The Educational Politics of Curriculum Policy in Vocational Education and Training in Australia

The educational politics of curriculum policy in Vocational Education and Training in Australia

George Loupis BSc(Arch),BArch(Hons),MBEnv(UNSW),GradDipEd(Tech)(SCAE)

A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

UNSW

AUSTRALIA

School of Education

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

October 2018 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surn.:,me: loupiS First name: George Degree: PhD school: School of Education Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Social Science

Title: The educational politics of curriculum policy in Vocational Education and Training in Australia

Abstract 3S0 words maximum

This research investigates the effects of the 1987 federal government's Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy on curriculum development on NSW TAFE by undertaking a critical policy analysis and utilising interview data. Drawing on Foucault's (1980, 1982) power/knowledge nexus, the study examines the complexities of social and structural relations to power and knowledge and how the state regulates the acquisition of knowledge. Foucault (1972a) saw curriculum as one form of social regulation that connects the citizen to the state. The VET policies embodied power relations by prescribing new practices that regulat~s the individual in a manner that is interrelated with the multiple demands of the new neoliberal economy and the expanding control of the state. VET became a mechanism for social and macroeconomic reform by being tied to youth employment, skills formation, human capital and Australia's global economic competitiveness.

This study also draws on Popkewitz's (1987, 1991 , 1997) notion that the state exploits curriculum as a converting ordinance. Technical curriculum postulates the forms of knowledge which frame and classify the world, the nature of work and in turn organises and shapes individual identity and citizenship (Fejes et al. 2015). Through a case study I demonstrate how the VET policy initiatives introduced mechanisms that privileged certain political and professional actors to dominate knowledge and thereby assume their identity in economic affairs. The dominant educational philosophies in VET aim to inculcate people to adapt to these social forms rather than critically interrogate them.

The federal government privatised the writing and ratifying of VET course content by contracting Industry Skills Councils to produce training packages, which specified the learning outcomes and required competencies embedded in the competency-based VET qualifications (Goozee 2001 ). The VET curriculum was also rationalised by the removal of the cognitive and behavioural attributes of knowledge to permit the awarding of qualifications via the Recognition of Prior Leaming (Buchanan et al. 2004 ). The study concludes that there is no embedded curriculum in VET or TAFE NSW courses. This afforded NSW TAFE, and the for-profit sector, the privilege to determine the volume-of-learning, student/teacher ratios and modes of delivery, which allowed the student-centred citizenship paradigm of VET to be replaced with an economic, human-capital model.

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In memory of my father,

Vasilios Loupis (29 May 1918 – 22 July 1994)

Whose political stance, lectures on Political Economics and his activism on behalf of Greek farmers led to his being blacklisted by the right-wing Greek Rally and National Radical Union governments between 1952 and 1958, compelling him to migrate to Australia in 1958.

His sacrifices and the abandoning of his homeland provided me the opportunity and freedom to pursue a higher education and to contribute to the Australian education system both at university level and in TAFE.

I did not realise how much I was influenced by him until I commenced this research.

Abstract

This research investigates the effects of the 1987 federal government’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy on curriculum development on NSW TAFE by undertaking a critical policy analysis and utilising interview data. Drawing on Foucault’s (1980, 1982) power/knowledge nexus, the study examines the complexities of social and structural relations to power and knowledge and how the state regulates the acquisition of knowledge. Foucault (1972a) saw curriculum as one form of social regulation that connects the citizen to the state. The VET policies embodied power relations by prescribing new practices that regulates the individual in a manner that is interrelated with the multiple demands of the new neoliberal economy and the expanding control of the state. VET became a mechanism for social and macroeconomic reform by being tied to youth employment, skills formation, human capital and Australia’s global economic competitiveness.

This study also draws on Popkewitz’s (1987, 1991, 1997) notion that the state exploits curriculum as a converting ordinance. Technical curriculum postulates the forms of knowledge which frame and classify the world, the nature of work and in turn organises and shapes individual identity and citizenship (Olson et al. 2015). Through a case study I demonstrate how the VET policy initiatives introduced mechanisms that privileged certain political and professional actors to dominate knowledge and thereby impose their identity in the construction of educational policy, and how other stakeholders have been disadvantaged by the selection, organisation and control of curriculum intellectual property in TAFE NSW. The dominant educational philosophies in VET aim to inculcate people to adapt to these social forms rather than critically interrogate them.

The federal government privatised the writing and ratifying of VET course content by contracting Industry Skills Councils to produce training packages, which specified the learning outcomes and required competencies embedded in the competency-based VET qualifications (Goozee 2001). The VET curriculum was also rationalised by the removal of the cognitive and behavioural attributes of knowledge to permit the awarding of qualifications via the Recognition of Prior Learning (Buchanan et al. 2004). The study concludes that there is no embedded curriculum in VET or TAFE NSW courses. This afforded NSW TAFE, and the for-profit sector, the privilege to determine the volume-of-learning, student/teacher ratios and modes of delivery, which allowed the student-centred citizenship paradigm of VET to be replaced with an economic, human-capital model. ii

Originality Statement

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. iii

Acknowledgements

Particular acknowledgement is due to Professor Kalervo Gulson and Dr Matthew Clarke who started me on this journey and succoured my transition from Architecture to Education. Their invaluable guidance and support in supervising the writing of this thesis is greatly appreciated. Many thanks also to Dr Richard Niesche, who came on board after Dr Clarke moved to England and seamlessly segued as my second supervisor. I wish to thank Dr Niesche and Professor Gulson for their encouragement, especially during the final critical stages of the preparation of the thesis for which I will be eternally grateful.

Love and many thanks to my wife Maruschka, for her continued encouragement and proofreading and editing of the early drafts, and to my daughter Yasmine (MEd), for proofreading and editing the final drafts.

List of Figures Page

Figure 2.1 The federal government’s involvement in Vocational 15 Education and Training (VET)

Figure 4.1 The pathways between technical education and university 115 education in 1889

Figure 4.2 NSW Department of Technical and Further Education Organisational Chart 1983 123

Figure 4.3 The Curriculum Directorate Organisational Chart within the NSW Department of Technical and Further Education 124

Figure 4.4 The TAFE Schools Curriculum Division Organisational Chart within the NSW Department of Technical and Further Education 124

Figure 4.5 The steps and procedures in establishing a new course or revising an existing course in TAFE NSW 126

Figure 4.6 Factors influencing curriculum 127

Figure 4.7 The components of Training Packages and curriculum 142

Figure 4.8 TAFE NSW Sydney Institute Organisational Chart 152

Figure 6.1 The unifying features of an integrated assessment method 219

Figure 7.1 The “resultor” assessment tool – new for VET assessors 263

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Historical patterns of concern in technical education 7 Table 2.1 Australian VET enrolment statistics between 2010 and 2015 16

Table 2.2 Features addressing complications of two conjectural views of TAFE 17

Table 2.3 A comparison of professional and marketised values in education 54

Table 2.4 The AQF hierarchy of post-secondary qualifications (endnote) 295 Table 2.5 A comparison of Education and Privatisation (endnote) 297 Table 2.6 Ethical frameworks for educational policy (endnote) 297 Table 2.7 A comparison of the 2012 TAFE teacher entry qualifications with the current qualifications (endnote) 298

Table 6.1 The evolution of the Architectural Drafting course in 182 TAFE NSW

Table 6.2 The levels of complexity of the Key Competencies 186 v

Table 6.3 The typical volume of learning for VET qualifications 188 Table 6.4 1st year undergraduate Architecture Students at UNSW 200

Table 6.5 1st year undergraduate Architecture Students at University of Sydney 200

Table 6.6 Diploma of Architectural Technology graduates from 2010 to 2014, 1st year course entry student pathway questionnaire results summary 202

Table 6.7 A comparison of the learning outcomes in the Certificate IV in Architectural Technology and Diploma of Architectural Technology and the Diploma of Building Design course Contents (endnote) 303

Acronyms

ACE Adult and Community Education ACOTAFE Australian Committee on Technical and Further Education ACPET Australian Council for Private Education and Training ACT Australian Capital Territory ADEP Assistant Director of Educational Programs (TAFE NSW) AGPS Australian Government Publishing Service ANTA Australian National Training Authority ASQA Australian Skills Quality Authority AQF Australian Qualifications Framework AVETMISS Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard

CBA Competency-based Assessment CBT Competency-based Training COAG Council of Australian Governments CPSISC Construction Property Services Industry Skills Council DET Department of Education and Training ETO Enterprise Training Organisation ISC Industry Skills Council ITAB Industry Training Advisory Board LSAY Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth NCVER National Centre for Vocational Education Research NCC National Core Curriculum NQC National Quality Council NSSC National Skills Standards Council NSW New South Wales OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development RTO Registered Training Organisation SOS Student Outcomes Survey SSO Skills Services Organisation STC Sydney Technical College TAFE Technical and Further Education TES Training Education Support UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation USI Unique Student Identifier VET Vocational Education and Training

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Table of Contents Page

Abstract i

Originality Statement ii

Acknowledgements iii

List of Figures iv

List of Tables iv

Acronyms vi

Chapter 1: The context of the research

Introduction 1 Background 2 Aim of the study 4 Research questions 6 Significance of the study 6 Outline of the thesis 9

Chapter 2: The impact of global neoliberalism on curriculum policy in VET in Australia - A literature review

Introduction 12 Governmentality – an introduction 12 Governance of TAFE NSW 13 College administration – from Institutes to Regions 14 VET enrolments in Australia – 2010 – 2015 16 Federalism and vocational education 16 TAFE policy from 1987 to the present 18 A comparison of traditional curriculum development procedures with current procedures 23 Global factors influencing education policy reforms in VET 26 Political economy 26 Globalisation 27 Global neoliberalism 29 The impact of neoliberal discourse on education and VET 32 The influence of globalisation on VET in Australia 34 viii

The influence of the OECD in VET policy in Australia 34 The introduction of the VET policies in Australia 35 VET in Europe 36

Economic rationalism and VET policy 39

Corporate managerialism in TAFE 41 Performative accountability in VET 43 The marketisation of TAFE 44

The VET market in Australia 46 The privatisation of VET delivery 48 The privatisation of educational research 50 Devolution and outsourcing of VET 50 Decentralisation of TAFE NSW administration 52 Educational values within economic rationalism 53 The introduction of competition in VET 55 Current TAFE NSW policies – Smart and Skilled policy 56 Chapter summary 57

Chapter 3: Methodology: critical policy studies and interviews

Introduction 58 Background to the research 59 The researcher as activist 61 The TAFE NSW “Code of Conduct” 63 Theoretical Framework: Part 1 – curriculum development policy 65 Curriculum as a study of power relations 68 Power – A Foucauldian perspective 69 The Nexus of Power and Knowledge 73 Epistemology and qualitative educational research 77 Epistemology 78 Qualitative research 79 Theoretical Framework: Part 2 – Methodology / theory: Critical policy analysis 80

Critique for policy studies – A Foucauldian perspective 81 Genealogy and its relevance to Critical Policy Analysis 84 Critical policy analysis 86 Politics of education 88 Policy 89 ix

Policy documents 90 Policy documents as discourse 92 “Truth” and the language in policies 94 The specifics of critical policy studies and this research 96 The research design 97 Case study – Diploma of Architectural Technology 97 Policy documents 99 Interviews 101 Interview participants’ profiles 102 Participants 102 Criteria 103 Analysis of data 104 Ethics approval 105 Limitations 106 Chapter summary 107

Chapter 4: Curriculum within the TAFE NSW organisational structure Introduction 108 Politics, policy, syllabus and curriculum defined 108 Policy 108 Syllabus 109 Curriculum 109 Historical context of vocational education 111 The evolution of vocational education 111 The evolution of technical education in NSW 113 The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts 113 Sydney Technical College 114 The development of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) in NSW 118 The Kangan Report 119 Technical curriculum development from 1833 to Dawkins 121 National Core Curriculum – the antecedent to privatisation 126 The privatisation of TAFE curriculum 132 Industry Training and Advisory Bodies (ITABs) 132 “…from the cold dead hands of the educators” 132 TAFE links with industry 135 x

The National Training Framework (NTF) 136 Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) 136 The introduction of training packages and competency- based training 138 National nomenclature in VET 140 The components of Training Packages 140 The for-profit sector and training packages 142 The relegation of the TAFE NSW Curriculum Centres 144 Organisational restructuring in TAFE NSW and its impact on curriculum 145 Assessment in VET 147 Competency-based assessment 147 Assessment and evidence 149 Current VET policy and organisational restructuring 150 Chapter Summary 151

Chapter 5: A critical analysis of the Skilled for Australia policy Introduction 153 What was the historical context of the Skills for Australia policy? 154 What were the goals of the policy? 159 National VET qualifications 161 National nomenclature and governmentality in VET 161 The privatisation of VET 163 Training packages 164 The privatisation of VET curriculum development 165 Who has benefited from and who has been disadvantaged by the Skills for Australia policy? 165 The nature of VET curriculum 166 Truth in policy documents 170 Competition 172 Epilogue to Skills for Australia 173 Chapter summary 176

Chapter 6: The politics of curriculum development for the Diploma of Architectural Technology course: A case study

Introduction 178 Case studies 179 xi

The Diploma of Architectural Technology course 180 The genesis of the course 180 The embedded curriculum in the Diploma of Architectural Technology 181

The curriculum development process for the Diploma of Architectural Technology 183

The structure of the Architectural Technology course 183 The embedded curriculum 184 Competency Levels 186 Volume of learning 187 Student/Teacher ratio 189 Teacher qualifications 190 Pathways to university 191 The Diploma of Building Design course The politics of VET curriculum development 191 The curriculum developed by Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) 192 Rational for the development of the course 193 The politics of ISC sub-committee membership 197 Unsubstantiated claims to justify federal funding 199 Unsubstantiated claims to justify writing VET curriculum 201 The establishment of the BDA and its power base Introduction 203 The Architects Act 203 The politicisation of apartment design in NSW – the introduction of the SEPP65 legislation 205 Curriculum enters the political domain Lobbying for the licencing of Building Designers 206 Architecture and the correlation of design curriculum 207 Lobbying the ISC to change the name of the course to reflect the association’s name 209 Contracting TAFE NSW to issue qualifications via RPL – competition between TAFE Institutes 210

Lobbying the ISC to write the Graduate Diploma/Certificate courses (without prerequisites) 211 “Small acts of cunning”…Foucault – the BDA scheming with the TAFE TES Unit to discontinue the Advanced Diploma of Sustainable Building Design course 213

Assessment in the Diploma of Building Design 215 Holistic Assessment 218 xii

Graded Competency-Based Assessment 219 A comparison between the Diploma of Architectural Technology and the Diploma of Building Design 220 The structure of design curriculum 222 A holistic design curriculum 223 Chapter summary 223

Chapter 7: The impact of corporate managerialism on TAFE NSW curriculum development Introduction 225 Governmentality within TAFE NSW 228 The governance of TAFE NSW 230 ASQA and compliance 231 The manifestation of corporate managerialism in TAFE NSW 235 Managers versus educators 237 Contracts for TAFE managers 241 Perpetual management restructuring in TAFE NSW 243 The impacts of the privatisation of VET curriculum on TAFE NSW 246 Privatisation in an educational context 246 The impacts of the privatisation of VET curriculum 250 The “collateral damage” caused by the privatisation of VET 251

The “dumbing down” of curriculum 255 The supplanting of the Diploma of Architectural Technology with The Diploma of Building design 256

The loss of a sense of community 257 Section summary 258 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment – regulatory mechanism for VET teachers, or Assessors versus Teachers 258 The dividing practices of the Smart and Skilled policy 263 The Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) computer system – another corporate managerial regulatory mechanism 267 Unique Student Identifier (USI) Introduction 270 Unique Student Identifier (USI) 270 Government Employee Number (GEN) Introduction 272 Government Employee Number (GEN) 272

xiii

Chapter Summary 273

Chapter 8: Conclusions and recommendations Introduction 275 Key premise of the thesis 275 Key Findings Policy and politics 277 The politicisation of technical education 279 Privileging industry in TAFE NSW 282 Corporate managerialism in TAFE NSW 283 The impact of VET policies on the nature and values of technical education in NSW 284 The impact of VET policies on the nature of technical education in TAFE NSW 285 There is always more to education 287 The impact of VET policies on educational values in TAFE 289 Conclusions 291

Recommendations for research and policy 293

Endnotes 295

References 310

Appendix (on CD-R) Appendix I TAFE NSW Head Teachers feedback on the Diploma of Building Design course

Appendix II (a) Membership Certificates – Royal Australia Institute of Architects and Papua New Guinea Institute of Architects (b) Selected architectural projects

Appendix III Thank you note from St George College Students’ Association Appendix IV UNSW Research Ethics Approval Appendix V Interview questions and covering letter to interview participants Appendix VI The evolution of the Diploma of Architectural Technology course 1961 to the present

Appendix VII (a) Curriculum methodology and pedagogical directives in the Diploma of Architectural Technology course documents (b) Typical training package documents for the Diploma of Building Design course

Appendix VIII Historical advanced standing arrangements with universities

Appendix IX UTS advanced standing arrangements with TAFE NSW Appendix X Institute of Architect’s email xiv

Appendix XI St George College students’ Design projects (a) Arnold Wang (b) Alex Yingchao Huang (c) Minh Nhut Pham

Appendix XII Sydney Institute’s Memorandum of Understanding with the BDA

Appendix XIII Collusion between TAFE NSW Training and Education Support (TES) Unit and Building Designers Association (BDA) to delete teacher- written curriculum Appendix XIV Master Plumbers Association of NSW letter to Minister of Education 1

Chapter 1: The context of the research “The beautiful thing about an education is that nobody can take it away from you...” B B King (1998)

Introduction

In October 2011, I attended a meeting with the entire Architectural Technology section at St George College of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) at Kogarah NSW to discuss the introduction of a new Diploma course which was to replace the course that we had been teaching since 2007. The Assistant Director of Educational Programs (ADEP), who was chairing the meeting, explained that the new course, to commence in 2012, will be called the Diploma of Building Design. I questioned why the course name was changed considering we had established advanced standing arrangements for our graduates with the four New South Wales universities that offered Architecture degrees. The ADEP replied that the course was written by an Industry Skills Council (ISC). I explained to the ADEP that I had written curriculum for the Advanced Diploma of Architectural Technology course, as well as commercial courses and was a member of the steering committee which incorporated sustainability subjects into all Construction, Engineering and Transport courses in TAFE NSW. I inquired whether I could comment on the new course. The ADEP responded that I was not permitted to comment on the new course or its content as its adoption by TAFE NSW was a fait accompli.

It seemed that I was the only staff member raising any concerns. At this point one other staff member became vocal and claimed this to be a conspiracy concocted by the Building Designers Association1. The Head Teacher later gave me the minutes of a previous meeting he attended along with all the Head Teachers of Architectural Technology in NSW TAFE, which showed that they had made numerous suggestions to the course structure and the proposed subject contents, which were ignored by the ISC.

TAFE NSW teachers have always been invited to comment on new courses and revised curricula proposed for the sections in which they taught (see Chapter 2). When I wrote 6 subjects for the Advanced Diploma of Architectural Technology I emailed the draft curriculum to all the sections that were to teach the qualification throughout

Australia for comment. TAFE colleges from all states responded and I considered their comments. This protocol was not undertaken before the Diploma of Building Design course was adopted and programmed for implementation by TAFE NSW.

Research has shown that the attitude of TAFE teachers, in all disciplines, is significantly more positive towards curriculum development when they are involved in its development process (McBeath 1991, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c, 1997d). The accepted process of curriculum dissemination, that is, the process by which teachers are informed about new or revised curriculum ideas, documents or innovations so that they understand and accept the innovations, was not undertaken by the authors of the new Diploma of Building Design course, adopted in 2012.

I left the meeting determined to investigate how TAFE NSW was forced to accept and adopt curricula developed by an ISC in 2011 when the teachers of technical curricula had, since 1833, written the curriculum. This quandary educed my interest in focussing this study on the educational politics of curriculum policy in technical education.

In the following section I position TAFE NSW within the context of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Australia and discuss how the VET policy initiatives introduced in 1987 impacted on curriculum development in TAFE NSW. I also discuss the aim of the study, enumerate the research questions I formulated for the research, explain the significance of the study and provide an outline of the thesis.

Background

The education system in Australia has three tiers – primary, secondary and post- secondary or tertiary education. The third tier is divided between Vocational Education and Training (VET) and university education2. The state-government administered Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector, which operates within the framework of VET, is the largest public provider of post-secondary education in Australia, with just under 1.6 million students enrolled annually in a myriad of attendance patterns (NCVER 2016). There were 474,000 students enrolled in TAFE in NSW in 2015, down from 595,300 students in 2012 (NCVER 2016). Pre 1987, private technical post- secondary colleges primarily focussed on delivering secretarial and commercial studies

3 courses and were not afforded access to government funding. Since the introduction of the VET policies in 1987, private providers are allowed to operate within the VET sector, under the federal government’s ‘price competitive’ policy, and are eligible to tender for government-sponsored VET services (Wilson 2010). All of the government- owned TAFE colleges have become public VET providers within the federal VET system. There were 1,978 training organisations delivering government-funded VET programs in 2015, comprised of 54 state and territory administered TAFE institutes, 14 other government providers, 391 community education providers and 1,585 for-profit training organisations (NCVER 2016, p. 5). In 2015 TAFE colleges commanded 59.1% of total VET enrolments in Australia, the for-profit sector commanded 34.7%, other non-profit providers (community colleges) commanded 5% and there were 1.2% of multiple-sector enrolments (NCVER 2016).

The federal VET policy initiatives instigated a broader involvement of industry in technical education “in matters such as curriculum development, the sharing of training facilities and equipment, and the provision of training itself” (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. 14). Before the federal government procured financial responsibility for TAFE in the early 1990s, all of the states and territories were responsible for the funding and administration of their own TAFE colleges. There were no reciprocal arrangements between the states and territories with regard to curriculum development, course materials or recognition of qualifications from one state to the other.

From 1833 until 1987 technical education curriculum was developed, evaluated, disseminated and implemented by the teachers of the curriculum. Technical and vocational education in NSW, and more broadly TAFE, since its inception in 1974, has been receptive to community and industry demands in its curriculum development undertakings by including in the consultation process curriculum professionals, TAFE teachers and senior teachers and/or administrators, and industry representatives who are familiar with TAFE curriculum and the subject areas under review (Ross, R 1977).

The writers of curriculum may embed a particular paradigm or reinterpret existing paradigms. Technical curriculum was traditionally construed as product (Tyler 1949), where facts, skills and values are conveyed through conventional theory and practical classes in both lecture rooms and workshops. This process continued until the early

1990s, when the federal Labor3 minister of education, John Dawkins, introduced VET policy initiatives, which allowed industry to sanction, write and ratify VET curriculum. As will be argued in this thesis, the new VET policies were influenced by neoliberal market-based principles, which had also been adopted by governments in Great Britain and the United States of America (USA). Neoliberal states advance economic policies that promote less expenditure and less intervention by the state in economic and social affairs. As a consequence, the TAFE system encountered significant restructuring and numerous policy incarnations. During my tenure at NSW TAFE it devolved from a centralised administration in 1983 into 24 networks, to 11 Institutes, to 10 Institutes followed by One TAFE comprising five Regions in 2016. Economic rationalist ideology and economic expediency became part of TAFE curriculum development policy (McBeath 1997a, 1997b, 1997c). As a result, the responsibility for the development of ‘curriculum’ was taken away from the academics, professionals and teachers of the curriculum and conferred on industry.

Aim of the study

The purpose of this study is to undertake a qualitative evaluation of the effects of federal government VET policy on curriculum development in TAFE NSW, with specific reference to the Diploma of Architectural Technology course. This study is especially relevant, as the current VET policy allows private enterprise to write and ratify VET curriculum.

It is the argument of this thesis that since the introduction of national VET policy initiatives, curriculum development for VET has been privatised. It is formulated by Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) and since 2016 Skills Services Organisations (SSOs), which are sub-contracted by the federal government to develop Training Packages. The privatisation of VET curriculum entrusted industry to write the syllabus and course content, rather than the teachers of the curriculum. Giroux (2000a) argues that teachers, both as professionals and intellectuals should have an active role in shaping curriculum. Up until January 2016 there were eleven ISCs funded by the federal government to develop, implement and update Training Packages and provide skills and training advice to Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). This task is now undertaken by eight Skills Services Organisations (SSOs), one of which is PwC Skills

5 for Australia, owned by Price Waterhouse Coopers, the world’s largest professional services firm, headquartered in London (PwC 2016).

This thesis is guided by the proposition that the privatisation of curriculum development in TAFE NSW may have allowed the curriculum to be influenced by industry-vested interests since the VET policies allowed industry to write their own curriculum. The term privatisation has also been employed in the literature with reference to VET curriculum development by McBeath (1997a, 1997b, 1997c), Marginson (1993, 1997a, 1997b) and Seddon (2001, 2015a), amongst others, to explain the shift from the educationalist-written curriculum to the industry-written curriculum. In the previous sentence I italicise the word privatisation to clarify that numerous VET researchers argue that the Australian federal government’s practice of contracting Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) to write and ratify training packages does not constitute the privatisation of VET curriculum. The term privatisation may be open to individual semantic interpretation. I contend that since ISCs and SSOs are incorporated as private companies, for funding and governance purposes, and their practices and conduct reflect those of a private company – especially the ISC that wrote, endorsed and verified the training packages for the Diploma of Building Design course – I will continue to exploit the term privatisation. This will be elaborated in Chapter 6.

This study also examines how VET policies, since 1987, excluded the traditional stakeholders (TAFE teachers, TAFE schools/sections, TAFE communities) in the TAFE curriculum development process as well as the layers of political influence exerted by the new stakeholders (unions and industry). Archival records are explored and the thesis draws upon Michel Foucault’s notion of genealogy to situate the privatised curriculum historically as well as deliberating on the economic, political and socio-economic circumstances at the time the policy was formulated. Throughout this thesis I also draw upon my extensive experience – over 33 years – of curriculum development within TAFE and within the architectural profession in Australia and Papua New Guinea. Prior to working in TAFE, I had spent four years as a part-time tutor and four years as a full-time lecturer in Architecture at university level. Since joining TAFE NSW in June 1983, I have been involved in curriculum development within the Architectural Technology and Sustainability disciplines in TAFE NSW. Since graduating in Architecture in 1979 I also practiced as a sole practitioner, and in various architectural partnerships.

Research questions

With what I saw as the privatisation of VET curriculum, I was determined to investigate who has benefited from and who has been disadvantaged by the selection, organisation and control of curriculum intellectual property in TAFE NSW. I also sought to investigate the educational politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE in NSW since 1987, by analysing the policy that entrusted industry with the writing and ratifying of VET Curriculum. The Skills for Australia policy, which entrusted industry with the development of curriculum, instigated an alternative paradigm to the traditionally accepted practice and approach to curriculum development in TAFE. The federal government required all states and territories to adopt nationally-accredited VET qualifications and the consequent implementation of training packages and competency-based assessment. This led me to formulate the following research questions:

x What factors explain the changes in curriculum development policy in TAFE from when curriculum was developed internally to the current situation where curriculum is developed by Industry Skills Councils?

x How have these changes in curriculum development policy in TAFE altered the nature of vocational education?

x How does this change reflect and also constitute wider changes in the educational values in TAFE?

Significance of the study

Seddon (2004, p. 2) argues that TAFE is “hugely under-researched and its complexities”, arise “from its location at the interface of community, industry and government and sub-cultures rooted in industrial training, radical second chance education, cross-class philanthropic learning and access-oriented general education”. Successive federal governments continue to formulate VET policy within an economic stricture rather than within educational parameters. In addition to the federal policies, state governments have also adopted their own policies. Table 1.1 outlines the history

7 of technical education and the historical patterns of government concerns regarding vocational education in Australia.

Indications of Indicators of national and Indicators of Australian Concepts of educational debate international vocational educational educational goals governmental concerns concerns Depression, 1890 Emergence of Mechanics Stimulus-Response Institutes and Schools of Arts Associationalism (Thorndike 1906) Individual Development World War I Technical Colleges in Beyond specific skills 1:Fullest intellectual Departments of Education to problem-solving and social meaning of ability; meaning work (Dewey,1916) Relevance of Post-war reconstruction; Routinised automated Education 1: Scientific Great Depression manual dexterity efficiency (Bobbitt, Manual dexterity, 1924; Charters, 1924) World War II Use of Technical Colleges in the related to industrial war effort demands Individual Development Post war reconstruction Financial deprivation of Plurality of legitimate 2:(Tyler, 1949) technical education outcomes Relevance of Depression Behavioural objectives. Observable, Education 2: Surveying industry’s needs. measurable Behaviourism (Mager, Martin Report (1964) creating a performance on 1962; Skinner, 1954) relevant advanced education predictable tasks sector Individual Development UNESCO Report on Kangan Report (1974), meeting Holistic individual 3: Humanism (Maslow, Learning to Be (Faure et al industry’s needs through the development 1971; Rogers, 1969) 1972) individual Adult learning (Knowles, 1979,1980) Relevance of Depression, 1983 Fast, responsive occupational Functional Education 3: needs analyses (Blachford, competence at work 1986) Individual Development OECD Report on Life skills, participation and Freedom through 4 and Empowerment: Competencies Needed in equity, social justice learning, Critical Theory in Adult Working Life (OECD, 1980) empowerment: Education (e.g. Boud, Adaptability, 1987; Brookfield, 1988) Creativity, Innovativeness Relevance of High levels of youth Competency-Based Training Observable, Education 4: Industry unemployment (The National Training Board measurable driven education 1990, 1991) National Skill performance to Levels, Credit Transfer, industrial standards Consistency

Integration of Post- compulsory education and training (Finn 1991; Mayer, 1992a, 1992b)

Table 1.1: Historical patterns of concerns in vocational education (source: Stevenson 1992, p. 219)

This research analyses the policies that allowed industry to have new roles in VET, specifically writing and ratifying VET Curriculum. Historically, changes and updates to TAFE curriculum were undertaken ‘internally’, whereas from 2003 to 2016 the formulation of all new curricula for the construction industry was sub-contracted to a private company, the Construction Property Services Industry Skills Council (CPSISC).

My investigation of the literature regarding VET in Australia indicates that the majority of the research being undertaken is primarily prescriptive and quantitative in nature. The literature also shows that there has been no TAFE-wide research undertaken on the political machinations which resulted in the introduction and adoption of the Dawkins VET policies, or the impact of privatisation and managerialist administrative practices on teachers’ professionalism. By utilising the Diploma of Architectural Technology course as a case study the thesis contextualises the economic, educational and cultural impacts of the VET policies on TAFE. Each Australian state and territory developed its own administrative structures for technical education based on its differing social, economic, demographic, geographic and political needs (Goozee 2001).

This study has significance from both a theoretical and professional perspective. From a theoretical stance, analyses and compares the previous and current curriculum development policies to investigate who has benefited from and who has been disadvantaged by the selection, organisation and control of curriculum intellectual property in TAFE NSW. I draw on Foucault’s (1980, 1982) power/knowledge nexus to examine the complexities of social and structural relations to power and knowledge and how the state regulates the acquisition of knowledge. Foucault (1972a) saw curriculum as one form of social regulation that connects the citizen to the state. This study also draws on Popkewitz’s (1987, 1991, 1997) notion that the state exploits curriculum as a converting ordinance. Technical curriculum postulates the forms of knowledge which frame and classify the world, the nature of work and in turn organises and shapes individual identity and citizenship (Olson et al. 2015).

From a professional viewpoint, the study investigates to what extent the privatisation of curriculum development in TAFE NSW has allowed the curriculum to be influenced by industry-vested interests and if the privatised model of curriculum development has privileged industry at the expense of students and consequently, future professionals. The majority of the qualitative curriculum research undertaken to date in VET has focused on discussing the educational shortfalls of training packages and competency based assessment with scant analysis of the politics surrounding curriculum. Beyond this framework, VET research in Australia is predominantly undertaken by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), a federal government institution

9 that coordinates and funds research in VET. The NCVER’s regular Student Outcome Surveys (SOS) do not separate the graduates’ outcomes specifically, but combine them by industry. The Architectural Technology graduates’ results are embedded in the results that combine every course in the construction industry, so there are no specific results for Architectural Technology students. The NCVER surveys are also primarily concerned with quantitative outcomes and do not examine or correlate any qualitative data. One of the main aims of this study is to undertake a holistic and qualitative interpretation of all the research data that is investigated.

Outline of the thesis

This chapter provides the context of the research project and an introduction to the thesis. It includes background information on the study and myself and lists the research questions that have been investigated by the study. It also outlines the theoretical framework for the study.

Chapter 2 identifies the changes in policy and governance in TAFE in NSW, since 1987, in part are related to understanding the concept of global neoliberalism. A critical review of literature was undertaken to investigate why and how the VET policies have impacted the curriculum development policy in TAFE, how they have altered the nature of vocational education and how these changes reflect wider changes in educational values. The literature review is divided into five sections. Section one situates TAFE within the context of VET in Australia. Section two investigates the factors influencing the educational policy reforms in VET. Section three discusses the marketisation of VET with specific reference to TAFE NSW. Section four examines the governance structure of TAFE and how it has adapted to the VET reforms. Section five examines the latest VET policies and their implications for TAFE NSW.

Chapter 3 identifies the multifaceted research methodologies employed to ensure that the study adequately addresses the research questions enumerated in chapter 1. Firstly, a critical policy analysis, drawing on Michel Foucault’s notions of Power/Knowledge, was undertaken to examine the policies that altered the nature of vocational education and to position these policies within their historical and social contexts and the inherent power relations at the time of their introduction. Secondly, a

10 case study approach was adopted to trace historically, the battles, or the forms of power and lines of opposition between them that have gone into making the world as we know it in the present (Butler 2002). Thirdly, face-to-face and online interviews were conducted with both retired and currently-employed senior TAFE administrators and policy formulators to examine and compare the changes in policy formulation practice. The epistemological stance that informs the study is described so as to explain and justify the qualitative research approach that influenced the theoretical framework for the thesis. The latter part of the chapter discusses the research design undertaken – including the case study for the thesis and the data and archival evidence analysis process that was employed. It also profiles the interview participants and the ethics approval process.

In Chapter 4 I undertake a historical review that locates curriculum within the TAFE NSW organisational structure. A historical analysis is undertaken to trace the evolution of technical education in NSW. An examination of the curriculum development process in TAFE NSW demonstrates that traditionally technical curriculum was written by the teachers of the curriculum. In this chapter I critically analyse VET curriculum development policies since 1987. I also identify the traditional stakeholders in TAFE curriculum development and examine how the VET policies have excluded these stakeholders, and explain the layers of political influence exerted by the current stakeholders.

Chapter 5 presents a critical analysis of the policy that appropriated technical curriculum from TAFE teachers and conferred the writing and verifying of technical syllabus and course content to industry. The critical policy analysis examines the Skills for Australia policy by positioning it within its historical and social contexts while interpreting and analysing the inherent power relations and conflicts at the time of its introduction and examines the ideological differences in and around curriculum development with specific emphasis to the curriculum development policies of TAFE NSW. This analysis investigates closely the policy’s origins and its consequences to explore the broader sociological issues enveloping technical education.

Chapter 6 presents the case study utilised for this research that exemplifies the politics of curriculum development by outlining the machinations which saw the teacher-written

11 course, the Diploma of Architectural Technology being replaced by the industry-written course, the Diploma of Building Design. Foucault’s power/knowledge nexus is used to explore the power relations between the various stakeholders. The experiences and views of the interview participants will be examined to highlight and elucidate the implied and invisible power relations.

Chapter 7 analyses how the economic rationalist policies of TAFE NSW resulted in the introduction of managerialist practices for curriculum development, assessment methodology and student administrative practices. I draw on Foucault’s notion of governmentality to conceptualise the myriad of neoliberal practices that have become ensconced in TAFE policies and governance hierarchies since the sanctioning of the 1987 VET policy initiatives. I show how these practices shaped the actions of TAFE NSW teachers, how they normalised them and how particular processes and procedures were adopted as the preferred or prescribed TAFE NSW praxis while the government proselytised its VET policies as the only economic solution to the state’s training problems.

Chapter 8, the final chapter, which provides a discussion of the key findings and relates them to the literature. It also amalgamates the main themes that emerge from the study and advocates specific conclusions. It concludes with a discussion of some possible options to improve the curriculum development process in TAFE.

Chapter 2: The impact of global neoliberalism on curriculum policy in VET in Australia – A literature review

Introduction

One of the main aims of this thesis is to investigate the politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE in NSW and to examine how curriculum change is related to broader educational policy and political reforms. This chapter aims to provide background and conceptual tools that will be used throughout the thesis to address the impact of neoliberal ideology on the curriculum development process in TAFE NSW and explore the influences of the different layers of power relationships in policy formulation. This chapter also examines the changes in the curriculum development process in vocational education to determine how it has altered the nature of technical education and the concomitant changes in educational values.

This chapter starts firstly with an outline of the current governance structure of TAFE, including the links between federal and state and territory governments. Secondly, this chapter examines the global economic impacts on TAFE and incorporates concepts of privatisation, marketisation and corporate managerialism to show how economic rationalist ideology and economic expediency influenced TAFE NSW policies and how they have impacted on TAFE NSW curriculum development policy. The themes of marketisation, privatisation, corporate managerialism and contestation are discussed. Thirdly, this chapter discusses the current TAFE NSW policies to illustrate how the current State Liberal government has manifested its neoliberal political and economic policies into their VET policies.

Governmentality – an introduction

Governmentality, according to Foucault (1997, p. 300) is

…the whole range of practices that constitute, define, organize and instrumentalize the strategies that individuals in their freedom can use in dealing with each other. Those who try to control, determine and limit the freedom of others are themselves free individuals who have at their disposal certain instruments they can use to govern others.

Foucault did not delimit the state as a central agency operating under a “particular ideology”, but as a “set of practices” contrived to govern a living population (Villadsen 2015, p. 148) by developing strategies, techniques, programmes, and rationalities of

13 government and the respective subject positions” (Baumgarten and Ullrich 2016, pp. 23 - 24, emphasis in original). Foucault (1991, p. 102) had earlier connected governmentality to institutions: An ensemble formed by the institutions, procedures, analyses and reflections, the calculations and tactics that allow the exercise of this very specific albeit complex form of power which it has as its target populations, as its principal form of knowledge, political economy, and as its essentially technical means and apparatuses of society.

Foucault (1982) construed the machinations of government as the “conduct of conduct” or the power to act on the actions of others (Christie 2006) through the methodical application of technologies and statistics to control human behaviour. Through his historical analysis of the practices by which modern governments exercise control over their populations, Foucault averred that the state establishes the “art of governing” by introducing economy into political practice. This necessitates the induction of economy “at the level of the entire state”, including exercising scrutiny towards its population’s wealth and conduct, “a form of surveillance and control as attentive as that of the head of a family over his household” (Foucault 1991, p. 92).

The governance of TAFE NSW1

Governmentality examines the methods and practices adopted by the state to govern or control its population. Governance relates to the organisational structure and procedures by which corporations are managed, which customarily influences how the objectives of the corporation are set out and achieved, how risk is monitored and assessed and how performance is optimised (Hamilton 2003). In its official publications TAFE NSW asserts that its innovative operational procedures (TAFE NSW 2015a) provide value to their “customers” and aver a profound commitment to effective corporate governance.

The NSW government has connected TAFE NSW’s core responsibility to the strength of the state’s economy by entrusting TAFE to develop the skills required for the NSW economy and to increase “opportunities for Australians to improve themselves and increase their life, education and employment prospects” (PHA 2014b, p. 1). Foucault’s notion of governmentality does not aim to ascertain the “purposes of public policies or the unrealized values in the implementation of reforms”, but undertakes to establish “the principles that organize thought, reason and action (mentalities)” (Popkewitz 1998,

14 p. 86) (emphasis in original) which have problematised the economic and administrative efficiency of VET and obfuscated the diminishing of VET curriculum research.

College Administration – from Institutes to Regions

TAFE colleges in Australia are not autonomous. They are administered by either state or territory governments. In NSW the colleges are grouped in geographically-based clusters called TAFE Institutes, for example, Sydney Institute, Northern Sydney Institute etc. Up until 2016, in NSW there were 10 TAFE Institutes. Each TAFE Institute had its own Institute Director, responsible for all the colleges within that institute. Up until 2014 each college had its own College Director, but now the College Directors have been retitled Faculty Directors and are responsible for their own faculty group and are no longer involved in the administration of the individual college campuses. In August 2016, the 10 Institutes were combined into to 5 Regions. The Regions’ administrative structure had not been resolved at the time of writing this thesis.

Up until March 2015, the NSW Minister for Education was responsible for TAFE. Since April 2015 the NSW government removed TAFE from the Education ministry and created a separate Ministry of Skills specifically for VET – the first time since the inception of publically-funded technical education in 1883. The Managing Director of TAFE NSW has the statutory responsibility to control the affairs of the NSW TAFE Commission subject to any direction of the Minister. The TAFE Commission Board makes recommendations to the Minister on policies, strategic planning, the efficiency and effectiveness of TAFE operations and management, TAFE NSW’s commercial activities and cross-sectoral issues. The Board members are appointed from industry, the education and training sector and the wider community on the basis of their expertise and experience (TAFENSW 2015a).

There are 64 TAFE Institutes and around 5,000 TAFE Colleges in Australia, all of which are publicly funded. While the federal government has no direct administrative role in TAFE, it does exercise a regulatory function through the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and the National Skills Standards Council (NSSC) – both appointed in 2011. ASQA is the national regulator for Australia’s VET sector and regulates

15 courses and training providers to ensure nationally approved quality standards are met. The NSSC provides advice to the Standing Council on Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment (SCOTESE) on national standards for regulation of vocational education and training. Figure 2.1, outlines the federal government’s involvement in VET.

The latest Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement between the federal government and the State and Territory governments is the National Partnership Agreement on Skill Reforms (2012-2017), which aims to reinforce structural reforms to achieve the following outcomes:

x improving training accessibility and affordability while increasing qualification completions participation by the disengaged or disadvantaged

x facilitating the operation of a more competitive training market

x enabling the for-profit sector to operate effectively in an environment of greater competition

x assuring the quality of training delivery and outcomes to give industry more confidence in the standards of training delivery and assessment

x provide greater transparency to ensure students and employers can make informed choices (COAG 2012, p. 3)

I Council of Australian Governments (COAG), I I

COAG Stan.di n.111I Counc-iil on I ndustry and S1k il s (previouslly Stan dli:n g Councill! on Tertiar y IEclucation, Ski lls an.d Emp,loyme11t ISCOTESE)

National agreemen1i fur skills and ·workforce-deve!'opmen1i Nlational partneirsh:i'pi .agreement on skillls .-e·for1n N!ational Part ne.rs.hip ag.-ee-ment on youth attainment and transition I Australfan l11dlustll)I a11dl Skil s Committee (AISC), I

l1pr,eviousl y, Haficmal Skilllis Stan.dard.s Council (r~ssq National Cen.t r,e 1o·f V ocat ional Ed'u cation R esemc.11 ( 1711 CVEIR.I - provides indus.t,y leadesrship .to tlte vocational -educartion, I I an.d training ( I/IEli) sector in, Australia I I Australian SkilliS Au;s;trnl i!an A:ustra I ian S:tate Quality Author ity Qua lirficafi o ns >--- Qua l'ufi:cati o 11,s Rcegul ato rs (ASQA) Framework Coun.cin Frameworlk ~ (AQFC), - IRe--gistering1tra ining organisations and accredifing1courses lln.dustry Skills Counc-liS - 1regula.te nartio r1al - Tiraining paclicages - prn,vide National Training Pa<:lk.ages I whi<:lh are, .-egul!a,ted lby ASQA Rcegisteredl Train,in.gI O r,ganisa ions I Figure 2.1 The federal government’s involvement in Vocational Education and Training (VET) (Source: PHA 2014a, p. 10)

VET enrolments in Australia – 2010 to 2015

In 1974 TAFE colleges accounted for almost all technical course enrolments in Australia with 458,000 enrolments. By 1985 enrolments increased to 1.3 million (Dawkins and Holding 1987). In the early 1990s, the for-profit sector had 5% of the VET market (ACTU 2012). In 2015 there were 1.59 million students enrolled in the government-funded VET system, of which 59.1% attended TAFE or other government providers, 5% were enrolled at community education providers, 34.7% were enrolled at private training providers and 1.2% attended more than one provider type (NCVER, 2016). Table 2.1 indicates the sequential increase in the for-profit sector’s participation in VET from 2010 to 2015 and the comparative reduction in TAFEs involvement in VET. These statistics denote federally-funded VET enrolments.

Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total VET enrolments 1,772,600 1,860,100 1,924,100 1,853,900 1,789,100 1,597,800 % TAFE enrolments 73.3% 67.1% 65.4% 64.2% 60.6% 59.1% % other non-profit enrolments 6.1% 5.8% 5% 5.8% 5.3% 5.0% % multiple sector enrolments 1% 1.1% 1% 1% 1.5% 1.2% % for-profit enrolments I 19.6% I 26% I 28.6% I 29% I 32.6% I 34.7% I Table 2.1 Australian VET enrolments statistics between 2010 and 2015 (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: NCVER 2016)

The latest published TAFE NSW Strategic Plan (2011-2013) purported to make TAFE NSW Australia’s leading provider of tertiary education by providing and developing the skills that industry, individuals and the wider community required (TAFENSW 2011).

Federalism and vocational education

Technical education has been a state and territory responsibility since the instituting of technical colleges in Australia. The establishment of the Australian Apprenticeship Advisory Committee in 1954 represented a minimal federal intervention into technical education (Ryan 2002). The establishment of the Kangan Committee and the TAFE Commission in 1974 by the Whitlam government marked the introduction of a federalism agenda for VET. The first true commencement of federalism in VET occurred when the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) was established in 1992. Its role was to advise on and manage the frameworks that underpin the development of a national education and training system which integrates education and knowledge into the federal government’s economic agenda (Davies and Bansel

2010). Technical education policies under VET became influenced by federal economic policies. ANTA was specifically designed as a model of concurrent federalism, by acknowledging the substantial rights and responsibilities of both federal and state governments in vocational education, while providing for joint action in policy, planning and funding (Ryan 2002).

While successive federal governments continued the Dawkins model for VET from the early 1990s to the present, each government instituted administrative and organisational amendments to suit its political agenda. The Kangan concept of post- secondary education, which was linked to social objectives (Kangan Report 1974), was replaced with an economic rationalist view of education, or what Powles and Anderson (1996) claim the social service role of TAFE was replaced with that of an economic utility role. To compare the values embedded within these two conflicting views of TAFE they summarised the features of both the social service and economic utility roles of TAFE in Table 2.2:

Social service Economic utility Finance x public x public/ private x distributive justice x user pays System emphasis, x integrated social/educational/vocational objectives x vocational/instructional training goals x focus on individual needs and outcomes x skills acquisition x lifelong learning x economic benefits to individual and industry x recurrent short-cycle training Student enrolments x student driven x market driven Entry x everybody offered some way in x restricted x exploration encouraged x “frivolous” consumption discouraged Courses x courses match people x people match courses x broad-based transferrable skills x job-specific skills x student centred x industry determined x flexible, participatory x standardised x contextualised, socially critical, integrative x sequential x decontextualized, non-reflective, hierarchical Selection x open access x rationed x non-competitive x competitive x non-discriminatory x ranked x flexible x systemised Equity goals x welfare oriented x economy oriented x inclusive with special provision based on nature of x selective with subsidies based on levels disadvantage of disadvantage x needs based, responsive to student diversity x deficit based, targeted to designated x social equity groups x market equity Awards, credentials x descriptive, emphasis on achievements x graded, emphasis on market value of x open, multiple outcome credential x pre-determined outcomes Influencing factors x economic expansion x economic restraint x ideological commitment to the public good and social x ideological commitment to economic development growth and industry priorities

Table 2.2 Features and access implications of two conjectural views of TAFE (Source: Powles and Anderson 1996, p. 102)

This thesis is part of work that demonstrates that VET policy became solely focussed on economic policy rather than a mix of social, economic and cultural policy

(Marginson 1993). The policies formulated by John Dawkins between 1987 and 1995 reinforced the notion of a federal policy for VET. Dawkins’ policies replicated the UNESCO convention on Technical and Vocational Education, which provided a framework for the national legislation of competency standards, nationally consistent curricula, nationally consistent assessment, national registration of providers and accreditation of courses, and the certification of articulation arrangements between providers and jurisdictions (Lundberg 2000).

The national VET policies initiated the evolution of complex and constantly-changing federal governance structures and standards-setting systems.

TAFE Policy from 1987 to the present

In 1987, the federal Minister for Employment, Education and Training, John Dawkins, adopted the Skills for Australia policy, which aimed to integrate employment, education and training (Ryan 2011). This policy presaged the changes in TAFE curriculum development policy in Australia and forms the basis for the critical policy analysis in Chapter 5. The closer links between industry and TAFE were seen as the panacea for Australia’s youth unemployment and skill shortages and vital to developing a strong and competitive economy.

The high level of youth unemployment and skill shortages in the late 1980s was the main catalyst for the federal government pursuing financial control of TAFE. Even though high youth unemployment was a global phenomenon at the time, the federal government saw this as an opportunity to ensure better employment opportunities for school leavers through a revolutionised TAFE system that would result in a highly- educated, globally-competitive workforce. The VET policy initiatives were aimed at making VET more relevant to industry, thereby improving Australia’s competitiveness and enhancing the life choices of individuals (Porter 1998). This view was not original in Australia – a 1901 Royal Commission on technical education identified the link between technical education and Australia’s industrial and economic efficiency and competitiveness (Fink 1901). The Skills for Australia policy resulted in a narrower, vocational focus in VET (Ryan 2011). Ahearn (1993, p.14 cited in Ryan 2011, p. 10)

19 argues that the VET policies created “a remarkable ideological eruption which saw a swing away from what could be loosely described as the Kangan student-centred ‘culture of access’ to the industry- and employer- centred culture of the ‘new vocationalism’”.

Minister Dawkins’ proposal to marketise VET by allowing private providers to compete for federal educational funding, as well as the privatisation of VET curriculum development is argued to be based on the neoliberal philosophies of the OECD, whose views and reports Dawkins regularly cited to add legitimacy to his policy proposals (Ryan 1999). Dawkins regularly attended the OECD meetings in Europe, and presented papers in open forums, to further validate his claims. He chaired the OECD meeting on education and the economy in Paris in 1987. Vickers (1995) saw this as the genesis of the federal government’s rationalisation for procuring control of the TAFE system. The states and territories were compelled to agree to this new arrangement or risk jeopardising their college funding.

The first initiative undertaken by the federal government was the enactment of the Australian National Training Authority Act (ANTA Act) in 1992, which established ANTA to fund VET and report to the Federal Minister for Employment, Education and Training. Goozee (2001, p. 85) asserted that ANTA’s main aims were to promote:

x A national VET system, with agreed objectives and priorities, assured funding arrangements, consistent national strategies and a network of providers delivering high quality, nationally recognised programs at the state and local level x Close interaction between industry and VET providers to ensure that the training system operates within a strategic plan that reflects industry’s needs and priorities x An effective training market, with public and private provision of both high-level, advanced technical training and further education opportunities for the workforce and the community generally x An efficient and productive network of publicly-funded providers that could compete effectively in the training market x Increased opportunities and improved outcomes for individuals and target groups, including school leavers, to enhance their employment outcomes x Improved cross-sectoral links between schools, higher education and VET

The next significant step towards a national VET system was the introduction of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) in 1993. The AQF is a nationally consistent framework for all post-secondary qualifications. It was developed through the collaboration of the federal, state and territory governments, and representatives from

20 industry, government and VET sectors. Goozee (2001, p. 88) summarised the main objectives of the AQF as being to:

x Provide consistent recognition of the outcomes achieved (by students) x Recognise previous achievements x Help the development of pathways to assist continuous learning x Provide terms of reference for qualifications in post-compulsory education and training

The qualification that forms the case study for this research (see Chapter 6) is at Level 5: Diploma. The AQF expects that graduates at this level would have specialised knowledge suitable for skilled/paraprofessional occupations2 (AQF 2013).

In 1994, ANTA published a landmark policy – Towards a Skilled Australia – affirming that Australia’s vocational and education and training system will:

x provide an educated, skilled and flexible workforce to enable Australian industry to be competitive in domestic and international markets, and x improve the knowledge skills and quality of life for Australians having regard to the particular needs of disadvantaged groups (ANTA 1994)

The overarching strategies embedded in these reforms were the opening up of the provision of VET to both public and private providers and the privatisation of VET curriculum development. The privatisation of VET curriculum development is one of the main themes of this study, which will be discussed in detail in subsequent chapters.

In 1996, a new National Training Framework (NTF) was introduced to ensure that training products and services available through public and private training providers reflected both industry and enterprise requirements. They mandated that:

x The skills and qualifications which individuals acquire are portable across the country x Employers can have confidence in the quality of training undertaken by a prospective employee from another part of the country x Employers who operate in more than one state or territory are able to put common training arrangements in place across their organisation x Individuals and enterprises could gain access to a range of high-quality and affordable training products and services (Goozee 2001, p. 97)

21 development and implementation methods, as they were developed by Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) to meet the needs of specific industries or sectors, and not necessarily what was required by TAFE (Down 2003). Training packages define only the outcomes and the criteria against which each outcome is recognised and assessed (Down 2003). Smith, E (2002) claims that even though the traditional ‘curriculum’ was deemed to no longer exist, and ‘syllabuses’ and ‘modules’ were a thing of the past, the concept of ‘curriculum’ was still embedded in training packages. My research and case study (see Chapter 6) suggests that the mechanistic description of the prescribed learning outcomes and the methodology of competency-based assessment constitute a negligible curriculum content in training packages. Educationalists have differing definitions for what constitutes a curriculum, but all agree that curriculum documents incorporate a theoretical and philosophical stance on the meaning of education (Schiro 2008). This is not evident in training packages. I also declare that I draw my definition of curriculum from Popkewitz’s (1987, 1991, 1997) notion that the state exploits curriculum as a converting ordinance that may regulate and discipline a technical student. By selecting which knowledge is of most worth (Apple 2014), how it is structured and instructed, the curriculum has the power to determine how people behave for the whole of their working life.

The traditional assessment models which were developed and refined since the establishment of technical colleges in 1833, were replaced with competency-based assessment (CBA) methods. CBA is inherent in training packages and deemed to be the single prescribed method of assessment. ANTA defined CBA as the measuring of outcomes against industry standards rather than institutional standards (ANTA 1998). CBA advocates the skills and knowledge needed to achieve a standard of performance expected in the workplace, within a national qualifications framework (Deissinger et al, 2011). Smith, E. (2002) claims that the shift to CBA essentially privileged industry at the expense of the students by allowing industry to become the most important stakeholder in VET. She argues that it is incongruous that training packages, which are written for the workplace, are being applied in educational institutions.

While the ambiguity of the skill descriptors used in CBA allowed employers to adjust the assessment methods to suit their own particular needs, it did not encourage a pedagogy that encompassed general education philosophies other than the generic

22 technical competencies (Marginson 1997a). The following quote demonstrates that Dawkins contradicted his own research, which concluded that employers were seeking graduates with a more-rounded education, by encouraging CBA:

Employers and industry groups have attested to the value they place on graduates with a broad educational foundation and with well-developed conceptual, analytical and communication skills. The general problem solving skills of enquiry, analysis and synthesis are essential to the building of a flexible, versatile workforce able to cope with rapidly changing technology (Dawkins 1988, p. 9).

Opponents of CBA argue that it is technicist, centralist and simply uneducational and that it seeks to control all education and training in terms of work-related competencies through a tripartite committee of union, industry and government representatives (Taylor et al. 1997). Educationally, it is not enough to simply meet the short-term needs and demands of industry and employers. TAFE needs to also ensure that the long- term social goals of education are also met. This may not be possible since there is an absence of any holistic approach in CBA.

