The Future Of Professional Floristry Training

Service Skills Australia has released the Report into the Continuous Improvement of the Floristry Training Package Report and is seeking comments.

Highlights of the report include:

• The identification of new industry trends;
• Proposed enhancements to the Training Package by tightening and strengthening of the assessment requirements in individual units of competency;
• Initiatives to develop innovative ways of responding to ‘on the ground’ implementation challenges by working with industry and training organisations.
  
  13 recommendations including:
  
  
• Develop a strategy aimed at improving the quality of floristry training and assessment;
• Recognise the Certificate III in Floristry as the benchmark entry-level floristry trade qualification and enhance its flexibility to better meet a range of different job outcomes by reducing the number of core units and increasing elective choices;
• Change the Certificate IV in Floristry for florists already working.  This qualification would have an entry requirement and include a combination of floral design and business/marketing/innovation skills;
• Investigate the inclusion of two skill sets in the Training Package – one in Advanced Floral Design and one in Small Business Management.

To develop the report Service Skills Australia undertook research into the floristry industry during 2007 for future skills development and training needs and to identify whether current qualifications required an update. A discussion paper was developed and distributed to over 1700 individuals, employers, employees, registered training organisations, students, and industry associations to capture feedback. 

How to comment

Copies of the Floristry Report and comment form are available from Service Skills Australia website at www.serviceskills.com.au   then click “Floristry continuous improvement”, or contact Anne-Marie Yates, E: ayates@serviceskills.com.au or P:02 8243 1215. 

Service Skills Australia requires validation of the Floristry Training Package Report by 29 February 2008.

Beauty Training Package

Report into the Continuous Improvement of the Beauty Training Package and is seeking your comments.

Service Skills Australia has undertaken widespread consultation into the scope of the beauty industry and the contents of the current Training Package to inform its continuous improvement.

During 2007, a discussion paper was distributed to facilitate comment on current trends and changes within the industry that may impact on skills need and Training Package content. 

All comments provided during the 2007 consultation phase have since been collated, reviewed and incorporated into the Report into the Continuous Improvement of the Beauty Training Package.

The report was recently endorsed by the Steering Committee and Service Skills Australia is now widely distributing this to key stakeholders for validation of the contents.  The contents of the report inclusive of recommendations for change will guide the future re-write of the Beauty Training Package and potential incorporation with other Training Packages.

Validation is a further consultative process whereby the contents of the report and the recommendations are widely reviewed by key stakeholders to ensure validity.  Absolute agreement to all issues would not be expected but it is hoped that general consensus can be obtained.

Read more    

The Review Of The SIF08 Funeral Services Training Package

After some final editorial changes, Service Skills Australia submitted the SIF08 Funeral Services Training Package for endorsement on 21 December, 2007.
The Package will now be subjected to Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) quality checks, a State and Territory training agency consultation phase and will then be put forward to the National Quality Council for its final endorsement. It is expected that these processes will take three months.
Recent enhancement to the units of competence are summarised below.
Context of and specific resources for assessment
Service Skills Australia has re-written each of the SIF Funeral Services units of competence to better clarify context and resource requirements. The statements now provide enough guidance to be helpful to those developing assessment strategies and to auditors who will check an RTO’s adherence with Training Package requirements. 
Re-titling of some SIF Units of Competency

Some of the units of competency have been re-titled in order to

• meet DEEWR technical requirements with regard to proper titling of units of competency
• ensure consistency of approach within the Funeral Services Training Package. In some cases units used the term “oversee” and in others “supervise”.  All units now consistently use “supervise”.
• provide more streamlined and sensible titles for units of competency e.g. words such as “perform”, “carry out” and “provide” make for clumsy and unmeaningful titles.

VET Teaching 2008 Conference

Get energised, get reinvigorated, get enthusiastic, get VET.

Celebrate the contribution of vocational education and training (VET) to Australian education with hundreds of teachers and trainers from around Australia on 28-29 February in Brisbane.

VET Teaching 2008 will offer delegates the opportunity to hear about innovative practices, stimulate new thinking about teaching and learning in VET and explore what it means to be a VET practitioner, now and into the future.

Throughout the two-day conference, five main themes will be explored including:

The VET practitioner: ready, willing and capable
Innovative assessment: unlock new skills
Great moments in VET: ‘champagne’ innovations and great practices
Inspired teaching: confidence, creativity and professional judgement
Dynamic professional learning: teachers are learners.

