Description
The key drivers of TAFE institutes' systems for monitoring and evaluating effectiveness and efficiency are accountability for government funding, compliance with legislation and quality assurance requirements. The need to supplement government funding with commercial income requires institutes to understand the training markets in which they operate and to maintain productive networks with industry and local communities. This paper provides an account of the management strategies and processes that TAFE institutes use to evaluate their performance. It concludes that institutes use similar practices to understand their business and it provides some suggestions for the type of information that would be beneficial.
Summary
About the research
This paper investigates how technical and further education (TAFE) institutes evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency. This issue is pertinent because TAFE institutes are increasingly expected to operate in an environment of high public accountability, greater fiscal restraint and expanded competition for government funding. Council of Australian Governments (COAG) suggestions for the implementation of ongoing market reform in the vocational education and training (VET) system will require institutes to further focus on effectiveness and efficiency.
The authors interviewed nine TAFE institute directors and 59 of their senior and middle managers in South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. A support document of institute specific case studies accompanies this paper.
Key messages
- Externally imposed requirements for funding accountability and regulatory compliance are the main drivers of institute processes and systems for monitoring and evaluating effectiveness and efficiency. This applies both to institutes within centralised governance arrangements and to those in devolved governance systems.
- Regardless of governance structures, strong managerial leadership is critical to the evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency.
- TAFE institutes engage with employers and industry bodies to better understand training demand, but employers do not always speak with one voice.
- TAFE institutes have a general understanding of their markets and business. This may help them to survive in a more competitive environment, but they will require more robust systems for working out the cost-efficiency of their operations.
Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER