Industry Training Organisations & Foundation Skills ITF Research Forum, Wellington, 4 April 2005 Ruth Schick PhD, Development Manager Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development 2 Vermont Street, Ponsonby. PO Box 56571, Dominion Road, Auckland, New Zealand Ph: 64 9 361 3800 Fax: 64 9 376 3700 Email: [email protected]Web: www.workbase.org.nz
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Industry Training Organisations & Foundation Skills ITF Research Forum, Wellington, 4 April 2005 Ruth Schick PhD, Development Manager Workbase: The New.
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Industry Training Organisations
& Foundation Skills
ITF Research Forum, Wellington, 4 April 2005
Ruth Schick PhD, Development Manager
Workbase: The New Zealand Centre for Workforce Literacy Development
Discussion – links/implications to other work in the industry training sector
Outline of the presentation
ITOs & Foundation Skills3
TEC commissioned work to:
Fill an information gap:
How are ITOs dealing with Strategy 3: Integrating workforce literacy within the industry training environment?
─ Identify ITO perspectives, knowledge, current actions─ Scope challenges
Propose forms of support
Purpose of the project
ITOs & Foundation Skills4
The industry training sector role in addressing foundation skills
1. Industry training sector is purpose built to build the skills industry needs - these are not just technical skills, they include foundation skills
2. Industry training sector has potential to build foundation skills3. Little is known about ITO perspectives, capability or actions in
this area4. ITOs have not focussed on foundation skills in the past
To support ITOs to address foundation skills, we needmore understanding of ITO perspectives and capabilityregarding foundation skills
Rationale
ITOs & Foundation Skills5
Working with key sector stakeholders
● Workplace Learning Solutions: Over 50 tailored workplace literacy programmes since 1994
● Research & Development : Conducting empirical research and applying international best practice to work with ITOs, providers, practitioners, and policy makers
● Practitioner and Provider Support: Organisational and professional development with ITOs, providers, and vocational and literacy practitioners
● Sector Leadership and Funding: Advice to Government and business on policy and investment decisions; administering the Workplace Basic Skills Development Fund
Why Workbase?
ITOs & Foundation Skills6
• Industry training sector is main source of vocational education/training for workforce with no, or few, formal qualifications
• Government has charged ITOs with taking a leadership role, and with addressing foundation skills in their industries
Context
ITOs & Foundation Skills7
Oral and written communication and reasoning, using numeric and English language media
Referred to as “literacy, language and numeracy”
Metacognitive skills – thinking skills
necessary for:
employee success in training and on the job
business performance
What are foundation skills?
ITOs & Foundation Skills8
Training of longer duration (to achieve foundation skills gains as well as technical skills or unit standards)
Teaching that ties technical and literacy skills together
by linking training to real activities on the job
Teaching that supports applying knowledge to new situations
Assessment linked to what is taught on the job – that includes real life workplace literacy demands
What will build employees’ foundation skills?
ITOs & Foundation Skills9
Labour and skill shortages are increasing Foundation skills requirements of jobs are changing and
increasing Gaps between employee literacy and job demands limit
individual opportunities and business performance 750,000 employed people (40% of the workforce) have low
literacy in relation to modern work demands
An estimated 50% of trainees (about 67,000 currently) have significant literacy needs (information provided by the ITF)
Literacy demands of Level 1 Unit Standards may be above the skill level of many employees
Context
ITOs & Foundation Skills10
One hour semi-structured interviews with six ITO chief executives
ITOs selected by:
─ the size of the industry coverage & trainee numbers─ implement in level 1-3 qualifications─ limited experience in workplace literacy
Methodology (research design)
ITOs & Foundation Skills11
One hour long, face-to-face interviews – two interviewers
Data recorded by written notes, tape
Tapes transcribed and summarised
Summaries sent to interviewees to check accuracy
Summaries were analysed to identify themes and key observations
Data collection, checking, analysis
ITOs & Foundation Skills12
ITO structure, coverage, relationships with employers and training providers
ITO and industry priorities & needs
ITO and industry perspectives on literacy needs and impacts of skill gap
ITO approaches and challenges to addressing these
Addressing foundation skills in skill shortage survey
Tracking causes of low retention
Monitoring impacts of training on on-job performance
ITO perspectives on support that would help them address foundation skills in training
Interview prompts
ITOs & Foundation Skills13
Industry coverage
ITO structure
Industry and ITO priorities and needs
Sector relationships, perspectives and initiatives (providers, employers, other ITOs)
Foundation skills - perspectives, expertise, initiatives, challenges
ITO perspectives on help/support to address foundation learning needs
Transcript analysis guide
ITOs & Foundation Skills14
There is no single approach that will support all ITOs to build foundation skills
There are shared experiences, challenges and principles that can guide the design and implementation of support
Findings: challenges
ITOs & Foundation Skills15
ITO resources: time, money, understanding and expertise, industry structure
Employer priorities, attitudes/understanding
Competing priorities: new regulations, compliance, labour shortages
Funding structures don’t readily support foundation skills in industry training (time and cost of foundation skills provision)
Provider availability and expertise
Findings: shared experiences
ITOs & Foundation Skills16
Employers - the major drivers of training
Tend to be driven by compliance, regulation or wanting to do something for their workers
Have limited understanding of impact of literacy on:
─ training participation and on-job learning─ job performance─ company performance─ wastage error rates, rework, absenteeism, morale, on job
communication and conflict, health and safety, customer service
Providers may address foundation skills - 1:1, adhoc, not linked totraining programme
Findings: shared experiences
ITOs & Foundation Skills17
include foundation skills in their industry skills analysis
address literacy needs among the pre-vocational group
identify possibilities for literacy and vocational tutors to work together
address the added cost involved in providing additional foundation skills support with NZQF oriented training
Findings ITOs would like support to:
ITOs & Foundation Skills18
ITOs can build literacy into industry training in several ways: through messages to industry and employers through messages to providers via moderation and assessment
processes
and through:
design of unit standards and qualifications design of trainee resources management of assessment professional development for ITO staff and workplace trainers
and assessors
Analysis/Discussion: ITO Impact Areas
ITOs & Foundation Skills19
surveying foundation skill shortages
prioritising target groups (industry, occupation, employee groups)
setting goals and monitoring progress against goals
developing and trialling approaches
For ITOs to develop industry-specific literacy strategies, would involve support to ITOs in:
ITOs & Foundation Skills20
designing qualifications
assessing of training
moderation
monitoring outcomes/impacts of training
communicating with employers
leadership role and foundation skills
This will require considering:
ITOs & Foundation Skills21
System driven by enrolments and completed assessments
– versus –
Teaching and learning inputs and on-job performance gain
Discussion
ITOs & Foundation Skills22
To build foundation skills into industry training, ITOs will needsupport to:
identify the foundation skill demands of jobs and industries identify the gap between employee skills and the demands of
jobs and industries identifying training that would address these gaps monitor and revise training design based on evidence of the
impacts of training on employee skills, job performance, and on business performance)
Result: increased industry training participation & learning, reduced non completion