 Good Practice
Workplace Delivery Showcase
On Wednesday 22 November, TAFE Managers and staff were treated to a showcase on Workplace Delivery. Eight presenters from within TAFE explained their projects and each had a particular theme to address.
The themes were:
• The benefits of working in industry;
• Collaboration with industry clients;
• Making RPL work for industry;
• Contextualisation in response to industry needs;
• The importance of documentation processes;
• Challenges faced working in industry;
• Effectively evaluating industry work; and
• Working at the Coalface
A short synopsis of each presentation is given below.
|
1. Mary Holmes from Centre for VET Practice told us about her huge project with Australia Post.
Australia Post and Swinburne TAFE have developed a relationship to deliver qualifications from the Business and Transport and Distribution Training Packages. The presentation discussed what Australia Post expects from an RTO and examined the lessons learnt throughout this relationship to assist Swinburne further develop their workplace delivery capability. |
 |
2. Des Mahoney from the School of Business gave an innovative presentation about the Victorian Workcover Authority Project.
The Work Cover insurance industry is highly demanding and stress laden, with a large staff turnover. This project was developed in collaboration with the Victorian Workcover Authority to develop the management and communication skills of staff working in the insurance industry. These skills enable insurance agents to work more effectively, manage their staff and deal successfully with clients. The staff are currently undertaking the Certificate IV in Financial Services. |
 |
3. Jeanette Swain from the School of Arts, Hospitality and Sciences spoke about the challenging work she has done with Parks Victoria.
This project is a competency assessment process for Parks Victoria. It aligns the Parks Victoria enterprise bargaining agreement with AQTF levels for the purpose of staff development. It relies heavily on RPL processes, skill gap identification and assessment.
Qualifications offered include Certificate III in Government, Certificate IV in Conservation and Land Management, Certificate IV in Government & Certificate IV in Horticulture. |
 |
4. Margaret Fraser from the School of Social Sciences gave an engaging presentation on Australian Automotive Air P/L.
Workplace Skills Access provides training and resource development services to industry. They specialise in meeting the needs of workplaces whose workers have English language, literacy or numeracy issues, including computing and/or communication skills gaps. They are qualified and able to deliver a broad range of units across many training packages. Margaret had some great photos showing the environment in which she delivers and assesses. |
 |
5. Fiona Tunchon from Centre for Engagement in Vocational Learning spoke about AFL Sportsready and Buller Ski Lifts and the utmost importance of record keeping.
Centre for Engagement in Vocational Learning currently provides a flexible delivery/assessment mode to AFL Sportsready for a range of courses to approximately 75 trainees across Victoria. Buller Ski Lifts is a specific program designed for the industry that requires extreme organisation, professionally qualified staff with relevant snowfields experience. An added challenge is working with the unpredictability of the snow season. Fiona brought along samples for everyone of how she documents all her dealings with industry clients and trainees. These folders were highly sought after on the day as they contained a terrific documentation model. |
| |
6. Lorna Martin from Swinburne Industry Solutions discussed her varied work with Amcor Australasia
Amcor is a multinational company consisting of four divisions. These are Amcor Australasia; Amcor Asia; Amcor Flexible and Amcor PET packaging. SIS is involved in delivering the Certificate IV in Competitive Manufacturing to all divisions except Amcor Asia. This project is Australia wide and there are currently 354 people enrolled in the Certificate IV. The participants are either eligible for funding through traineeships or are full fee paying and they have 10 months in which to complete their qualification. They work in a variety of roles such as leading hands, production managers, team leaders & site managers. Groups of up to 30 are co-facilitated by external contractors and followed up by one on one coaching. The first three groups will be graduating on 22 December. |
 |
7. Helen Fraser from the School of Arts, Hospitality and Sciences spoke about the work she did with Pizza Hut whilst working for another RTO.
This project involved delivering training to Pizza Hut employees throughout Victoria. Helen's role was working with another RTO, Vitreous, delivering training to 140 trainees in the northern region. The trainees completed either Certificate II or III in Kitchen Operations. |
 |
8. Greg Rees from the School of Engineering gave an interesting presentation on Hawker de Havilland
Hawker de Havilland is the leading international supplier of aero structure assemblies to the aircraft industry. The School of Engineering recently completed a tender to deliver the Certificate III in Production Engineering to existing production workers at Hawker De Havilland. The company won a new overseas contract and had an urgent need to “up skill” their production workers.
