Keynote addresses and materials

Case Studies: Meeting Industry Needs & Meeting Student Needs

Concurrent Sessions - Workshops and Papers

Conference Close - Summation and Farewell

Introduction to Harris Van Beek 

We started this fairly short trip on Wednesday afternoon at about 5 o’clock and what a long way we’ve come and what a terrific journey it’s been over these last two and a bit days. I’d like to introduce again, Harris van Beek, chair of ASTF, to reflect on some of the outcomes of the past two days and to quickly look at some of the steps we need to take in the future. Thank you Harris.

Summation of the conference

Harris Van Beek, Chief Executive Officer 
Australian Student Traineeship Foundation  

Thank you. I wanted to pay my respects to Joy Murphy who is the Wurundgeri elder who welcomed us to the start of the conference and to the other elders for welcoming us to their land. I also just wanted to take the opportunity to pay my tributes to the tremendous contribution that Mike Frost has made and we’ll certainly miss him from his current role but I’m sure we won’t be absent from this important movement that we’re all part of. 

I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on what has been achieved and the outcomes of the time we’ve spent together over the last three days and also make some comments on the next steps. If you remember in the opening session, we spoke of the objectives of the VETNETwork as being in supporting teachers and addressing professional development needs. We spoke about the relationship between the national VETNETwork and its state affiliations and we spoke of the need to address Vocational Education and Training needs for teachers. We’ve had a fantastic range of presentations and each of them was incredibly rich but I’ll try and cover just a few points from each.

We started with the address by Tony Greer on behalf of Minister Kemp, where the new framework, the Partnerships of Growth framework, was outlined and its importance, but more importantly, I think, that was the first message that we were actually dealing with a revolution in Australian education. 

Moira Scollay, particularly, went further down that track and spoke very much of the need for us to tap into attitudes of young people towards learning and spent some time explaining the recent research that ANTA has undertaken into attitudes to learning. But she also, I think, very clearly illustrated for us, some of the big challenges by using an example of a doctor who 100 years ago may have been seen as very proficient but these days would not be allowed to operate on a patient. However a teacher who was qualified 100 years ago would still be able to practice today, and she used that as an example of saying that we were speaking of a need for very far reaching change and that education must change, but she also said that we must have the courage to embrace that change. If you remember, somebody said as a teacher, that’s going to have very far reaching implications for me and Moira’s response was saying “that’s true, but we must embark on that pathway”. 

Minister Kosky spoke of the changes in Victoria, but also spoke very much about the customisation of learning and training, which must more effectively meet community learning needs and spoke of the development in Victoria of the creation of community learning partnerships. But, I think, for you as practitioners, she had a very important message, which was that you are often the ones that lead the way in terms of shaping policy and that policy very often follows the practice that you set up.

Yesterday morning we heard from Robin Shreeve who delivered a talk on behalf of Ken Boston, from the New South Wales Education and Training Department, where they identified the impediments to VET in schools but also indicated how these will be addressed, particularly through the nationally agreed ministerial council decisions which have been recently reached. 

Mark McCrindle gave us a very stimulating insight into the attitudes of the Y Generation and the importance of knowing and understanding what it is that that generation wants to learn because otherwise we won’t be able to engage them in learning. 

Brenda Garrard-Foster spoke of Ericsson’s experience over the last year through a pilot project which the ASTF has funded as part of the Lead Companies project. But it wasn’t only about their experience, it was very much about the fact that that company had moved from saying “yes, we probably should get involved in structured workplace learning, this Lead Company project”, to a much more sophisticated and integrated approach to, and engagement with education and training that meets their long term human resource needs. 

Colin McGowan spoke of the critical relationship which must be developed between careers development and awareness and vocational learning. 

This morning David Eldridge, as chair of the Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Youth Pathways gave us some insight into the sorts of directions that that pathway is likely to recommend to the Prime Minister but was very clear about the importance of the engagement of young people with education if we are to avoid social and economic exclusion and reiterated the importance of partnerships in that, a theme that many have commented on.

