The Effect of VET on the Changing Nature of Employment - Report Example

Running Head: The effect of VET on the changing nature of employment Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: Institution: Date Submitted: The effect of VET on the changing nature of employment Introduction Over the past ten years, there have been numerous reforms in VET that have had a considerable impact on the work of VET practitioners. VET practitioners now operate in markets that are more competitive, and are faced with heightened demand for better quality and programs that are relevant to their numerous clients. Comprehending and keeping up with the changes and operating in flexible and new ways have been the key challenges for the VET practitioners. The emergence of new economic times together with new policies on vocationalism has changed VET. As a result, a majority of the traditional VET practices and policies have gone through radical transformations in terms of their purpose and organization. These transformations are often viewed as a response to the changing environment of work that is as a result of the impact of globalization and new technologies. Considerable professional development has promoted new work practices. Nevertheless, this has not met all organizational or individual requirements. Present VET funding models, performance indicators, and industrial awards do not ban new approaches to work. However, they make work harder as they have not kept speed with the novel ways practitioners are working, especially in public VET. This paper discusses how changes such as multi-skilling, new occupations, jobs and tasks, work organization and the rapid changes which result from technological change have affected the work of VET practitioners. Changes in VET practitioners’ environment The changing nature of employment in Australia has been as a result of the increasing diversity of the client base. This is characterized by changes in employment, places of work, team structures, and work roles; change in expansion of options and products for training delivery; increasing demand, globalization, and competition in the training market. (McDonald et al, 2004) The collective forces of liberalization of markets, technological change, and globalization are creating economic environments that are more competitive and altering nature of work and how work is organized. These forces are also creating new job opportunities and increasing the vulnerability of employees. These changes have created an environment whereby the quality of labor force has become a chief determinant in the adaptability and competitiveness of the economy, workers, and enterprises. In addition, this environment poses a challenge to the systems used in VET to attain the continuously and rapidly changing demands of the labor market. VET systems in Australia, now faces a number of challenges. Firstly, there is a need to create a system of incessant in service training so as to equip current employees with a new set of competencies and skills. This in-service training system should be able to respond rapidly and flexibly to the labor market needs. Secondly, VET systems should be able to provide the youth with a broad initial training and sound education that will give these young people a solid foundation for enduring training all through their working lives. Finally, the VET systems should be able to offer training to the disadvantaged and unemployed. Technological changes have primarily transformed VET practitioners’ orientation away from training and education towards service and business, and significantly shifted the roles of practitioners and managers in the process. How workers feel, think, and perform their work has also been transformed as they are now required to work in ways that are more flexible and integrated, and carry out tasks which were not previously connected to their roles. These changes have caused considerable challenges for practitioners and managers, with regards to the vocational learning’s nature, and the ways vocational learning is delivered (Smith & Falk, 2003). The ever-changing construction and scope of the work of VET practitioners have resulted in significant debate in relation to their workers’ professional nature. In total, practitioners are positive about the technological changes in their work. Globalization and its affect on the VET practitioners. The world is becoming increasingly uncertain and complex, whereby our actions and those of others are inextricably connected. In Australia, people need to be aware of the global impact of local decisions with regards to matters of social cohesion, poverty sustainable development, and climate change. VET practitioners should consider all these issues in the delivery of skills and education, if they are to contribute positively to the education of learners The unprecedented development of new technologies, increasing multicultural knowledge, increased mobility of labor, and the rapid expansion of export markets, means that companies need employees who can work effectively in international markets. Therefore, VET practitioners have the role of imparting global skills and learning by updating their industry-specific knowledge and technical skills. The role of different stakeholder VET managers and leaders The modern environment in which VET practitioners work has had a considerable influence on those who manage and lead them. The dynamic and changing environment require VET managers to adopt a transformational way of leading, so as to help their staff to work in different and new ways in response to the requirements of change. Managers and leaders also need to understand the importance of establishing proper relationships with people as a key to enhancing the quality of VET services. In VET, leadership should be considered as a process that is continuous that is no concentrated on the performance of a manager. Instead, management should be seen as a function that is becoming dispersed throughout VET organizations. There are numerous influences on VET practitioners and their influence on the work of VET managers. A changing and dynamic environment has an impact on the roles of managers because; they have to concentrate their attention on observing external environment for opportunities and changes. Managers have to devolve some management responsibilities that are associated with service delivery to teams and individuals who are closer to the point of delivery. Currently, there are an increasing number of VET workers who are responsible for issues on management, especially in relation to financial and workforce matters (Callan, 