During the afternoon, the audience broke up into small groups to discuss some of the key issues that had been highlighted from the presentations. Some of the attributes highlighted were the need for strong communication skills, knowing your client and their needs, contextualising resources to ensure they are meaningful to the audience and flexibility. All the presenters did a great job and gave the impression that they thoroughly enjoyed working with industry clients. |
Teaching and Learning Tools (Workplace First Aid - Level 2)
Students have been provided with competency outlines for all competencies. All information is included in the Learner's Guide consistent with the University template. Learner Guide and assessment tools are developed in consultation with the Industry board following ARC (Australian Resuscitation Council) guidelines.
Industry Board is continually updating content and assessment in line with current standards.
Assessment tasks cover all learning outcomes and marking guides are provided to students.
Written explanations of assessment tasks to students are very detailed and written in a language the students will understand.
There has clearly been a tremendous amount of industry involvement in the design of the course and assessment tasks (as documented in minutes).
School of Social Sciences Quality Team Report to Quality Management Reference Group - Overall Quality (September 2006)
Regular well attended meetings which rotate across all campuses with a School Quality Bulletin sent out to entire School at least twice a year. Always supply lunch at meetings.
Deliberate encouragement of discussion on what is quality, how do/ should we measure it and shaping our quality team actions/ agendas as a result. Ref to minutes of our first meeting in 2006, which decided to focus on the student experience in 2006. There was consensus that: “All programs conduct student evaluations of program and follow through with results. This info feeds back into programs and improvements.”
If this is the case, then the School of Social Sciences is doing a great job of ensuring the quality of our service, to the limits of our power. For the benefit of Quality Management Reference Group (QMRG), we raised in the discussion around what makes for a good experience, that the quality of customer service and a welcome on to the campus was important, yet we do not control that and do not seem to be able to influence it. For example the general reception hours on campuses have been reduced.
Following are some examples of good practice in Social Sciences, using the audit reports.
In the audit of the Diploma of Out of School Hours Care, it was noted by the auditor, “The audit of this course has provided evidence of an extremely well documented and controlled system. A real credit to the dedication of staff in the Child & Family Studies department. Well done.” A selection of the good practice noted for this course:
-
Although staff all have the required qualifications and vocational experience, new staff are initially allocated a mentor to ensure consistency and high standards of delivery are maintained.
-
An excellent diary/notebook which contains information on assessment moderation, course evaluation & improvements etc was sighted.
For the Certificate IV in Liberal Arts good practice was noted as follows:
-
Student support is outstanding in this course. In the module ‘Learning to Learn’ team teaching occurs with the Access Department on structured thinking and writing. Therefore all students are assessed on their literacy and numeracy. Any issues identified from this team teaching are followed up. Examples of this were provided in minutes of course meetings. There is a high level of pastoral care and any students missing classes are followed up by the course team, who have weekly meetings to discuss students work and the course.
-
Excellent student induction. Students who do not attend orientation day have an appointment made to go through the induction process on an individual basis.
-
Assessment tasks cover all learning outcomes and marking guides are provided to students. Written explanations of assessment tasks to students are very detailed and written in a language the students will understand.
In the audit of the Certificate I in General Education (Adult Stream) it was noted that:
-
Student induction (ticking of the checklist) occurs when the student has their first interview with the department before starting their course. This is significant as the dept. has rolling enrolments and all students are inducted. Campus tours are conducted by past students who discuss their experiences with the new students.
-
An exceptional level of student support is provided in their program. If a student misses two classes the coordinator will contact them by phone to discuss their absence.
-
All assessment tools are moderated and verified. External moderation occurs at a regional level. This is a very clear and concise department process which is accompanied with professional development.
-
FOSP reports are submitted in detail on an annual basis. Competency evaluations and formal course evaluations are also included. Improvements are documented for action.
