The Commonwealth of Learning

The delivery of effective open corporate and industrial training requires that both industry and the training provider develop partnerships to achieve outcomes that are beneficial to both. Ensuring that the labour force (and that also means ourselves) are lifelong learners, able to upgrade and update their skills throughout their working lives, involves partnerships between employers, individuals, and training providers. Employers must be committed to training and developing their employees, individuals must be committed to their own development through training, and providers of training and education must be able to respond rapidly to the needs of employers and individuals. The influence of globalisation and technology in both the workplace and educational institutions are highlighted in this paper.

To ensure that the skills of the Australian labour force are sufficient to support internationally competitive commerce and industry and to provide individuals with opportunities to optimise their potential.

(ANTA: A Bridge to the future)

Five objectives underpin this mission:

• Equipping Australians for the world of work
• Enhancing mobility in the labour market
• Achieving equitable outcomes in vocational education and training
• Increasing investment in training
• Maximising the value of public vocational education and training expenditure

KEY REASONS FOR CHANGE

There has been a major shift from institutional, centrally controlled curriculum and delivery to collaborative partnerships between education organisations and industry. The following are some of the issues that have influenced this shift:

• International competition and the growth of global markets
• The growth and effect of information and communication technology on education and industry.
• The development of new industries and new types of jobs.
• Changes to the way in which work is organised and to the type of work available.
• Unemployment issues.
• Expectations that industry will assume a greater role in identifying training needs and in resourcing them.
• Expectations that all people will have access to education and training.
• Expectations from industry, enterprises and individuals that education and training will be available in a range of flexible options.

In addition, the issue of ensuring that the labour force (and that also means ourselves) are lifelong learners, able to upgrade and update their skills throughout their working lives, involves:

• Employers, committed to training and developing their employees.
• Individuals, committed to their own development through training.
• Providers, of which the largest are in further and higher education, who respond rapidly to the needs of employers and individuals.

DISTANCE LEARNING

In many ways, distance learning has taken on new meaning. In Australia we use the terminology Flexible Delivery. This provides for students who are located in distant places but has extended the concept of distance learning to learning which may take place in the workplace, at home, in groups in learning centres, in education institutions.

The methodologies used embrace the available new technologies and provide opportunities for using a range of methodologies concurrently in order to meet the different learning needs of students.

GLOBALISATION AND TECHNOLOGY

The most significant influencers of change have been globalisation and technology. Technology has clearly been the main reason for the accelerated globalisation we have witnessed.

Technology offers us the most powerful tools that have ever existed.

"Provided that people are prepared to invest in themselves and industry is prepared to invest in its people, technology is part of the picture that will help us to find the right stuff in vocational education and training." (Eccles, Chris, The right stuff: paper presented at Creating Our Future Conference).

Globalisation means that commerce/business is now conducted on a world stage rather than a local one. E-commerce is the mechanism by which enterprises deal directly with their customers and business partners. Education itself is a major business in our world and increasing opportunities are available for students (customers) to learn via this medium.

PARTNERSHIPS

Within this global context the need for educational organisations to work with enterprises becomes apparent. Operating in a competitive global arena demands education and training ‘courses’ that are relevant in the market place.

Constructing partnerships which achieve relevancy and successful outcomes for students requires careful consideration of the nature of the relationship.

A core issue in constructing successful partnerships with industry is the need to develop a shared understanding of the alliance: no one organisation should dominate or presume hierarchical mechanisms. Each must be valued for their expertise and developments should be based on a shared vision for the alliance.

We need more and better partnerships to help to deliver lifelong learning for the social and economic improvements that we all want to see.

PARTNERSHIP CASE STUDIES

Two areas in which Adelaide Institute of TAFE has been involved, which exemplify the development of partnerships and the use of technology, to enable learning in this global context are tourism and workplace delivery.

1. Tourism

The Centre of Tourism Studies and International Languages has offered vocational education courses to students at the Adelaide Institute of TAFE since 1986.

During 1997 a wide variety of courses were offered – from Certificate Level 4 courses in Tourism, Travel, Tour Guiding and International Languages through to the two year Advanced Diploma in Tourism. The Centre also conducted short courses in Wine Studies covering both the Business of Wine and Wine Tourism.