Another component of the NTF was the introduction of the Australian Recognition Framework (ARF) in 1995 to support the implementation of training packages to achieve a more streamlined quality assurance approach to the recognition of qualifications (Goozee, 2001). The ARF was replaced by the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) in 2001 to provide data about RTO performance via learner engagement, employer satisfaction and competency completions (ATQF 2007). In July 2011, the ATQF was replaced by ASQA as the national regulator for Australia’s VET sector.

From 1969 to the present there have been 51 federal reports commissioned and 9 federal policies adopted that have influenced the philosophy and administration of VET in Australia (NCVER 2011). Most of these reports and policies evolved ad hoc rather than from any long-term plan or vision. This may explain why Fooks (1994) labelled TAFE as education’s Cinderella. He argues that it is the only tier of education in Australia that lacks an identity – “that amorphous thing that came between schools and universities and had to be all things to all people”3 (Fooks 1994, p. 42).

A comparison of traditional curriculum development procedures with the current procedures

The traditional curriculum development process was formulated utilising social democratic education policies, which incorporated community participation and equality of education principles4 (Taylor et al. 2007). There were a larger number of stakeholders, such as, TAFE teaching sections, government departments, community groups, unions, industry etc. The new (privatised) model only has industry as the stakeholder. The traditional curriculum was written by the teachers entrusted to teach the course, whereas the privatised curriculum is written by an ISC sub-committee. The curriculum is developed and evaluated outside the classroom. The state-wide curriculum departments have been dissolved and the current curriculum ignores the questions of citizenship which were previously embedded in curriculum development (Taylor et al. 2007). The traditional curriculum model allowed for the evaluation and dissemination of the curriculum amongst the teachers teaching the course before it was finalised, whereas the private model does not have that provision. The teachers are presented with the curriculum after it has been finalised and approved by ASQA.

Commercial issues have become more important than educational principles and values and curriculum design and resource allocation have been compromised (Apple, 2001). This often results in a tightening of control over curriculum and teaching, which in Australia has led to the curriculum development process being privatised. Turner (2001, pp. 7-8 cited in Smith, E. 2002, p. 4) argues that “if we continue headlong down the Training Package path, we may well end up with a workforce of automatons who are proficient in narrow, specific fields but unable to ‘think for themselves’, as the education system failed to emphasise the importance of the intrinsic value of learning, and the significance of the relationship between different bodies of skill/knowledge”

Dudley-Marling et al. (2007) argue that in the classroom VET teachers do little more than follow a script. They are forced to deliver a “reductionist pedagogy and curriculum”, and simply become the “enforcers” of a curriculum that they have had no involvement in developing, rendering their role ethically bankrupt.

Giroux (1992, p. 141) argues that curriculum must have theoretical underpinnings, and that the teachers of the curriculum should be allowed to teach by example:

If students are going to learn how to take risks, to develop a healthy scepticism towards all master narratives, to recognise the power relations that offer them opportunity to speak in particular ways, and be willing to critically confront their role as critical citizens who can animate a democratic culture, they need to see such behaviour demonstrated in the social practices and subject positions that teachers live out and not merely propose.

Significant criticism has also been levelled at the privatisation of VET curriculum by teachers of creative courses who state that the competency-based assessment methodology inherent in the new curriculum does not encourage creativity and innovation, as there is no means for a studio-based holistic design project to be assessed within the CBA framework. Teachers of architectural technology, interior design, fine arts and graphic design contend that their students benefit when they are offered the opportunity to engage in critical dialogue with their peers. Cartledge and Watson (2008) extend this argument by contending that design skills do not exclusively reside in the actions of designing, but rather are keenly developed through a capacity for critical analysis, which is not possible to assess within the CBA context.

Some educationalists assert that the privatisation of VET curriculum, which gave priority to the needs of government and industry rather than the student / worker, over the last decade has failed to produce a workforce for the future (Kell 2006). More detail on the background for this will be discussed in the following sections, but for now it is enough to note that the argument was that the policy has turned students into economically measurable commodities. Contrary to the political rhetoric about raising standards and opportunities for all, this instrumental system has only managed to further entrench existing social inequalities. These issues combine to build a compelling argument to make better connections between pedagogy and professional vocational preparation. Smith, E. (2002) argues that because industry is focused on productivity and profit, rather than ‘learning’, asking industry to write the curriculum is exploitive of technical students and oppressive in that their training will have a limited focus. Apple (2001, p. 412) contends that no matter how radical some of these proposed ‘reforms’ are and no matter how weak the empirical basis for their support, they have now redefined the terrain of debate of all things educational. After years of attacks and mobilisations, it has become clear that “ideas that were once deemed fanciful, unworkable – or just plain extreme” are now increasingly been seen as common-sense.

Of particular concern is the preference for employers, since 2005, to hire university graduates for associate professional occupations for which TAFE diplomas are more closely designed (Ryan 2011). This is due to the restrictive nature of VET curriculum. The curriculum leaves little room for ‘education’ or the development of the adaptability needed in the so-called new world of work (Smith, E. 2002). Ryan (2011, p. 21) also contends that any education “policy innovation that adopts a one-size-fits-all approach is usually wasteful and ineffective”.

Hill (2003, p. 4) declares that one of the reasons for the curriculum being taken away from the teachers is that teachers are dangerous as they can adopt modes of pedagogy that are antithetical to labour-power production:

Teachers are dangerous because they are intimately connected with the social production of labour-power, equipping students with skills, competencies, abilities, knowledge and the attitudes and personal qualities that can be expressed and expended in the capitalist labour process (emphasis in original).

The effects of globalisation do not necessarily mean that the state is powerless to adapt, but that it chooses to reject its social services responsibilities in favour of “repressive” reforms and by relegating these services to private enterprise (Hill, 2003). Eva Cox (1995, p. 1 cited in Taylor et al. 1997, p. 153) claimed that one of the most important functions of education is to help create “a truly civil society” in which people relate to each other in terms of reciprocity and equality. For this to be facilitated, alternative paradigms need to be offered to counter the current public policy assumptions about competition and privatisation, which is “unravelling the social fabric”. That is, education policy should not be developed simply in terms of privatisation, competition and market-individualism.

Global factors influencing education policy reforms in VET

This section provides a background, both in reference to concept and phenomena, how Australian VET policy has been influenced by the impacts of global economic and political ideologies upon successive federal governments. It starts with the definition and discussion of political economy, globalisation and global neoliberalism, and then examines their impact on VET in Australia.

Political economy

The economic ideologies that gave rise to neoliberalism had their origins over eighty years ago when political economics simply became the study of economics. Robert McChesney (1999, p. 7) defined the characteristics of economic neoliberalism as: policies and processes whereby a relative handful of private interests are permitted to control as much as possible of social life in order to maximise their personal profit… free market policies that encounter private enterprise and consumer choice, reward personal responsibility and entrepreneurial initiative, and undermine the dead hand of the incompetent, bureaucratic and parasitic government, that can never do good even if well intended.

Political economics was historically a holistic discipline that incorporated the social sciences, especially economic sociology and economic history into the study of economics. Political economy cannot be the same for all countries and for all historical periods (Engels 1878). Political economy was traditionally a historical science. Mill (1836) argued that no one is capable of determining or recommending the right political economy for any country until they know its specific circumstances.

Economics, however is now ‘value-free’, independent of any social and historical content, focusing primarily on the study of market trends and relying on ‘hard’ analytical data and mathematical models (Milonakis and Fine 2009). The introduction of positivism – the philosophy that the only valid knowledge (truth) is derived from mathematical and scientific knowledge – into the study of economics and the separation of sociology from the study of economics in the 1930s by Terence Hutchinson and Lionel Robbins, signified the “methodological rupture” in economic thought (Milonakis and Fine 2009, p. 21). Economics now focuses only on how to allocate resources between competing parties or the selfish utility of the market. Mill

(1844, Essay V, Ch. 3 cited in Milonakis and Fine 2009, p. 31) defined “economic man” or homo economicus as a “being who desires to possess wealth” while abstracting from “every other human passion or motive”.

Some political economists – Thomas Robert Malthus, Adam Smith and Karl Marx combined philosophy, psychology, sociology and history into their theories of economics. Malthus (1798/2008) argued that the discipline of political economy embedded morals and politics, not just mathematical models. One of his proponents, John Maynard Keynes, had a significant influence on many Western governments for most of the 20th Century. They adopted Keynes’ welfare-based approaches which advocated the use of fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of economic depression and recession. Keynesian economics started to wane in the 1970s, with the rise of Milton Freedman’s influence in the USA (Olssen et al. 2012). The social utility benefits of a state-sponsored, free education were discounted by governments adopting neoliberal economic ideologies in their education policies, especially in the UK and United States, but equally in New Zealand and Australia.

Globalisation

For this study, one useful definition of globalisation is the influence of international events – economic, cultural and political – over an individual country or state, with governments paying obeisance by modifying how they manage their monetary, fiscal and other economic processes (Olssen et al. 2012). The new forms of personal mobility and global connections promulgated concomitant changes in the relationships between nations, and the changing scale of political, social, economic and cultural life on a global scale (Bourdieu 2003).

Globalisation, is perhaps not a new phenomenon. Historically, it can be traced back to the expansion of the Roman Empire throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East, followed by the expansion of trade routes from Europe to Asia and the Americas and European colonialism in the 18th and 19th Centuries. In the 20th Century it was epitomised by the exchange of emerging technologies after the industrial revolution and the expansion of international investment and banking finance in Europe (Olssen et al. 2012). Modern globalisation has been accelerated and distinguished by the

28 emergence of instantaneous global communications (both personal and corporate) via the internet and satellite technology, the availability of inexpensive mass global transportation and tourism, and the proliferation of multinational companies in all corners of the world (Taylor et al. 1997). This has produced an “interconnectedness of economic, political and cultural activities across the globe” (Rizvi 2007, p. 24), where the traditional constraints of geography no longer apply to political, economic, social and cultural arrangements. The consequential “shortening of distance” has constructed interdependence amongst many countries and has transformed the world into a “neighbourhood” or global village (Taylor et al. 1997). A concomitant set of events, over the last twenty years, included the collapse of communism in Europe and erosion of many political borders; for example, the disintegration of the USSR and the creation of new states in Eastern Europe, and the unification of East and West Germany.

Most Western countries, including Australia, have found that their economic and political autonomy is being radically reduced and their sovereignty eroded by global factors impacting on the formulation of their national development policies (Olssen et al. 2012). State owned institutions are compelled to operate within global, national and local spatial relationships which are permeated by these multiple relations that stretch across the globe (Robertson 2012). Massey (1994, p. 155) argues that globalisation does not afford democratic states a place-base identity, as all places “are traversed by unequal relations of power and struggles to contest these [spatial] relations”.

Australia today is neither isolated nor insulated from global events or economic pressures. While the Australian economy traditionally operated “largely uncoupled from any political frame” (Lingard and Rizvi 1998, p. 63), that is, federal government department heads were non-political appointments, successive federal governments since the late 1980s have modernised their economies by privatising and technicising their policy formulation process, sacrificing the ‘public’ nature of policy, resulting in policies that are less publically accountable and less democratic (Hay 2006). Australian governments adopted policies that supported high levels of private investment and profit maximisation. The state perpetually reduces its investment in social welfare programs, including education and health, citing the demands of international competition. As a consequence, public policies take on a homogeneous character. Globalisation circumscribes the autonomy of the state’s policy formulators by

29 displacing public functions into “quasi-public” statutory bodies (Hay 2006). Hirst and Thompson (2009, p. 10) concur by claiming that within globalisation:

national economies are subsumed and rearticulated into the system by international processes and transactions...The international economy is an aggregate of nationally located functions...The international economy therefore becomes autonomized and socially disembedded, as markets and production become truly global.

Globalisation generated ‘new’ sets of compromises, ‘new’ alliances and ‘new’ power blocs which had a significant influence on the formulation of “education policies, pedagogies and politics and all things social and cultural” (Singh et al. 2007, p. 11) of nation states. Successive governments in Australia sought to address the impacts of globalisation by implementing fiscal policies that ensue economic restructuring to adjust to their areas of comparative advantage and their political ideologies. In all instances, technical education was marketised. Australian governments embraced corporate managerialism as the framework for both the “structure and modus operandi of the administrative structure of the state” and incorporated a politicised administrative system (Lingard and Rizvi 1998, p. 64). All policies became ‘ministerialised’, thereby strengthening the influence of the relevant minister and his advisers in policy formulation (Knight and Lingard 1997).

Global neoliberalism

Globalisation reshaped the nature of economic life in general, and working life in particular (Hirst and Thompson 2009). Education policy became influenced by and contributed to the empirical and ideological concerns over the economic impacts of globalisation. This impelled the Hawke-Keating governments to narrow the focus of technical education in 1987 by implementing the new VET policies that tightened the education-economy nexus by proposing “upward skilling” of the workforce as a means of controlling the national economy (Lingard and Rizvi 2007).

Due to the increase in the flow of goods and resources across national borders, Australian firms and institutions are no longer competing with a limited number of product or service providers within the country, but with all of the other firms in the world economy (Hobart 1999). This necessitates the need for new “organisational structures” to be implemented “to manage the expanding network of international economic activity and transactions” (Hobart 1999, p. 12).

The emergence of globalisation encouraged the establishment of global free-trade agreements and the deregulation of the international interchange of capital and goods (Olssen et al. 2012). This has obligated many countries to realign their economic, social and educational policies and strategies. Globalisation is closely related to the ‘new right’ or ‘neoliberal’ economic philosophies (Marginson 2004; Olssen et al. 2012). Before modern globalisation, and in particular after the First World War and the Great Depression, most Western governments intervened in the social, political and economic lives of their citizens to alleviate the worst effects of the market economy. This often was achieved by both the regulation of the economy and by government intervention, such as controlling foreign and domestic investment and public works programs.

The partial collapse of the global economy elicited by the energy crisis in the mid- 1970s was one of the main reasons for the cessation of Keynesian economics and the rise of neoliberalism in many Western countries, including Great Britain, the USA and Australia (Marginson 2004). Neoliberalism is centred on economic rationalism, the support of a free market philosophy and an opposition to state funding of welfare policies. Even with the more recent collapses of global markets (2008 to the present), many governments continue to support neoliberal policies, even though, the movement of currency, goods, people, and ideas are eroding social bonds and personal security (Steger, 2008). Many Western governments (USA, Great Britain and Australia) have adopted more aggressive tactics, even “dictatorial” economic measures to sustain their neoliberal policies (Graham, S. 2011).

Peters (2012, p. 25) avers that the neoliberal state “controls” society, not by confining the population, but through the mechanisms of continuous monitoring and control via instant communication utilising new open spatial forms – “open systems rather than closed systems - interconnected, flexible and networked ‘architectures’ are supplanting the older enclosures”. The VET policies took on a neoliberal stance with successive federal, state and territory governments adopting a “user pays” ideology and managerialist administrative practices. Peters (2012, p. 25) also argues that "‘lifelong education’, ‘distance education’ and ‘continuous training’ have been reconceived as part of a new educational ‘architecture’ designed to support the global ‘knowledge economy’". This new architecture was manifested in TAFE NSW with the introduction

31 of commercial fees for courses that are not on the NSW Government’s industry- approved course list (NSWGOV 2013). Fees have been introduced for lifelong, adult and second chance courses and any course that does not lead directly towards employment. Sydney Institute also created new obstacles for students with disabilities or equity predicaments by compelling them to apply for a limited number of Institute scholarships (SYDTAFE 2017). Previously these students were automatically afforded free access to TAFE courses.

Australian federal government fiscal policies pre-1987 were deemed to be collectivist, socialist, economically misguided and less efficient. This led to the adoption of a neoliberal stance where there is less intervention by the state in economic and social affairs so as to encourage the creation of individuals that would become enterprising and competitive entrepreneurs (Olssen et al. 2012). There was an assumption that the only means of ensuring economic prosperity for Australia was the reliance on a self- regulating market to effectively allocate scarce resources, with state intervention being necessary only to “minimise market distortions or offset certain dysfunctions” (Olssen et al. 2012, p. 137).

One of the main suppositions of neoliberalism with regard to education policy reform was the reduction in state education funding which was to be equipoised by instigating or increasing user-pays charges and introducing competition in both tertiary education sectors, that is, technical education and university education. Codd (1993) argues that the augmentation of “individual choice” in a deregulated economy abrogated the state’s responsibilities, duties and obligations to “social citizenship” or “welfare” to achieve economic efficiency through “marketisation”. The proponents of neoliberalism argue that government bureaucracies are inefficient, highly centralised, inflexible and unable to respond rapidly to the demands of change (Taylor et al. 1997). They advocate less government control, asserting that a flexible, deregulated market would provide people with the opportunities to optimise and utilise their skills and therefore enhance their life goals (Olssen et al. 2012). Yet successive Australian governments have introduced interventionist policies, based on a ‘standards’ ideology, such as national curricula in schools and VET, professional standards for teachers and high-stake national testing (Clarke, M 2012). This reinforces Ball’s argument that most neoliberal policies are “typically the cannibalised products of multiple (but circumscribed) influences and

32 agendas” rather than the product of a resolute ideology (Ball 1994a, p. 17). Many Western countries adopted educational policies associated with accountability, market organisation, managerialism, the reconstruction of teacher professional identities, school self-management, school inspection and school effectiveness with only minute variations at about the same time (Angus 2004).

Apple (2001) argues neoliberalism has economised everyday life and become the leading political paradigm by constraining the potential for the democratisation of society. This argument continues to be relevant to this day (Apple 2013; Brown 2015), as evidenced by the effects of globalisation upon education policy formulation in Australia across the three tiers of education. In VET and technical education, and specifically TAFE, neoliberalism has brought about large-scale economic, political and social changes, by re-shaping the traditional relationships between education, work and leisure. Lifelong learning is seen as a “foundational competence” for the individual to negotiate rapid economic and social change, which may be acquired either in a formal educational institution, workplace or in a community setting (Seddon et al. 2010, p. 1).

In VET, the emphasis of policy has been the national curriculum and the state funding only those trade courses that will lead to immediate transition into employment. The latest TAFE NSW policy, Smart and Skilled, is discussed later in this chapter.

The impact of neoliberal discourse on education and VET

Globalisation and the “neoliberalisation” of education has resulted in many governments around the globe advocating “private and social enterprise solutions” to solve their educational problems (curriculum, social equity, citizenship etc), including “Latin America, the USA, India, Africa, South-East Asia and England” (Ball 2012b, p.2). Educational governance has undergone an ideological shift from governments formulating policy for its citizens to governments creating citizens for its policies (Rizvi and Lingard 2010). Economic rationalism has dictated educational policy, from administrative practices, research methodologies and curriculum development thereby obscuring the traditional ideologies of social values and human interest in educational and other social institutions (Popkewitz and Freedman 1984, p.279), or as Hunkin

(2016, p.36) suggests, “limits the choices available for education provision, and does so on economic and political dogma, rather than research-based evidence”

The adoption and implementation of the neoliberal ideologies of marketisation, free- choice and privatisation have resulted in alternative methodologies of how subjects (students) are constructed, classified and managed by the state that has generated “new relations between the way in which individuals are governed by others and the ways in which they govern themselves” (Popkewitz and Brennan 1998, p.6). The introduction of competition in educational policies promised to reduce the cost of education and deliver educational equality, but these pledges have not been realised (Ball 2012a) as economic inequalities in most Western societies continued to reinforce the existing practices of ‘knowledge stratification, which may also be thought of as cognitive segregation” where educational institutions classified different “groups with different types of knowledge linked to specific occupations with unequal economic benefits” (Webb et al., 2009, p.4). Australia borrowed its VET policies from most other Western governments, especially Great Britain, privatised curriculum and introduced Competency Based Training (CBT) and Competency Based Assessment (CBA) as the underpinning teaching method in VET. Through the perceived verisimilitudes of CBT the students unwittingly become active subjects of the Australian government VET policies – where the government has formulated a problem and projected a solution. CBA removes educators from their traditional role as developers and leaders of VET curriculum and exposes students to a “system of continuous surveillance in which their skills, knowledge and learning needs” are brought under the gaze of the technicians who assess their “performances” and determine whether they satisfy the predetermined standards listed in the compliance checklists (Harris and Hodge 2012, p.160).

Educationalists (Ball 2012a; Brown 2015, etc) continue to deprecate the impact of neoliberalism on education policies as the ensured benefits of marketisation and privatisation of education have not been realised. Even in 2017, Western governments continue to economise the lives of their populations “through market metrics to govern them more effectively…by withdrawing state support and expecting people to be responsible for their own care through entrepreneurial practices, enunciated as an ethos of ‘responsibilization’” (Webb 2017, p. 297). Webb (2017, pp. 298 - 299) claims

34 that the principle aims of neoliberalism economics have failed from a social and educational context by paradoxically militating “proto-fascist ideals: patriarch; misogyny; racism; (ultra)nationalism; xenophobia; homo- and transphobia; and the continued and deliberate dismantling of public institutions (i.e., privatization)”.

The influence of globalisation on VET in Australia

Globalisation has affected how countries formulate their own policy options, as they are encouraged to ‘internationalise’ their economies, resulting in profound adjustments to their priorities and restructuring (Rizvi and Lingard 2010). This has led to many politicians claiming to have no option but to accept the imperatives of globalisation in their deliberations when considering state policies. “Globalisation has now become an ideology, proselytised by international organisations such as the OECD and the World Bank in assertions of the need for less interventionist and leaner government and for freer forms of economic competition between nations” (Taylor et al. 1997, p. 79). These international agencies have inexorably influenced the structure, scope and function of educational policy in Australia, by associating education with economic growth (Lingard et al. 2005).

The influence of the OECD on VET policy in Australia

The OECD stressed the significance of education and training as the main keys to a country’s participation in the new global knowledge economy for the development of human resources and/or human capital, for up-skilling and increasing the competencies of workers, and for the production of research and scientific knowledge (Peters 2001a). Knowledge and skills are seen as a source of comparative advantage in the global economy.

In the late 1980s the federal Labor government was confronted with the need to provide for social order and equity due to the high levels of unemployment and the collapse of the full-time youth labour market (Marginson 1997a). The OECD asserted that education was quintessential to the improvement of labour productivity and technological advancement, and advocated that all governments needed to become more economically efficient and more financially competitive in the global economy

35 through the inculcation of flexible, responsive and competitive behaviours (Marginson 1997a). The OECD contended that the commercialisation of education was imperative:

The best way to stimulate flexibility is to strengthen existing social programs by offering incentives that allow competition and market forces to contribute more to their efficiency…autonomous, medium-sized service organisations geared to economic incentives and control mechanisms could play a greater role and usefully complement the services provided by the public sector. However, the need for greater flexibility and responsiveness to changing needs must be within the framework of existing systems, most of which are public (OECD 1987, p 321 cited in Marginson 1997a, p. 92).

Marginson (1993) argues that Dawkins “scapegoated” education as the cause of high levels of youth unemployment and recession in Australia. Dawkins’ policies emphasised the “needs of the labour market rather than the needs of the individual” by applying “economic rationalism to vocational education and training” (Goozee 1995, p. 107). VET policy privileged industry which is focused on efficiency and profitability rather than personal educational needs. TAFE had traditionally played an important role in the delivery of training and related services to assist disadvantaged groups to participate in the labour market and in society as more active citizens, but TAFE’s ability to continue to provide these services has been eroded in the more competitive and open market (Smith, J.S. 1995). Dawkins encouraged and promoted private VET providers, so as to reduce his government’s education funding and to “steer outputs from the distance while evading responsibility for the effects” of his policy on both the “users and employers” (Marginson 1997a, p. 92).

The introduction of the VET policies in Australia

Dawkins framed his Skills for Australia policy on the recommendations of the joint Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and Trade Development Council (TDC) Mission to Western Europe (UK, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Norway). The Mission was charged with three Terms of Reference: x To examine the relations of government, trade unions and business and available tripartite mechanisms in the formulation and implementation of trade and related policy matters. x To consider the implications of technology, work organisations, education and productivity for international competitiveness. x To evaluate the contribution of trade union research, education and organisation to union participation in trade related issues (Kelty et al. 1987, p. xi).

There was negligible discussion about the nature of technical education in the Terms of Reference. Dawkins had argued that the VET policies would single-handedly reduce Australia’s high rate of youth unemployment and skills shortages, increase economic competitiveness in a global market and contribute towards reducing Australia’s balance of payments (Kelty et al. 1987, p iii). The report did not elaborate on how the VET policies would achieve these outcomes. The Mission’s core recommendation was the creation of closer links between industry and TAFE: ...it is clear that the tertiary education system has to lift its game if Australia’s skill base is to be improved. The most effective way of doing this is through forging closer links between education authorities and industry (Kelty et al. 1987, p. 119).

VET in Europe

Education determines “the space for the construction of national identity” (Novoa 1996, p. 46). The Australian VET policy initiatives borrowed and/or plagiarised the British VET policies (Harris et al. 2009), unlike the USA and the European Union which overcame the limitations of “nation-state histories, language and vernacular customs” and the boundaries of thought framed by spatial limits (Lawn and Grek 2012). The singular common goal between Australia and Europe was the necessity to modernise their VET systems due to the pressures of globalisation and increased international economic competitiveness.

The tripartite (unions, employers, government) Mission to Europe visited the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Norway to report on the problems experienced and the characteristics of VET in those countries. It published its findings in Australia Reconstructed (ACTU/TDC 1987). I will elaborate on some of the details of VET policy in these five countries and discuss how these compare with the Australian context.

VET in Europe is delivered in secondary schools (Austria, Norway, Sweden, UK), in specialised technical colleges (Germany, UK), in technical and/or applied science universities (Germany, Norway, UK), in apprenticeship arrangements (students attend college and workplaces while indentured) and by enterprise training organisations in accredited workplaces (Abslund 2014; SIU 2016; Tritscher-Archan 2016; Skolverket 2016; Hippach-Schneider and Huismann 2016). A “social partner” committee

37 comprising representatives from state and federal governments, employer groups, trade unions and professional organisations is responsible for the structure and content of VET courses. Public and private training providers in Germany are called “competent bodies” (Van der Berghe 1996; Hippach-Schneider and Huismann 2016). The technical content in some high schools in Norway accounts for 50 % of the syllabus compared to 2-3 hours per week in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes in NSW schools. In Austria, over 75% of tenth grade students attend a VET pathway.

The VET curriculum in Austria, Germany, Norway and Sweden is written by specialist teachers, social stakeholders and industry experts from industry, including education researchers in Sweden (SIU 2016; Tritscher-Archan 2016; Skolverket 2016; Hippach- Schneider and Huismann 2016). VET students in Austria are encouraged to learn at least one foreign language, with English being the most popular language (Tritscher- Archan 2016). Sweden has incorporated the study of creativity and aesthetics in all VET-programmes (Skolverket 2016). In the UK VET curriculum is written by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ), a government funded private organisation set up in 1986 to ensure that VET courses and qualifications meet industry’s needs (Hyland 1996). There are parallels between the NCVQ in the UK and the Industry Training Bodies (ITABs) and Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) in Australia where the privatisation of the VET curriculum has resulted in the adoption of a narrow technicist focus. Hyland (1996, p. 356) argues that as a result of the privatisation of the VET curriculum, the British training system is “inefficient” and a “confusing mess”. He suggests that the UK should emulate the other European training systems where the key competencies are augmented with “learning strategies, social competencies [and] cultural competencies” while incorporating motivational learning techniques and parameters for student participation in the learning process (SIU 2016, p. 35). Scotland is the only country in the UK that has expanded the membership of its VET curriculum committees to include “representatives from national and local Government, Education Scotland, higher and further education institutions, schools and the Scottish Qualifications Authority in addition to business interest, teacher unions and parent organisations” (Abslund 2014, p. 33).

