Transcript Slide 1

VET Reform in Victoria
Lee Watts, Executive Director, Skills Victoria
14 December 2011
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Presentation outline
The challenge
The opportunity
Maximising the benefits of skills reforms – current work
Fees and funding changes for 2012
Next Steps?
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The challenge
1.
2.
Ensuring more Victorians benefit from tertiary education and training
Building skills for a modern workforce to boost Victoria’s productivity
At a time when we know that…
We need higher level skills to
arrest Victoria’s declining
productivity…
• 2001 to 2005: Victoria’s
multifactor productivity
growth rate was half the
national average
• 2006 to 2010: Victoria’s
growth rate declined at five
times the average annual rate
of NSW
Only half of working age
Victorians have the core
literacy and numeracy skills
they need for work at a time
of increasing structural
change in our economy...
We need to increase
workforce participation to
mitigate the costs of an ageing
population and key workforce
shortages (e.g. community
services)…
But 625,000 low skilled
Victorians are in low skilled
work or disengaged from
work…
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In an uncertain economic environment
 2010-11 over 50 organisations in Victoria announced
cutbacks, closures and retrenchments, affecting more than
5000 employees
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And a more fluid tertiary education landscape
Incrementalist
• More partnerships
between VET and
higher education
institutions to offer
better pathways
• Making it easier for
students to
simultaneously enrol in
VET and higher
education institutions
• More practical and
workplace learning
opportunities within
higher education
Lower degree of change
Diverse
• VET providers offering
degrees - including "2 plus
2" diploma/degree
programs
• Universities offering
double enrolment in a
degree and certificate
qualification
Integrated
• End to structural and
institutional divisions
between VET and higher
education
• A single entitlement
funding model
• More "mixed institutions"
specialising in particular
fields - e.g. polytechnics
• The rise of the "omniinstitution"
• Teaching-only institutions
offering undergraduate
degrees
Higher degree of change
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The challenge
The opportunity
Maximising skills reforms – current work
Fees and funding changes for 2012
Next Steps?
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Victoria is the first jurisdiction to have a life-long entitlement to
education and training
Early childhood
Universal access
Schools
Compulsory service
VET and Higher
Education
Mass access
•Free access to maternal
and child health
•Voluntary fees for
government schools
•VET entitlement through
Victorian Training Guarantee
•Partial subsidy with cocontribution for
kindergarten
•Choice of public
schooling is unrestricted
but there is no
entitlement to nongovernment schooling
•Eligible students can choose
what and where they study
and receive a partial subsidy
•Choice of kindergarten is
limited by local supply
•In higher education choice of
subsidised place largely limited
to public universities
Pathways and fault lines between sectors and providers remain a challenge
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The Victorian Training Guarantee was designed to increase access
and participation and deepen and broaden Victoria’s skills base
Centralised purchasing
Demand-driven market
Set funding purchasing limited places;
first-in-first-served basis
Demand-driven funding (with eligibility
criteria)
Centrally planned responsiveness to
industry
RTOs responsive to demand from
individuals and businesses
Limited competition for government
funded training
All contracted RTO can access government
funding
Flat tuition fees at all qualification levels
(13% approx.)
Capped, increasing fees for higher level
qualifications – with VET FEE-HELP
Less structured approach to incentivising
up skilling
Open entitlement for under 20, up skilling
requirements for 20+
Fewer barriers to reskilling, but greater
prevalence of “churn”
Exemptions for disadvantage and skills
shortage areas
Concessions address disadvantage
Concessions address disadvantage
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Training providers have responded. There are more Victorians participating in training than
ever before (~425,000 in 2011 – up 44% from 2008)– and in areas that are important to
Victoria’s economy
Early results show Victoria’s demand driven training entitlement provides the foundation to
deliver the skills Victoria needs to increase productivity, participation and pathways into work
and higher level skills:
Stimulates demand for training
More training undertaken by Victorians: training increased at all
levels and for all age groups -
Responds to industry needs
More training in: important industries; occupations in shortage; and
specialised occupations, such as child care and construction
Deepens skills
More training in higher level qualifications: 24% growth in diplomalevel and above enrolments*
Engages people with low level or
no qualifications
More training by people with low or no qualifications: additional
20% enrolments by people without Certificate III or above*
More choice
More training providers who meet quality standards delivering
training across the State*
Which is an investment in employment outcomes and in improving capabilities such as parenting (with
positive impacts on child development) and reducing costs to the State’s health and social services…
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Training is happening in the areas most beneficial to individuals and industries
Government subsidised course enrolments
Goverment funded VET - 2011 versus 2008
300,000
16,600
Little reported
vocational benefit
250,000
Significant vocational
benefit
115,400
200,000
5,500
Specialised and/or in
shortage
150,000
71,200
4,700
100,000
3,000
60,200
50,000
8,000
16,000
Foundation
134,000
60,400
7,500
38,200
4,400
3,850
26,600
86,700
1,950
10,300
25,200
44,800
44,100
-
2008
2011
Certificates I and II
2008
2011
Certificates III and IV
2008
2011
Diploma and above
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Backed by a significant increase in government funding
Government investment in VET delivery
($m-approximate. 2011-12 forecast based on 2011 YTD data)
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2008-9
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
* Note: 2011-12 figures are estimates only. No definitive level of expenditure for
2011-12 can be given due to the demand driven nature of the system.
