Demand for apprenticeships and traineeships: What are the implications for the future?
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Bush, Tony
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
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- Description: While the Australian apprenticeship and traineeship system is currently strong, the overall strength belies some areas of weakness. One of these areas is the uneven nature of demand from applicants for positions as apprentices and trainees, which means that some industries, occupations and employers struggle to find enough applicants while others are over-subscribed. While apprenticships or traineeships in some occupations and/or companies offering positions within those occupations find it difficult to attract applicants of a suitable calibre. This paper reports on a research project undertaken during 2010, with 21 employers who employed apprentices and trainees. The different recruitment strategies and outcomes of the companies are described and the possible for companies' apparent success or failure to attract suitable applicants are discussed. Some suggestions for future policy and practice at company, regional and national level are offered.
Do the qualifications of vocational teachers make a difference to their teaching?
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Tuck, Jacqueline
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in Post-Compulsory Education Vol. 28, no. 1 (2023), p. 1-25
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- Description: A survey of over 500 teachers and trainers in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector was carried out to examine whether their teaching practices and approaches varied with their qualification levels. The survey, carried out with teachers and trainers from different types of training providers–public and private–formed a major part of a larger research project on the topic. The project was carried out because of an overall decline in the qualification levels of the VET teaching workforce over a 20-year period, and national debate on the appropriate qualification level. Analysis of the survey results showed that those with pedagogical qualifications above the regulatory minimum were more confident overall, and were more able to deal with the demands of different teaching contexts and of diverse learner groups. Teachers with higher level qualifications also reported, in qualitative questions, specific gains from their qualifications. They were also more likely to undertake professional development, challenging an often-cited view that professional development activities can compensate for lower qualification levels. The findings have implications for policy development in Australia and elsewhere. © 2023 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education.
Does the availability of vocational qualifications through work assist social inclusion?
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Smith, Andy
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Education and Training Vol. 53, no. 7 (2011), p. 587-602
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- Description: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss whether the availability of qualifications through work-based traineeships in Australia assists social inclusion. Design/methodology/approach: Industry case studies, of the finance and cleaning industries, were undertaken as part of a national research project on quality in traineeships. The two industry case studies were analysed to provide data on social inclusion aspects. A general discussion on the "pros" and "cons" of gaining qualifications through work, from a social inclusion point of view, is included. Findings: The industry case studies show many advantages of work-based qualifications for people who have had disadvantaged economic and social backgrounds. The study presents a model showing how work-based qualifications help to meet the twin social inclusion goals of employment and education. However in economic hard times, the need to have a job may rule out some people. Also, some doubts about quality in work-based delivery may mean that qualifications gained through work may be of lower value than those gained at least partly through formal study. Research limitations/implications: The models put forward are tentative, based on the findings in the research study that has been described and the authors' earlier research. Further research is necessary to establish the social inclusion benefits of this means of gaining qualifications. In particular longitudinal research with disadvantaged people who have gained qualifications through this route is needed to evaluate whether their completion of qualifications through employment has assisted their broader economic and social engagement, and in what ways. In addition, research is needed to compare the quality and utility of qualifications gained through work and those through education providers as a poor-quality qualification may be of limited long-term use to an individual. Practical implications: Work-based qualifications are shown to be a useful investment of public resources. The research also analyses some shortcomings of this method of gaining qualifications so that they can be addressed by employers and training providers. Social implications: The research establishes the social inclusion utility of work-based qualifications, providing insights useful for education systems and social welfare organisations. Originality/value: This is one of very few scholarly studies of the large-scale use of work-based qualifications. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Employability Skills
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: International Encyclopedia of Education Chapter Vocational education and training - Teaching and learning p. 368-375
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Employer training in Australia : Current practices and concerns
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Callan, Victor , Tuck, Jacquiline , Smith, Andy
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Training and Development Vol. 23, no. 2 (2019), p. 169-183
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- Description: This paper presents and analyses results from a research project on current trends in employer training in Australia. While the formal vocational education and training (VET) system is well-researched, the everyday training that happens in workplaces is relatively under-researched in Australia. Using some of the results of an employer survey undertaken in 2015, the paper describes and analyses employer-based training across a range of industry areas. The survey included groups of questions on a range of matters, including the reasons why employers train, and how these relate to employers' perceptions of their operating environment, and the structures they have in place to manage and organize training. Detailed data are provided about three specific forms of training: in-house training and learning; the use that employers make of external providers of training; and employers' use of nationally recognised training - training from the VET system. Finally the paper reports what managers said about the barriers to providing more training. The paper analyses the findings in relation to the literature and also identified changes over time in training practices in Australian companies. Implications for training policy and practice, as well as for future research, are identified.