All VET teachers in Austria, Germany, Norway and Sweden hold two sets of university-

38 level qualifications in their relevant subject areas and vocational teacher education. VET teacher education programmes follow the general degree system, with a three- year bachelor’s degree and a two-year master’s degree. To become a qualified VET teacher, candidates must complete either vocational practical pedagogical education or vocational teacher education. VET instructors require the minimum trade qualifications, unless they are hold additional tertiary qualifications to classify them as master craftsmen (sic). In the UK, teachers of VET in high schools are required to hold a degree level qualification and a teaching qualification whereas there are no prescribed guidelines for teachers in VET technical colleges. In Australia, VET teachers are required to hold the minimum qualification required for the course they teach (Certificate III, Certificate IV etc) and the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

All school-based VET training in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK is government funded. The tuition fee structure for VET courses in technical colleges varies. VET courses are free in Norway and Sweden (SIU 2016; Skolverket 2016). VET tuition fees are government subsidised in Austria (Tritscher-Archan 2016) Financial support is offered for those experiencing financial difficulties or are out of work in Germany (Hippach-Schneider and Huismann 2016). A limited number of government scholarships are available in England, while students over the age of 24 can apply for government loans. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland still fund VET training (Abslund 2016). In NSW all trade courses (up to Certificate III level) and Certificate IV courses in areas of skill shortages are state government subsidised. Courses that are not listed on the state government’s Skills List and all Diploma level courses attract commercial tuition fee rates. Students undertaking non-subsidised VET courses may apply for federal government loans.

The European VET policies accorded VET the dual roles of affording “social cohesion, equity and active citizenship” while accounting for “competitiveness and innovation” (European Commission 2008, p.5, cited in Harris et al. 2009, p.17). Economic expediency relegated social equity in Australian VET policy and practice, particularly by the private VET providers (Taylor 2002). The European Commission promoted lifelong learning and the status of VET by demanding every citizen complete an education and by strengthening and encouraging the involvement of employers, employee

39 organisations, social stakeholders and sectoral organisations in VET (Harris et al. 2009).

The tripartite Mission to Europe concluded that Sweden and Austria had implemented the most successful VET policies, while the UK had the least effective policies (Harris and Hodge 2012). It would seem incongruous, that after the Trade Union contingent supported the Scandinavian VET model, the Australian VET policies, adopted in 1987, emulated the UK VET policies. Scott, A. (2013) claims that the Australian government’s newly-adopted neoliberal ideology influenced the framing of its economic and educational policies and elicited the espousing of the parsimonious VET model.

Economic rationalism and VET policy

Economic rationalist ideology and economic expediency has now become part of TAFE curriculum development policy (McBeath 2007a). Educational institutions are now encouraged to make management decisions based on economic and/or business protocols rather than focusing on education. VET adopted neoliberal managerial principles. Marginson (1997a) argues that one of the main reasons that economic rationalist philosophy became entrenched in higher education is that John Dawkins, who was the Federal Finance Minister before he became the Federal Education Minister promoted economists as advisors in his ministries, compared to the previous practice of recruiting ‘lifelong’ and ‘neutral’ public servants. These economists were mostly conservatives who formulated neoliberal policies that were deemed to be more New Right and more polemic in nature than the policies espoused by Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Regan in the USA that these economists were emulating.

Dawkins argued that international competition, technological change and the need for more flexibility in the labour market required long-term adjustments to educational systems (Marginson 1997a). This was going to be facilitated by greater youth participation in vocational education, and fostering a more pronounced involvement by industry in higher education, including VET and university training and research including “changes to the governance, finance and delivery of education” with VET used as the vehicle for social and macroeconomic reform (Marginson 1997a, p. 155).

The OECD (1986) claimed that stronger links between industry and education institutions would result in Australia being able to keep pace with advances in technology that would result in long-term benefits to the economy.

The rhetoric of corporate management now widely adopted by education administrators in Australia has come to be seen only as ‘corporate’ for managers. For others in departmental bureaucracies (and for those in TAFE colleges), it is not seen as expressing authentic local commitment to corporate identity (Taylor et al. 1997; Ball and Junemann 2012; Lynch, 2014).

The enduring relationship between Minister Dawkins’ Labor party and the trade unions encouraged the closer links between industry and VET, as this also allowed the union movement (through the Australian Council of Trade Unions [ACTU]) to participate in negotiating the restructuring of industrial awards and the modification of industry training standards (Marginson 1997a). In the early 1980s the federal government initiated the Industrial Accords – agreements between the unions, the employers and the government on how they might cooperate to improve productivity through better industrial relations, and better training. The Industrial Accords sought to augment Australia’s competitiveness in the global economy. The Business Council of Australia also took part in the national training reform agenda. This led to women’s groups and indigenous people being marginalised, as it is inevitable when so many disparate interest groups are involved in policy formulation, there will always be “political struggles over which voices will be heard and whose values will be reflected in policies” (Taylor et al. 1997, p. 27).

The main tenet in Minister Dawkins’ policies was the creation of closer links between industry and TAFE (Ryan 1995). The policies continued to avoid any discussion regarding ‘general’ or social equity educational issues. This invited significant criticism from educationalists, who argue economic efficiency was given priority over a citizen’s educational needs in the allocation of educational resources, and that the new VET policies were not producing a fairer distribution of educational benefits, but were targeting economic efficiency rather than educational outcomes (Codd 1993).

The VET policies allowed the for-profit sector to tender for public education funding.

This resulted in a frenzy of new education activity and its governance being relocated across geographic scales, from the local to the global. This also increased the number of stakeholders – public and private and for-profit organisations (Robertson 2012). Multinational accounting and financial planning conglomerates undertook government- sponsored curriculum development projects and educational research reports across the three tiers of public education (PwC 2016). This also created a cluster of large and powerful global management firms that developed significant interests in education. There also emerged a new form of knowledge managerialism with the proponents declaring themselves as policy experts, whereby economics definitions of knowledge are used to construct education policy (Peters 2001a) (my emphasis). These firms continue to provide expertise on a range of aspects of education, from undertaking major policy and research work for governments, to strategic management and quality assurance (Robertson, S.L. 2012).

Taylor et al. (1997, p. 123) claim that quite often, “electoral politics and the associated problems of juggling long-term policy objectives and short-term political pressures to some extent explained the urgency of getting the new policies up and running in Australia, and the consequent emphasis on technicalities rather than [educational] principles”. Dawkins’ policy reforms were ‘fast-tracked’ to avoid debate and any opposition due to genuine differences in values and ideologies, the reluctance to relinquish power by those who benefit most from the current arrangements and from any psychological opposition to change – sometimes stemming from the implied criticisms of older practices implicit in the new policy frameworks (Taylor et al. 1997; Buchanan et al. 2004).

Corporate managerialism in TAFE

Related to neoliberal globalisation, a “managerialist ethic” – the adoption of managerialist and economic rationalist processes and policies – became part of policy formulation in VET, aimed at greater control over public sector finances and management (Ryan 2002). Managerialism is characterised by stronger central policy control while devolving operational responsibilities; a greater focus on outputs; market- style competition, distribution and exchange; and closer management of outputs and performance (Marginson 2003). Other characteristics include the appointment of staff

42 on short-term performance contracts and recruiting part-time staff to replace tenured staff that have retired. The adoption of managerialism in VET created “changes in the technology of power” without any corresponding shifts in paradigm (Ryan 2002, p. 43).

This methodology of “corporate managerialism” was being vigorously advocated by the OECD as the preferred model of economic reform (Marginson 2007a) in all federal, state and territory government departments and significantly impacted on the administration of education policy and educational institutions. In TAFE NSW Department Heads became Executive Directors, College Principals became College Directors and Heads of Studies became Assistant Directors of Educational Programs. TAFE students have become customers.

This ideology was promulgated by federal government ministers, especially John Dawkins, without any recommendation or solicitation by the corporate sector. Policies were written primarily by the government minister and his advisers with minimal input from his bureaucracy (Marginson 1997a). Dawkins reduced his reliance on his departmental bureaucrats and relegated a number of statutory authorities from his policy formulation process. Dawkins’ advisers convinced him that corporate managerialism was the most effective means of unifying and nationalising VET and the most expedient means of marketising VET to the extent that he made federal government funding to the states contingent on TAFE adopting his managerialist ethos (Marginson 1997a). This methodology for policy production was named the “ministerial” policy-making process (Lingard and Porter 1997). Ball (2005, p. 7) claims that neoliberalism converted management into a series of “monitoring systems” for the “production of information” focusing on “performativity”.

TAFE NSW now accounts for its operations and fiscal budgets as though it were a private corporation. The new managers in TAFE were recruited for their economics and management credentials to make the ‘hard’ economic decisions and instigate corporate ideology to achieve greater productivity from their staff, thereby achieving more output with reduced funding (Marginson 1997a). The previous managers were ex-teachers. They were seen to be ‘nice people’, literally ‘old school’, unlike the new breed of managers with generic management qualifications or generic MBAs who lack any intricate knowledge of how an educational institute should be managed, ostensibly

43 employed to take the “axe” to Government departments (Marginson 1997a). They can afford to be ruthless, as they have no historical allegiance with the Departments they administer. The architect of contestation in TAFE throughout Australia, Chris Eccles5 boasted that his job was to “clean up the bodies” (Clennell 2014). In theory, the new managers were expected to be innovative, externally orientated, performance centred and dynamic (Clarke and Newman 1997), compared to the career manager. In practice, the new managers had no background in educational administration, and in some instances had no qualifications or experience relevant to the departments they manage. While educational institutions continue to emulate corporate business models by building their management hierarchies – recruiting more managers at the expense of teachers – the businesses they copied were working on reducing theirs (Currie and Vidovich 1997).

Corporate managerialism became the adopted key mechanism for political reform and the cultural re-engineering of the public sector, by remodelling existing relationships of power and affecting how social policy choices are formulated. It also wears away established professional-ethical regimes and replaces them with entrepreneurial- competitive regimes (Ball 2005). Ball (1997, p. 327) argues that when the links between the market economy and managerialism become part of the discourse on quality and efficiency in education “to the extent that they become regularised into organisational thinking and practices in schools and their communities”, there will be a subsuming effect on the nature of education and on the nature of the education profession.

Performative accountability in VET

Western governments endeavour to explicate the connections between educational spending and useful student outcomes in transparent and understandable modes for the general public (Fisher et al. 2009). All VET providers in Australia are required to account for their public funding and to demonstrate their performance against government prescribed measures or benchmarks. However, there appear to be no agreed national or state wide performance measures or benchmarks to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of VET administrative functions. Accountability in

44 neoliberalism is connected to performativity, which Ball (2003, p. 216) explained relates to the judgement of the:

The performances (of individual subjects or organizations) serve as measures of productivity or output, or displays of ‘quality’, or ‘moments’ of promotion or inspection. As such they stand for, encapsulate or represent the worth, quality or value of an individual or organization within a field of judgement. The issue of who controls the field of judgement is crucial. One key aspect of the current educational reform movement may be seen as struggles over the control of the field of judgement and its values

While annual reporting collects data such as student enrolments and completions, TAFE NSW and Institutes’ management cannot currently be measured in an objective way (Boston 2001; TAFE NSW 2013).

Crooks (2003, pp. 2-5) suggests that for accountability processes to be effective they should: …preserve and enhance trust among the key participants, involve the participants by offering them a strong sense of professional responsibility and initiative, providing well- founded and effective feedback that promotes insight into performance and supports good decision-making and ensure that as a consequence of the accountability process, the majority of the participants are more enthusiastic and motivated in their work

There are a number of stakeholders in any accountability process – the politicians who draft the educational policies, the public servants who implement and monitor the policies, and the teachers who work within the framework of the policy. TAFE NSW applies the technologies of measurement, audit and surveillance to its teachers but not to its managers (Davis and Bansel 2010). Ball (1993) quotes Foucault to catechise us to bear in mind that, within the micro-technologies of “self-management” those who exercise power are just as much captured and shaped as those over whom power is wielded:

In this form of management, power is not totally entrusted to someone who would exercise it alone, over others in an absolute fashion, this machine is one in which everyone is caught, those who exercise power and those who are subjected to it (Foucault 1977, p. 156 cited in Ball, 1993, p. 78).

The marketisation of TAFE

Marginson (1993, 1997a) defines ‘marketisation’ as the introduction and/or extension of all forms of competitive economic markets. Since 1987, the marketisation of education in Australia has allowed market technologies and rules to reconfigure the

45 goals of education and to form the economic citizen. This allowed governments to reduce spending on educational infrastructure, the individualisation of student support, and the creation of markets in all sectors of education, as well as overall funding cuts (Marginson 1997a). This approbated the neoliberal marketeers to mobilise and spruik the powerful (but contested) terms of “freedom” and “choice” (Bahnisch 2000).

The marketisation of higher education is part of the broader process of restructuring taking place around the globe. While all nations and political communities have the ability to determine to what extent they interpret and/or incorporate their own cultural values in their educational policies (Rizvi and Lingard 2010), the globalised financial market is by far the most difficult to control and can impose considerable constraints on the economic policy options of governments.

Technical education in Australia incorporated advancements in technological achievement and facilitated concomitant changes in the nature of the workforce and industrial relations. TAFE contributes to the economic growth of Australia by making individual workers more productive and augmenting the creation of knowledge, ideas and technological innovation. The human capital ideology has been used to justify policies of accessibility and the marketisation of VET since the early 1990s on the basis that investing in ‘human resources’ would contribute to economic development at both the individual and societal levels.

When the Howard federal Liberal government was elected in 1996 it further reduced state funding of the public VET sector while enrolments and face-to-face teaching hours increased. The Howard government continued to marketise VET by adopting policies and strategies that promoted structural reform in the public VET sector. These reforms included removing barriers to the VET market for private providers, increasing the scope of funding contestability and increasing the facilitation of competition (SRC 1999). Some of the proposed reforms, such as establishing competitive neutrality among public and private providers by developing consistent costing and pricing policies did not eventuate. After the state governments protested the funding cuts, the Howard government countered by proposing to establish federally-funded Australian Technical Colleges (ATCs) to offer VET courses outside the state VET system. The states ultimately agreed to a “dollar for dollar” funding arrangement of their VET

46 programs (Noonan 2016). Ryan (2011) argues that the Howard government’s reduction in VET funding accounted for the skill shortages that transpired in 2004 and continued through to 2007.

To remain competitive within the marketised VET framework, COAG (August 2011) encouraged TAFE to increase the take-up of higher-level qualifications (which attract full-fee students), arguing that this will improve the employment resilience and productivity of Australia's workforce and the standard of learning outcomes and to strengthen pathways between sectors.

The VET market in Australia

With the adoption of the VET policy initiatives, TAFE became just another VET provider, albeit a publically-funded provider. The impetus for TAFE to adopt a market- like approach was the institution’s adoption of the 1990 Deveson Report, which advocated that “through competitive pressures, markets result in price being pushed down to the cost of production” (Ryan 2011, p. 18). The report made the following recommendations for TAFE: x That fees be deregulated, but allow concessions where there were equity issues, x That there be an increase in commercial activity, by increasing the provisions of training to industry on a cost recovery basis, x That a national recognition system be established for training programs to be recognised, accredited and monitored, x That all training providers be nationally accredited (Deveson 1990, pp. 66-68)

TAFE, the largest and only public provider of VET in Australia, was influenced by the Deveson Report to adopt a free market ideology, and had to embrace the “cult of entrepreneurialism” (Jakupec and McTaggart 1997, p. 155), as government funding per capita was systematically reduced while student numbers increased. In addition to the introduction of tuition fees, TAFE colleges were encouraged to make up the shortfall in funding by introducing short customised fee-for-service courses, entering joint partnerships with industry for tailor-made training ventures, selling curriculum and course materials and tendering for federal government training contracts in competition with private Registered Training Organisations.

Since 1990 TAFE has had to adopt an economic rationalist agenda to identify market niches to attract commercial students and to market itself internationally to attract foreign income. Sydney Institute currently has training contracts with China, Vietnam and India, to provide training, with most of the training being conducted overseas (TAFENSW 2013a). TAFE has also introduced higher level qualifications, such as Associate Degrees and Bachelor Degree qualifications that attract full fee paying students. TAFE has had to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in an increasingly competitive market, while still being expected to provide access to education for a diversity of disenfranchised groups and continue to be the nucleus for social and cultural activities in smaller and remote communities (Angus 2012; Jakupec and McTaggart 1997).

The marketisation of TAFE was a political process that disavowed politics while working politically to replace the political with the economic (Bahnisch 2000) with VET policies being veiled from any political discourse. TAFE NSW introduced fees incrementally to disguise any political influence of their funding cuts from both federal and state governments. I recall that between 1985 and 2005 TAFE qualifications were upgraded from Certificates to Diplomas with no corresponding increase in academic complexity or volume of learning, while student fees increased.

VET policies seemed to emanate from sound economic judgement and well- researched investigations. The policies were deemed to be most apposite for Australia’s VET needs. This discursive characteristic of neoliberalism coupled with the rhetoric of “shrinking government” allowed the privatisation of education to succeed virtually uncontested in the 1990s when similar reforms were considered “unthinkable” when initially touted in the 1960s and 1970s (Marginson 1997a).

The marketisation discourse reoriented TAFE policy from universal educational services to the particularist individual services of the economy (Bahnisch 2000). The adoption of the recommendations of the Hilmer Report (1993) on National Competition Policy exhorted TAFE further into the market economy. The regulations that restricted competition between government departments were removed, allowing for greater contestation between government and private training providers. This is discussed in more detail in the Competition section of this chapter.

The privatisation of VET delivery

Privatisation reinforces the free market philosophy as it implies efficiency and allows competition. State-owned enterprises are seen by neoliberal economists as being inefficient, wasteful and unproductive. They consider the private sector to be efficient, effective and productive, because it is less bureaucratic, and thereby more flexible and responsive to the transformations of the global economy (Torres 2002). The Australian government’s concern with efficiency, balancing the budget and the adoption of a user- pays ideology dictated the educational agenda across all three educational sectors (Lingard and Rizvi 1997).

Marginson (1993, p. 57) claims that the shift to market forces for the provision of government services has fundamental attractions for most governments:

The typical strategy of economic rationalisation is the privatisation and commercialisation of public sector activities. In one stroke this reduces the role of government and opens up new terrain to market activities and private interests. The next best strategy to the creation of markets is the simulation of markets with the public sector.

One of the main outcomes of privatisation in VET has been the removal of the responsibility for the development of ‘curriculum’ from the teachers of the curriculum and bestowing of the task to industry. Up to 2016, the federal government subcontracted the development of training packages to Industry Skills Councils (ISCs). There were eleven ISCs that were funded by the federal government to develop, implement and update Training Packages and provide skills and training advice to enterprises and Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). Each ISC was responsible for a group of related industries. For example, the Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council (CPSISC) represented the workforce training and skills development needs of the construction and property services industries. ISCs are governed by independent boards and are registered as non-for-profit companies limited by guarantee (ISC 2013). This function is now undertaken by private company groups called State Skills Organisations (SSOs).

As noted above, neoliberalism advocates free trade, the reduction of the public service sector, a reduction in state intervention in the economy and a deregulation of the markets. Neoliberalism resets the relationship between the state and the economy and

“transmogrifies every human domain and endeavour, along with humans themselves, according to a specific image of the economic” (Brown 2015, p. 10). The neoliberal state has become less concerned with the population’s well-being and social welfare, but has been transformed into a managerial agency that facilitates an entrepreneurial type of freedom through marketisation, investment in human capital and by collaborating with other agencies of governance - both local and global, public and private (Olssen & Peters 2005). Governmental institutions, such as TAFE NSW have now become economic institutions (Quiggin 2002). Brown (2015, p. 17) argues that the neoliberal “reasoning” evident in educational and other cultural institutions is responsible for “converting the distinctly political character, meaning and operation of democracy’s constituent elements into economic ones” and thereby will lead to “corrupting and degrading democracy” (emphasis in original).

For governments to reduce their public service sector, they need to privatise state- owned enterprises. This usually commences with privatising public utilities, such as public transport, water and electricity supplies as well as social services, for example, job placement and educational services. The diminution of government spending on social services is also related to and excused by the devolution of welfare services, including education, health and housing. These services are considered by many educationalists to be a right of citizenship rather than charity (Popkewitz 1991). According to Seddon (2000, p. 1) the privatisation of educational services enables:

…particular communities and employers to induct young people or employees into preferred beliefs, practices and social disciplines, to determine their place in a social order…[in education], certain faith communities and the rich had the political power to assert that their culture needed special treatment and were able to maintain schooling outside the public system. Privatisation is now less about cultural reproduction…and more about the state maintaining rational investment strategies and reducing expenditure.

Politicians from both sides of politics have espoused the virtues of privatisation – the transfer of the ownership or control of public services or assets to the private sector – not only as a means of raising financial capital to balance their budgets and to fund public infrastructure projects, for but also the copying “of ideas, techniques and practices from the private sector in order to make the public sector more like businesses and more business-like” (Ball and Youdell 2008, p. 9).

According to Ball (2009), privatisation is now seen as a key strategy in education reform and the reform of the state, but he admonishes that the privatisation of public education is complex and multi-faceted, and needs to be comprehended in relation to the development of a set of complex relationships between:

x Organisational changes in public sector institutions (recalibration), x New state forms and modalities (governance, networks and performance management), x The privatisation of the state itself and the interests of capita (public services as a profit opportunity and ‘effective’ public service provision) (Ball 2009, p. 83).

The privatisation of educational research

The federal government also provides incentives for private companies to engage in educational research and educational policy formulation. Multinational companies such as PwC, KPMG, Ernst and Young and Deloitte, Tohmatsu and Touche have collectively published thousands of education policy documents. In Australia, between 2010 and 2013, PwC published 13 research and policy documents for the federal government (PwC 2013). Educationalists contend that the educational reports and recommendations produced by multinational companies are a waste of public funding as they invariably “create new spaces and opportunities” for the for-profit sector to generate influence on government policy formulators and to generate profit for their own educational businesses. “In most cases they offer a reiterative stream of ‘solutions’ and ‘best practice models’ which seem almost always to privilege further privatisations or ‘business-like’ models” (Ball 2009, pp. 91-92).

Hill (2003) argues that education is not a commodity that can be bought and sold, and that education and privatisation have opposing goals, motivations, methods and standards of excellence and standards of freedom. This dichotomy is explained in

Table 2.5 in endnote 5 at the end of this chapter6. The privatisation of education systematically reduces the “historically hard won social institution of education to a commodity for private purchase and sale” (McMurty 1991, p. 216 cited in Hill 2003, p. 40).

Devolution and outsourcing of VET

Successive Australian governments since the late 1980s have reduced their social

51 welfare spending by allowing services such as health care, education and other social services to be taken over, either totally or partially regulated by private enterprise. Australia is one of 38 countries within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that agreed to “reduce or even completely eliminate barriers to the supply of educational services from abroad” (Kaplan 2003, p. 1 cited in Hill 2003, p. 13).

The concept of devolution is a paradoxical component of marketisation and privatisation, as it has resulted in the centralisation of educational policies. Devolution in education has resulted in numerous changes to a TAFE college’s governance. The state government may sell or subcontract the provision of educational services to private enterprise, or allow individual school principals or college directors the autonomy to financially manage their campus or the state may decentralise the decision making and the management of a cluster of campuses to a regional management team. Governments claim to be “empowering” teachers with a “self- renewing” autonomy, but in practice they are essentially offering educational institutions the opportunity to “manage dwindling fiscal resources, within tightened centralist policies over curriculum, evaluation and standards” (Smyth 1993, p. 3). Apple (1997, p. 24) argues that through devolution, education became a marketable commodity, where the values, procedures and metaphors of business dominated and reduced its results to standardised “performance indicators”. This allowed the state to shift the blame for the “very evident inequalities to access and outcome” that it had promised to reduce, from itself onto the individual schools, parents and children and community. Other critics of devolution (Ball 1993; Whitty, Power and Halpin 1998; Smyth 1993) argue that there is little evidence of there being any increased improvement in educational standards through devolution.

Devolution and its perceived success have a profound impact on the whole education community, not just the college Principal/Director, that is given the managerial and fiscal responsibility for the new processes. According to Ball (1993), there are parallels in Great Britain VET to TAFE in Australia where teachers were forced to question their own professionalism, their understanding of the college’s culture and its interpersonal dynamics, their own long-term careers, their autonomy and their efficacy.

The federal government’s main concern to date with regard the devolution of its services in TAFE has been ensuring the accountability and performance of managers and the achieving of prescribed targets (Briggs 2009), rather than whether the service provided is of an acceptable standard. Donahue (2007) suggests that some government services could be devolved – where services are either duplicated, or where competition will achieve efficiency gains - as long as this process is not misconstrued as an excuse to minimise the benefits of these services nor reduce their legitimacy.

Decentralisation of TAFE NSW administration

Decentralisation may be defined as “the transfer of decision-making authority, responsibility, and tasks from higher to lower organizational levels or between organizations” (Hanson 1998, p. 112) compared to devolution, which results in government services either being privatised or open to tender to the for-profit sector. Neoliberal ideology influenced the decentralisation of administrative power and fiscal responsibility from the centralised TAFE hierarchies in the early 1990s (Seddon 2004). When I commenced working in TAFE NSW in 1983 all administrative functions (governance, policy, curriculum, fiscal budgets and human resources) operated out of Sydney. The Head of the School of Building Roy Lucas, for example, administered the curriculum and appointment of teachers for all the TAFE colleges in NSW that offered his courses. Under the Head of School were two Heads of Division – one for Architectural Drafting and one for Building Construction. This was the typical hierarchical structure for all Schools in TAFE NSW. In the early 1990s administrative responsibilities were devolved to eleven TAFE Institutes while educational policy responsibility remained with the NSW Minister of Education. Curriculum development was formulated by the Industry Training Advisory Boards and then the national Industry Skills Councils.

The aim of decentralisation is to increase administrative and fiscal efficiency by reducing the ‘layers’ of a centralised management model and the ‘time’ taken for decisions to filter through from a central hierarchy. While decentralisation appears to be democratic, by empowering regional institutions to reflect local priorities, affording them the opportunity to engage in the process of educational transformation and social

53 change, it also embodies the managerialist ethos of efficiency and profitability (Zajda 2006). Neither efficiency nor profitability was realised when TAFE NSW was decentralised into 11 Institutes. It resulted in the duplication of administrative and service costs (Boston 2001). Each TAFE Institute has its own finance, human resources and property units. Efficiency concerns initiated the establishment of Centres of Excellence in strategically-selected colleges through the amalgamation of capital-intensive courses (panel beating, spray painting, carpentry and joinery etc), that were originally offered in a number of colleges within the same institute.

Educational values within economic rationalism

According to the American educator John Dewey (1916), education is the key to developing a democratic society in which everyone can feel free to participate, while at the same time generating psychological dispositions that encourage continual and critical learning throughout a lifetime. Education is meant to “uplift students and communities, who are motivated by notions of social reform, social improvement, egalitarianism and for the common or public good” (Marginson 2006, p. 206). Kangan (1974) extended the traditional concept of vocational education beyond being primarily concerned with acquiring trade-based employment, by incorporating the concepts of social equity, lifelong learning and the education of the individual citizen into TAFE.

Dawkins policies emphasised the role of education in the economy and its functions of preparing and selecting people for employment and have tilted the balance towards these functions. Marginson (1997a) argues that there is always more to education. Education can change the character of people’s social attributes – their nature as self- managing, autonomous citizens. He expands on this philosophy by quoting Gough Whitlam – “Education is the key to equality of opportunity”. Numerous other educators (Popkewitz 1991; Bahnisch 2000; Olssen et al. 2012), have also espoused that education is one of the most obvious and influential ways for the state and other political actors to directly intervene in shaping citizens’ conduct.

A large body of research (Ball 2012; Shor 1992; Apple 2001; Giroux 2000b; Shor and Freire 1987) within the sociology of education has demonstrated how the culture of schooling works to the advantage of students from particular backgrounds. The

54 implementation of a market definition of devolution will only intensify this situation and exacerbate the gap between the educational opportunities of the better-off and those of the poor. Many social democratic reforms in education (greater access and opportunity, women’s and minority rights) are being “watered down” and made secondary to the economic reform agendas7 (Pont et al. 2013; Taylor et al. 1997).

John Dawkins actively pursued only the reforms that connected education to the economy, and showed little concern with teaching, curriculum and learning. This process deprived TAFE teachers of the opportunity to utilise their extensive knowledge of innovative research and analysis. TAFE teachers were effectively frozen out of the policy making process, while at the same time the system sought to make stringent demands on them for greater accountability to externally devised policies (Taylor et al. 1997). The emphasis placed upon skills training at the expense of education was motivated ostensibly by Dawkins’ desire to meet industry’s requirements, eschewing any notion of personal development.

Table 2.7 summarises the difference between professional and marketised values in education. This comparison correlates the differences between the Kangan (professional, social-citizenship centred) concept of TAFE and the Dawkins (marketised, industry-centred) concept of VET.