VET Teaching 2008 will also offer more than 20 interactive sessions including:

Motivation workplace learning online
Why bother with a student-centred approach?
Learning difficulties – what can a VET practitioner do to help?
Enhancing human capital of an ageing VET workforce in the knowledge era
Getting connected with my.TAFE.

Find out more about the featured guest speakers from all across Australia and about how you can be a part of VET Teaching 2008 at: http://www.vetteaching2008.com.au

This is the perfect event for anyone interested in networking with professionals working in the VET sector, so check out the huge range of sponsorship options still available at: vet2008@absoluteevents.com.au or call (07) 3394 2310.

Reframing The Future New 2008 Program and Information Sessions

The Reframing the Future 2008 program has been redesigned to achieve even more of an impact on the national training system.  There are three components:

• Funded projects. Professional development and change management projects aimed at Registered Training Organisations and other VET related organisations.
• Engaging VET Practitioners Forums. These are held in August and November and all VET providers and practitioners can register an interest in attending.
• Publications and Resources.  Current and new publications and resources in a range of formats are available free through the Reframing the Future website.

NEW VET-trepreneur™ PROGRAM

 “VET Practitioners and VET Professionals are working in increasingly diverse contexts and it seems that a new skills set is emerging.  This includes the ability to adapt quickly to change; to build personalised relationships with learners, employees and enterprises; to design and promote new products and services; to support innovation and creativity; to capture and manage knowledge; to take calculated risks; and to demonstrate entrepreneurship as the concept applies to all aspects of VET.  We have developed a VET-trepreneur profile, mapped to competency standards and behavioural attributes and a professional development approach to build capability.  This forms the basis of the new VET-trepreneur program.” (Wendy Perry, developer of the VET-trepreneur profile and program)

A VET-trepreneur™, is an entrepreneur in a VET context and relates to the creation of new opportunities, growth, continuously improving and focusing on the satisfaction of our clients.

VET-treprenuers™ can be trainers and assessors, administrative, support, business development, quality and/or leadership staff members.

The VET-trepreneur™ program focuses on developing the core skills of a VET-trepreneur™ and the relevant behavioural competencies.  It can be customised for a conference or professional development day presentation, mini-workshop, half or full day workshop – or form a series of forums and activities, using a workbased learning approach, over a longer period of time.

For more information on the VET-trepreneur™ program and professional development options, contact Wendy Perry and Associates Pty Ltd on 08 8387 9800, email info@wpaa.com.au, web site www.wpaa.com.au 

Assessed As Competent – What Does Industry Expect?

The quality of the assessment process and outcomes are critical to ensuring ongoing confidence in the vocational education and training (VET) system.  In the last couple of years issues relating to the outcomes of the VET assessment processes have been raised in a number of industry forums.  As a consequence the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) on behalf of the National Quality Council Training Packages Standing Committee (NQCTPSC) is undertaking an investigation into industry perceptions and expectations of VET assessment processes and outcomes.

Precision Consultancy has been contracted to undertake this project.  As part of the research the consultants will solicit views from a wide range of businesses and organisations across Australia to ensure representation from all industry sectors.    There are a number of ways for business and organisations across the country to give their views and expectations about VET assessment processes and outcomes.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the Australian Industry Group (AIG), the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and other peak bodies are part of the working group to oversee the project that will report and make recommendations to the NQC based on its findings.

What’s the focus of the project?

The project will investigate:

• industry (including employer/employee) perceptions and expectations, across non-licensed industry sectors, around VET assessment processes and outcomes
• examples of best practice around industry engagement in VET assessment processes
• strategies for increasing industry confidence in VET assessment; and
• the level of industry support for various strategies for increasing industry confidence in VET assessment.

• have staff who are undertaking VET qualifications, including traineeships and apprenticeships
• hire VET graduates who have been trained off-the-job
• are a representative from an industry association

• Participate in a telephone survey. Ring Gulcan Hasan at Precision Consultancy on 039606 0118 to schedule a date and time that will suit you. 
• Complete the online survey. Go to www.precisionconsultancy.com.au and complete the questions online.
• Provide a written response.  Ring Gulcan Hasan at Precision Consultancy on 039606 0118 for further detail.
• Provide details for case studies of best practice for industry engagement in assessment.

Want to submit information for Fast Facts?

Fast Facts will be published next on Friday, 22 February 2008.  The deadline for submission of information for inclusion is c.o.b Monday 18 February.  Please send information (not exceeding 150 words) to fastfacts@dest.gov.au