International benchmarking of
VET regulation
Rod Camm
Managing Director
ACPET-ACCI National Skills Summit
25 June 2014
#149247
What is quality?
• Quality is a degree of excellence in products or services
• Manufacturing: freedom from defects, consistency with pre-determined
standards, meets customer needs
• Health: safe, effective, person-centred, timely, efficient, equitable care
• Education and training: effective teaching, learning and assessment, learner
attainment of qualifications and skills that are valued in the labour market or
for further education, learner satisfaction with training
• Government funding agencies: ability of providers to meet accountability
requirements
Why we need quality
Why we need quality
• Variety of options for achieving qualifications has led to uncertainty about
integrity of qualifications awarded
• Reassure consumers of learning that qualifications and skills gained will be
valued in labour market
• Reassure employers of the value of a qualification
• Give credit for qualifications gained in other systems
• Increase transparency, portability and mutual recognition of qualifications
across jurisdictional borders
• Meet government accountability requirements
Information from:
• United Kingdom: England,
Northern Ireland, Wales and
Scotland
• Finland, Germany, Sweden,
Republic of Ireland
• New Zealand, Singapore, South
Korea
• South Africa
• Ontario, Canada, Accrediting
agencies in USA
Help employers
and workers adjust
to technology and
market changes
Skills framework
Anticipate future
skills needs
(Build competencies
for the future)
Match training to
needs of employers
Maximise access to
quality Vocational
Education and
Training
Framework to link skills development to gains in productivity,
employment and economic development
Source: A Skilled Workforce for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth: A G20 Training Strategy, International Labour Office, November 2010
Emerging themes
• Education, skills and qualifications to improve local and national economic
competitiveness
• Internal quality assurance arrangements combined with external regulation
• Standards for registration cover broadly similar areas
• Stakeholders work with governments to develop relevant qualifications
• Intensity of effort for gaining and retaining accreditation
Emerging themes
• Focus on objective measures of performance, including views of users and
stakeholders
• Improving transparency: publication of results of audits or inspections
• User pays
• Risk-based assessment to reduce regulatory burden
Responsive regulation
Responsive regulation
Valerie Braithwaite (ANU, Migration compliance)
• Start off with light touch, and use progressively
stronger interventions
• Strong interventions for unacceptable transgressions
Malcolm Sparrow (Harvard, law enforcement and policing)
• Look for root causes to identify possible courses of action
• Skill is in identifying emerging issues and harms, study patterns and trends
• Need to be constantly vigilant and apply swift action
Responsive regulation
Declan Roche (ANU, Australian Taxation)
• Dual track approach – voluntary compliance
combined with progressively more punitive approach
• Use coercive enforcement only when non-coercive enforcement fails
Arie Freiburg: (Monash University)
• Need immediate action for unacceptable transgression
Regulator
suspends or
cancels
registration
Regulator applies
progressively stronger
sanctions
Regulator conducts formal
investigations into breaches
and complaints
Regulator monitors activities via
communications, site visits, agreed
compliance actions
Regulator educates and supports via good
guidance material, advisory services,
educational events, quality awards
Source: Based on Australian Government, 2012: Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission website ,
Taskforce Implementation Report , and concepts of responsive regulation from Valerie Braithwaite and
Malcolm Sparrow
Risk-based approaches
Risk-based approaches
• Practical solution to reducing regulatory burden
• Concentrates resources where most needed
• Needs sufficient information to calculate high and low risk ratings
• Risk ratings applied to timing, frequency and nature of external reviews and
inspections
• A variety of triggers used to identify risk
The quality of teaching
and assessment
European Union: Bruges Communiqué:
• Need to invest in initial and continuing training of teachers, trainers, mentors
and counsellors
New Zealand Qualification Authority:
• Standards for competent, appropriately experienced and qualified teachers,
and effective assessment and moderation processes
The quality of teaching
and assessment
Ofsted Inspections:
• Evaluations of quality of teaching and assessment via observations and
inspections
Australia:
• Discussion papers on need for improving quality of initial teacher training,
continuing professional development, educational qualifications, registration
of teachers and trainers, professional association
Recent NCVER assessment research
• Practitioners can identify key criteria for effective and quality assessments
• Practical application is more challenging especially for ‘non-competent’
performance
• No clear differentiation between validation and moderation practices
• Rigorous up-front validation of assessment tools is believed to minimise the
need for moderation
Source: Misko, J, Halliday-Wynes S, Stanwick J, & Gemici S 2014, Quality Assessments: Practice and Perspectives,
NCVER
Recent NCVER assessment research
• Low local involvement of employers in validating assessment instruments or
assessment performance
• Majority of providers prefer comprehensive evidence gathering for RPL
assessments
• There is little support for short duration courses
Source: Misko, J, Halliday-Wynes S, Stanwick J, & Gemici S 2014, Quality Assessments: Practice and Perspectives,
NCVER
Self assessments
Self assessments
• Generally pre-cursor to external review
• Labour intensive, need to include or provide access to data on participation
and outcomes
• External auditors or inspectors use data to undertake risk assessment, and
criteria for audit
• Provider describes how it has fared against criteria
• Auditors or inspectors make on-site visits
• Peer review processes used to support self-assessments (UK, Finland)
• Publication of data may change how providers approach the exercise
An increasing focus on outcomes
• pass, retention, and graduation rates
• learner progression rates
• employment outcomes
• completions of valued qualifications and or movement into higher
qualifications
• employer satisfaction rates
• utilisation of skills in the workplace
• participation rates for all learners including at risk and vulnerable groups
continue to be used
The cost of quality
• Principle of user pays applies
• Pre-accreditation workshops, provisional accreditation, initial accreditation,
renewal of registration
• Costs for auditor or auditing panel site visits (accommodation, per diem and
travel)
• Costs for variations in volume of qualifications, adding different locations
• Costs for warnings, grievances and complaints
• Comparable costs for registration for New Zealand and ASQA
Key lessons
• Quality arrangements align with cultural and
economic environments
• Political drivers and issues for regulatory
coverage are broadly similar
• Combination of self-monitoring, external
audits or inspections, and objective evidence
• All parts of the system must work in harmony
Key lessons
• Quality should be embedded into how we
work
every day
• Risk-based triggers can focus audits where
most needed
• Protection of consumers is a critical objective
• Users pay for quality services
Questions?