Professional Values Marketised Values

The education of children is held to be intrinsically of equal The education of children is valued in relation to costs worth and outcomes

Individual needs (schools and students) Individual performance (schools and students)

Commonality (mixed-ability classes, open access, Differentiation and hierarchy (hierarchy of setting, inclusion) streaming, selection, exclusion)

Serves community needs Attracts ‘clients” or ‘customers’

Emphasis on resource allocation to those with greatest Emphasis on resource allocation to those considered learning needs more able

Collectivism (co-operation between schools and students) Competition (between schools and students)

Broad assessment of worth based on a varieties of Narrow assessment of worth based on contribution to academic and social qualities performance indicators

Table 2.3 A comparison of professional and marketised values in education (Source: Saltman 2002)

The introduction of competition in VET

ANTA promoted the development of a more competitive training market which redefined education in terms of its dollar value and set TAFE institutes against each other in an intensified competitive system for funding (Davies and Bansel 2010; Boston 2001). In 1997, the federal government introduced the growth through efficiencies policy which capped state VET funding – a strategy aimed at encouraging the marketisation of VET. This policy promoted the “user choice” scheme, where industry is encouraged to seek alternative training providers, increased contestation between the states and greater fiscal efficiency. TAFE reduced its training costs by increasing class sizes, reducing face-to-face learning, increasing self-managed learning, reducing investment in the development of teaching resources, technologies and equipment, increasing the use of part-time staff and reducing professional development (Schofield 1999) for its teachers.

The Senate References Committee (SRC 1999, p. 93) acknowledged that TAFE was at a distinct disadvantage in a competitive educational market because of its “community service obligations, its commitment to providing effective student support services, the industrial relations context in which it operates, and its public accountability obligations”. The for-profit sector can operate more efficiently as it is not subject to these considerations and therefore their cost structures are lower. The TAFE Directors of Australia (TDA 2012) claimed that the demise of TAFE’s international VET student market was caused in large part by the presence of the for-profit sector, while the need to engage brokers and vigorous marketing activities have resulted in less funding being available for actual training delivery.

The Council of Australian Governments continued to encourage TAFE’s traditional

role, but did not offer any solutions as to how this could be achieved:

…the key role of TAFE as the public provider in a competitive market [is] recognised and supported, including its delivery of high-cost technical training, encouraging participation of disadvantaged students and offering services in regional and remote areas (COAG 2011, p. 6).

Current TAFE NSW policies - Smart and Skilled policy8

The latest iteration of TAFE NSW VET policy is the Smart and Skilled policy which was introduced in October 2012, and implemented in July 2014 at Sydney Institute. The main aims of the policy will be discussed in subsequent chapters, but I will outline some of the background to the policy in the following section.

One of the original tenets of this policy was that the state government would issue each eligible VET student a voucher with the same monetary value that can be utilised to pay TAFE course fees or the fees for any registered private VET provider. The student would then pay the difference for any tuition fees charged by the training organisation above the value of the voucher. This voucher system, an innovation advocated by Chris Eccles – the then Director General of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet – was first proposed by Milton Freedman in 1962 to allow governments the ability to reduce spending on education and encourage private investment and competition amongst private education providers. It correlated with Friedman’s philosophy that all higher education benefited the individual and that there should be no need for excessive public subsidy for those who get a higher education at the expense of those who pay taxes and do not get these benefits (Marginson 1997a). Friedman (1955, p. 8 cited in Marginson 1997a, p. 122) argued that vocational education was a “form of investment in human capital precisely analogous to investment in machinery, buildings or other forms of non-human capital. Its function is to raise the economic productivity of the human being. If it does so, the individual is rewarded in a free enterprise society by receiving a higher return”, that is, higher salary and better work conditions. The VET reforms were seen as the means of bringing “the economic vision of portable human capital a step closer to realization” (Marginson 1997a, p. 213). The concept of Human Capital was first articulated in 1954 by A W Lewis (Mincer 1958), and did not have the negative connotations that it has today.

Friedman claimed that the government should still continue to shape education policy by dictating the “shape of education, its distribution, its cost, and the extent of privatization, by controlling the licensing of schools and the terms and conditions of vouchers” (Marginson 1997a, p. 126). It appears that the Smart and Skilled policy

57 initiatives, which were implemented in 2013, are echoing the 1987 Dawkins VET policy initiatives and geared towards this outcome (NSWGOV 2013).

Chapter summary

This chapter identified the external political and economic factors that influenced VET policy in Australia. The impact of globalisation resulted in increased youth unemployment and skill shortages. Arguing the need to remain economically competitive within the global economic market, Australian federal, state and territory governments from all political persuasions incorporated neoliberal ideology within their economic and educational policies. This resulted in significant changes in the governance and administration of TAFE in NSW and a re-alignment towards a greater influence of industry in curriculum development for VET.

The federal government marketised VET and adopted the policy of privatisation and full contestation in VET – where both public and private registered training organisations can openly tender for federal VET funding – arguing the need for greater fiscal efficiency. TAFE NSW espoused corporate managerialist administrative practices which altered the nature of vocational education and training in Australia resulting in wider changes in educational values. TAFE NSW gave priority to economic efficiency over students’ educational needs in its allocation of educational resources

Chapter 3: Methodology: critical policy studies and interviews

Introduction

The previous chapter identified that the changes in policy and governance in TAFE in NSW, since 1987, are the manifestation of global neoliberalism. Key aspects included why and how the curriculum development policy in TAFE changed, how this altered the nature of vocational education and how this change reflects wider changes in educational values.

This chapter identifies the multifaceted research methodologies employed to investigate the research questions enumerated in Chapter 1. The chapter outlines the approaches that inform the following four chapters of the thesis. This chapter explains the epistemology that guides this research and identifies the research process undertaken to ensure that the research questions have been addressed. In addition, this chapter elucidates the process undertaken to analyse research data and outlines which policy documents have been examined for this study

First, I outline the role of the critical policy analyst, using the process advocated by Olssen et al. (2012, p. 40), to understand the historical nature of the a priori assumptions of policy by undertaking a “detailed examination of the social and historical practices (customs, language, habits, discourses, institutions, disciplines) from which a particular style of institutional reasoning emerges and develops”. A critical policy analysis is undertaken in Chapter 5 to examine a specific policy – the Skills for Australia policy – that altered the nature of vocational education and to position this policy within its historical and social contexts and the inherent power relations at the time of its introduction and implementation.

Second, I explain why I undertake a case study. The justification of adopting a case study – the genealogy of the Diploma of Architectural Technology course in TAFE NSW from its inception in 1961 to the present – is expounded. Hence, in the remaining chapter a critical policy analysis is framed by Foucault’s (1974) notion of critique that traces, historically, the battles, or the forms of power and lines of opposition between them that have gone into making the world as we know it in the present (Butler 2002).

Third, I outline the in-depth, face-to-face and online interviews that were conducted with current and retired senior TAFE administrators, policy formulators, analysts and senior teachers to examine the evolution of the VET policies and the political machinations that constructed the changes in policy formulation practice. The interviews provide unpublished data from TAFE policy formulators to augment the genealogical approach. The procedures undertaken to obtain ethics approval for the interviews for this study are explained, as are the perceived limitations of the study.

Background to the research

In all the colleges offering the Diploma of Architectural Technology across every college in NSW, only one teacher has a PhD. My research indicates that less than 1% of TAFE teachers hold Doctorate qualifications and even less undertake education related research. I realised the transition from professional qualifications to educational theory and critical educational research was an enormous undertaking. My colleagues were at first perplexed and cynical that TAFE curriculum development would be worthy of a PhD thesis. They saw a disconnect between the role of a TAFE teacher and university level research when TAFE teachers, under the VET policy directives, were no longer encouraged or sponsored to undertake professional development or pursue higher education qualifications. In undertaking a PhD I was also moving disciplines. My previous qualifications, including a Master of the Built Environment degree by research, and all of my publications, including 4 books and numerous journal articles in Oceania and Architectural Science Review were in the discipline of Architecture. In addition to extensive professional experience since 1976, I had also tutored for four years and lectured for four years in Architecture at university level before moving to TAFE to prevaricate university politics. When I started in the Architectural Drafting department in TAFE NSW in 1983, all of the reforms recommended by Kangan had been adopted (see Chapters 1, 2 and 4). My interest in curriculum development was augmented when the Certificate IV course was being overhauled and rewritten for introduction in 1985 as an Associate Diploma course.

I undertook curriculum electives in my Graduate Diploma in Education (Technical) course to research the sociological and political theories of curriculum formulation and the curriculum development process in TAFE. The 1985 course was written by two

60 teachers from the Architectural Drafting section at Sydney College of TAFE. Their curriculum development process was transparent throughout its formulation and they conducted workshops, which I attended, to elucidate their development process and to facilitate feedback. The most significant difference between the Certificate IV and the Associate Diploma curriculum was the adoption of a holistic, studio-based paradigm in keeping with Kangan’s philosophy1. The lectures in each subject afforded technical and/or professional information for use on the one design project. The scale and type of building being designed and documented became more complex in subsequent semesters.

The classrooms were set up as studios, as though the students were working in an architect’s office and the teachers were their employers. The assessment of students’ design work involved the participation of the whole studio. Students would present their projects – utilising large coloured boards and models – to the class, as they would to their clients. Real design briefs, clients and sites were customarily used, and the real clients were invited to participate in the final presentations and assessments.

A similar pedagogy was adopted for all revisions to the Architectural Drafting course in TAFE NSW. The course underwent additional revisions in 1991, 1998 – when it was renamed the Diploma in Architectural Technology, 2004 and 2007. In 1998 an Advanced Diploma of Architectural Technology course was also inaugurated which offered advanced-level electives. Students could choose to specialise in design, construction or the computer-generated documentation process of complex design projects. I wrote six subjects for the 1998 Advanced Diploma course. In 2003, I was on a Steering Committee that wrote the sustainability subjects for every Architectural Technology, Building, Engineering and Transport course in TAFE in NSW (Moore, K. 2003).

A key impetus for this research was that the teachers of Architectural Technology in TAFE NSW had vigorously resisted the implementation of any ISC curriculum until 2012, stymying the process by rewriting and amending the existing curricula. In 2011, all TAFE colleges in NSW offering the Architectural Diploma qualifications were informed that the Architectural Technology course will be replaced by the ISC-written Building Design course in 2013. This course had been written, ratified and approved

61 without any input from any teachers of Architectural Technology in Australia. The teachers were not asked for their feedback. My Head Teacher presented me with emails and minutes of meetings he attended where all the Head Teachers of Architectural Technology disseminated comments on course content and course structure to the ISC which were ignored (see Appendix I). This scenario, where I was an insider (working within the TAFE system and teaching the course) and yet at the same time an outsider (not being able to contribute to or comment on the new course), in addition to being frustrating, piqued my interest. I endeavoured to investigate the educational politics and the processes that led to the Architectural Technology course content and syllabus being written by a private company, whose directors are not educators and have no qualifications or experience in writing curriculum.

The researcher as activist

My direct knowledge of the official educational philosophies and values indoctrinated in TAFE NSW governance, management and administrative procedures dates back to 1983. Educationalists concede that the recommendations in the Kangan Report (1974) were impelled by the tumultuous shift in Australia, in the decades before Kangan, towards a social equity agenda instigated by the Vietnam War protests, women’s rights marches, Aboriginal activism and homosexual rights campaigns (Goozee 2001). TAFE NSW was envied by all Western countries and became the benchmark for technical education in Australia. All eleven of my interview participants lamented the policies and strategies that compelled TAFE to undergo structural reform. TAFE became marketised, competition was encouraged between the public and private sectors for student funding. The success of TAFE is now measured against economic rationalist criteria rather than outcomes of social equity and citizenship. I have experienced the perpetual restructuring (from 1983 to the present) in TAFE NSW and the common motivation is the enduring demand for economic expediency.

Prunty (1985) argues that it is crucial a policy analyst critically interrogates the effects of education policy upon students, teachers and institutions while also analysing the policy’s moral milieu, social impacts and political and economic context.

While now over 30 years old, Prunty’s claim holds. Before outlining my theoretical framework, I will elucidate the ethical dilemmas that I was confronted with when I

62 discovered there was no curriculum dissemination process, and the political conviction that elicited in me, what Giroux (1989) exclaimed, the “civic courage” to adopt an activist/professional identity to guide my methodology. As an activist I endeavour to identify with the principles of equity and social justice (Sachs 1999). An activist stance will explicitly endorse my convictions (Nietzsche 1966) and politics “up-front” (Hale 2001) while I reflect on how my politics has shaped my understanding of this study’s research questions. I am aiming to examine any tensions between my ethical/political convictions (Speed 2006) and my critical analysis methodology to ensure the most apposite choice of theoretical frameworks for the study.

“Privileging one’s own experiences may seem arrogant” (Foucault 1998, p. 385), so I entreat your indulgence while I recount some contextual information that explains why I will be presenting evidence and data in this study that I could not have disclosed if I were still employed full-time by TAFE NSW. When I joined TAFE NSW I proudly identified myself as a TAFE teacher and immersed myself in the St George College community. Even though I operated a part-time private architectural practice, I identified as a TAFE teacher. Because of this and other political reasons, I rescinded my memberships of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and the Papua New Guinea Institute of Architects (Appendix II). I served on numerous College Committees, often concurrently, and volunteered my professional services to the College. I designed the Student Association’s facilities in Building D, provided design ideas and drawings for general improvements to the College and designed the Student Bookshop (Appendix III is a thank you from the director of the St George Students’ Association for designing the College Book Shop).

In 1991 I was twice offered the position of Senior Head Teacher of Architectural Technology at Granville College. I declined both offers. While I wished to remain part of the St George community, I was also becoming disillusioned with the TAFE NSW administration – both the central administration and the college management – and did not want to simply become what I saw as a sycophant on the senior staff team. I could not discern any recognisable benefits for either the students or teachers from any TAFE NSW administrative restructures from 1983 to 2016. I had not envisioned in 1983 that I would have undertaken this study or that I would have perceived myself an advocate for technical education until I resolved to embark on this study in 2012.

I identified with what Hunter et al. (2013) suggest was a shift from disengaged cynic to indomitable activist. I became disheartened with the deleterious impact of the VET policies on TAFE NSW educational quality and equity. I remained focused on improving and developing my students’ learning experiences by contextualising their professional role within an economic, social and political milieu, while utilising pedagogies that encouraged my students to become “critical agents”, by making knowledge problematic through the integration of critical and affirming dialogue (Giroux 1985b). In other words, I rendered “the pedagogical more political and the political more pedagogical” (Giroux 1988, p. 127).

While Sydney Institute’s management emphasised compliance protocols and managerialist practices (see Chapter 7) instead of addressing pedagogical issues surrounding the deletion of curriculum from VET, I offered alternative paradigms in my studio classes and incorporated curriculum to counter the conservative and neoliberal discourses that “prevent the democratic principles of liberty, equality, and freedom from being put into practice in our [colleges] and other crucial spheres of society (Giroux 2000a, p. 14). In defiance of the simplistic learning outcomes of the training packages, all of the Architectural Technology teachers and I continue to teach the design process2 with a holistic curriculum incorporating cognitive and behavioural components while entrusting the students with additional research beyond the scope of the training packages.

Under the current Faculty system there are no College Directors, so after 32 years and 2 weeks of continuous service there was no farewell morning tea and no engraved College wine glasses as a memento of my service. I was asked to return as a part-time teacher by the Architectural Technology section staff and my students.

The TAFE NSW “Code of Conduct”

In 2012 the Gillard federal Labor government changed the accessibility criteria for

VET-FEE-HELP3 courses. It removed the requirement that these courses commanded a credit-transfer arrangement with a university and proffered them to the for-profit sector (Noonan 2016). Some private training providers and their agents instigated “unconscionable” recruitment practices and awarded qualifications without conducting

64 any training (PHA 2014a; Andrews 2015). In 2015 the NSW Liberal state government increased student fees up to 5000% for some Diploma courses under Smart and Skilled. The proliferated intensity of criticism of both federal and state VET policies amongst TAFE teachers led to Sydney Institute TAFE NSW instructing its staff (including myself) to undertake mandatory training in the Code of Conduct to curtail the escalation of confidential information being leaked to the media and/or opposition political parties. Under the Code of Conduct, TAFE NSW teachers are expected to:

• Comply with the law, policies and any lawful direction • Serve the government and act in the public’s best interest • Act honestly, ethically and with integrity and avoid conflicts of interest • Report instances of fraud, corruption, serious and substantial waste, or maladministration (NSWDEC 2014).

Since the adoption of neoliberal managerialist practices by TAFE NSW and other federal and state governments, criticism of policy is considered by management more serious and contentious than “financial fraud or interpersonal abuse” (Maddison and Denniss 2009, p. 244). Conversely, I contend that a TAFE teacher’s prime responsibility is to educate their students “guided by values that reflect societal expectations regarding the appropriate role for government” (O’Faircheallaigh et al. 1999, p. 225). TAFE NSW teachers are expected to behave professionally and ethically. Niesche and Haase (2012, p. 277) claim that ethical considerations in an educational institution are “a dynamic and continuing activity rather than an adherence to a system of moral codes and principles enshrined in formal policy statements”. Rose (2007, p. 125) argues that in democratic societies the decisions an individual undertakes in their work environment should be “framed in terms of the values of autonomy, self-actualization, prudence, responsibility and choice”. I comprehend and appreciate the necessity for commercial confidentiality in commercial institutions, but in my experience, the Code of Conduct obfuscates transparency in TAFE NSW administration and management practices. The TAFE NSW administration and its managers do not work within the spirit of the Code of Conduct. According to Prof. R. Whittaker, in addition to TAFE NSW’s recruitment practices not being transparent, senior academic positions are awarded to individuals in certain sections without the necessary qualifications required by the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) – the federal agency which regulates Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). In this context, I contend that I have no compulsion to acquiesce to elements of the Code of Conduct which I oppose on democratic and moral grounds, even if this results in my

65 dismissal from my part-time teaching. I intend to critically confront any neoliberal managerialist practices that promulgate social inequalities and injustice (Sachs 1999) when I deliberate on the case study in Chapter 6.

Theoretical Framework: Part 1 – Curriculum development theory

In this section I provide the justification for utilising curriculum development theory as one of the theoretical frameworks for this study. One of the conceptual frameworks for this thesis is the differentiation between syllabus and curriculum. I commence by discussing the historical evolution of curriculum, from the late 19th Century to the present day, and how educational curriculum has become politicised. I continue this concept by drawing on the literature from Chapter 2 that outlines the global economic and political influences (globalisation, neoliberalism and marketisation) that impacted on TAFE in Australia resulting in the introduction of the VET policy initiatives. I utilise Foucault’s ideas of Power/Knowledge to examine the power relations inherent in the formulation and development of curriculum policy and to deliberate on the governmental processes the state selects to indorse the policy initiatives. Within this section I also deliberate on the epistemological stance that I have adopted, which has elicited a qualitative approach to guide the methodology for this thesis.

Since the early 1970s educationalists have argued that curriculum development has become more influenced by political considerations (Stenhouse 1975) rather than the traditional economic and technological considerations. Curriculum writers are no longer the “unaccountable professionals” that formulated curriculum and deliberated on pedagogy without having to account to the outside world (Whitty 2006). English (2000, p. 39) avers that ‘’knowledge is never neutral” and that the process of formulating a curriculum is in fact a political act as it decides who will benefit from what is in the curriculum and ultimately who will be excluded from it. Lye (1997) argues that curriculum formulation is the manifestation of power relations, whereby it allows any group holding power to exercise maximum control with a minimum amount of conflict:

This is not a matter of groups deliberately planning to oppress people…but rather a matter of how institutions in society work through values, conceptions of the world, and symbol systems, in order to legitimise the current order. Briefly, this legitimization is managed through the widespread teaching of ideas about the ways things are, how the world ‘really’ works and should work. These ideas (often embedded in symbols and cultural practices) orient people’s thinking in such a way that they attempt the current

way of doing things, the current sense of what is ‘natural’ and the current understanding of their roles in society (emphasis in original) (Lye 1997, p. 1).

Curriculum was invented to stress a rational coherence and sequencing of knowledge related to the forming of social and economic organisation, that is, “appropriate options and permissible action” (Popkewitz 1991, p. 22). Curriculum sustains the dominant group’s structure of society (Shor and Freire 1987). All writers of curriculum make choices between content and practices which ultimately advantage one group over another, that is, “whose knowledge is of most worth” (Apple 1990, p. vii). According to Seddon (2001, p. 310), “what counts as valued knowledge is both a consequence of socially produced selective traditions and, through its educative effects, contributes to the wider economic and cultural formation of society and culture, its patterns of power and inequality”.

Curriculum has the power to “socialise” a student and to shape a student’s cognitive and affective interpretations of their social world (Lye 1997). Curriculum, by virtue of its embedded ideology, language and the philosophical stance of its formulators, can influence the way people think in the same powerful ways that their social and/or cultural background can influence their political beliefs (Schiro 1998). Curriculum is therefore more than just a document that outlines the skills, performances, attitudes, instructional content and values that students are expected to realise from their training.

There are numerous divergent ways in which curriculum may be written and/or used in education. For example, Schiro (2008) compared the curriculum ideologies and philosophies of nine curriculum theorists and tabulated their positions as they related to the Scholar Academic, Social Efficiency, Learner Centred and Social Reconstruction. It is through the curriculum that educators, curriculum formulators and the state vie to control the education system (Schiro 2008). They should therefore acknowledge the influence that their own ideologies will have on students as they have the power to indoctrinate and “acculturalize” their students by subtly orientating them towards a particular ideology that to the student will seem to be the only and/or “natural” approach. Through the curriculum the state is able to manipulate and control students, and ultimately, workers. As Popkewitz posits:

Curriculum is a disciplinary technology that directs how the individual is to act, feel, talk and ‘see’ the world and ‘self’. As such, curriculum is a form of social regulation, that is, involves forms of knowledge whose functions are to regulate and discipline the individual (Popkewitz 1997a, p. 132)

This thesis draws on ideas of curriculum theory that has worked from Foucault’s (1980a, p. 99) definition of curriculum:

Curriculum…is the production of effective instruments for the formation and accumulation of knowledge – methods of observation, techniques of registration, procedures for investigation and research, apparatuses of control.

Foucault suggests that the curriculum normalises the subject through the strategically- structured accumulation of knowledge, coupled with the inherent disciplinary technologies of surveillance (record keeping and assessment). Institutional procedures “impose rhythms and spatio-temporal constraints through whose repetitive cycle bodies are induced into a particular social order and thus programmable for designated functions or tasks” (Holligan 1999, p. 139), signified by competency-based training and assessment methodologies in both educational institutions and in the workplace.

From a Foucauldian perspective curriculum is a “dividing practice”, which involves the objectification of the subject through the processes of classification. Ball (1990, p. 4), outlines some of the dividing practises in education:

The testing, examining, profiling, and streaming in education, the use of entry criteria for different types of schooling, and the formation of different types of intelligence, ability, and scholastic ability in the processes of schooling are all examples of such ‘dividing practices’. In these ways, using these techniques and forms of organisation, and the creation of separate and different curricula, pedagogies, forms of teacher-student relationships, identities and subjectivities are formed, learned and carried.

Ball’s argument resonates with VET curriculum policy since 1987, where successive federal government policies relied on a “sophisticated network of educational sciences, practices and technologies” to address the educational problems of the day (Peters and Burbules 2004, p. 97). The Australian federal government argued in 1987 that the changes in VET policy would address the problems of youth unemployment, skill shortages and increase economic and industrial competitiveness. Curriculum furthermore has implications for the distribution of authority and influence in society, by contributing to the establishment of individual and organisational centres of power, and to constraints on the exercise of power. Curriculum “determines both

68 students’ learning and teachers’ work in ways which institutionalise hegemonic conceptions of what it means to be an educated person” (Seddon 2001, p. 310). Curriculum governs the purposes and objectives of education, the resource allocations, and the political efforts of learners and teachers orientated to realising those ends.

Curriculum is structured to instruct the mind to obey specific laws and rules that dictate forms of expression. It represents a microcosm of the larger processes and situations by which human vision and intellect could be ordered and organised (Popkewitz 1991). Seddon (2001, p. 308) claims that “curriculum serves as a means of regulation, an instrument of control and construction, wrapped up in nation-building rhetoric, which connected and organised ‘people’ into a collective productive force to advance the nation, consolidate national identity and realise national destiny”. Seddon states, in explicit reference to VET (and TAFE) curriculum development policy, that:

Curriculum has become politicised and highly contested as different groups have vied to shape this powerful technology in ways that benefit and/or represent their identity and interests… What counts as ‘curriculum’ is governed by the conscious and unconscious choices that are made in the process of determining what should be taught... Curriculum creates patterns of inclusion and exclusion in terms of knowledge, skills and dispositions that are taught and, simultaneously creates selective traditions that in social and political terms define useful and/or valued learning… Further conscious and unconscious choices about who should have access to particular knowledge, skills and dispositions, and how access should be distributed across society determines the character of education provision. Education and curriculum are social products constituted within historically specific social relations of possession/dispossession and advantage/disadvantage (Seddon 2001, pp. 308-309).

In VET policy, curriculum was no longer only a key regulatory devise that shaped and governed educational provision, but was increasingly an outcome of identity politics, that is, “whose values are validated in policy, and whose are not” (Ball 1990, p. 3). Curriculum became a commodity that was desired, worked for and consumed by particular groups. VET now exhibits the overt characteristics of knowledge as a form of display rather than to pay attention to the intrinsic “qualities” of the individual. These displays were symbolic of the new established order and the illumination of its proper governance (Popkewitz 1994; Seddon 2004; Seddon et al. 2010).

Curriculum as a study of power relations

This study investigates the policies that changed the forms of knowledge in TAFE and the conditions of power contained in these policies. This study also aims to identify the

69 mechanisms utilised by certain social, political and professional actors to dominate knowledge and thereby assume their identity in economic affairs. It will be argued that the forms of knowledge in TAFE frame and classify the world and the nature of work, which in turn, have the potential to organise and shape individual identity (Popkewitz 1991). The dominant educational philosophies in VET hence aim to educate students to adapt to these social forms rather than critically interrogate them.

The research for this study is framed by the work of the French academic and philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984), who’s studies on how power and knowledge were used for the purposes of social control have influenced many educators since the 1970s. Central to his belief was that power is intrinsically related to knowledge as they work together to establish a “set of subtle and explicit criteria” for thinking about the world (Butler 2002, p. 222). Foucault (1990, p. 236) defines ‘valid’ knowledge as that which relates to us and when it is considered “in relation to all the things in the world” can be “translated immediately into prescriptions” that will allow us to determine what we are. In this study I will posit that over a 30 year period the VET policies have reduced technical education curriculum and discounted lifelong learning where VET students now have a limited view of their position in Australia’s workforce and their place as future workers.

The next two sections outline key aspects of power and knowledge that inform the thesis.

Power – A Foucauldian perspective

A crucial part of any Critical Policy Analysis is the focus on power. In this study I draw on Foucault’s analysis of power. Foucault became very interested in the development and role of the modern state in Western democratic societies, and discerned through his genealogical technique that the citizens of modern Europe were an acquiescent, manageable population. Industrial society produced conditions that made its citizens more interdependent, thus demanding more institutional regulation and control (Giroux, 1992). Foucault saw that people could be considered in specific and detailed ways as populations that could be categorised into subgroups distinct from any sense of the

70 whole. This concept of the population made possible new technologies of control, since there was greater possibility for the supervision, observation, and administration of the individual (Popkewitz 1994). The state began to assume responsibility for its citizens, by making them (and their control) the ultimate end of government. This was accomplished by the state analysing the process of “’problematization’… how and why certain things (behaviour, phenomena, process) become a problem” (Ball 2012, p. 28). Graham, L. (2005, p. 4) argues that “Foucault’s theorisation of the constitutive and disciplinary properties of discursive practices within socio-political relations of power” demonstrates the concern with “how language works to not only produce meaning but also particular kinds of objects and subjects upon whom and through which particular relations of power are realised” (emphasis in original).

