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Quality in vocational education and training (VET) is a perennial topic of interest, attracting much attention from participants, providers, funders, regulators and public commentators. Quality is as much subjectively in the "eye of the beholder" as it is objectively assessed through hard data, measures and surveys. This paper summarises the quality of the VET system in Australia from the lens point of the eye of the beholder. It considers the perspectives of five key stakeholder groups: learners, employers/industry, providers, government and regulators. The paper explores, from the perspective of each of these groups, what is important in regards to the VET system, what constitutes and promotes a good-quality VET system, and what are the enablers and barriers to having a system that meets their expectations. The paper then examines the usefulness of the measures of quality currently available, as well as approaches that might be more effective. Key messages include: (1) Quality is context- and purpose-specific and means different things to the five stakeholder groups; (2) These multiple perspectives on quality operate at differing levels -- at the training program, at employment outcomes and at higher systemic levels; (3) Effective, fair and prompt regulation is foundational and essential in removing poor quality training from the system; and (4) A number of enabling factors have the potential to either support or detract from VET quality. These factors may impact both objective measures and subjective views of quality.

The purpose of this Decision Regulation Impact Statement (Decision RIS) is to recommend preferred options for improving the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care. The Decision RIS follows the public release of the Consultation RIS and incorporates stakeholders' views and comments received during the ten week stakeholder consultation process from November 2014 to January 2015. The Decision RIS provides feedback on proposed options canvassed in the Consultation RIS throughout the abovementioned period. As such, the Decision RIS provides a 'point in time' analysis. This Decision RIS identifies the nature of the issues to be addressed and explains the rationale for the preferred options. It also assesses the costs and benefits of the options under consideration. This Decision RIS follows the guidelines of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in the Best Practice Regulation Guide. It has been approved for release by the COAG Education Council. [This Decision Regulation Impact Statement has been prepared with the assistance of Deloitte Access Economics.]

The Australian Government Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency's (TEQSA's) role is to assure that quality standards are being met by all registered higher education providers. This paper explains how TEQSA's risk-based approach to assuring higher education standards is applied in broad terms to a diverse sector. This explanation is consistent with the revised processes developed by TEQSA in close consultation with the sector over 2013-14. The paper has been developed based on a dialogue between TEQSA and registered higher education providers through their peak bodies. It depicts how TEQSA's risk-based approach to assurance of quality standards is applied in practice to the sector, and aims to facilitate a shared understanding of how TEQSA takes into account relevant organisational characteristics. TEQSA applies a consistent and fair approach that treats like providers in the same manner, regardless of provider category under the TEQSA Act (the Act). The following appendix is included: Examples of Applying the Framework Outlined Above to Hypothetical Cases.

Online learning environments (OLEs) are complex information technology (IT) systems that intersect with many areas of university organisation. Distributed models of leadership have been proposed as appropriate for the good governance of OLEs. Based on theoretical and empirical research, a group of Australian universities proposed a framework for the quality management of OLEs, and sought to validate the model via a survey of Australasian university representatives with OLE leadership responsibility. For the framework elements: Planning and Resourcing were rated most important; Organisational structure was rated least important; Technologies were rated low in importance and high in satisfaction; Resourcing and Evaluation were rated low in satisfaction; and Resourcing had the highest rating of importance coupled with low satisfaction. Considering distributed leadership in their institution, respondents reported that the organisational alignments represented by "official" reporting and peer relationships were significantly more important and more effective than the organisational alignments linking the formal and informal leaders. From a range of desirable characteristics of distributed leadership, "continuity and sustainability" received the highest rating of importance and a low rating of "in evidence"--there are concerns about the sustainability of distributed leadership for the governance of OLEs in universities.

The key drivers of technical and further education (TAFE) institutes' systems for monitoring and evaluating effectiveness and efficiency are accountability for government funding, compliance with legislation and quality assurance requirements. The need to supplement government funding with commercial income requires institutes to understand the training markets in which they operate and to maintain productive networks with industry and local communities. This paper provides an account of the management strategies and processes that TAFE institutes use to evaluate their performance. It concludes that institutes use similar practices to understand their business and it provides some suggestions for the type of information that would be beneficial. Two appendices are included: (1) State strategic objectives; and (2) Examples of information that states are required to provide to state funding bodies. (Contains 1 table and 19 footnotes.) [Additional information relating to this research is available in the support document: "Tracking Our Success: How TAFE Institutes Evaluate Their Effectiveness and Efficiency--Case Studies." See ED507215.]

