Training is important but it is just one component in any package designed to reduce the impacts of industry restructuring on individuals.
In this interview, Steve Davis talks with co-author Kaye Bowman about the report ‘Workforce skills development and engagement in training through skill sets’.
This report aims to throw some light on the role that skills sets play in meeting the needs of clients compared with full qualifications, which are seen as the foundation of the vocational education and training (VET) system.
The paper outlines the difference between the skill sets developed by national VET industry bodies in training packages and those developed by registered training organisations, as well as the rationale for skill sets, the specific benefits and issues anticipated and the latest policy recommendations.
Vocational education and training (VET) has a role to play in sustainable regional development. Through five regional case studies this research examines how well VET is tailoring supply to skill needs, how VET has become more flexible to obtain a better match between demand and supply, and whether partnerships have been linked to whole-of-government frameworks in ways which support sustainable regional development. The study concludes that successful relationships between VET and regional development require ongoing alignment both ways. Comprehensive regional frameworks could facilitate this co-development between VET and regional development.
Over the past decade, the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector has focused on the outcomes of training in terms of qualifications and competencies. Up until this time there had been little information available on the value that employers place on qualifications and how they use them to contribute to the success of their business. This 'at a glance' synthesises recent research, which shows that employers do value qualifications, and see them as having three main benefits: to 'screen' candidates in the recruitment process, to meet compliance requirements, and to provide career development for existing workers. However, VET providers could encourage employers to view qualifications more favourably by linking them to skills required at work and by keeping costs down, especially of the assessment process.