Fixed within the rituals of the new social practises and the detailed procedures of social and political institutions are fundamental issues of power. Western democratic societies introduced civil laws based on moral codes to “temper and prevent the violence that would supposedly exist without their civilising constraints” (Dreyfus & Rabinow 1983, p. 110) but according to Popkewitz (1991, p. 37) “the new rules and obligations created finer differentiations of everyday behaviour that objectively separated and ranked individuals”. Western governments developed a profound concern with the well-being of the minds and bodies of the population, as this indicated and facilitated the well-being of the nation and its security (Ball, 2012). Instead of exercising control over each individual for the overall economic and social prosperity of the nation state, techniques were expounded that allowed the state to encourage particular norms of behaviour that are seen to be beneficial for the good of the entire population. In order to exercise a non-coercive power in the population and to build upon the productive capacity of power and knowledge, the state required a centralisation of information, which gave rise to bureaucracies and the use of statistics (Zoellner 2011).

This was also manifested by subjecting the individual to a meticulous system of surveillance and normalisation through examinations (Foucault 1984c, 1986). Methods of social administration were invented to organise people and their thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and practices. Within education, governance is become increasingly linked with data collection and numerical student performance indicators, which in reality

71 leads to the development of patterns of ‘governing by numbers’ or ‘policy as numbers’ (Lingard et al. 2012).

Foucault (1982, p. 790) believes that “power is exercised only over free subjects, and only in so far as they are free”. He argues that individuals or groups have endless options or the “power” to choose how they behave or react to any particular predicament. Power is therefore situated in individuals and their relationships rather than within institutions. Through his genealogical studies, Foucault established that “sovereign” power – the power that forced a population’s obedience to the law of a king or a central authority – was being replaced in modern Western societies by “disciplinary” power, as the authority of the king or the central authority began to be questioned in democratic societies. This study examines how disciplinary power became more reliant on certain “mechanisms” to regulate the behaviour of individuals, such as prisons and other governmental institutions (schools) and bureaucracies (O’Farrell, 2005). He coined the term biopower to describe the technologies or the practices of power that the modern state engages in to regulate the entire population (Taylor, 2011). In VET and TAFE NSW the curriculum is exercised as a disciplinary mechanism. This study demonstrates that the VET policies enabled certain stakeholders to control the curriculum thereby determining which group will benefit from this control of the curriculum and which group will be disadvantaged.

Notwithstanding the above discussion, Foucault did not see power as being negative or repressive, nor dominating or inhibiting, but as being “productive”. He argues that power is a mechanism for making things possible, as a means of opening up fields in which certain kinds of action and production are encouraged or brought about (Bove, 1995). In Foucault’s words:

If power were never anything but repressive, if it never did anything but to say no, do you really think one would be brought about to obey it? What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn’t only weigh on us as a force that says no, but that it traverses and produces things, it induces pleasures, forms knowledge, it produces discourse. It needs to be considered as a productive network, which runs through the social body, much more than as a negative instance whose function is repressive (Foucault, 1980b, 119).

Foucault argues that power “produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth [for] the individual [the subject] and the knowledge that may be gained of him belonging to this production” (Foucault 1977c, p. 194). Foucault (1977c) believes

72 that power “circulated through society” rather than being owned by one group and is more a form of action or relation between people which is negotiated in each interaction and is never fixed and stable. According to Foucault, power does not flow down from the top – from the powerful to the weak – but operates around and through networks, like ‘capillaries’, which are generated around the institutions of the state. He did not treat power as a commodity that can be owned or exchanged, that is, invested in one individual to exert influence over another. Quite subtly though, Foucault claimed that the “obedient subject is produced and sustained by a power faintly noticed and difficult to expose, a power that circulates through these small techniques among network of social institutions” (Hardy 2004, p. 107).

Foucault’s concept of power does not focus on physical coercion, nor is it directly concerned with one group’s sovereignty over others. Power in this sense is productive of social identity rather than instances of repression, violence or coercion (Foucault 1982). Power cannot be viewed as totally ubiquitous but as part of the architecture that occurs in social fields (Popkewitz 1991). In TAFE NSW all stakeholders are ensnared in an interwoven web-like relationship that requires all parties to contribute towards the goals of the institution. This thesis analyses how the VET policy initiatives created uneven power relationships amongst the traditional stakeholders of technical education in Australia and how these relationships have been adopted in TAFE NSW through the implementation of marketisation, privatisation and a neoliberal corporate managerialist administrative hierarchy. This concept of power/knowledge relation also provides a methodological focus for the study of VET reform as an aspect of institutional development.

Foucault reversed the traditional belief that knowledge is power where people gain knowledge and use the knowledge to intervene in social affairs. He believed that power circulates through the macrogovernance structure of the state and in the microgovernance of the individual. Drawing on Foucault, Popkewitz (1991, 30) argues that power is:

…embedded in the governing systems of order, appropriation, and exclusion by which subjectivities are constructed and social life is formed. This occurs at multiple layers in daily life, from the organisation of institutions to the self-discipline and regularisation of the perceptions and experiences according to which individuals act

This entails consideration of the ways that knowledge promotes certain truths as they are inscribed in the problems, questions, and responses that secure and enhance social life.

Flyvbjerg (1998, p. 228) asserts that “understanding how power works is the first prerequisite for action, because action is the exercise of power”, and because “power exists only when it is put into action”. Foucault, therefore, sees power as a relation rather than a simple imposition. He was more concerned with how people negotiated power relations rather than seeing an institution or a person in an institutionalised relationship being “all-powerful” (Mills 2004).

The Nexus of Power and Knowledge

Foucault (1977d, 27) argues that “there is no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time power relations”. The notion of power/knowledge is central to any analysis that works with Foucault’s ideas, and that “knowledge and power are always inextricably related, that there are always sociological implications to the production of knowledge” but “it is not necessary to situate all knowledge as a mere product or expression of power in order to isolate the interconnections between power and knowledge” (Olssen et al. 2012, p. 21). Ball (1997) works with Foucault’s notions of Power/Knowledge and Genealogy when he coined policy sociology and policy genealogy to depict his policy analysis methodologies. Ball argues that it enables the policy analyst to scrutinise “the minutiae of everyday life and the way in which the sinews of power are embedded in mundane practices and in social relationships and the haphazard and contingent nature of [policy] practices” (Ball 2012, p. 6). To comprehend policy genealogy, we must understand Foucault’s emphasis on and philosophy of the dynamics of power (Flyvbjerg 1998). His concept of power elucidates how truth is accepted and/or how knowledge is produced. Foucault suggests that what is held to be true “is a product of at least three factors: relations of power which saturate it, forms of knowledge which surround it, and rules of conduct [ethics] which infuse it” (Habermas 1987, p. 54). Foucault sees knowledge as a consequence of interrelated historical [archaeological – rules and regularities] practices and discourses that produce the subjects and objects of social science discourse

(Bastalich 2009). He also argues that knowledge being constituted through discourse would ultimately distinguish truth from falsehood. Discourse hereby becomes a technique for “understanding the constitution of knowledge” (Foucault 1982, p. 21). Since knowledge is always seen as an ethical and a political practice (Ball 2012), a policy analyst should identify the contingent power relations that allowed particular assertions to operate as absolute truths (Tamboukou and Ball 2003). Foucault also asks that we detail the “historical specificity of those things that we know as knowledge; how that, given a slight change in conditions, what we know with certainty to be true could be quite different because the change in conditions would engender a change in what could, and could not be said” (McHoul and Grace 1993, p. 33).

Ball claims that discourse is a crucial concept in Foucault’s power/knowledge nexus. Discourse is an entity where power is invested, and where people or customs designate who has the right to speak. Discursive practices produce and maintain power relations:

...knowledge is that of which one can speak in a discursive practice. Meanings thus arise not from language but from institutional practices, from power relations, from social position. Words and concepts change their meaning and their effects as they are deployed within different discourses (Ball1990, pp. 17-18).

Power is intrinsically related to knowledge as they work together to establish a “set of subtle and explicit criteria” for thinking about the world. “It is therefore not a matter of describing what knowledge is and what power is and how one would repress the other or how the other would abuse the one, but rather, a nexus of knowledge-power has to be described so that we can grasp what constitutes the acceptability of a system”. The critic must therefore show not only how “knowledge and power work to constitute a more or less systematic way of ordering the world with its own ‘conditions of acceptability of a system’, but also ‘to follow the breaking points which indicate this emergence’” (Butler 2002, p. 18).

The truths generated by ‘society’ and ‘economy’ are gradually enshrined in law, one of multiple regulatory means by which truth governs the population (Bastalich, 2009). For Foucault, knowledge became a ‘technology’ of power whose sights were trained on the field of conduct preventing reflection on the means by which power actually operates. The subject in modern societies became “an effect of knowledge, not a source of knowledge” (Bastalich 2009, p. 7).

Foucault (1980a, p. 102) argues that the state developed mechanisms of power by producing:

…effective instruments for the formation and accumulation of knowledge – methods of observation, techniques of registration, procedures for investigation and research, apparatuses of control. All this means that power, when it is exercised through these subtle mechanisations, cannot even evolve, organise and put into circulation a knowledge, or rather apparatuses of knowledge, which are not ideological constructs.

Foucault is arguing that the apparatuses of “knowledge” became the foundations for the exercise of power. Knowledge became related to techniques or tactics that “impose” on human beings. These techniques developed into practices that promoted and sustain certain types of knowledge rather than others, and are thereby reinforced in their turn. Ball (2012, p. 53) argues that the human sciences:

…enabled modern power to circulate through finer channels...they operated the institutions of modern power in particular ways, through their knowledge and technologies, and those institutions, like the school and the teacher, made certain forms of knowledge possible, indeed necessary...they structured ways of knowing and exercising power that brought into existence esoteric regimes of power/knowledge

Foucault (1977e, p. 27) explains the power-knowledge nexus:

Knowledge linked to power, not only assumes the authority of ‘the truth’ but has the power to make itself true. All knowledge, once applied in the real world, has effects, and in that sense at least, ‘becomes true’.

Foucault’s historical studies of power relate specifically to knowledge (and education), since the knowledge that is developed by the exercising of power is ultimately used to further legitimise the exercises of power. It is through this power/knowledge relationship that governments control populations to achieve a politically obedient and a docile4, useful workforce for the demands of capitalism and the state (Stevenson, 1993). This is why Foucault argues there are many subtle manifestations of the power- knowledge nexus in modern societies beyond the more obvious examples, such as the university hierarchies, which he claims are by far the least deleterious:

The exercise of power perpetually creates knowledge and, conversely, knowledge constantly induces effects of power. The universal hierarchy is only the most visible, the most sclerotic and least dangerous form of this phenomenon. One has to be really naive to imagine that the effects of power linked to knowledge have their culmination in university hierarchies. Diffused, entrenched and dangerous, they operate in other places than in the person of the old professor (Foucault 1980c, p. 52).

Foucault is persuading us to recognise both the implied and the obvious interrelationships of power and knowledge in society. He argues that “we should not take for granted the relations entwining power and knowledge, but rather that these relationships need to be explored in every case” (Ball 2012, p. 15). Shor (1992) develops this argument further by suggesting that having knowledge does not necessarily mean having power or being empowered. He claims that knowledge is only power for those that recognise what they can do with that power and have the means to use it to change their lives or condition.

The overall result of Foucault’s genealogical study of several centuries of interaction of the state and its citizens was his identification of a characteristic rationality of government. It showed that historically, the state does not just randomly pick and choose areas of activity. The starting point for governments is always the identification (and sometimes the creation) of a problem. Governments cannot act in a specific sphere unless a problem has been identified, so the major role for most organisations seeking government funding or intervention is to create or highlight a problem (or even a crisis) that will require government action (Zoellner 2011), encouraged via media pressure and the court of public opinion. An understanding of the intricacies of this process is crucial in education policy formation and/or analysis.

In this study I will employ Foucault’s analysis of the relationship between power and knowledge to curriculum development in TAFE NSW. Curriculum can be viewed as a form of political, moral, cultural and social production (Giroux 1994). Foucault (1980a) saw curriculum as one form of social regulation that ties the citizen to the state. The curriculum imposed by the Industry Skills Councils is tied to the problems of social regulation. “A key constituent in the formation of the modern state is the production of state professionals who operate on the power/knowledge cusp” (Ball 2012, p. 15). The structure of official knowledge epitomises the structure of social authority (Shor and Freire, 1987). TAFE NSW prescribes new technologies to regulate the individual with protocols that were interrelated with the multiple economic demands of the new neoliberal economy and the expanding control of the state (Seddon and Clemans 2000) by linking curriculum to the administrative concerns of the state with the self- governance of the subject. Foucault (1980a) ties the problem of social and structural

77 relations to power and knowledge to how institutions normalise the acquisition of knowledge.

Curriculum policy makers are involved in a political act as they determine “who gets what, when and how”, thereby either preserving or reshaping society (Boyd 1979). The changes in VET policy reflected “the political and economic environments operating at both State and national level rather than specific management or administrative problems requiring resolution” (Goozee 2001, p. 78; McBeath 1997a, 1997b). By relating education to the economy and the state to identify the kinds of social relationships that underpin the learning process this research becomes politicised (Giroux 2002a; Popkewitz 1991), that is, the values affirmed in this research are political. Pusser (2008) also contends that since educational funding is a contest for the allocation of scarce state resources, then this research is political.

Epistemology and qualitative educational research

This section provides conceptual tools to support the idea that research is political. To do this, I expand on the epistemology that directs this study, namely the relationship between knowledge, institutions and power. Epistemology, from the Greek episteme, meaning ‘knowledge/understanding’ and logos, meaning “study of” is a branch of philosophy that addresses the philosophical problems surrounding the theory of knowledge (Bryman 1988) and how people come to have knowledge, that is, how knowledge is acquired (Crotty 1998). Babbie (1995) defined epistemology as the science of knowing and understanding. Rabinow (2003, p. 3), drawing on Foucault, explains how understanding can be concurrently interpreted on a number of levels – conceptual, political and ethical: Understanding is a conceptual, political and ethical practice. It is conceptual because without concepts one would not know what to think about or where to look in the world. It is political because reflection is made possible by the social conditions that enable this practice (thought may be singular, but it is not individual). It is ethical because the question of why and how to think are questions of what is good in life.

Crotty (1998) claimed that a researcher’s methodology is prescribed by his epistemological stance, which is embedded in all qualitative research, and influences the choice of research paradigm and can ultimately determine the project’s goals.

Epistemology

Ball (2012a), following Foucault, suggests that epistemology establishes the conditions by which to determine whether any statement or discourse is “within the truth”. To do this Foucault posits the need to dissect, disrupt and render the familiar abnormal by interrogating “the discourses of true and false…the correlative formation of domains and objects…the verifiable, falsifiable discourses that bear on them, and…the effects in the real to which they are linked” (Foucault (1980a: 237). Epistemology provides the context in which to consider the rules and standards by which knowledge about the world is formed, the distinctions and categorisations that organise perceptions, ways of responding to the world and the conception of “self”. In this sense, epistemology is the exploration of the relations between the form and style of reasoning and various historical configurations and trajectories (Popkewitz 1991).

In this study I examine how the VET curriculum has come to redefine technical knowledge in Australia and transformed the traditional curriculum practices that had been “formed historically through power relations that structure[d] coherence in the vagaries of everyday life” (Popkewitz 2007, p. 147). I use Foucault’s work to position knowledge as a constituent of social life to identify and examine how knowledge has been reconstructed by the VET policies and to critically interrogate these policies to determine the state’s commitment to issues of social equity and citizenship. This will be undertaken by ascertaining the nature of the knowledge “used to shape policy and the kinds of knowledge and assumptions” (Fischer et al. 2015, p. 1) that guided the VET policy decisions.

The epistemological assumptions for this study have also been effected by Foucault’s Archaeology of Knowledge (1972a), his historical studies of power relations and his power/knowledge nexus (1972a). “For power to operate, it needs to be grounded in knowledge about the things it operates on and in relations to. Knowledge about the subject is the basis of the operation of power and power defines what knowledge is legitimate” (Fejes 2008, p. 7).

Foucault (1972a) argues that the knowledge that is developed by the exercising of power is ultimately used to further legitimise the exercises of power. Politics is

79 embedded in this research by my identifying the multiple power relations in the VET curriculum development practices and elucidating the dividing practices that have been introduced to limit the participation of the traditional stakeholders and other social actors.

The epistemology adopted by a researcher informs the research by allowing it to inquire into related cultural and social theories. Flyvberg (2004) argues that Aristotle’s phronesis – translated as prudence or practical wisdom – should form the basis for social and political inquiry. He claims that phronesis goes beyond analytical, scientific knowledge (episteme) and technical knowledge (techne) and involves judgements and decisions in the manner of a “virtuoso social and political actor”. I expand on this in Chapter 6. Drawing on Flyvberg, I suggest that since the case study in Chapter 6 examines the genealogy of the Diploma of Architectural Technology qualification in TAFE NSW, it is of benefit that this study be undertaken by a researcher with architectural qualifications that has also taught and practiced in the field. Architecture is the only university qualification that focuses on building design and the built environment. Architecture is the only discipline and/or profession that pursues a holistic approach to the design process2 – an understanding of which is imperative for this study.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research supports an interpretivist philosophy, whereby knowledge is derived from culturally and historically situated interpretations of the social world where there can be multiple meanings and interpretations (Glesne 1999). Interpretivism is often linked to the thoughts of Max Weber who suggested that in the human sciences we are concerned with Verstehen (understanding) in comparison to Erklaren (explaining) and that there are many variables, such as hermeneutics, phenomenology and symbolic interactionism. Qualitative research is more interested in “verisimilitude, trustworthiness and praxis, rather than validity and generalisations” (Kamberelis and Dimitriadis 2005, p. 23).

Qualitative research aims to understand the subjective experiences of those being studied, how they think and feel and how they act/re-act in their habitual contexts. At its

80 core is an assumption that social actors generate meaningful constructs of the social world in which they operate. The natural world and social world are different. The social world is a world of meanings within which human beings construct their own social reality – their actions are directed by meanings. They create and associate their own subjective and inter-subjective meanings as they interact with the world around them. Any understanding of human action must involve an understanding of meanings. Interpretive researchers attempt to understand phenomena through accessing the meanings participants assign to them (Orlikowski and Baroudi 1991).

“The genuinely and distinctively human dimension of education cannot be captured by statistical generalisations and casual laws” (Walker and Evers 1988, p. 30). In methodological terms, we need to understand why people do what they do, or as within the context of this research project, why particular institutions exist and operate in characteristic ways. A Foucauldian policy analysis would investigate how the language in the policies are created, who has the authority to talk about policy and what they are allowed to say and within what spatial relationships (material, scientific and cultural) these policies have been created (Ball 1990; Kendall and Wickham 1999; Pugalis 2009). In this study, I will investigate how those involved interpret and make sense of their world, in other words, understanding the distinctive nature of their perceptions, beliefs and attitudes (Carson et al. 2001; Hudson and Ozanne 1988). The goal of qualitative research is to understand and interpret human behaviour by investigating motives, meanings, reasons and other subjective experiences (Hudson and Ozanne 1988).

Theoretical Framework: Part 2 – Methodology / theory: Critical policy analysis

In this section, a subsequent and complementary theoretical framework for this study, I deliberate on why I undertake a critical policy analysis. The Literature Review correlated the economic factors that influenced the construction of the 1987 VET policies. I intend to interrogate these policies. The objective of this second conceptual framework for the thesis is to examine the political rationales entrenched in the VET policies. I commence by discussing the intentions and methodologies for undertaking a

81 critical policy analysis. I draw on Foucault’s notion of critique to analyse the Australian VET policies and the processes that governments create to implement their policies.

Simon et al. (2009, p. 18) claim that “education cannot be disconnected from moral ideas about the individual and collective purposes of education, or from more abstract ideas about social justice and the cultural and political order”. In Western society, education policy has traditionally been claimed as value neutral, and inexorably concerned with instigating change, by accentuating the potential for alternative strategies (Grimley 1986). Since the 1960s curriculum policy has become an overtly political work, dismissing any notion that curriculum development, evaluation and dissemination is politically neutral (Pinar and Bowers 1992). In a similar manner to public policy, curriculum policy has now become aligned to politics and “positioned as the servant of politics and policy makers in the service of politicians” but this definition “is testament to the ability of social actors to dissimulate the politics of policy making” (Gale 2006, p. 3).

Critique for policy studies - A Foucauldian perspective

Critical education policy studies emerged in the 1980s to analyse issues of “power, politics and social regulation” within educational institutions (Simons et al. 2009, p.1). These studies initially drew on Marxist theories from hermeneutical texts, at a time when individual and functionalist theories were dominant in European and Anglo- American academic research, but they neglected to articulate the emerging changes in the construction of power which were either ignored or obscured in the previous critical traditions (Popkewitz and Brennan 1998). Foucault’s studies of “knowledge, madness, prisons, sexuality and governmentality” challenged the hegemony of Marxist theories on power and social change (Popkewitz and Brennan 1998, p.1). Foucault was concerned with how the subject is constituted in power relations. His Nietzschean- inspired Genealogy analysed the techniques used by Western governments and institutions to normalise populations to convert individuals into “meaningful subjects and docile objects” (Olssen, et al. 2012, p.48). Foucault’s historical studies examined regimes of “power, knowledge and discourse as a lens for analysis” to “uncover and understand ‘truth politics’, or how governments attempt to create power mechanisms that govern populations”. His studies captured the ways “that governments and other

82 actors [institutions] draw on knowledge to make policies that regulate and create subjectivities” (Bevir 2010, p. 423 cited in Hunkin 2016, p. 37).

Education policy analysis initially focused on the application of quanitative and functionalist methodologies to ameliorate policy decision making. A Foucauldian approach to critical policy analysis examines “what type of assumptions, of familiar notions, of established, unexamined ways of thinking the accepted [critical policy analysis] practices are based” (Foucault 2010 [1981], p. 456). Foucault’s work has now been used to re-examine and “reconceptualise the problem of social regulation and consequently the problematic of the state” within social regulation and political and policy discourses (Simons et al. 2009, p.22). Popkewitz and Brennan (1998, p.12) argue that Foucault’s work has significant implications for understanding educational policy, research and institutions as his work has a close connection to issues of lived politics by elucidating how people are made into subjects through exacting “rules and standards in particular institutional patterns” that are not necessarily reducible to a particular institution, but applicable to multiple institutions.

Foucault’s work on governmentality covered the governance and machinations of institutions, including schools and universities. Foucault’s work was not specifically concerned with educational policy but his studies of the microtechnologies of power/knowledge has been used in the critical analysis of educational policy by educationalists and policy analysts in numerous Western countries since the 1970s including the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Foucault’s work has more recently also influenced educational policy studies in India, Malaysia and Singapore.

In my research I have drawn on Foucault, including the work of educationalists that engage Foucault such as Stephen Ball (1990, 1993, 2012a), whose analysis of policy, policy texts and policy sociology in the UK has parallels in Australia where the VET policies emulated and/or plagiarised the British policies. Ball influenced Gale’s (2001) work on policy sociology, which was related to Foucault’s archaeology of knowledge and genealogy. I have drawn on Popkewitz (1987, 1991, 1997, 2012) to investigate the politics and power relations embedded in the formulation of curriculum and Ball (2012b) and Brown (2015) to examine democracy, citizenship and governmentality

83 and Lovbrand and Stripple (2015) to deliberate on how political spaces come about and how power operates through them. I have related Foucault’s work on surveillance and subjugation (and the invention of examinations) to Competency Based Training and Competency Based Assessment in VET and correlated Foucault’s governmentality to how the state connects the managing of its institutions to its educational policies.

Through his historical studies Foucault interpreted and commented on the machinations of “democratic” governmental institutions such as law courts and educational organisations to rationalise his approach to political critique:

…to criticize the working of institutions which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticize them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight them (Foucault 1974, p. 171).

Foucault sees the practice of criticism undertaken as a historical investigation of events and practices that constitute and shape ourselves rather than being based as a search for formal structures with universal values (Flyvbjerg 1998). He did not see critique as fault-finding, but rather as a precept for his tenet of “freedom of thought”. It originated, historically, as a resistance to ecclesiastical authority and in not accepting what governments and/or those in authority divulge to us as being true, or at least being able to question whether what we are told is true (Butler 2002). Foucault (1988a, p. 154) proclaims that:

Critique is not a matter of saying that things are not right as they are. It is a matter of pointing out on what kinds of assumptions, what kinds of familiar, unchallenged, unconsidered modes of thought, the practices that we accept rest.... Criticism is a matter of flushing out that thought (which animates everyday behaviour) and trying to change it: to show that things are not as self-evident as we believed, to see that what is accepted as self-evident will no longer be accepted as such

Foucault’s rationale for critique was to identify and expose the unrecognised forms of power in people’s lives, which ensnare them in the way they act and think. Foucault’s critique will uncover the “limitations which have become so intimately a part of the way that people experience their lives that they no longer experience these systems as limitations but embrace them as the very structure of normal and natural behaviour” (Olssen et al. 2012, p. 39). In other words, Foucault did not set out to criticise the past in terms of the present, but according to Tamboukou, (1999, p. 205) he set out to “criticise the present by reflecting upon the ways the discursive and institutional practices of the past still affect the constitution of the present”. In any particular period

84 of history there were certain regimented means by which people deliberated. Foucault was thereby striving for people to be released from the “restrictions that our history and culture have imposed on the way human beings understand the world and themselves” (Tamboukou 1999, p. 205). The critical policy analysis undertaken in this study aims to identify the ways in which VET policies constituted new ways of the state positing, and populations, understanding and accepting, the role and purpose of VET in Australia.

Foucault, influenced by the work of German philosopher Immanuel Kant, saw critique as Ausgang or an ‘exit’ or ‘way out’ of an “existing impasse” or an unacceptable “state of affairs” that compels us to unquestioningly accept and/or obey authority (Miller 1993). Foucault sees critique as a “clarification of the present” that is, clarifying “what is happening right now, and what we are, we who are perhaps nothing more than what is happening now” (Olssen et al. 2012, p. 40). This approach was also espoused by Flyvbjerg (2001) who argues that the purpose of critique is to bring about an understanding of the present so that we can deliberate about the future. To explain his philosophy, Foucault formulated a series of techniques or a “toolkit” that can be used to analyse the “histories of the present”. The “toolkit” was derived from his analysis of power and the production of knowledge (Hardy 2004). He did not see his toolkit as a catalogue of theoretical ideas that implied some conceptual unity, but as a device that he encouraged people to either use or discard as they saw fit (Macey, 1994). Foucault wanted his “books to be a kind of tool-box which others can rummage through to find a tool which they can use however they wish in their own area” (O’Farrell 2005, p. 50). He didn’t write “for an audience” he wrote “for users, not readers”. In particular, he developed a genealogical approach to study power and knowledge in Western society (Zoellner 2011).

Genealogy and its relevance to Critical Policy Analysis

Foucault proclaims that criticism can never be viewed as arbitrary if it was historically situated and if it was an intelligent response to specific institutions and practices (Rouse 2005). Foucault defined genealogy as:

…the union of erudite and local memories which allows us to establish a historical knowledge of struggles and to make use of this knowledge tactically today…What it really does is to entertain the claims to attention of local, discontinuous, disqualified, illegitimate knowledge against the claims of a unitary body of theory that would filter, hierarchise, and order them in the name of true knowledge (Foucault 1980a, 83)

Rowan and Shore (2009) argue that the “meticulous, erudite and exact” archaeological process of genealogy emancipates the historical ‘knowledges’, which are suppressed and continue to be suppressed by the scientific knowledge processes, as they are not recognised by the scientific community. This particularly positions Foucault’s approach towards critique within a qualitative stance. Isenberg (1991, p. 301) further elaborates this point:

The genealogist looks for trajectories in history, paths that are suddenly disrupted by discursive and non-discursive clashes and shifts. Explanations of changes in history are to a large extent based on power. In fact, the genealogist is more interested in descriptions than explanations: his main question is not why but how we have become what we are today. And the answers are to be found in history.