The Centre is a leader in tourism education in Australia. Our expertise is sought internationally.

The Centre for Tourism Studies and International Languages maintains a close association with industry, enabling us to modify the training product to reflect these current trends.

In response to industry needs and in line with Adelaide Institute policy, the Centre for Tourism Studies has been able to respond to industry needs by providing short courses such as Tour Guide training for Volunteer Guides from Monarto Zoo and a series of Train the Trainer courses with the South Australian Tourism Commission.

The Centre is unique in offering both an Industry Placement and Graduate Scholarship program, students and graduates are able to apply their newly acquired skills and knowledge in a variety of industry sectors. Members of staff liaise with industry to assist graduates to gain employment.

The value to Adelaide Institute of TAFE of tourism industry links includes:

• collection of graduate scholarships involving 4 countries and 5 different companies - $180,000
• sponsorship of prizes and graduation ceremony - $5,000
• guest lecturing and forum guest speaking
• industry give time for interviewing potential students and selection of staff – since 1979
• reduced price for full access to Sabre reservations systems - $4,000 pa for 25 class sets
• staff training and familiarisation of staff - $10,000
• inkind sponsorship of field activities – reduced coach hire, admissions, flights, accommodation - $15,000
• large number of PTI staff from industry
• industry advisory panel
• lectures involved in industry associations

An industry placement program aims to provide students with relevant practical experience by exposing them to systems of operations, marketing, sales, finance, personnel and management.

Industry placements provide students with

• opportunities to appreciate different cultures
• human resource development ‘on the ground’
• assists in career path planning for students
• stepping stone/leads to employment in the industry
• 80% employed fulltime within 12 months of graduation
• snowball effect – more placements than students – has an effect on employment opportunities
• peer support from previous industry placement students
• extra workplace skills
• global opportunities

Joint venture opportunities in tourism training with both industry and government include

1. training programs for high school tourism teachers – joint venture with Tourism Training Australia
2. career seminars for students with Australian Institute of Tourism & Travel
3. Australian Guide qualifications program with Inbound Tourism Organisation of Australia
4. student projects
5. tour guide training with Monarto Zoo
6. customer sales and service and train the trainer with regional Tourism SA
7. training updates for tourism industry employees. Industry provides a significant contribution to the development of our tourism programs.

1. Workplace Training

In 1997, the Enterprise Training Service was asked by Philmac GPS, an irrigation plastics manufacturer and distributor to produce and deliver a training program based on competencies developed in-house by Philmac management.

Philmac is an agricultural and domestic irrigation plastics manufacturer and distributor faced with increased domestic competition from overseas manufacturers. It has also identified the mining industry as a potential major market (this industry relies on plastic fittings to deal with water in mines and so forth).

Because employees are used to the comfort of traditional markets, many do not feel confident having to deal with new people in new markets, eg engineers and mine operators as opposed to farmers and hardware store owners. Many sales staff see themselves as order takers rather than business relationship builders.

The primary task was to provide sales training to Philmac representatives scattered around Australia. The company made it quite clear that although the program was to be flexible, they wanted good management of student progress and incentives for people to complete the program in a reasonable time.

Philmac also insisted that the key indicator of success was to be observable changes in on-the-job performance based on the competencies developed by the company.

Communication skills were critical to this course. They were a central component of the competencies, and students needed good communication skills in order to collaborate with co-workers in the study program and make effective use of support from their line managers.

One of the unexpected outcomes of developing stronger communication links between students and their managers (who also acted as study mentors) was a greater awareness on the part of management of how important proactive communication was for achieving the company’s goals. By discovering the barriers to effective learning support, they were also able to identify weaknesses in the day-to-day management of some regions.

IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

There is no doubt that workers need to be skilled in technology, both to get jobs in the first place and to do those jobs effectively and competitively once they are employed. New technologies are forcing changes in the shape and culture of the workplace and in work itself. This effects the education industry equally as much as any other industry.

New skills and training are essential for educators – for those developing curriculum in conjunction with industry and for those ‘delivering’ education either within institutions or in the workplace.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS

As managers we need to be open to the opportunities that can support us in the process of change. In respect to New Learning Technologies these could include:

• forming partnerships with others, within or outside the organisation, who can provide complementary skills during the planning, development or delivery processes
• franchising products or platforms from other organisations to achieve our goals in training delivery
• sharing resources with other organisations and focussing on particular niche markets through collaborative arrangements
• tendering for projects to obtain resources and funds to further the developments within our organisations
• formulating policy that will enable capital expenditure to be redirected for technological requirements.