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The challenge
The opportunity
Maximising the benefits of skills reforms – current work
Fees and funding changes for 2012
Next Steps?
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There are a number of critical pre-conditions for an effective
market
Fees and funding
mechanisms that enable
providers to compete,
supports participation
and student transitions
and effectively target
government subsidies
Governance
Effective and contemporary
Governance that recognises
the distinct role of public
providers and enables those
providers to compete
Strengthened system
performance and
educational outcomes
Quality
Quality measures and
systems to promote
excellence in training and
training products and to
protect consumers
Client Information
Accessible price, product, quality
and labour market information
to inform student /
family / employer choice
Industry Engagement
Active participation and
investment by businesses
to help ensure training
and skills are relevant and
provide direct feedback
loops on quality
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Quality
What does quality
mean in VET?
• Qualifications that are recognised and valued by employers
• Teaching and learning that builds student competencies and can be trusted by
learners and employers alike
• Skills that are relevant in the workplace
• Training that fits around the competing priorities of businesses and individuals
•
How can quality be
assured and raised?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Priorities for
further reform
1.
2.
3.
Strong regulation – which allows for innovation, while responding to
malpractice
Effective contracting – which supplements regulatory protections
Accessible consumer protection – clear avenues for complaint
Informed consumers – exercising their entitlement at quality providers
Engaged industries – informing curriculum, shaping demand, supporting
assessment
Good information - publicly available reporting on quality and outcome
measures
Direct feedback - from individuals and businesses/industries
National reforms to agree a common set of outcome indicators for all
regulated providers and additional indicators for funded providers
Requiring all contracted providers to publish this information
Strengthening direct feedback loops from learners and businesses
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Quality – NCVER Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET
system 2011
Employer satisfaction with training quality:
 Apprentices and trainees
 80.3% for private RTOs; 80.8% for TAFE
 Nationally recognised training
 92.2% for privates; 90.3% for TAFE (Australia)
 92% for privates; 85.3% for TAFE (Victoria)
Graduate satisfaction with training quality:
 88.3% for private RTOs
 87.6% for TAFE
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Client information
What client
information is
important?
What client
information is
currently available
Priorities for
further reform
• Course offerings
• Employment prospects – what training leads to jobs?
• Cost
• Quality and outcomes
All of the above, but it is
• Limited in detail
• Often hard to access – fragmented
• Unclear or incomplete
• Often inadequate to inform training decisions
1.
2.
3.
Provider register – strengthened by quality work
Requirements for RTOs to disclose indicative prices
Requirements for RTOs to publish performance information
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The challenge
The opportunity
Maximising the benefits of skills reforms – current work
Fees and funding changes for 2012
Next Steps?
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1. Changes to weightings for some high growth courses
Industry sector
Business and Clerical
Current weighting
that applies
0.8
New weighting to
apply
0.7
Finance
0.8
0.7
Hospitality
1
0.9
Property Services
0.8
0.7
Recreation
1.1
0.8
Tourism
1
0.9
Wholesale and Retail
0.8
0.7
What isn’t changing:
• Youth loading and Indigenous loading remains unchanged for all courses
• Weightings for 44 of the 51 industry groups remain unchanged
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2. Removal of minimum and maximum student fee caps/ Retention of
maximum hourly student fee rates as previously published for 2012
Qualification level
Approx. % of students hitting cap
Fee rate per SCH
Foundation
11%
Up to $1.08
Skills Creation
5%
Up to $1.62
Apprenticeship
4%
Up to $2.17
Traineeship
8%
Up to $2.17
Skills Building
16%
Up to $2.17
Skills Deepening
35%
Up to $4.33
What isn’t changing:
 There is no change to the maximum hourly rate – so no student will pay more than the maximum
hourly rate for the total number of Scheduled Hours for their course
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3. Cessation of special arrangements for apprentices
Fee arrangements for enrolments in apprenticeships will be brought
back into line with traineeships – equivalent to the Skill Building rates
for 2012.
What isn’t changing:
• There is no change to eligibility criteria for apprenticeships in 2012 – meaning that
any apprentice can access a subsidised training place regardless of age or previous
qualifications
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The challenge
The opportunity
Maximising the benefits of skills reforms – current work
Fees and funding changes for 2012
Next Steps?
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