2001). The rise of online learning and e-business has also had a considerable influence on managers. Managers are confronted with the challenge of adopting business models, which will help them to gain from the numerous opportunities that come with e-business to achieve higher efficiencies, and improve the focus on customers in VET firms. Nevertheless, there are considerable risks that are linked with e-business and managers need to devise ways of managing them in a risk management framework that is comprehensive (Mitchell & Associates, 2003). The pace of change has an influence on the role of managers because management of change needs concentration on the changing habits, values, and norms of staff, as opposed to a top-down approach to change. Managers need to adopt a strategic management process so as to respond to VET market needs. Public sector firms’ managers need to incorporate the private sector processes and practices into public sector firms operations, and balance the often contradictory and competing needs of both public and private sector values linked to VET. The managers in private organizations are more concerned business issues, as opposed to educational matters. This will result in diverse perspectives with employers and students being viewed as clients (Mulcahy, 2003). The other key influence is the policy environment that is dynamic and focuses more on flexible compliance and frameworks. Managers will be required to facilitate the development of responses to promote the connections with other organizations and respond to requirements of increased flexibility. In addition, compliance measures have heightened managers’ administrative duties and transformed relationships with staff. The managers in the VET sector can be categorized into two distinct groups: Leaders This group consists of senior executives to who all managers report. This group is made up of senior managers, managing directors, directors, chief executive officer. These leaders are required to maintain specific, high-level responsibility, and are strategic and outward-focused in nature. The personal style and philosophy of leaders have a determining impact on an organization’s culture. The leaders are supported by staff and frontline managers responsible for marketing, financial management, and institutional planning. Frontline managers Frontline managers are responsible for coordinating other people’s work, as opposed to supervising. Their role is more dispersed and diverse in nature and expressly entails service delivery or operational end of an organization. Trainers and teachers Trainers and teachers in VET institutions have undergone significant changes in their work. These changes have influenced the ways in which they comprehend their connection with other components of the VET sector and their professional identities. Changes have resulted in the diversification and expansion of work places and roles. Changes have also resulted in increased tensions and dilemmas, in their work, and have changed the balance that exists between work roles. VET trainers and teachers are required to work in a variety of contexts such as online, school, institute workplaces. Trainers and teachers are also required to work in collaboration and develop relationships with a number of specialist service providers, to increase skills in work placement and career advice, and take greater responsibility for administrative tasks such as budget management. This form of role expansion has taken place together with transformations in the character of the student profile, and changes in program requirements. These changes have resulted, in a rise in work linked with support and planning, workload and staff management, and recruitment (Blakeley et al., 2001). The roles of VET practitioner have not only expanded, but they have also diversified. Learning practices and quality teaching stress on the development of independent and self-paced learners. A majority of practitioners facilitate learning as opposed to using the face to face learning that is traditional. They have become ‘learning managers’ who need effective communication skills, up to date and relevant content knowledge and the skills and knowledge to assess and deliver a wide variety of contexts. In addition, VET practitioners are required to spend more time working in industry, especially observing the progress of learners in their places of work. Others have become consultants with management and marketing skills, and also skills in maintaining, managing, and developing relationship with enterprises and clients. Some other practitioners act as learning brokers to providers, enterprises, and learners. This means that VET practitioners are currently working with a range of people that is broader than before, as more client-centered and flexible programs need a whole-of- organization approach that is more integrated. Diversification and expansion of work responsibilities have resulted in changes, in VET practitioners’ role balance. Trainers and teachers are of the idea that there has been a change in focus from the learning process to the assessment process. The validity of demonstrable outcomes and assessment has been strongly emphasized. Accountability, quality assurance, record keeping, and assessment requirements are now lasting longer. Moreover, practitioners are now more focused on meeting enterprise and industry needs at the expense of developing a wider variety of individual learners’ skills. Other practitioners are of the view that, whereas this strategy might benefit enterprises and industries in the short term, it might not support an approach that is more sustained. Furthermore, the move towards enhanced efficiency requires staff to become multi-skilled. This will result in both negative and positive effects. The positive effect is that it results in more varied and interesting work, and the chance to advance a career. The negative effect is that they will have to take on a broader variety of administrative functions, that they might not be sufficiently trained. Moreover, the compliance and administrative systems they utilize might be over-regulated or over-designed (Johnston & Chappell, 2003). For VET practitioners, there is clear evidence of change fatigue, decrease in job satisfaction, and increase in workload, especially for public practitioners. In addition, there is concern that present industrial measures do not correctly indicate changes in diversity and balance of work roles. As a result of changing responsibilities and work roles, the employees in public VET practitioners have concerns over their duties. These practitioners are of