John Spierings went on to speak of community partnerships but also warned that we must not be too simplistic in the way that we set up partnerships because they are rich and complex and organic creatures

Richard Teese this afternoon, described how if you follow a pathway from a factory to University you very quickly can see through the pomposity and incompetence that you may encounter in your first lecture! His main message was about paradoxes in the way we value TAFE and other forms of VET particularly for young and early leavers from school and he warned us very much about the damaging effects of the sectorial divide. He also warned us to not expect that VET will sort out all of the problems that we may identify.

Sharran Burrows has just finished reminding us, very usefully, about how far we have actually come in the ten years that have passed. She also reminded us that there is still a very major agenda of key competencies that are still important and there is increasing importance of how to implement those. But also she reminded us of the importance of vision.

We had a number of case studies, and they reminded us of the importance of responding to the needs of employers and those of students. We heard of the wide diversity of approaches and that there won’t be ‘one size fit all’. We also had highlighted that workplace learning is going to be applicable for all areas of learning such as, we heard about Languages Other Than English. But we also heard of the relevance of VET and workplace learning, particularly to disadvantaged people, including those with disabilities. And I think that’s a very important thing to remember, at the moment, in the very positive light of people with disabilities, following the recent Paralympics.

We also heard from two leaders of change, namely Avril Salter and Allan Coman just a moment ago about what it takes for a Principal to drive for change in their own schools.

There were a number of emerging issues which came out of all those presentations, and one was the very importance of local involvement as being a key to shift from short to long term strategies and the relevance, the importance of partnership collaboration and that they’re a key to success, and that we need to ensure that social coalitions are broader than they have been to date, that coordination is very important and that flexibility is going to be key..

So we’ve heard lots of words and I guess the big challenge is what do we do about it? I’d suggest that what came out of the two and a half days of deliberation is that:

• we need together to work very hard for stronger integration between VET, careers advice, enterprise education and employability skills. 
• We need to forge stronger and wider partnerships than we have at the moment.
• That we need to start with VET and careers advice much earlier in schooling, it can’t wait until Years 11 and 12, that we need to grab the opportunity to inform policy makers, and you particularly, of your experiences, so that policy can be shaped in a way that allows you to get on with what you need to do at the local level and not think that you can be shaped by policy. 
• And very importantly, we heard that no one agency is going to be able to make this change. 

We all need to look at what our roles will be, and for the ASTF’s part, we will take away from this conference the need to do much more to foster the integration between careers education, enterprise education, that we need to be more active in strengthening partnerships that are broader than just structured workplace learning and that we also need to be active in areas such as in relation to indigenous students. 

Going back to the original objectives, there was a lot there about what precisely VETNETwork can do into the future and what is its role and I think we’ve had very strong endorsements about the very significant importance of networking, and particularly amongst practitioners because it’s through that shared learning and through that mutual support that we will continue to drive this change, and VETNETwork is a very important player in forging those links. So I think there’s, to the leadership of VETNETwork, very strong messages about what you need to do in the future and the importance that is placed on the network..

I was asked, very briefly, to comment on my own experiences from this conference and the overwhelming impression I go away with after these three days is that there is an incredible energy amongst a very wonderful bunch of people who are part of a very far-reaching change in Australian education. We are speaking about a reconceptualisation of the way young people need to have opportunities to learn that they won’t just be classroom bound, that in a way we’ve been allowed to come out, we’re no longer just a secret society advocating change, that it’s quite OK to say you’re involved in structured workplace learning, that you’re a part of the change to date and that this was affirmed by the messages from the two ministers, the Federal and the State ministers as well as a number of other senior speakers that were here. So that was a very affirming thing for all of us I hope, but certainly for us it was a very strong message.

The other thing, though, is while celebrating that, there was also a strong message that if we are leaders of change, which we are part of that movement that it will still be a struggle and we need to maintain that passion, we’ll need to have courage, we will need very much to draw strength from each other and in closing I just want to say, congratulations to you for the tremendous leadership you are showing in your own communities and in terms of your national leadership. I want to thank you for the willingness you’ve shown in sharing with at least me and with these others over the three days, sharing your experiences and your insights and I wanted to wish you well over the next years in continuing this very important work and driving this very important change.