Degrees in technical and further education (TAFE) are relatively new, but are likely to grow as a consequence of government policies that both seek to increase the percentage of Australians holding a bachelor degree and create a more unified tertiary education sector. There are ten TAFE institutes authorised to offer higher education in five states, with fewer than 1600 higher education students in TAFE in 2006. Initially, TAFE institutes focused on niche programs not offered by universities; however, they now offer vocationally focused programs similar to those of many universities. This project sought to understand different perspectives on the nature of higher education in TAFE by interviewing staff from six state offices of higher education, senior managers at two dual-sector universities and nine TAFE institutes (in six states), along with teachers and students. Six of the nine TAFE institutes included in this project offer higher education, and the other three do not. Most interviewees argued that the rationale for higher education provision in TAFE is to meet, through its applied orientation, specific industry needs and to provide a pathway for students who need support to access higher education. Others argued, by contrast, that industry and students benefit most if TAFE works in partnership with universities through complementary provision, rather than via its own higher education provision. Interviewees argued that the different reporting, funding, quality assurance, industrial and curriculum frameworks of the higher education and vocational education and training (VET) sectors constrain the growth of higher education in TAFE. The challenges identified as confronting TAFE in developing this provision include: the absence of a research culture; difficulties in recruiting appropriately qualified staff; the need to invest in staff development; the existing industrial award covering TAFE teachers; costs of program development; the resources needed to sustain higher education provision; and, crucially, the absence of public funding for TAFE's higher education qualifications and the lack of community understanding about these programs. Some TAFE institutes are seeking to become a new type of institution, similar to a polytechnic that offers a range of qualifications, from senior school and VET, through to higher education. Other TAFE institutes see their higher education programs as an extension of their role as VET providers. Teachers were, if anything, more in favour of higher education in TAFE than senior management, but most teachers argued that existing industrial and working conditions were obstacles to its development, as was management's lack of insight into the nature of their work. Students said that they valued the high levels of support they received, although younger students were more uncertain of their identity as higher education students and more troubled by the status of their qualification, even though almost all claimed they would recommend their program to friends. The status of TAFE's higher education qualifications was an issue that concerned all categories of interviewees. This project concludes that higher education in TAFE should be established as a component of a coherent tertiary education policy framework to ensure the quality of provision and that it meets its intended outcomes. This includes consideration of the governance, policy, funding, quality assurance, curriculum and industrial frameworks required to realise academic standards and to support TAFE institutes to develop economies of scale and the expertise and culture needed to sustain higher education provision. Three appendices are included: (1) Methods; (2) Profile of interviewees; and (3) Profile of higher education programs in TAFE institutes. (Contains 8 tables and 13 footnotes.) [Funding for this report was provided through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Additional information relating to this research is available in ED507214 "Higher Education in TAFE: Support Document".]

This literature review, undertaken for Australian Industry Group, shows how multiple variations and combinations of formal, informal and non-formal learning, accompanied by various government incentives and organisational initiatives (including job redesign, cross-skilling, multi-skilling, diversified career pathways, action learning projects, quality assurance arrangements, job rotations and mentoring programs), can be used to prepare workers to gain, maintain or progress through jobs. Appended are: (1) Evidence on workplace learning; (2) Examples of accelerated apprenticeships; and (3) Examples of mentoring programs. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

"Engaging Young Australians with Asia" is a national policy statement which supports "The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century." These goals promote understanding of the value of cultural and linguistic diversity, and possessing the knowledge, skills and understanding to contribute to, and benefit from, such diversity in the Australian community and internationally. The "Statement" identifies the broad knowledge, understandings, values and skills required to engage with Asia in the context of existing policies and practices in teaching and learning. It is based on the understanding that, across all learning areas, studies of Asia and Australia will achieve a status comparable with other studies traditionally included in the curriculum. "Engaging Young Australians with Asia" has been prepared by the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) and builds on "Studies of Asia: A Statement for Australian Schools" (Second Edition, 2000). It reflects the significant work undertaken since 1993 by all education jurisdictions and schools across Australia in integrating the study of Asia across learning areas, including Asian languages. It draws on this experience to outline six interlinked elements for education jurisdictions, schools and teachers which are optimal to assist all Australian students gain such essential capabilities from their schooling. These elements are: teaching and learning, curriculum resources, teacher professional learning, engaging parents and community, teacher education and quality assurance. The statement integrates responses from a widely representative consultation of school education stakeholders including parents, business leaders, education sectors, classroom practitioners, school principals, curriculum leaders, teacher educators and Asian Studies academics. (Contains 16 footnotes.)