Foucault drew his genealogy from Nietzsche (Butler 2002). Foucault (1984b, p. 76) described his genealogy process as “patently documentary”, often recorded on “entangled and confused parchments” that have been “scratched over and recopied many times”. Genealogy traces historically, the battles, or the “forms of power and lines of opposition between them” that have gone into making the world as we know it in the present. "It contributes to problematizing our taken-for-granted beliefs and conceptions about the way the world is” (Olssen et al. 2012, p. 42) and endeavours to answer questions about how and why human beings do what they do. Foucault did not see his genealogy as a methodology as he was against all types of closed methodologies and often claimed not to follow any particular methodology (Tamboukou 1999).

Relevant for this study on curriculum policy, Popkewitz (1991) defined genealogy as the historically formed patterns of knowledge (epistemology), power and institutions. The genealogical process emulates a case history approach to past methodologies in order to explain how present-day practices and institutional procedures came to be the accepted norm. It does not reconstitute the past, but records the history of the interpretation of social practices (Dreyfus & Rabinow 1983), and how present-day practices evolved. Carrette (1999, p. 91) understood genealogy by placing himself “outside the culture” to which he belongs “to analyse its formal conditions in order to make a critique of it, not in the sense of reducing its values, but in order to see how it was actually constituted”.

Tamboukou (1999, p. 203) claims that Foucault’s genealogy “conceived human reality as an effect of the interweaving of certain historical and cultural practices, which it sets out to trace and explore”. It does not see history as the continuous development of an ideal schema, but explores the “frequent disruptions” and the “uneven and haphazard processes of dispersion, that call into question the supposed linear evolution of history”. In this context Veyne (1997, p. 156) argues that Foucault had a blunt warning to historians:

You may continue to explain history as you have always done. But be careful: If you look very closely, if you peel away the banalities, you will notice that there is more to explain than you thought: there are crooked contours that you haven’t spotted.

Anyone undertaking a genealogical study will require immense patience, an acute attention to detail, a fastidious research methodology and the background and/or historical knowledge of the subject area, as well as being adept at accumulating and categorising a vast amount of source material (Tamboukou 1999).

Genealogy can be used to study history, and in particular, educational policy genealogy can be utilised to identify “substantive issues of policy at particular hegemonic moments”, thereby enabling the researcher “to trace the process of educational change and to expose the possible relationships between the socio- political present with the socio-political past” (Liasidou 2009, p. 108). This strategy allows the policy analyst to look back at the characteristics of a particular discourse and trace the sequence of events that built the current state of affairs in order to explain how we have come to understand the existing situation in regard to truth and what is considered normal in the relationship between the state and its citizens (Zoellner 2011). It is one of the technologies of power to ensure that citizens are prevented from reflecting on the means by which power actually operates (Bastalich 2009).

Critical policy analysis

A critical policy analysis aims at critiquing education policy and “uncovering the process by which education reforms are both enacted and legitimised” (Mulderrig 2003, p. 123). I apply Foucault’s concept of critique to state institutions and their

87 policies to uncover or identify how the layers of power relations are obscured in TAFE curriculum development policy. The critical policy analysis will apply a “critical social science approach” (Olssen et al. 2012) stance to examine VET policies. This approach will enable me to understand, conceptualise and analyse VET policy, and deliberate on the political theory, social theory, education theory, and the pedagogy embedded in the policy.

Critical policy analysis focuses on both the “politics of education policy” and on “education policy as politics” (Lingard and Ozga 2007, p. 3). According to Simons et al. (2009, p. 23): The former refers to the broader context of power, social arrangements and discourses around education within the national and global context. Policy here is regarded as part of the broader political context and social structures. The latter focuses on how state policy involves politics (interests, conflicts, power and control) in its formation and implementation

Such a two-tiered critique analyses both the process by which the policy was formulated and the content of the policy. Critical policy analysis challenges the dominant agendas that the state adopts that invariably influence policy through analysing and interrogating the values guiding policy formulation.

Educationalists and academics (Brown 2015; Ball 2012, 1990; Olssen et al. 2012; Rizvi and Lingard 2010; Taylor et al. 1997; Apple 1990) argue that all education policy is “political” and that any critical analysis of education policy will undoubtedly also be political in nature. All policies privilege certain visions and interests and they legitimate practices. Iannaccone (1984, p. 13) argues that “Politics is the avowed conduct of public affairs…the management of conflicts about the allocation of value and distribution of resources…it refers to the establishment and maintenance of rules and procedures by which such allocations are made”. Foucault (1972a, p. 227) underpins this argument by claiming that policy studies can never be a “neutral” social science. With regard to education, he avers that:

Education may well be, as of right, the instrument whereby every individual, in a society like our own, can gain access to any kind of discourse. But we well know that in its distribution, in what it permits and in what it prevents, it follows the well-trodden battle- lines of social conflict. Every educational system is a political means of maintaining or of modifying the appropriation of discourse, with the knowledge and the powers it carries with it.

A critical policy analysis examines education policy by positioning the policy within its historical and social contexts and the inherent power relations at the time of its introduction (Eppley 2009). Such analysis looks closely at a policy’s origins and its consequences of implementation to examine the broader sociological issues enveloping education.

Politics of education

The current Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull (2015, p. 1), claimed that “the vocabulary of politics is full of hyperbole, overblown with exaggeration”. Mario Cuomo (2006, p. 182), a former Governor of New York, declares that politicians “campaign in poetry” but after they are elected “govern in prose”. Politicians use the language of possibility in their policies, but invariably due to political pressure their policies are compromised during their implementation process. Simons et al. (2009, p. 20) define politics as the “messy field of interests, conflicts and power, which is mainly concerned with discussing goals, strategic options and agendas”, or as the process by which a government or institution administrates its affairs. According to Dale (1994, pp. 35-36) the politics of education is:

…the process and structures through which [the] macro-societal expectations of education as an institution are identified and interpreted and constituted as an agenda for the educational system whereas Educational politics refers “to the processes whereby this agenda is translated into problems and issues for schools, and [the] schools’ responses to those problems and issues.

The above quotes may be interpreted to suggest that politics means the machinations of the state or a political party while a policy is the political instrument by which state programs are enacted to provide benefit to the community. The policy formulation sequence and/or process may vary depending on the nature of the policy and the degree of political influence, but it usually involves the following stages: “problem definition; clarification of values, goals and objectives; identification of options to achieve goals; cost/benefit analysis of options; selection of a course of action; and modification to the programme” (Taylor et al. 1997, p. 25). These definitions are perhaps limiting, as they do not provide any methodological framework for an analyst. A policy analyst needs to question the suppositions and intentions of the policy makers to allow scrutiny and stimulate debate. According to Gulson (2011, pp. 17 – 18), a policy analyst must:

…identify the premises of official policy discourses and work to actively disrupt the legitimacy apportioned certain types of knowledge in educational policy change. It is to challenge assumptions about the logical and coherent processes and practices associated with how policy is framed, how it is made, and how it is taken up.

Policy

Education policy is correspondingly about the “exercise of political power and the language that is used to legitimise that process” (Codd 1988, p. 235). Curriculum policy documents should be scrutinised to determine what theoretical underpinnings and pedagogical methods are embedded in them, and questioned for what values and perspectives have been included and which have been left out (Dudley-Marling et al. 2007). Grimley (1986, p. 19) defined public education policy as the

…expression of the prevailing political grouping’s ideas of what should be the scope, form and nature of education. Policies are explicit and implicit statements of value. In defining directions, allocating resources, including and excluding segments of society, ordering priorities, and setting goals, policies encapsulate a notion of what ought to be, according to the particular views of the formulating body.

According to Rizvi and Lingard (2010, p. 2) education policies today, unlike in the 1960s: …represent a particular configuration of values whose authority is allocated at the intersection of global, national and local processes. Public policies were once exclusively developed within a national setting, but now are also located within a global ‘system’. While national governments continue to have ultimate authority to develop their own policies, the nature of this authority is no longer the same, affected significantly by imperatives of the global economy, shifts in global political relations and changing patterns of global communication that are transforming people’s sense of identity and belonging.

A policy, as a rule, is a written document, but it may also be the process by which a policy issue has been consigned within a particular political agenda (Rizvi and Lingard 2010). This correlates with Ball’s (1994a, p. 10) view that a policy can be “words and action, words and deeds”. Most policy analysts and educational researchers argue that “actions” are deemed more important than words, “given that action embodies meaning, the precise nature of that action becomes crucial in the understanding of curriculum” (McLeod 1987, p. 18). These interpretations unmistakably imply that the intended goals of most policies are not always achieved in practice as the policies “encounter complex organizational arrangements and already-existing practices” (Rizvi and Lingard 2010, p. 5) and quite often undergo last minute re-interpretation by the

90 public servants responsible for disseminating the policy via policy documents and/or official media releases. A policy explains why and how a government or institution will undertake a particular course of action that may also indicate how this action will be financed and/or administered (Howlett and Ramesh 1995).

Ball (1998, p. 126) outlines his elucidation of the policy formulation process:

National policy making is inevitably a process of bricolage: a matter of borrowing and copying bits and pieces of ideas from everywhere, drawing upon and amending locally tried and tested approaches, cannibalising theories, research, trends and fashions and not infrequently flailing for anything at all that looks as though it might work. Most policies are ramshackle, compromise, hit and miss affairs, that are reworked, tinkered with, nuanced and inflected through complex processes of influences, text production, dissemination and ultimately, re-creation in contexts of practice.

Simons et al. (2009) define policy as the “authoritative allocation of values”, while Ball defined policy as the “captured essence of values” and avers that education policies “cannot be divorced from interests, from conflict, from domination or from justice” (Ball 1990, p. 3). Taylor et al. (1997, pp. 28-29) develop this further by outlining the machinations of policy formulation;

…policy is more than simply the policy text: it also involves processes prior to the articulation of the text and the processes which continue after the text has been produced, both in modifications to it as a statement of values and desired action, and in actual practice. Furthermore, contestation is involved right from the moment of appearance of an issue on the policy agenda, through the initiation of action to the inevitable trade-offs involved in formulation and implementation. Contestation is played out in regard to whose voices are heard and whose values are recognised or ‘authoritatively allocated’ in the policy and which groups ultimately benefit as a result of the policy.

A policy analyst must therefore “focus on issues of power that promotes reflection, transformation, and action; a focus on the problem and its complexity; the use of techniques that are dynamic and adapt to the contexts in which they are used; and an examination of multiple perspectives” (Gregory and Cahill 2009, p. 10), while being fully cognisant that the “production of policy is not confined to contexts of policy text production and that these contexts are not confined to particular locations in space and time” (Gale 2006, p. 7).

Policy documents

Luke et al. (2011), and Rizvi and Lingard (2010, p. 12) argue that policy texts should

91 be “decoded” for both the “context they construct” and for “the effects they have on practice, linked to broader social effects, sometimes called ‘policy outcomes’”. Bowe, Ball & Gold (1992, p. 15) claim that policy texts “carry with them both possibilities and constraints, contradictions and spaces. The reality of policy in practice depends upon the compromises and accommodations to these in particular settings”. Education policies contain “discontinuities, compromises, omissions and exceptions” while often being “unscientific and irrational” (Ball 1990, p. 3). The backdrop of all education policies therefore goes beyond the formal relationships and processes of government and any resultant legislation. Ozga (2000) argues that this necessitates an investigation of the political, social and economic contexts that shape education policy. She contends that policy analysis involves not only policy directives but negotiation, contestation or struggles between different disparate groups that exist outside the formal machinations of policy making, as education polices are seldom “clear or closed or complete”.

Ball (1994, p. 16) claims that education policies “are the product of [numerous] compromises at various stages (at points of initial influence, in the micropolitics of legislative formulation, in the parliamentary process and in the politics and micropolitics of interest group articulation). They are typically the cannibalised products of multiple (but circumscribed) influences and agendas. There is adhocery, negotiation and serendipity within the policy formulation process”. According to Iannaccone (1984, p. 11), educational policy has become;

…a dissonant mass of laws, executive pronouncements, bureaucratic regulations, administrative guidelines, and judicial decisions. This piebald patchwork of piecemeal policies legitimates antithetical ideological premises for the mobilisation of conflicting political interests. It also creates structural arrangements of access to policy making required to wage political warfare effectively when the stakes are worth struggling for.

Ball (1997) coined the term/process “policy sociology” to explain policy genealogy by positioning education policy within a sociology context and to interpret changes in state modalities. He endeavours to identify the underlying causes of the “problem” that policies were said to target and whether the policy solutions effectively addressed the issues said to have created the problem (Bessant 2008). Conventional education policy was seen to have been written by “the grey, slow bureaucracy and politically correct committee, corridor grimness of city hall welfare state[s]” compared to neoliberal education policy written by “the fast, adventurous, carefree, gung-ho, open-plan,

92 computerised, individualism of choice, autonomous ‘enterprises’ and sudden opportunity” (Ball 1998, p. 124). Most State policy in Australia is now formulated by government appointed (non-bureaucratic) political advisers and think tanks and “spin doctors”, to ensure the “appropriate” outcome (Suleiman 2005) and often reflects the ideology of the minister that appointed the think tank (Dorey 2014). Ball (1990) argues that as far back as the early 1990s alternative views or approaches were being excluded in the initial stages of policy formulation.

Policy documents as discourse

Policy documents can be said to constitute the official discourse of the state:

Policies produced by and for the state are obvious instances in which language serves a political purpose, constructing particular meanings and signs that work to mask social conflict and foster commitment to the notion of universal public interest. In this way, policy documents produce real social effects through the production and maintenance of consent (Codd 1988, p. 237).

A policy document is not only a text, but also a power relation, whereby power is exercised through “a production of truth and knowledge, as discourses” Ball (1994, p. 21). “Policy texts enter rather than simply change power relations” and their effects are “the outcome of conflict and struggles between “’interests’ in context” (original emphasis) (Ball 1993, p. 13). Ball’s understanding of policy as discourse is derived from Foucault, who claimed that discourses are “practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak … Discourses are not about objects; they do not identify objects, they constitute them and in the practice of doing so conceal their own invention” (Foucault 1972a, p. 49 cited in Ball, 1990, p. 22). Discourses are more than just words and their signifying elements. They are also practices that influence the subject and speak through the subject (Finken 2003). Discourse considers language as a system of ideas and ‘rules’ of reasoning that organise and direct an individual’s participation in the world. The languages of education are not just words and sayings. “The rules and standards of speech are social practices. Historical attention is given to how the categories, distinctions and differentiations of systems of ideas change over time to construct the ‘subjects’ of our practices” (Popkewitz 1997a, p. 146). In this study I examine how education policies work, and the overarching effects of these policies as well as focussing on “how the authority is developed and secured for governments to steer society, to deploy power and to develop policies” (Rizvi 2006, p.

198). When policies are analysed in this manner it can be seen that “policies pose problems to their subjects” (Ball 1993, p. 12). Governments speak about social “problems” and their proposed solutions to these problems by giving social issues (for example, education reform) a particular shape, or ‘problem representation’ (Bacchi 1999). Governments allow these problems to enter into discourse to reinforce existing ideologies and practices by constituting people as subjects with particular aspirations, self-concepts and fears to create beliefs about the relative importance of the problem (Edelman 1988).

Foucault associated discursive practices to particular “time, space and cultural settings” and pronounced discourse as the space “where power and knowledge intersect” (O’Farrell 2005, p. 79). Foucault elaborates by arguing that “in any society, the production of discourse is at once controlled, selected, organised and redistributed according to a number of procedures whose role is to avert its powers and its dangers, to master the unpredictable event” (Foucault 1981, p. 53). The analysis of policy at the level of discourse will permit me to focus on dominant discourse types (eg, neoliberalism, managerialism or globalisation) within the VET policy texts, and on how realities and identities, and writer and reader positions are being constituted (Simons et al. 2009). “Discourse analysis can also include a specific interest in the rhetoric of policy, and specifically in how discourses are “technologized” (based on the technical use of forms of communication) in view of influencing social practices by persuasion” (Simons et al. 2009, p. 62)

Ball (1990, p. 17) claims that the “possibilities for meaning, for definition, are pre- empted through the social and institutional position from which a discourse comes. Words and propositions will change their meaning according to their use and the positions held by those who use them”. Ball elaborates, by suggesting that discourses are not only about what can be articulated and thought but also “about who can speak, when, where and with what authority” (Ball 1994a, p. 22). Foucault (1972a) argues that a discourse could be a particular language, which articulates and reinforces our knowledge and shapes our understanding. The possession of this knowledge specifies what can be said about objects and phenomena in a specific domain of knowledge and how those using this discourse may end up being defined by this discourse (Foucault 1981; Finken 2003). This would infer that either those acknowledged as being experts in a particular discipline or those afforded the right by the state would have the

94 authority to “speak” or formulate policy. Ball (1990, p. 22) concurs, by intimating that “policies embody claims to speak with authority, they legitimate and initiate practices in the world and they privilege certain visions and interests…they are power/knowledge configurations par excellence” (original emphasis).

“Truth” and the language in policies

Ozga (2000) avers that the policy analyst should expose the shape, contours and texture of policy to interrogate the policy and the regimes of “truth” within it. Foucault (1984a, p. 73) was concerned with how different societies constituted “truth”:

Each society has its regime of truth, its ‘general politics’ of truth: that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true: the mechanisms and instances which enable one to distinguish true and false statements, the means by which each is sanctioned; the techniques and procedures accorded value in the acquisition of truth; the status of those who are charged with saying what counts as true.

Foucault (1984a) does not differentiate between “truth” and fiction, but is concerned with how “truth” is manifested. He avers that State apparatuses5 and certain institutions create and maintain specific truths which are facilitated and governed by power. A policy analyst will need to investigate which types of “truths” are used in policy documents to determine the economic and political roles of “truth”. Foucault (1984a, p. 56) argues that it is through an understanding of the “relations of power, not relations of meanings” that one can determine what is true. Within this context, Foucault sees knowledge organising itself “strategically and politically” (O’Farrell 2005) and power is related to knowledge through the ways in which it may serve to distort, or mystify the truth in favour of dominant classes or people (Aronowitz and Giroux 1993). It is important for the policy analyst “to uncover not so much who speaks but what is spoken, what positions it is spoken from, and how this is mediated by the speaking positions of others” (Gale 2001, p. 389).

Olssen et al. (2012) claim that a critical policy analysis will concede the assumptions, intentions, values, goals, factual information and interpretation of policy documents, as well as the many different meanings and emphases of the text. The policy analyst must therefore comprehend what the language of the policy document epitomises as:

This requires an alternative conception of language which recognizes that words, whether in speech-acts or texts, do more than simply name things or ideas that already

exist. It requires a conception of how the use of language can produce real social events, but by itself becoming the instrument and object of power. In particular, if it is to inform the analysis of policies produced by and for the state, it requires a conception of how language produces ideological effects by suppressing the contradictions of people’s experience in the interests of preserving the existing social formation (Olssen et al. 2012, pp. 64-65).

This particularised scrutiny of the language of policy documents will allow the policy analyst to decipher, at least, the published intentions of the policy and how these intentions relate to the formulating institution’s objectives for the policy. Notwithstanding political “back flips” due to political criticism from opposition parties in parliament or modifications to fiscal budgets, all federal, state and territory governments in Australia revise their existing policies rather than issue a new policy. The NSW government continually adds and deletes courses it wishes to subsidise on the Smart and Skilled list of preferred courses (NSWGOV 2015) based on the level of political criticism from opposition political parties or lobbying from its industry stakeholders.

Ball (1990, p. 22) argues that “policies embody claims to speak authority, they legitimate and initiate practices in the world and they privilege certain visions and certain actions”. Taylor et al. (1997, p. 29) claim that:

…contestation is involved right from the moment of appearance of an issue on the policy agenda, through the initiation of action to the inevitable trade-offs involved in formulation and implementation. Contestation is played out in regard to whose values are heard and whose values are recognised or ‘authoritatively allocated’ in the policy and which groups ultimately benefit as a result of the policy.

This study aims to investigate how the privatisation of VET curriculum, has privileged certain political and professional actors to dominate knowledge and thereby impose their identity in the construction of educational policy, and how other stakeholders have been disadvantaged by the selection, organisation and control of curriculum intellectual property in TAFE NSW.

Policies regulate behaviour and render populations productive. “They entail state intervention in and regulation of everyday lives of citizens in a ‘liberal’ enough manner to minimise resistance and maximise wealth stimulation through normalising” (Lather 2004, p. 765). Foucault (1991) would see this as the foundation of personal autonomy. This process of governmental power would eventually equip individuals with the ability

96 to manage themselves by allowing them to become independent agents, no longer being reliant on any government system or rules (Gallagher 2008). In this sense, government is a group of free, autonomous, self-regulating individuals with an emphasis on the “responsibilisation” of individuals as moral agents (Peters 2001b), at every level, not just on the administrative or political level (O’Farrell 2005).

The intricate interplays of power are endemic in the policymaking process and its evaluation through time, as various social actors attempt to ‘impose’ their ‘will of truth’ and safeguard their vested interests (Liasidou 2009). This invariably eventuates in “greater state intervention and monitoring and more centralised control” and more effective “relocation of funds and cuts in expenditure” (Ball 1990, p. 19). Foucault (1979, p. 139) would describe this process of policy formulation as “small acts of cunning which work as technologies of ‘modernisation’ and ‘transformation’...a series of moves which are ‘always meticulous, often minute’”.

The specifics of the critical policy study and this research

Gale (2001, p. 385) lists five questions that need to be considered when undertaking a critical policy analysis so that all of the elements and variables of the policy analysis may be investigated. Gale’s questions are listed below in italics and a brief outline of how they relate to this study is written below each question:

1. What were the public issues and private troubles within a particular policy domain during some previous period and how were they addressed?

An archival study of the Architectural Technology curriculum will be undertaken, from its inception in 1961 to the present day, to examine the social, economic and political influences consigned to the curriculum by its stakeholders.

2. What are they now?

The factors that influenced the changes to the curriculum development process in TAFE NSW since the adoption of the federal government’s VET policy initiatives in 1987 will be analysed.

3. What is the nature of change from first to second?

An investigation will be undertaken to determine the salient differences in the curriculum development process from when the curriculum was written by the teachers of the curriculum to the present curriculum, which was written by private enterprise.

4. What are the complexities in these coherent accounts of policy?

A study of the power relationships within the educational politics of the curriculum development process in TAFE NSW will be undertaken to examine what factors instigated the changes in curriculum development policy.

5. What do these reveal about who is advantaged and who is disadvantaged by these arrangements?

The study will investigate who has benefited and who has been disadvantaged by curriculum in TAFE being written and ratified by private enterprise.

These questions will be addressed in more detail when the educational policies being investigated as part of this research project are scrutinised in Chapter 5.

The research design

In this section I identify and elucidate the multifarious research strategies that I will undertake to ensure that the Research Questions enumerated in Chapter 1 are adequately addressed. I commence by justifying the use of a case study, then deliberate which specific VET policies will be examined and analysed, explain how the face-to-face interviews will be conducted and explicate the methodology I have chosen to analyse the data upon which the study will be contingent.

Case study – Diploma of Architectural Technology

One aim of a qualitative research methodology is to “demonstrate the complexity, texture and nuance involved in how individuals and groups experience themselves and their worlds” (Kamberelis and Dimitriadis 2005, p. 17). An investigation that integrates a case study within this paradigm offers the researcher the opportunity to incorporate a more holistic approach to an already multifaceted and complex study (Connell et al.

1982; Ball 1984; Angus 1986). This research project will incorporate a case study of the curriculum development process utilised in the formulation of the Architectural Technology course, in TAFE in NSW, from its inception in 1961 to the present.

This case study will provide context for the study’s research questions and address concerns regarding relevance. It will provide the background information necessary to understand the particular issues unique to the Architectural Technology course in TAFE in NSW. A case study may be “statistical or ethnographic; data gathering methods may be structured or unstructured; the analysis may be quantitative or interpretive... [a] case study sets out to focus on, and interpret, a part of reality which is considered to be significant to the researcher and to the reader” (McBeath and Richards 1997, p. 2).

This case study will present a comparison between the traditional curriculum development process and the current scenario, where the writing of course content has been privatised. The completed case study could stand alone as a holistic entity or used for comparison purposes with other case studies (Burns 2000). According to Goode and Hatt (1952, p. 331), case studies reflect what is really happening in all its personal and social reality:

…they organise social data so as to preserve the unitary character of the social object being studied... they are the study of a bounded system with a conception of unity or totality.

Flyvbjerg (1997, p. 8) suggests that it is imperative to choose a case study that can be investigated over a long period of time, as political strategies “consist of long, complicated, multiple chains of events without obvious beginnings and endings”. This study of the politics of curriculum development in TAFE NSW from 1961 to the present (see Chapter 5) and the investigation of the changes in educational policy due to the impact of globalisation and neoliberalism will provide a fecund case study. The Literature Review identified that there was scant consideration of how the VET policies were to be instigated, the case study should also elucidate if and how the adopted policy implementation methodologies and administrative practices were politically entrenched at the time. Flyvbjerg (1997) suggests it is incumbent a policy analyst evaluates whether the promised outcomes of the policy were achieved as envisioned.

This case study is the first of its kind on the Diploma of Architectural Technology, and the first study to focus on how national VET policy was influenced by political and economic influences and how they have impacted on the curriculum development process in TAFE NSW. McBeath’s (1997a, 1997b, 1997c) seminal studies on curriculum development in TAFE in Australia discussed the outcomes of the VET policies on curriculum development and dissemination, but eschewed any explanation of the political and economic factors that contributed to the privatisation of VET curriculum.

Policy documents

An archival investigation of TAFE curriculum documents was undertaken to examine the curriculum development process before curriculum was written by the Industry Skills Councils. Hard copies of Handbooks and Yearbooks were accessed from TAFE NSW’s central library at Ultimo. Curriculum documents that were not available on the internet were accessed from the Department of Architectural Technology depository. Foucault’s genealogical approach is used to investigate the formulation of the new and revised curriculum for the Architectural Technology course in TAFE in NSW. This investigation is undertaken to correlate the cultural, social, economic and political influences on the development of curriculum, and to analyse recurring themes from 1961 to 2016.

Documents are an important original resource for the policy analyst. They allow the researcher to determine the difference between one person’s interpretation of an event with what has been recorded in other documents relating to that event (May 1999). Government policy documents also outline the procedures that are intended to be followed during the implementation of a policy. They aim to promote public discussion and are considered the official government discourse (Rizvi and Lingard 2010).

The veracity of the source of all policy documents will be assessed to determine if they have the “right to speak” by using the following four criteria: x The authenticity and credibility of the document, x How representative is the document of policy, x The purpose of the document,

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x The capacity of detail in the document to allow a critical policy analysis (Scott, J 1990).

The documents that are examined for this study have been chosen based on the above criteria. This study has focussed on the following policy documents:

1. The Kangan Report (1974) This federal report recommended the adoption of a national TAFE sector. It added the word “further” into TA-FE.

2. Towards a Skilled Australia (1987) The federal policy that recommended the introduction of a national VET sector.

3. A Bridge to the Future (1998) This federal policy recommended the adoption of a national VET system.

4. Smart and Skilled (2012) This NSW policy initially recommended that only courses up to Certificate III be subsidised. After 2016, Certificate IV courses were also subsidised by the NSW government. Students wishing to study other VET courses are charged commercial tuition fees.

5. NSW Code of Conduct (2014) This Code elaborates on the restrictions imposed upon TAFE NSW employees with regard to expressing their views and judgements regarding policy to their students, external stakeholders, the media and opposition political parties.

6. TAFE NSW official documents (1983 to the present) These documents include official policies, memorandums and emails that were obtained either through the TAFE NSW intranet/internet or from interview participants.

This study is focusing on the policies that allowed curriculum to be formulated, ratified and approved by private enterprise. The policies that provided the most significant shifts in ideology have been examined in more detail.

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Interviews

Interviews have been extensively used in qualitative research, particularly in the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, psychology and education. Interviews enable the researcher to analyse what is not obvious, that is, to understand what cannot be seen and to explore alternative explanations of what can be seen (Glesne 1999). Kvale (2006, p. 480) suggests that “qualitative research interviewing has become a sensitive and powerful method for investigating subjects’ private and public lives and has often been regarded as a democratic emancipating form of social research”.

Within the assurances of anonymity for my participants, I was able to acquire complex and sensitive information from my participants that provided new insights for my research. This methodology gives researchers an insight into the meanings that people hold for their everyday lives. The interview process allows the researcher the opportunity to uncover uncharted and complex issues and the facility to follow up on the participants’ answers to “seek new information about new angles on the topic” (Kvale and Brinkmann 2009, p. 106).