Jim Maguire:
Thank you Harris for that very sharp-edge reflective view of the really critical learnings of the two and a half days here in Melbourne, and of course, in response to your invitation, VETNETwork looks forward to many more years of collaboration and partnership with your agency and the other supporting agencies working in the VET arena. 

Conference delegates, we come to the final act of an event, and we trust you find it enriching, challenging, personally and professionally rewarding, and hopefully in some ways it may even have reinforced and enhanced your interest, your belief and your general commitment to the value of Vocational learning. A quick reminder from the NCS to please complete your evaluation form, deposit it at the NCS office. We need that feedback, it’s crucial, it helps us define future professional development that will meet your needs..

I know, in closing, that you would wish me to thank the following agencies, they are the people who have contributed so much to the holding of this event. Our thanks and gratitude go to our generous sponsors and conference investors. I would like to single out the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs; the State government of Victoria’s Department of Education, Employment and Training; the Australian Student Traineeship Foundation; and the Australian National Training Authority. We are also indebted to the contributions and financial provisions from the Group Training Australia; National Catholic Education Commission; and the Dairy Farm Association of Victoria. Many thanks for your support..

I’d like to make a special thanks to the state associations and affiliates of VETNETwork, those people who’ve contributed to the planning, the publicising, and in many cases the financial supporting of practitioners to attend this event..


I’d like to thank on your behalf the army of concurrent and sessional presenters, the many chairs and the wonderfully balanced line up of key-note speakers, case studies and topics. In particularly I would love to thank our absolutely sensational compere, the link man who’s taken us right through this conference, would you please acknowledge, ladies and gentlemen, Mike Rowland. Our thanks to Janine Bowes for the VECO support, to Fay Glancy for photographic coverage, the dynamic, the young and very beautiful team that make up the NCS, for staging connections, the Hilton Hotel technical squad..

This event has been in the making for well over 16 months and the VET network CEAV cross-central, cross-agency conference organising committee will be forever in our debt. I would like to single out those people, and if you would retain your applause till the end, we would appreciate it: Linda Baron, Naomi Corlett, Leela Darval, Bernie Fitzsimmons, Ellen Fleming, Mike Frost, Pam Jonas, Sandra Kenman, Andrew Perry, Phillip Reid, Jacqueline Shimeld, Margaret Stewart. Can we please show our appreciation for their efforts?

At the dinner last night reference was made to the four pivotal people who have been responsible for living and breathing this event for 16 months. I will add to that overall co-ordinating list, and the role played by Mike Frost, our retiring Executive Officer, who has represented the national body in this collaborative venture. 

Ladies and gentlemen, here is your final opportunity to acknowledge their outstanding individual and team contribution, and on your behalf I would invite the four L’s, Leela Darvel, Ellen Fleming, Linda Baron and Leonie Swarbrick from NCS to make their way up to the stage to receive this conference’s acclaim of appreciation and thanks, and the presentation for the national VETNETwork executive. Thank you.

While that’s happening, I’d like to pay tribute and thanks to the most important people at this event and that’s you, the participants. You’ve graced the second annual conference with your presence, with your fortitude, and in many cases, your dogged determination to get here in the first place! 

We thank you for your willingness to engage in and be engaged, your spirit of friendship, patience and enthusiasm, humour and the general sense of fun that you’ve clearly demonstrated and displayed at this conference, particularly at the dinner last night. We wish you all a pleasant and safe journey home and we entreat you to do as Harris van Beek says, go energise others with your love for vocational learning, in your school, your college, your agency and your workplace. Until we meet again in two years time, we bid you farewell..

Ellen Fleming
On behalf of the CEAV, I’d just like to thank the other committee members, and I’d like to thank you and could you please thank Leonie, and I just wish I’d thought of this earlier, I think there’s a song title we probably should be playing at the moment which is ‘You are the Champions’, because you are 
the people who are going to go out fighting for this seat change and then hopefully VET will be the mainstream educational pathway that students follow and the higher ed. will become the secondary one. I wish you well.