August 2006
Amanda O’Meara, who teaches in Aged Care in Health, Recreation and Human Services, talked about students getting access to information about courses. While 78% of people answering the survey were satisfied with the information they got when choosing training, HR&HS scored 88%. Talking to Amanda it became clear that it was the information students got through the comprehensive interview process before people were accepted into a course, which was so important. Potential students are interviewed in groups to ensure they have a good understanding of the realities of working in aged care. They also look for people who will take pride in their work and will be active advocates for residents. Where people are not accepted into the course because of poor literacy skills (quite common) they are encouraged to address these issues and try again. The department’s obvious interest in getting the most appropriate students helps explain why students feel they are adequately informed about the course.
Sharon Templeman teaches English to migrants in the Access Department. 90% of the Access students were satisfied with the balance between instruction and practice in the 2005 survey compared to 80% across the Division. This comes as no surprise once you realise how Sharon and her colleagues embrace the lives of their students as the ever changing subject matter for the teaching of English. Teachers encourage students to have conversational morning teas and BBQs (complete with Aussie slang); they assist them to understand the bureaucracies who they must deal with as they settle into Australian life, with job applications or any of the hundreds of everyday events that require English language skills. The teachers do all this while quietly juggling the strict AQF requirements as well as the reporting requirements of the five different funding bodies.
Larry Parkinson is one of the Arts Department teachers who teach artists to achieve their potential. The artists who undertake visual arts training at Swinburne often do not realise how much they can achieve. Larry Parkinson is one of the teachers who guides and mentors them to better plan their own work. 82% of the Arts students surveyed felt they were better able to plan their own work after training compared to a measly 62% Division average. Holistic delivery, one-on-one assistance looking at where the student is at, and a self-assessment process and a mid year fully moderated assessment all assist the student in better planning their own work.
CAFE teacher Robin Wintle and her colleagues teach disability workers, mostly in their workplace. Her students often have poor written communication skills, yet work in an industry where this is increasingly important. 80% of the CAFE students surveyed were satisfied that their training increased their written communication skills, compared to only 55% of other Swinburne students. Students in this course are often progressing from volunteer work to part time work or from part time to full time. They range from people from other cultures with poor English skills to what Robin calls “school phobics” and onto graduates. The department offers a supportive non-competitive environment and students are encouraged to support each other. Students have a checklist of written work required and they are shown what constitutes good communication skills. Clear standards and assessment criteria are set and teachers reflect and refine their practice too. It seems that all that support encourages students to increase their written communications skills.
Being a good team member is an important generic skill that many employers seek. In the NCVER survey only 62% of Swinburne respondents thought their training helped them be a better team member; however 88% of Child and Family Studies students were satisfied with this indicator. Janice Gunstone is one of the teachers who helped achieve this score. Competencies are built into the Training Package; teaching staff model good team practice as a teaching team and there are team activities in all the classes. Peer teaching is one aspect: a student with poor computer skills might be teamed with someone with good skills; another aspect is to encourage student to be reflective learners while on placement. Child and Family Studies students achieve 100% employment outcomes and a lot of this is due to the hard work of staff in creating realistic scenarios in class to ensure graduates are work ready and capable to educate and care for young children.
Many departments performed poorly both in the 2005 and 2003 survey when it came to satisfaction with feedback on assessment. However Building and Transport scored 86% satisfaction compared to the average of 70%. Geoff Parton teaches VCAL students and knows how much this group need feedback. Most are 18 years old and very few have managed to secure a job in the industry so they rely on Swinburne for feedback. The students have a workbook that lays out what they will be assessed on; they are given assignments to do which are marked (eg 5/10, etc) and the student gets feedback in class and individually. All together there are three written tests on what they have learned about using hand tools, OH&S and communications skills.
Frances Saunders from Horticulture and Environmental Sciences talked about how the department's good practices gave them a 90% satisfaction rating (compared to 80% for other departments) on students’ awareness of careers and jobs. It all boils down to this department’s excellent relationships with industry. Typical of sessional teachers in this department, Frances has her own business and typically of all teachers in H&ES, she belongs to an industry association, in her case Sustainable Gardening Australia. Some staff participate in industry judging panels, the department sponsors an irrigation award and students are encouraged to form strong contacts with industry. The department is working closely with Irrigation Association of Australia in developing the irrigation facility at Wantirna. It is hardly surprising that students have such a good idea about careers and jobs.
|