Employers' management of part-time student labour
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Young people and work p. 204-221
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- Description: 2003009325
Employers’ management of part-time student labour
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Patton, Wendy
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Young People and Work Chapter 12 p. 203-222
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Enterprise registered training organisations : research project funded by Australian Research Council and ERTOA : final report : executive summary
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Smith, Andy , Walker, Arlene
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Technical report , Report
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- Description: This is an overview of a national research project which set out to evaluate the benefits, challenges and outcomes for all stakeholders of the delivery of vocational education and training (VET) qualifications by Enterprise RTOs (ERTOs). The project had three main research questions: • What are the benefits and challenges for companies associated with training through their own ERTO? • What are the benefits and challenges for workers associated with ERTOs? • What is the equivalence of workplace-delivered qualifications among companies and with qualifications delivered in educational institutions? The project aimed to be of benefit at several levels as described below: • For workers, the research set out to examine whether the availability of qualifications through ERTOs offers the chance of a high-quality qualification and improved career prospects and life chances. • For companies, the research hoped to provide firm evidence about the outcomes for their workers and quality features of their training compared with other companies and with institutional-based qualifications. • For industries and for Australia, the research set out to build an evidence base about the efficacy of this type of training, to assist in the shaping of government policy.
Enterprise RTOs in Australia: An overview from research data
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Smith, Andy , Walker, Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: AVETRA, Sydney, 8th-10th April, 2015
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- Description: This paper reports on overview data from a national research project funded through the Australian Research Council Linkage program. The research question for the project as a whole was 'How do qualifications delivered by enterprises contribute to improved skill levels and other benefits for companies, workers and the nation?' The research was carried out with the support of the Enterprise RTO Association. Enterprise registered training organisations (RTOs) are companies that are accredited to deliver qualifications to their own workers. These 250 RTOs have to meet the same registration and quality standards as institutional training providers. The project as a whole included qualitative and quantitative components. It included longitudinal case studies in eight enterprise RTOs. This paper reports on part of the quantitative research. It presents findings and preliminary analysis of two surveys of enterprise RTOs (2012 and 2014), and a 2013 learner survey undertaken in the case study RTOs. The enterprise RTO surveys included a range of questions about the enterprise itself, and about the RTO's qualifications, learners, and training methods. The learner survey asked respondents about their views about training and outcomes. The response rates for the surveys were 35.7 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, with a representative distribution across industry areas. The paper provides a snapshot of the operations of enterprise RTOs and the views of those gaining qualifications in this context. Published abstract.
Enterprises' commitment to nationally recognised training for existing workers
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Pickersgill, Richard , Smith, Andy , Rushbrook, Peter
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text: false
- Description: This report aims to provide a clearer understanding of how and why enterprises use nationally recognised type of training. It finds that an enterprise's decision to engage in recognised training is not made lightly and decisions are made afresh each time a new training need arises. Successfully embedding training in enterprises involves a three-phase process - engagement, extension and integration. In most cases, it is dependent on: positive initial engagement; extension of training through a 'VET evangelist' who 'sells' the benefits of recognised training and persuades management; and, integration of competency standards associated with recognised training into many human resource processes. The availability of funding strongly influences whether enterprises use recognised training. However, one of the key reasons why more enterprises have not taken up this training is lack of awareness.
- Description: 2003006167
Environmental sustainability practices : how adults learn
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: SCUTREA (Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults) Adult Education 100: Reflections & Reconstructions, University of Nottingham, U.K., 2-4 July 2019 p. 97-106
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- Description: This paper reports on a small research project which investigated how adults in Australia learn about, and adapt to, developments in environmental sustainability practices. The project was based on two major changes in Australia in 2018: the cessation of free ‘singleuse’ plastic bags in many shops, particularly the major supermarket changes; and a gathering momentum towards more rigorous recycling practices. These changes, particularly the first, have affected the daily lives of most Australians. The research,consisting of a focus group, an expert interview and an on-line survey was undertaken with staff working for a regional university based at several campuses across the State of Victoria. This paper reports on preliminary results from the project, including analysis of the initial set of results from the survey. The results so far show that people learn from a range of sources, but some are much more common than others. Among media sources, two-thirds of the survey respondents learned from television, and around 40% from social media and the internet more generally; and among other sources, friends and family were information sources for two-thirds of people, while community information and public notices in shops or on litter bins were used by around half of the respondents. Some respondents were passionately engaged with the topic. The paper presents the responses to a number of key questions in the survey and analyses by age, and gender; and makes some suggestions about the effectiveness of learning sources on sustainability practices. The paper addresses the conference themes of formal and informal learning; adult political education; and community learning and engagement.
