training refer to the qualifications, skills and competencies achieved from undertaking a vocational education and training programme. Robinson (1998) described this in the following way:

Conceptually, the key outputs of the vocational education and training sector can be viewed in the following ways:

• the qualifications attained by people successfully completing vocational education and training programmes that are valued by employers and widely recognised as currency in the labour market
  
• the skills and competencies gained by individuals to improve their economic and labour market prospects and/or to improve their skills to enable them to do their current jobs better
  
• the skills and competencies required by business to improve the bottom line of business enterprises in terms of productivity, profitability, etc. and to contribute to Australia s overall economic competitiveness.

A deliberate distinction is being made here between the core outputs of vocational education and training (i.e. skills and qualifications) and outcomes from vocational education and training such as gaining new employment, obtaining new skills to gain promotions or new jobs or gaining new skills to increase job security in existing employment.

In recent years, Australia developed two nationally consistent frameworks for vocational education and training qualifications, namely, the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and the Australian Recognition Framework (ARF) arrangements, described earlier in the report.

Further processes are currently underway to:

• develop a set of agreed protocols to ensure nationally consistent policies are in place in each State and Territory in relation to how qualifications are awarded to vocational education and training students and trainees around Australia
  
• develop a nationally consistent approach to the measurement of outputs at the sub-qualification level (referred to in Australia as ‘units of competence’).

The outcomes from vocational education and training (as distinct from the outputs) refer to ultimate outcomes from vocational education and training for individual students and trainees or for Australia’s enterprises who rely on the vocational education and training sector to meet all or part of their skill requirements. The outcomes for individuals include:

• gaining their first employment
  
• improving job prospects through greater job security, gaining a promotion or a better job, more hours of work, moving from part-time to full-time employment, etc.
  
• increasing employment income as a result of gaining new skills.

The outcomes for employers include:

• improvements in productivity as a result of skills gained from VET
• satisfaction that the vocational education and training system is meeting enterprise skill requirements.

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) conducts regular national surveys to gauge the outcomes from vocational education and training. These include:

• a Graduate Destination Survey (GDS) to measure the employment outcomes of TAFE graduates
  
• an Employer Satisfaction Survey (ESS) to measure the level of employer satisfaction with vocational education and training provision and to ascertain employers views about the impact of vocational education and training on enterprise productivity.

The NCVER has developed a broader vocational education and training student outcomes survey that was conducted in 1999 to look at the job outcomes of all vocational education and training students, and not just graduates from TAFE in programmes of at least 200 hours duration.

A highly developed statistical information base is an essential ingredient to developing a training system that better meets the needs of both individuals and industry clients of the sector. It is essential that such systems place as much focus on measuring the outcomes as they do on measuring student characteristics, training activity and the costs of training.

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