This report compares the provision of vocational education and training (VET) in Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom. It finds that training policies are increasingly based on similar general principles which promote the improvement and reform of vocational education and training, although the implementation of these principles tends to remain specific to each country. Appended are: (1) Country overview; (2) Industry skills councils in Australia (Table 2); (3) Sector skills councils in the United Kingdom (Table 3); (4) Top ten training packages in Australia (Table 4); and (5) New training contracts in Germany 1998-2003 (Table 5). (Contains 5 tables and 2 figures.)

This is a report on the quality review of distance learning in a sample of five countries. The report was commissioned by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation's (CHEA's) International Commission in order to understand better the nature of existing regulatory arrangements in the context of growth in electronically supported learning and in the import and export of education world-wide. The data collected from readily available public sources were used to create country case studies for Jordan, Malaysia, Australia, Kenya and the UK, which were subsequently verified by in-country experts. From the data and information collected, a summary report was produced in two parts. Part One summarizes information and issues arising from relevant policy reports and academic literature. The sections of the report cover: context and terminology, approaches to quality review, agencies involved, review processes, and challenges and issues in the quality review of distance learning. The second part presents data from the case studies. After a brief section outlining the socio-economic context, educational system and policy context for each country, Part Two addresses the main themes of the project: the nature of distance learning in each country and the main providers, the nature of the regulatory and quality assurance systems as they apply generally and to distance learning in particular, and the relationship between trade in educational services (from an importing and exporting perspective) and arrangements for quality review. [This report was produced by CHEA (Council for Higher Education Accreditation) Institute for Research and Study of Accreditation and Quality Assurance. It was prepared for the International Commission of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.]

This report provides a literature review and history of approaches to quality assurance of assessment in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia and overseas. It also examines eight potential models that can be used by individual or groups of assessors within a training organisation. The models include a diagnostic assessment tool, an assessment principles checklist, and guidelines for the development of assessment instruments. The report provides background to the development of the resource kit. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

This paper is concerned with the strategies being adopted for vocational education and training (VET) in Australia and the lessons that could be learned for them from policies in other countries. Six issues are considered in the paper, each relates to or more of the objectives and particular strategies in the Australia's National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training 2004-2010: (1) Workforce/adult training and retraining in the light of ageing and shifting occupational structures; (2) Equity issues for indigenous and other groups; (3) Managing demand and funding so that priorities are met; (4) Developments in qualification structures and quality assurance; (5) Enhancing provider capacity to ensure quality and responsiveness; and (6) Regional and community capacity building. The approach taken was to analyse national strategies, policies, objectives and priorities of government agencies to provide a point of comparison with Australia's National Strategy for VET. Analysis was most focused on the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and limited for Canada, due to the decentralised nature of that system. Implications for Australia are set out by strategy. (Contains 6 footnotes and 2 boxes.)

This document summarizes an extensive study of policies and practices in adult literacy and adult basic education in a number of countries undertaken by Rosa McKenna and Lynne Fitzpatrick. The original study contains considerably greater detail and analyses issues on a country-by-country basis. The countries studied--Canada, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Australia--are all western democracies, some with federal and others with unitary systems of government. All are primarily English speaking, although Canada is bilingual, and most have significant indigenous and immigrant minorities, often disadvantaged and with special literacy needs. This summary report is organized around five headings related to the key features of effective adult literacy policy and program practices identified in the main study. These are: (1) policy contexts and concepts; (2) program development and delivery; (3) regulatory frameworks, product development and quality assurance; (4) issues for the teaching workforce; and (5) implications for Australia. The study found that adult literacy issues are widespread in the countries studied and impact on their capacity to build high-skill, knowledge-based economies and inclusive societies. The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), conducted in the 1990s by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Statistics Canada (1995, 2000) in all countries studied, has acted in most cases as a catalyst for a review of literacy policy and practice, although less so in Australia than elsewhere. The survey revealed that all countries studied have significant proportions of their adult populations--between 45% and 55%--with the lowest two levels of literacy proficiency, suggesting that these adults may have trouble with everyday tasks. The survey focused on print-based prose, document and quantitative literacies. (Contains 1 table.) [The information in this report was compiled by Robin Ryan. For "Building Sustainable Adult Literacy Provision: A Review of International Trends in Adult Literacy Policy and Programs. Support Document," see ED493938.]

The proposed quality assurance framework for higher education in Australia will, for the first time since the early 1990s, introduce a process of external quality monitoring through the auspices of the Australian Universities Quality Agency. There is little research that evaluates the impact of external monitoring on the experiences of staff, organizational and workplace culture, and perceptions of quality within an institution. This paper provides an evaluation framework for investigating the effects of external monitoring on elements of institutional culture and perceptions of quality in teaching and learning. The paper explores issues of causality in evaluating academic audit as a quality management intervention in a tertiary institution and across the sector as a whole. It also explores criteria for evaluating the impact of audit on institutional culture and practices, as well as practitioners views of the impact of external quality monitoring on their own workplaces. (Contains 36 references.) (Author)

The introduction of training packages has focused attention on the quality of assessment in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector on the quality of assessment. For the process of mutual recognition under the Australian Recognition Framework (ARF) to work effectively, there needs to be confidence in assessment decisions made by Registered Training Organizations (RTOs). The issues of quality and consistency in assessment have become central to the development of the VET system. Quality assurance of all aspects of assessment is crucial for the protection of assessors and all other stakeholders in the process. Criteria for quality assurance are use of qualified assessors; established validation; feedback; appeals and verification processes; industry-endorsed assessment guidelines; and provision of industry audit of the assessment process. ARF requirements that all RTOs must meet to obtain and maintain registration are to be changed substantially in 2001, reflecting the national concern with consistency and quality. A comprehensive approach identifies strategies to assure quality for all key aspects of assessment, but particularly recognizes the vital role of assessors and the need for their participation in validation activities and continued professional development. (Contains 15 references.) (YLB)

This paper reports on the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University's adoption of an approach to training packages that equally values the learning journey of its students with the training outcomes. The paper looks at the essential educational design issues, including underpinning knowledge, building generic capabilities, graded assessment, and using student-centered approaches that are responsive to student needs and aspirations. The professional development needed to support the change in teaching approach is also discussed. In addition, an overview is presented of the structural and administrative processes that have been implemented to ensure a quality approach to training packages. Appendixes include two case studies and four figures. (YLB)

A major proposition is that dual training arrangements alone do not necessarily solve quality problems in the delivery of vocational education and training (VET) nor improve VET links to the labor market. An essential strategy for Australia should be to further develop holistic training courses linked to apprenticeship models and embed both into a dual system and a comprehensive system of quality control of VET. The German dual system is an alternating training structure. Training occurs in a company providing the apprenticeship and in a compulsory vocational part-time school. Conditions of apprenticeship are closely linked with the prerequisite of homogeneous training schemes based on governmental training ordinances. Companies provide training opportunities on a totally voluntary basis. Two basic types of in-company VET are training as part of the working process and training pursued in a specific training environment. A major advantage of German dual training is the rate at which apprentices move into regular full-time employment within the training firm. From an institutional and didactical point of view, these three ways are conceivable to integrate special groups into dual training and bring dual training up to date in terms of new training contents and methods to ensure quality standards and matching of training and work: fragmentation, sequentiation/differentiation, and stage training courses/supplementation. (Contains 40 references.) (YLB)

During the past decade, funding mechanisms for universities and technical education institutions and colleges have undergone massive restructuring in developed and developing countries alike. Governmental support has generally decreased, resulting in greater reliance on fee-based education or creation of privately sponsored engineering/technical colleges or universities. The following are some of the trends that will likely result from changes in the funding of technical education: (1) export of education will become an important component of the economies of advanced, rich countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada; (2) privatization, commercialization, and marketing of education, especially business, commerce, and information technology will increasingly play a dominant role in developing countries; (3) quality management in developing countries will also move away from government monitoring to professional monitoring, as is now the case in developed countries; (4) the quality of education in developing countries will eventually be determined by market forces; (5) educational funding from individual family budgets will become increasingly difficult in developing countries as privatization results in increased fees; and (6) education will move from being a totally governmental activity to a more commerce- and industry-based activity and will eventually become a service industry. (MN)