the view that a significant tension exists between their core activities of training and teaching and demands to participate in administrative and revenue-raising functions. The other form of tension is trying to juggle meeting customer needs and flexibility of training packages, consistency of outcomes and compliance with standards such as the Australian quality training framework requirements. The ever-changing diversity and composition of the population of students, together with the influence of new methodologies for teaching, has considerably changed relationships with students. Students now view themselves as clients and consumers. Furthermore, other practitioners are of the view that the body of students has become diverse, such that, it is now difficult to keep them motivated and attending to their needs. Whereas some practitioners report a heightened concentration on close working relationships and teamwork, others report a rise in isolation, with lesser opportunities to meet with colleagues who are like minded due to the demands of workload and time. There is a profound dependency on the good will of numerous administrative staff and teachers who are dedicated to the attainment of educational outcomes of a higher quality. As a result of the move towards more flexible approaches to delivery, many practitioners are forced to work hard for long hours on jobs that are not adequately remunerated or recognized under industrial agreements. This has led to the view that the working conditions are being eroded, with related decline in job satisfaction and morale. Staff is at risk of exhaustion, even though a majority remains excited about job enrichment possibilities and educational benefits of the novel approaches (Kronemann, 2001). For VET practitioners in the public sector, the requirement to adopt a business focus and the introduction of activities that are commercially focused requires practitioners to work within structures that are considered contradictory. They need to juggle their community and social responsibility for enhancing the lot of the communities and individuals against the requirement to attain commercial goals. Nevertheless, across private and public VET organizations, the majority of trainers and teachers value the connection that they share with their learners. In reality, what is happening is that both across and within institutions, the work of VET practitioners is being comprehended in numerous, diverse ways; this emerges from the clash of cultures. This has an impact on the means with which VET trainers and teachers comprehend their roles and those of other practitioners. Non-teaching staff Within practitioners, numerous non teaching staffs are slowly becoming more engaged in the processes of delivery. Such staff may include those with experience in fields such as information technology who are needed to work in collaboration with trainers, and teachers to build capacity in fields such as online learning and e-business. Non-teaching staff may also include individuals who give information and advice to trainees and students, individuals who manage learning support centers, individuals who develop and design learning resources, curriculum, and learning systems, and professional development and human resource staff. Therefore, technological changes have resulted in a considerable impact on the roles of non-teaching staff (Gronold et al., 2003). Conclusion Over the past decades, the nature and scope of implementation of VET reforms have needed a lot more of practitioners and managers. The process of change has been unrelenting, fast-paced, and multifaceted. Some elements of the means through which VET practitioners work have experienced radical change, especially key relationships with training organizations, students, colleagues, and industry and work responsibilities. Many workers are positive about changes; however, a considerable proportion, particularly those who work for public practitioners are not. There are significant differences between private and public providers in relation to the effect of changing policy on the way managers and practitioners operate. The implementation strategies and policy frameworks should take into account the diverse context in which VET works. The complexity and size of the VET sector requires a reorganization of the ‘one size fits all’ strategy that is currently being used in implementing policies. Moreover, assuming the work done by practitioners in conceptualizing training reforms, in diverse settings may mean they might never get the recognition that they deserve. Finally, it may be wise to rethink with regards to VET practitioners and their role in the process of making policies. This caliber of people may be seen as either active agents of change or passive recipients of change. Furthermore, there is a need for practitioners to focus on crucial changes that are needed in human resource approaches and practices to measuring productivity and funding, especially for public providers. References Blakeley, J., Pearce, D., Smith, D., Hill, D., Simons, M., Snewin, D. & Harris, R. (2001). The changing role of staff development or teachers and trainers in vocational education and training. Adelaide: National center for vocational education research. Callan, V. (2001). What are the essential capabilities for those who manage training organizations? Adelaide: National center for vocational education research. Gronold, J., Pearce, R., Kerkham, L., Simons, M. & Stehlik, T. (2003). Getting connected; professional development of contract and casual staff providing flexible learning. Adelaide: National center for vocational education research. Johnston, R. & Chappell, C. (2003). Changing work; changing roles for vocational education and training teachers and trainers. Adelaide: National center for vocational education research. Kronemann, M. (2001). TAFE teachers; facing the challenge. Melbourne: Australian education union. McDonald, R., Fitzgerald, I., Eccles, C & Dickie, M. (2004). Enhancing the capability of VET professional project; Final report. Brisbane: ANTA. Mulcahy, D. (2003). Leadership and management in vocational education and training; staying focused on strategy. Adelaide: National center for vocational education research. Mitchell, J & Associates. (2003). E-business and online learning; connections and opportunities for vocational and education training. Adelaide: National center for vocational education research. Smith, T., & Falk, I. (2003). Leadership in vocational education and training; leadership by design not default. Adelaide: National center for vocational education research. Read More