Expanding or restricting access to tertiary education? A tale of two sectors and two countries
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in Post-Compulsory Education Vol. 27, no. 3 (2022), p. 500-523
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- Description: This paper examines responses to the trend for increasing participation in tertiary education, linking developments in higher education with those in apprenticeship systems, in Australia and the United Kingdom. In both sectors, expansion proceeded for several decades, but was robustly criticised in both countries. The expansion of access to these two forms of tertiary education, therefore, was contested and potentially precarious. The paper finds, through analysis of official data, that participation in higher education and in apprenticeship was actually almost static, or fell, in both countries in the 2010s. Yet criticism of expansion continued in media commentary during this decade. The paper both explains and takes issue with the arguments against expansion, which have been influential in both sectors. It discusses some ways forward to understand the phenomenon better, and also the need to address the problems caused by the restriction of opportunities. Comparative analysis between the two sectors has not previously been undertaken. It is argued in the paper that such analysis enriches the theoretical lenses through which expansion of access may be viewed, and that it may suggest avenues for future research, and perhaps, for advocacy. © 2022 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education.
From training reform to training packages
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Keating, Jack
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text: false
- Description: 2003006170
Getting down and dirty down under: Battling over trainer qualifications in Australia
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Sixth International Conference on HRD Research and Practice across Europe: HRD addressing the value Leeds, United Kingdom 25th May 2005 Vol. 1, p. 1-15
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Getting down and dirty down under: Battling over trainer qualifications in Australia
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Sixth International Conference on HRD Research and Practice across Europe: HRD addressing the value Vol. 1, p. 1-15
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Getting in through the front door : The first hurdle of researching in companies
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Training Research Vol. 10, no. 3 (2012), p. 153-163
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- Description: This paper examines what is arguably the most important issue in qualitative research - access to willing participants - specifically in the context of companies. This is of considerable importance in vocational education and training (VET) as workplaces are the site of much VET activity. While research textbooks discuss many issues in research, few address this topic explicitly or in depth. From those textbooks aimed at undergraduate students (e.g., Polonksy and Waller, 2005) to the more scholarly books such as the 'Sage Handbook of Organisational Research Methods' (Buchanan & Bryman, eds., 2009) there is scarcely a mention of the problem of gaining access to organisations. Yet access is the major hurdle for most researchers, particularly when researching in companies. Attempting to gain access is a lengthy and sometimes dispiriting activity with outcomes that are often satisficing rather than optimal. The paper, based on Australian researchers' experiences, reports on the difficulties of gaining access to suitable sites, and the ways in which access were gained, and reflects on the outcomes of the access process. This is undertaken partly through the author's self-reflection on her own experiences in carrying out three VET research projects during 2010, requiring access in total to 13 case study sites and 20 phone interview participants, and partly through email interviews with other VET researchers who have researched within companies during three recent years. © eContent Management Pty Ltd.
- Description: 2003010577
Globalising the apprenticeship concept: How far can apprenticeship systems be compared across countries and what can be gained?
- Authors: Kemmis, Ros Brennan , Smith, Erica
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
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Good practice in apprenticeship systems: Evidence from an international study
- Authors: Kemmis, Ros Brennan , Smith, Erica
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Proceedings of the 2nd UPI International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education and Training
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- Description: Apprenticeships can be seen as the ultimate in co-operation between TVET providers and industry as they are based on a combination of work and study. Ideally they should provide appropriate skills for companies and also all-round occupational and generic skills. However there are many different actual and potential models of apprenticeship.This paper uses part of the work undertaken for a project funded by the International Labor Organization and the World Bank to compare and contrast apprenticeship systems in 11 countries, for the purpose of drawing out features of good practice. The project was undertaken to provide suggestions for the process of reform of the Indian apprenticeship system [Planning Commission 2009]. Experiences of other countries, both in the developed and the developing world, indicate that apprenticeship systems cannot be transplanted among countries; however, key features of countries’ systems can be identified and sensitively developed in other countries. The paper describes a method for undertaking this task, and the findings. Eleven individual country case studies, based on reports and literature, were produced by a team of national experts, and subjected to a cross-case analysis. The use of national experts was judged to be more effective than having people write on other countries’ systems; the latter method has proved in many instances to result in inaccurate reports, susceptibility to the influence of limited numbers of stakeholders and a lack of sophistication in analysing trends. The country case studies took into account agreed international benchmarks for describing, analysing and evaluating apprenticeships, based on the framework described in the recently-released memorandum by INAP, the International Network on Innovative Apprenticeship [INAP Commission 2012] and the framework developed by one of the authors in the International Encyclopedia of Education [Smith 2010]. The countries were selected to cover a range of variables. A cross-case analysis was undertaken which drew together data from the countries using a thematic approach and simple data display techniques [Miles and Huberman 1994]. The analysis covered both systemic issues and 'the life cycle of the apprentice'. The data were then further reduced to develop an identification of the features of a model apprenticeship system, and proposed measures of success and associated challenges, derived from the data.
Group training organisations: Bellwethers or shepherds?
- Authors: Bush, Tony , Smith, Erica
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Evolution, Revolutions of Status Quo? VET in New Contexts
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Has Australia turned its back on international students?
- Authors: Smith, Andy , Smith, Erica
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Creating and Sustaining International Connections: 41st annual conference of SCUTREA, the Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults Lancaster University 5th-7th July, 2011 p. 138-146
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