Vocational Education and Training in Schools in the Senior School Reform

Purpose
Modifications to the senior school reform over the past 18 months have resulted in the need to rethink how vocational education and training (VET) in schools is recognised and delivered as part of students’ school programs.  This paper identifies and discusses these VET in schools initiatives.

Rationale
With the ongoing skills shortage in Western Australia, VET programs are more relevant than ever. It is essential that students can begin their training while still at school.  Vocational education and training programs must enable students to gain employment skills, experiences and qualifications as an integral part of their Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE).

The need for VET programs is now more critical as the State Government has increased the school leaving age to 17 from 2009.  Leaving school without a job and/or further training prospects will no longer be an option for young people before the end of the school year in which they turn 17.

Many young people aged 15-18 have a desire to pursue further training and/or employment.  Schools play a key role in helping facilitate this transition from school to work to ensure these young people have an education and training pathway that allows them to build their knowledge, skills and confidence in employment.  It is important that students’ post school options are kept open and that the WACE requirements enable this. 

Vocational education and training must be able to be completed as an integral and equal part of a student’s school program in that it gains full recognition towards the WACE. It should be noted that all VET needs to be delivered and assessed in accordance with the VET sectors Quality Assurance (AQTF) requirements, which may include delivery and assessment by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO – eg a TAFE college), wholly in the workplace, or by a partnership arrangement with an employer, RTO and the school.  This partnership arrangement is generally being managed via an auspiced arrangement between the school and the RTO.

Background
Prior to mid-2006, units of competency were to be integrated into Curriculum Council courses and delivered in one of two modes, or as VET stand alone.

•  ‘VET as’ where course units had a collection of units of competency identified that constituted the majority of the course content.  Typically the ‘VET as’ versions of courses allowed delivery of a whole qualification together and the achievement of the course units.
• ‘VET in’ where one or more unit of competency would be identified within a course unit and it would be taught as part of that unit.
• ‘stand-alone VET’ where partial or full qualifications could be delivered independent of course studies and assessment.

In June 2006 Council changed the WACE requirements to allow 10 of the required 20 units to be ‘stand alone’ training thus enabling a student to complete a maximum of 10 Council endorsed units as stand-alone VET, providing greater choice and flexibility with VET achievements counting towards the students WACE.

Proposed VET in the WACE (from 2009)

It is proposed that arrangements to teach and recognise full and partial vocational education and training qualifications through school programs be adjusted to the following:

• VET industry specific course (as a Council developed course) [to replace ‘VET as’]
• VET integrated or [‘VET in’] (as integrated in council developed courses), or
• VET stand-alone program as endorsed programs [to replace ‘VET stand-alone’].

This will allow VET industry specific courses to be considered as Council developed courses. A student who completes a VET industry specific course and is assessed as competent on all required competencies for the unit will be credited with a ‘C’ grade that will be recorded alongside other Council developed course results such as English or mathematics. Council will explore ways of providing a mechanism to allow higher grades of ‘B’ or ‘A’ to be awarded for students who demonstrate higher levels of achievement than that required to obtain competency, and thus a ‘C’ grade.

In teaching and recognising training, schools should note that a fundamental principle of training is that units of competency are best demonstrated in a workplace or simulated workplace context at the ‘standard’ required by industry, both in terms of the level of skills and understandings required and the consistency of demonstration. Therefore, capacity to include workplace (or simulated workplace) learning is highly desirable and provides context to, and assists in reinforcing learning. The proposed Workplace Learning course may be undertaken in conjunction with a VET Industry Specific course if it is not being done in a workplace environment such as through a traineeship.

As well as enabling training to be recognised as a Council developed course where students obtain a grade of ‘C’, it provides greater flexibility in the way training can be delivered. Delivery and assessment can occur via several modes, including auspiced arrangements with an RTO; whole of delivery and assessment via an RTO, or a mixture of both. This will aid the development of school-based traineeships (SBT), school-based apprenticeships (SBA), school apprenticeship links (SAL) and other work-based training programs that facilitate students completing a full qualification while at the same time providing opportunities for them to meet their WACE requirements.

VET industry specific course
A VET industry specific course is based on a training package qualification, has Council developed course status and an optional exam.

To meet VET industry course requirements and achieve course units towards a WACE, students must follow the course structure, attain required units of competency and fulfil work placement requirements as appropriate. Student achievement in a VET industry specific course will be recorded on the statement of results by recognising each unit of competency attained, and if all required units of competency are achieved, then a grade of ‘C’ will be awarded for the unit.

It is proposed that the following VET industry specific courses be developed for 2009 ensuring the most current* Training Packages used for course development. 

A draft Construction Industry Specific course has been developed to illustrate how these courses may be structured. It is important to note that the assessment is based solely on the competency-based training requirements of each national training package.

Each VET industry specific course will have an optional exam based on underpinning knowledge and skills of core competencies from the selected training package qualification. The written examination is independent of the competency-based assessment undertaken during the course and has no relevance to a student’s eligibility to receive training package qualifications. If students sit the exam, the exam result is also recorded as the WACE course score as there is no school assessment score. Once the courses have been finalised, negotiations will take place with the universities, through TISC, about whether these exam results can contribute to the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER).

Students are strongly encouraged to participate in additional workplace learning of at least 55 hours over two units of a VET course. A 55 hour workplace learning component is awarded one unit equivalent. It should be noted that where it is offered and the student does not complete the associated workplace learning component it may be determined that the student has not made a genuine attempt to complete course requirements and the student may be awarded ‘requirements not met’ (RNM) status for the course.

The Curriculum Council works closely with schools wishing to offer full qualifications in any of these areas to determine whether they would like to have this as a VET industry specific course or teach it as stand alone VET.

VET integrated mode
VET integrated within a course involves students undertaking one or more VET units of competency concurrently with a course unit. VET units of competency that align closely with the syllabus for course units are identified. When suggesting units of competency relevant to each course unit, consideration was given to providing meaningful pathways for further education, training or employment.

The following courses have some suggested units of competency for integration.

Students engaging in VET integrated within a course and who fulfil the assessment requirements of stage 2 or stage 3 courses in their final year must sit the relevant examination to be eligible to achieve the WACE. The exam is based on the course syllabus only, units of competency are not considered.

VET stand-alone programs
A VET stand-alone program is available as a mode of delivery to attain a full or partial qualification. Delivery and assessment occurs independently from any course syllabus delivery. The units of competency are listed on the student’s statement of results, counting towards their endorsed program results but do not contribute as one of the required 10 Council developed units. Once the process to develop VET Industry specific courses is established, schools may choose to work with the Curriculum Council to gain recognition for qualifications in a particular industry area (e.g. Certificate 2 in Aquaculture) as a Council developed course.

Workplace Learning
Since mid-2006, schools have requested the reinstating of a course as a council developed course that is very similar to the existing Structured Workplace Learning. A new course, Workplace Learning, is being developed and will be ready for implementation in 2009.

Additional notes:
The Curriculum Council recognises the achievement of all units of competency, qualifications and accredited courses listed on the National Training Information (NTIS) website. These are reported on the student’s statement of results as a category of Council endorsed programs.

The VETinfoNet website has information relating to these VET programs and other VET initiatives http://www.vetinfonet.det.wa.edu.au.