NEW ROLES FOR MANAGERS

In order to take advantage of the opportunities available and to manage the process of change managers need to take on new roles which require the development of new areas of competence. The following skills that managers need to possess in regard to matters of flexible delivery include:

• Possess a flexible orientation

Are our productivity and performance measures able to adequately record outcomes from flexible delivery that utilises New Learning Technologies and therefore encourage the goals of the changing process?

• Create flexible administration and organisational systems

Can our clients create customised training packages from the curriculum that we offer to suit the training needs? Is this flexibility available to both Award course students and enterprise and industry clients?

• Provide leadership and planning in flexible delivery and flexible learning

Have we lead by example with our own use of communications technology, with our own involvement in professional development? Does the organisations’s vision of change impact regularly on the agenda of our meetings as a focus for the discussions and decisions that are made?

• Implement work-based learning models of staff development

People are the most important asset that our systems have. We need to ask ourselves is professional development linked to our business plans, and to our objectives, is it work-based to achieve the greatest benefit for ourselves and our staff, and is it valued throughout the organisation?

• Harness and direct resources for flexible delivery and flexible learning

Have we adequately explored models of resource allocation to enable change for New Learning Technologies to be supported and planned?

• Generic skills

And what of the other general skills and competencies that we as managers need in order to effectively lead our organisations in the current training climate?

• Business plans that explore the potential cost/benefit of our delivery, of our projects and policy, and that enables us to project our budget planning into the future ….do we have the skills and software capabilities to do these?

• Marketing to clients is a key role for managers; not only marketing our service at a time of increasing competition and decreasing resources, but marketing the new approaches that change such as New Learning Technologies will bring to the ways in which we do our business…….are we expert at marketing so that we can gain the competitive edge for our organisations?

• The policies of flexible delivery support the clients in their needs for customised training. Our ongoing evaluation and research into client experiences with change and with New Learning Technologies inform us about our services and how to improve them. Are we as managers able to learn from our own clients in order to identify their needs, to sell them a service in line with our capabilities and strengths, to utilise our staff expertise whilst addressing client expectations?

• The business environment

An effective training strategy for the introduction of converging technologies such as the Internet and multimedia requires us as managers to re-orientate our focus. We need the competence to meet the needs of our clients, our staff and the challenges of the organisation. We can no longer just manage training organisations; the VET organisations of the future must be learning organisations and we need to recognise and respond to the new management challenges.

We must be able to respond rapidly to the changing needs of employers to tackle skill shortages and of individuals wishing to develop new skills. This requires a close relationship between training providers and the world of work.

WHY SHOULD WE BECOME A LEARNING ORGANISATION?

The business environment in which most companies operate, is becoming more competitive, and increasingly changeable. For companies to thrive they must meet this double challenge – to find ways of making their businesses more competitive, and to adapt to rapid changes.

Staff are often the largest item in the cost base of an organisation, and good staff are as essential to the production of any product or service as machinery or premises. It makes commercial sense to tray and achieve the maximum return on this investment in human resources.

Organisations can gain competitive advantage by getting the most out of their human resources. By encouraging staff to learn they can make their workforce better equipped to cope with change.

Organisations who have adopted the idea of the Learning Organisation have found that employee performance improves in:

• Staff Motivation and Confidence
• Improved Communication
• Product/Service Innovation and Employee
• Creativity
• Coping with change
• Improved customer service
• Increased competitiveness

All these improvements have a positive effect on business performance, and can also help us to achieve the Investors in People standard.

CONCLUSION

Open corporate and industrial training requires both the industry and the training provider to be ‘smart’ in the way they develop partnerships to achieve outcomes that are beneficial to both.

The case studies I have outlined illustrate the two sides of the coin:

• the benefits to the training organisation through a close relationship with industry
• the benefits to industry of tailored, just-in-time training.

As providers of education and training we must position ourselves as preferred industry trainers. There is great interest from corporations to establish training partnerships with technical and vocational education providers in order to reduce costs and improve effectiveness.