A project explored the complex relationships between "integrated" numeracy and literacy skills, self confidence, and the place of skills, knowledge, and values in the learning process. The focus was on beef producers undertaking training in quality assurance (QA). Analysis of observations of QA process on three case study farms and examination of Cattlecare (the QA program developed for the beef industry) manuals suggested skills required to access QA. Findings indicated the following: (1) numeracy skills required for the non-chemical handling parts of Cattlecare were mostly arithmetic; (2) chemical mixing and administration involved more complex tasks; (3) Cattlecare manuals had a higher readability index than farming and popular newspapers and magazines; and (4) many Cattlecare forms were at the more complex end of the structure spectrum. The knowledge required to access QA was identified. These two possible reasons were suggested for failure to proceed with QA: the relatively high level of literacy and numeracy skills required and the high cost of necessary changes and accreditation. Underpinning the whole question of access was that farmers had to first value learning as important. Numerical and literacy activities were not prerequisites for learning about QA. Development of self confidence was shown in the values stage of learning. (Contains 25 references.) (YLB)

It is argued that university faculty, in their involvement with students, have the most direct impact on educational quality, and that impingement on their autonomy leads to reactive curriculum design, decreased motivation, and skewed values concerning research and publication. Australian university administrators are called on to use available means available to renew their support for and involvement of faculty. (MSE)

This paper clarifies the problems of meaning and translation into practice of concepts of "quality" in higher education by examining a quality improvement program at Griffith University (Queensland, Australia). The paper notes that Australian government agencies have advanced a quality assurance (QA) approach concerned with the imposition of externally defined versions of what universities stand for and of their contribution to the economic enhancement of the states, an approach which may not be in the best long term interests of the groups inside or outside the universities. The paper describes an alternative approach, the quality improvement (QI) model which emphasizes individual and corporate development and which satisfies the needs of various internal stakeholders and takes into account the external pressures of accountability inherent in QA. A description of the QI project at Griffith University shows how it is trying to bridge the gap between external accountability and internal transformation. By working within specific sites inside the University, the project aims at the internationalization of a culture that values quality in all of its variant forms and the development of a quality driven institutional culture across the University. Contains 12 references. (JB)

It is argued that university policies and procedures concerning assurance of quality education are framed with little regard for significant differences among disciplines, and that some common approaches to assuring academic quality impinge on some aspects of research, undergraduate teaching, and graduate work. Focus is on England and Australia. (MSE)

It is suggested that current Australian higher education policy focuses more on quality control than improvement. The way "quality" is presented in current federal policy documents is examined, and it is argued that an improvement approach could be used to generate new practices while meeting external pressures for accountability. (MSE)

It is suggested that approaches to research assessment vary according to national context. In the United States, higher education is dominated by market forces; in Britain and Australia, emphasis is on interinstitutional competitiveness; in northern Europe, focus is overall system efficiency. Performance indicators and peer review of research are compared. (MSE)

This paper provides information about the development of a successful quality-assurance process in the New South Wales, Australia, school system. In 1992 the New South Wales (NSW) government announced its commitment to a program of quality-assurance reviews of schools. During that year, approximately 100 meetings were held with principals, school staff, parents, and other key groups to elicit feedback and introduce the new program. This paper summarizes the key issues discussed at the meetings. The quality-assurance review of schools will take place during the first three terms of 1993. The process will involve schools working with review teams to determine the best way to conduct the reviews. The paper defines quality-assurance reviews and provides a brief historical overview of quality assurance in the NSW Department of School Education, a summary of research and literature related to school review and development, and answers to commonly asked questions about quality assurance. It also describes future directions of the program for the rest of 1993. (LMI)

The trend toward market orientation and related business strategies in higher education is examined in the Australian context, particularly in relation to changes in institutional administration such as coordinated decentralization and to the Total Quality Management movement. (MSE)

This paper examines issues raised in an earlier paper prepared by the Australian government, viewed from the perspective of the children's services field. The government paper discussed fee relief and operational subsidies, and suggested five possible funding packages. Part 1 of the paper considers operational subsidies in child care. This part outlines the history of the use of operational subsidies, and of funding provisions of the Child Care Act and within the Services for Families with Children Program (SFCP); reviews proposed changes to child care funding policies; and examines likely consequences of the proposed changes. Parts 2 through 7 discuss: (1) funding of services for children with special needs; (2) fee relief; (3) child care not related to parents' work situation; (4) tax issues; (5) reforming SFCP; and (6) recommendations on child care by the National Association of Community Based Children's Services and the Australian Early Childhood Association. Descriptions of available operational subsidies and fee relief are attached. (MM)