The pre-interview discussions with each participant elucidated that they were free to answer the questions in any way they wished. There was no disguised “exertion of power”, nor any concealment of who was to gain “materially and symbolically from the research” (Kvale 2006, p. 482). Within a Foucauldian perspective, the interviewer needs to acknowledge the “persistently slippery, unstable, and ambiguous” nature of language as it changes from “person to person, situation to situation, and time to time” (Scheurich 1997, p. 62). Foucault warns that interviews should not lead to people becoming “susceptible to new forms of intervention and control”. The questions should be formulated so that “it is not the researcher’s values or perspectives that are produced within the interview process so much as prevailing cultural norms about the nature and proper conduct of persons, and the relations between particular subject persons” (Bastalich 2009, p. 6). In transcribing the interviews, I endeavoured to establish the intentions of the participants’ response, irrespective of my own political stance.

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Interview participants’ profiles

In-depth, open-ended, individual interviews were conducted with senior TAFE administrators (retired and currently employed), former curriculum development officers, senior TAFE teachers and senior university VET academics between 2014 and 2016. In addition to reading their publications I chose to also interview a number of VET academics to gain an insight to the political machinations they experienced during their career in VET, which were not published. The interviews were recorded and transcribed afterwards. After the interview, the participants were emailed a copy of the transcript and given an opportunity to amend the transcript. Two participants asked for the sections of the transcript which outlined their work experience and involvement in government committees to be deleted to keep their identity anonymous. In this type of interview, the respondents are asked about the “facts of a matter” as well as their opinions about events, via conversational questions in an unbiased manner (Yin 2003). The interview questions were formulated to investigate what impact educational politics had on the curriculum development process in TAFE in NSW, with particular reference to the Architectural Technology course. The interviews aimed to initiate an investigation of the organisational culture in TAFE and what impact the influences of globalisation and neoliberalism had on curriculum development.

Participants

The following eleven participants were interviewed:

x Two former Directors of Curriculum in TAFE NSW One of these participants was responsible for managing the writing of national and state TAFE curricula. They commenced working for TAFE NSW before the 1978 policies were implemented and since retiring continues to work in VET as a Consultant. The other participant managed the writing of the teacher-written curricula and resigned from TAFE NSW when the Curriculum Unit was closed down in 2010 and now works in an unrelated not-for-profit community organisation.

x Two retired Institute Directors in TAFE NSW Both of these participants commenced working in TAFE NSW before the introduction of the 1987 VET policies and were instrumental in interpreting and implementing the policies at Institute level.

x Two current senior University VET academics and researchers Both of these participants commenced working in VET and TAFE before the introduction of the 1987 VET policies. Both have undertaken significant research into

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VET policies and have published extensively. At the time of the interviews, both participants were still employed in a tertiary educational institution.

x Three current senior head teachers in TAFE NSW Two of these interview participants commenced working for TAFE NSW before the 1987 VET policies were introduced, have worked through numerous organisational restructures and were responsible for implementing the policies at College level. The other participant has been working in TAFE for 15 years, has experienced numerous organisational restructures and the supervision of the teaching of both the teacher- written curricula and the Industry Skills Council written courses after the TAFE NSW Curriculum Unit was closed in 2010. They have supervised teachers through numerous organisational restructures.

x Two current teachers in TAFE NSW Both of these participants had worked as part-time teachers before being recruited as full-time teachers 11 years ago. When they commenced working for TAFE NSW they worked from curricula written by the Curriculum Unit and have experienced the transition to teaching the Industry Skills Council written courses. They have worked through at least two organisational restructures and numerous administrative reforms, including the adoption of the LMBR system.

My own extensive experience in TAFE NSW offered me a greater understanding of the background and context of the interviewees’ answers and accounts of events. This could not be accomplished by any researcher that had not worked within the TAFE system. My own personal views were subjugated to eliminate bias during the interview process. After the interviews, the interviewees’ answers were transcribed accurately and honestly. Their personal views, attitudes, assumptions and “life stories” were recorded accurately and ethically. This way the interview process was not a “mirror reflection of the researcher and his/her baggage”. My stated “epistemological orientation, social positionality and institutional imperatives” will allow the reader of the research to have “some sense of what the researcher brings to the research enterprise” (Scheurich, 1997, 74-75).

Criteria

The interview participants I chose were selected due to their extensive experience in either formulation of curriculum policy, implementation and administration of curriculum policy and their being in positions to evaluate the impact of the changes in curriculum policy in TAFE NSW and in charge of large numbers of teachers and students or a combination of all of the above. All but four of my short-listed interview participants

104 agreed to be interviewed. One was a senior Minister in the Hawke Government when John Dawkins introduced the VET policy initiatives, two were former NSW Ministers for Education and one was a former TAFE NSW Curriculum Centre manager who claimed that her views regarding the politics surrounding the writing of the new course and the closure of the TAFE NSW Curriculum Centres would be too polemic for this study.

The retired senior administrators were targeted for a number of reasons. Firstly, they have comprehensive experience of the policy formulation and implementation process in TAFE. Secondly, they are able to assess, with hindsight, the efficacy of the policies they implemented. Thirdly, unlike current employees, they are no longer bound by public service creed that restricts the discussion of policy. They are not subject to any disciplinary action which would otherwise make them unavailable for interview or constrain their thinking and contribution (Staudinger and Baltes 1996).

The interviews provided a source of original background information that is not available in publications. They also provided the personal insights and perspectives of each participant with regard to how the adoption of the VET policies impacted on themselves, their staff and students and on the governance of TAFE in NSW.

Analysis of data

Marshall and Rossman (1999, p. 50) claim that “data analysis is the process of bringing order, structure and interpretation to the mess of collected data. It is a messy, ambiguous, time-consuming, creative and fascinating process”. I draw on the preceding discussion of critical policy analysis and Foucault’s power/knowledge nexus when analysing the data employed in this study.

I also draw on Foucault’s critical policy analysis to examine VET policy. Foucault’s work made it “possible to examine regimes of power through the historical deconstruction of systems or regimes of meaning-making constructed in and as discourse” that reveal “how and why some categories of thinking and lines of argument have come to be generally taken as truths while other ways of thinking/being/doing are marginalised” (Thomson 2011, p. 1). I will identify the ways in which neoliberal

105 discourse has impacted on VET policy and VET governance. I will examine how global neoliberalism became institutionalised by facilitating corporate managerialism in VET.

Four types of data source were used throughout the study. All four were utilised concurrently during the writing of the thesis. The primary source of data collection for this research has been published literature, policy documents and official Press Releases. The secondary source has been the in-depth interviews with TAFE administrators, managers and teachers. The tertiary source has been my personal experience and participant-observation notes during my full-time employment up to July 2015 in TAFE NSW and my continuing part-time employment up to the present time. The fourth source has been press clippings that have been corroborated between at least two sources. Current news articles are referenced to provide background to the evolving impact(s) of VET policies as these problematisations have yet to be analysed in academic publications. These articles focus on the declining enrolments in TAFE and the practices of the for-profit sector in VET which prompted the NSW government to instigate an Upper House Inquiry into the for-profit sector. The news articles provide source material that support the corporate managerialism and governmentality sections in the thesis. My interview participants refer to many of these articles during our deliberations. According to Neuman (1997), a researcher’s primary role is to collate all of the data and trace the overlapping or repeating ideas and themes that emerge in the different forms of data to achieve a unifying consistency that contributes to the validity of the study. This will then allow the researcher to confirm and interpret the findings (Lincoln and Guba, 1985).

Ethics approval

All of the interviews in this research were undertaken following the granting of ethics approval by the University of New South Wale’s Research Ethics Approval panel (Appendix IV). I followed the university’s prescribed processes and protocols.

The interview questions and the covering letter to participants are in Appendix V. All participants were assured that their answers were confidential and that they would be anonymous. They were allowed to refuse to answer questions or to withdraw from the study at any time. None of the interview participants refused to answer any of my

106 questions. Some removed their job titles and committee memberships from the transcripts so as not to be identified. No interview participant’s name will appear in any publication or in this thesis. There would be no information published that would identify them or their college, nor be detrimental to their employer or their careers. All interview transcripts are stored in a locked box in a locked cupboard in the Goodsell Building at the University of New South Wales in Kensington.

All participants were given a generic position title to ensure their anonymity. The only real names used in this thesis are those that appeared in published literature, official TAFE reports or open meetings and workshops. Specific TAFE institutes or colleges are named when discussing information that is public knowledge or appears on their websites.

Limitations

There are a number of limitations to this study. Firstly, even though VET policies were implemented within a federal framework, this study has focussed on the specific impacts of federal policies on TAFE in NSW and how these policies have been interpreted at the state level and specifically within Sydney Institute. Where it served to support and/or explicate my theoretical framework, I have incorporated discussion of the impacts of the VET policies in other states, namely Victoria, as the size of the student cohort in Victoria is similar to that in NSW. I do not consider this to have diminished the value of this study. My VET teaching experience, other than having written national curriculum material, has been solely in NSW. As training packages are nationally-approved documents and all VET providers – both public and private – are obliged to use the same training packages VET teachers in all states are aware of the required learning outcomes for each qualification, therefore no state or territory was at any disadvantage with regard to accessing VET curriculum documentation.

Secondly, this study uses the Architectural Technology Diploma course as the case study for the research. I was not aware of how the training packages for this qualification were interpreted in other states or territories. The case study allowed me to undertake a more detailed analysis of the effects of VET policies on curriculum by

107 utilising my first-hand knowledge and extensive experience within the Faculty of the Built Environment at Sydney Institute.

Chapter summary

This chapter outlines the methodology employed to investigate the effects of the 1987 federal government’s VET policies on curriculum development in TAFE NSW. It explains why the study undertakes a critical policy analysis and draws on Foucault’s (1980, 1982) power/knowledge nexus to examine the complexities of social and structural relations to power and knowledge and how the state regulates the acquisition of knowledge. Foucault (1972a) saw curriculum as one form of social regulation that connects the citizen to the state. The VET policies embodied power relations by prescribing new practices to regulate the individual in a manner that were interrelated with the multiple demands of the new neoliberal economy and the expanding control of the state. VET became a mechanism for social and macroeconomic reform, by being tied to youth employment, skill formation, human capital and Australia’s global economic competitiveness.

This study also draws on Popkewitz’s (1987, 1991, 1997) notion that the state exploits curriculum as a converting ordinance and that technical curriculum specifies the forms of knowledge which frames and classifies the world and the nature of work and in turn organises and shapes individual identity and citizenship. I explain that through a case study I will demonstrate how the VET policy initiatives introduced mechanisms that privileged certain political and professional actors to dominate knowledge and thereby assume their identity in economic affairs.

The following chapters include the critical policy analysis of the Skills for Australia policy (Chapter 5), which examines the historical context and goals of the policy, along with a discussion of who has benefited from and who has been disadvantaged by the policy. Chapter 6 is the case study that will compare the traditional teacher-written curriculum with the curriculum written by an Industry Skills Council. Chapter 7 explains the influences and impacts of corporate managerialism on TAFE NSW curriculum development policy.

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Chapter 4: Curriculum within the TAFE NSW organisational structure

Introduction

This chapter outlines the history of curriculum development within Technical Education in NSW from its inception in 1833 up to 1987, when the VET policies were introduced in Australia. It elucidates the educational significance which TAFE NSW placed on curriculum development, by examining where curriculum stood traditionally within the TAFE NSW organisational structure, the methodologies that were employed by the institution, and exploring the roles of the stakeholders that were engaged in its development and dissemination. The external factors that influenced TAFE NSW curriculum policy and the political and economic pressures that impacted on VET policy formulation in Australia were examined in Chapter 2: The impact of global neoliberalism on curriculum policy in VET in Australia – A literature review.

This chapter discusses the multifarious curriculum development methodologies assumed by Technical Education in NSW and correlates them with changes in government policy. The investigation shows how the VET policy initiatives, introduced in 1987, have taken the responsibility of curriculum development from the teachers and how since 2010, with the closure of the Curriculum Centres in TAFE NSW, there is no embedded curriculum in the courses delivered by TAFE NSW.

Politics, policy, syllabus and curriculum defined

Before commencing the chapter proper, the terms politics, policy, syllabus and curriculum will be defined in order to provide context for the Critical Policy Analysis in Chapter 5 and as they are important ideas throughout the thesis.

Policy

Politics may be defined as the process by which a government or institution administrates its affairs, whereas a Policy can be either a written or spoken statement which explains why and how a government or institution will undertake a particular course of action that may also indicate how this action will be financed and/or

109 administered (Howlett and Ramesh, 1995). In this study, I do not confine education policy construction as one of the formal processes of educational governance, but incorporate the “political, social and economic contexts” (Ozga 2000, p. 113) that have influenced VET policy in Australia.

Syllabus

The word syllabus is derived from the Greek ‘syllambano’ which means to “bring together”. The syllabus documents outline the specific content of a subject or course (in VET, this would be the learning outcomes) and the assessment criteria suggested to realise these outcomes (Habanek 2005). A syllabus is descriptive in nature and may focus on a particular subject compared to the curriculum, which is prescriptive (Grundy 1987; Wasley 2008) and concerns the whole course.

Curriculum

The word curriculum is derived from the Latin ‘currere’ which means to “run a set course or route” (Letts 2013, p. 186). For this study, I denote curriculum as the indorsed documents proclaiming the specific teaching methodologies and/or frameworks an educational institution will adopt for a particular qualification. They may incorporate the institution’s interpretation/definition of knowledge and its philosophy on the purpose of education. Curriculum influences how students think, what moral stance they adopt, and the identity they assume in their working life, or as Dewey (1916) suggests, it can provoke in students the inspiration to continually strive to utilise their education and work experiences to actively pursue a socially-equitable and democratic society. Educational institutions had traditionally advocated democratic values in their curricula (Tyler 1949), but since the early 1970s educationalists have argued that curriculum development has become more influenced by political considerations (Stenhouse 1975) alongside the conventional economic and technological considerations. English (2000, p. 39) asserts that “knowledge is never neutral”. The process of formulating a curriculum is in fact a political act as the selection of a syllabus, its evaluation, and the structure, sequencing and methodology adopted to transfer knowledge determines who will benefit from what is in the curriculum and ultimately who will be excluded from it. Apple (2014, p. 47) avers that curriculum determines not only “what knowledge is of most worth”, but also “whose knowledge is

110 of most worth” (my emphasis). Given the complicated political/power struggles that may ensue during curriculum development, Apple (2014) contends that only the inclusion of “legitimate knowledge” will not result in pernicious outcomes or advantage, and consequently a “legitimate curriculum” is that which has a social and cultural basis and acknowledges the intended student cohort’s class, race, gender and religion.

Popkewitz (2011, p. 4) argues that curriculum is an invention of modernity, a “converting ordinance” (regulation or dictum) introduced into nineteenth-century European education to “systematically develop civic virtue in the actions of the individual” and to produce subjects of progress “capable of self-guided rational action for the public good” and rectifying students’ ignorance and emending the moral order of the city via the pedagogy that ordered the selection and organisation of curriculum. The technical content and sequential structure (syllabus) of a curriculum is judiciously selected to inculcate the skills students require to become economically productive citizens. The philosophical and methodological components of a curriculum embed the dispositions that encourage notions of lifelong learning, social equity and citizenship.

Curriculum embodies the principles that determine what knowledge is included in a course and how that knowledge is imparted which may regulate and discipline an individual (Popkewitz 2011). Curriculum is therefore more than a methodology for facilitating or delivering a syllabus. It integrates the philosophy, purpose, content, design and mode of implementation of an educational program (Graves 1996). Curriculum development incorporates an ideological process which represents the “values, and epistemological beliefs about the nature of knowledge” (Anderson-Harper et al. 1996, p. 314) of the curriculum’s author(s) or that of the educational institution proposing and/or implementing the curriculum. Ball (2013, p. 41, citing Foucault 1977f, p. 307) argues that we need to examine beyond curriculum and timetables and investigate the “multiple network of diverse elements – walls, space, institutions, rules and discourse” to explore curriculum, as educational curriculum has now become “part of a discursive field through which” governments can construct subjects that are self- regulating and self-disciplined that are encouraged to “reflect upon themselves as members of a community/society” (Popkewitz and Brennan 1998, p. 13) rather than as individuals.

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Historical context of vocational education

The term ‘vocational’ had its origins from the Latin word vocare which refers to one’s calling or occupation (Hanson, 1994). Today, vocational education in Australia refers to the post-secondary education sector that trains students for trade, para-professional occupations and lifelong learning. Giroux (1985a, p. iv cited in Billett 2011, p. 26) argues that vocational education should emphasise the “development of knowledge, skills and attitudes that relate to a student’s future participation within the economic sector of one’s community and nation”. This holistic definition of vocational education is closely aligned to Kangan’s social equity, citizenship and community obligation concept of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) in Australia. Giroux (1985a, p. xi) suggests that vocational colleges are today the:

…reproductive sites that smoothly provide the knowledge, skills and social relations necessary for the functioning of the capitalist economy and dominant society, public education no longer provides the tools for critical thinking and transformative action. Like the workplace and the realm of mass culture, [technical colleges] have become a device for economic and cultural reproduction.

Before concluding this discussion on the definition of Vocational Education in an Australian context, I deliberate on the social, economic and political importance of technical occupations historically and the social status assigned to technical occupations in other cultures and societies. I will also examine how neoliberal governments aligned their VET policies with polices on skills formation and human capital, which changed the nature of technical education.

The evolution of vocational education

In ancient Greece, the artisan and utilitarian occupations (builders and tradesmen) – unlike those of the artists (painters and poets) and professionals (medical practitioners and lawyers) – were considered banal and not worthy of being afforded serious attention, with Aristotle contending that the life of a mechanic or tradesman was ignoble and lacking in virtue (Billett 2011). Aristotle classified “five ways in which the soul arrives at truth” or five levels of learning: pure science (episteme); art or applied science (techne); prudence or practical wisdom (phronesis); intelligence or intuition (nous) and wisdom (sophia), with wisdom being “knowledge of first principles” and the “most precise and perfect form of knowledge” (Moodie 2002, p. 250).

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Techne is the category closely associated with Western vocational education systems and technical occupations. Billett (2011) argues that the privileged class have historically positioned many technical occupations (and by association technical education) as being of lower standing and/or worth, and that class distinctions are deliberately maintained through such means. Unlike in Europe, the USA and Australia, females made up 77% of the medical profession in communist Russia as it was not a well-paid occupation. This reflected the low level of importance placed on public health by the Communist Party (Mandel 1971). In the post-communist Czech Republic, even as recently as 2011, mechanics in workshops and factories commanded the highest wages as they were required to maintain the machinery that allowed industrial production to progress uninterrupted (Cameron 2011).

In Imperial China artisan skills were more valued than in Hellenic Greece, evidenced by the proliferation of the intricate craftsmanship in palaces and religious buildings. The categorisation of workers was based on the complexity of their work and the duration of their training:

x Metalwork in gold, silver or bronze – four years training x Woodcraft – three years training x Regular crafts – two years training x Bamboo and lacquer – one year training x Other forms of work – up to six months training (Billett 2011)

The need for skilled workers during the industrial revolution of the 1800s diminished the historically low value placed on vocational education. Technical education was also seen by many Western governments as a means of containing 17th Century social problems, such as youth unemployment, by suppressing delinquency, social disorder, neutralising agitators, preventing “ignorance, idleness, and insubordination” under the guise of proffering social development through a secular education system (Deacon 2006, p. 179). From a Foucauldian perspective, vocational education was a mechanism for the European states to manage the population:

Foucault suggests that the concern was less about inhumanity or violence per se and more about the kind or degree of violence that might best mould particular individuals; and it was to the pedagogical models of the Jesuits and Pietism that critics turned in search of alternatives: the normalizing subtleties of objectifying classification, perpetual comparison, and humiliating exclusion (Deacon 2006, p. 180).

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This viewpoint correlates with the main reason given by the NSW government in 1883 when it procured the funding and administration of the privately-establishment Sydney Technical College (Cobb 2000). The next section discusses the background to this procurement.

The evolution of technical education in NSW

This section outlines the evolution of technical education in NSW. It discusses the social and economic contexts that engendered mandated technical education in early 19th Century Australian society. It also deliberates on the nature and values of technical education.

The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts

The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts was established in 1833 by a committee comprising the Reverend Henry Charmichael, the Surveyor-General Major Thomas Mitchell and Dr Charles Nicholson (Cobb 2000). The school’s manifesto was encapsulated in its aphorism – to foster “the intellectual improvement of its members and the cultivation of literature, science and art”. It became one of the leading providers of adult education in the colony, with more than 1500 students attending lectures and classes. It attracted distinguished instructors such as the suffragist Louisa Lawson, explorer Ludwig Leichhardt and poet Henry Kendall. The administrators and teachers of the college, including Dr Charles Nicholson and Dr John Woolley, also played a role in the establishment of the University of Sydney – Australia’s first university – in 1850, with Dr Nicholson becoming the university’s first Vice Chancellor.

The first classes offered by the Sydney School of Arts, in April 1833, were agriculture, steam engines, natural history, chemistry, and architecture (Cobb 2000). Ryan (2011) claims that most courses were initially aimed at the leisure-minded middle class, “catering for the respectable middle and upper classes of the colony with lectures in the ‘beaux arts’, philosophy and science” (NSWTAFE 1983a, p. 11). By the 1860s there were concerns that the British Empire was destined to fall behind Europe and the United States in industrial efficiency. This along with the new-found democratic ideals

114 and “concern for the moral quality of community life” prompted the introduction of evening classes in technical education to give youth the opportunity to “get on” in life and to stay off the streets (NSWTAFE 1983a). The Board of Technical Education articulated the role of the College as the provision of a “state system of technical education for the improvement of the industrial youth of the country of all classes in those branches of practical knowledge which relate to their callings in life” (Hone 1989, p. 73).

Sydney Technical College

By the early 1870s, trade unions and employer groups claimed that the institution had neglected the working class of Sydney and petitioned the College to introduce technical education. In 1878 the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts inaugurated a separate ‘Working Men’s College’, which became known as the Sydney Technical College (STC). The final impetus came from Dr John Woolley, Foundation Professor of Classics and Principal of the University of Sydney. Woolley was previously instrumental in the establishment of a Working Men's College in Norwich, England. He speculated, from his experience in England, that the University of Sydney would not undertake to offer courses for artisans, and his speculation was correct (Cobb 2000).

The new college attracted more students and the increased demand resulted in numerous courses being offered at different locations around Sydney, including new premises in Pitt, Sussex, and Castlereagh Streets (NSWTAFE 1983a). In 1881 the College had students enrolled in more than 50 courses. The tuition fees did not cover the College’s expenses (NSWTAFE 1983a). To fund the increasing number of new courses deemed to be required to serve industry and the professional community, the state government subsidised STC from 1881. After lobbying from the Trades and Labour Council, the Engineering Association of NSW, the Institute of Architects, the Institute of Surveyors, the Builders and Contractors Association and the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, the state government eventually took over the College’s full financial responsibility and administration on 1 October 1883 and transferred its management to the Board of Technical Education (NSWTAFE 1983a). This permitted the college to acquire additional premises to establish new colleges in the inner city suburbs of Newtown, Randwick and Kogarah.

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According to the Report by the Minister of Public Instruction for the year ended 31 December 1884, the courses on offer and the instructional methods were in "accord with the practice of the City and Guilds of London Institute", with local modifications. The Sydney Technical College contained 11 departments:

x Agriculture (agriculture, botany, and veterinary science) x Applied Mechanics (mechanical drawing, naval architecture, and metal-plate working) x Architecture (carpentry and joinery, masonry, bricklaying, carriage-building, plumbing and cabinet-making) x Art (practical plane geometry, practical solid geometry, perspective model drawing, and freehand drawing) x Chemistry (laboratory instruction in practical and theoretical chemistry and metallurgy) x Commercial Economy (French, German, Latin, arithmetic, book-keeping, calligraphy, and correspondence) x Mathematics (civil engineering, surveying, navigation, and actuarial science) x Music (class singing and instruction in theory, harmony, and composition) x Elocution (the art of public speaking and reciting) x Pharmacy (material, medical, and pharmacy) x Physics (natural philosophy, optics, sound, electricity and telegraphy) (NSWTAFE 1983a, p. 28)

The Board of Technical Education also extended "formal technical education to areas outside Sydney, with itinerant teachers engaged to visit country towns and deliver lectures" (Barcan 1965, p. 175). In 1891 the construction of a new college was completed at Ultimo, and most of the classes which had been held in premises rented by the Board were transferred to Ultimo by the end of 1892 (NSWTAFE 1983a). The on-going relationship between Sydney Technical College (STC) and the University of Sydney had fostered student career pathways as early as the late 1800s. Sydney University gave students with the STC diploma an exemption from the first year of the Arts, Science and Engineering degrees. Figure 4.1 shows a graphic representation of the relationship between courses in technical education and the University of Sydney from 1889 onwards.

High School Course (4 years} .Junior Technical Course (2 years) Leaving Certificatfor Matriculatio Junior... Technical Trade Course Lower 3 years part time H i gher 2 years part time (total 5 years part time)

Trade University Course (3 - 4 years) ~------1-,------~1 ---Appllcanl-.u..Q!ploma Diploma Course 5 years (part time) exempted from flrstyea1'-0i_____~: ::;liii;:=------~ Arts, Science & Engineering ---- DEGREE DIPLOMA from The University of Sydney from The NSW Department of Technical Education Figure 4.1 The pathways between technical education and university education in 1889 (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: NSWTAFE 1983a).

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Sydney University appropriated numerous professional courses, such as Pharmacy, Dentistry and Veterinary Science from STC between 1896 and 1909. Architecture, the precursor to the Architectural Technology course that forms the case study for this study, was taught at STC and at the Institute of Architects before it was introduced at Sydney University in 1880 (Turney et al. 1991). By the early 1900s the focus of the college was on agriculture, mining and other primary industries, and on training skilled tradespeople and professionals such as chemists, cooks, printers, mechanical and civil engineers (TAFENSW 1983a).

Murray-Smith (1965, p. 170 cited in Fooks 1994, p. 29) describes the early development of technical education “as essentially a study of the social and economic effects of the chronic shortage of skilled labour in the community, and of the means devised to remedy this”. Government funding and investment in technical education was generally aligned to the need for skilled labour as a result of national emergencies, such as during the First World War or during protracted periods of youth unemployment during the depression (Cobb 2000; Birch 1977). The First World War created such a prolonged demand for vocational education that the federal government established a federal Technical Education Department (Spaull 1979). The technical education system was being used for “ameliorative and welfare purposes” (Goozee 2001, p. 16).

In 1913, the ‘industrialists’ on the Board of Technical Education introduced a policy that only allowed students directly employed in a related industry to enrol in courses at STC, making the training of apprentices the focus of the college. Enrolments fell from 26,468 in 1912 to 13,687 in 1914 (Laurent 1990) – a reduction of 51.7%. One member of the Board argued that there were “numerous classes in the suburbs and country in which freehand and other kinds of drawing are taught” and that these classes “afforded very little instruction of the kind that is properly understood as technical” which are “mostly attended by students of the ‘dilettante’ type” (Laurent 1990, p. 37). In 1935 the NSW Minister of Education, D. H. Drummond averred that the policy whereby technical education, especially in country districts, was seen as the only purpose of vocational qualifications had failed to meet community needs and had fostered a “lack of appreciation of the cultural value of technical education” (Laurent 1990, p. 36). The

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1913 policy was summarily abolished, allowing technical colleges to introduce and again enrol students in non-vocational courses.

In 1918 NSW introduced an apprenticeship authority that was responsible for the administration of the training and employment of apprentices. Many employers supported the training of their apprentices in technical colleges, but were reluctant to have their apprentices attending full-time day classes at technical colleges (Goozee 2001), preferring they attend the college after work, so as to not relinquish their labour in workshops or building sites. In 1944, after lobbying by a number of trade unions, apprentices were allowed to attend technical colleges during the day time for either four hours per week or one day per fortnight as part of their workload (Cobb 2000). The current pattern of attendance for apprentices at colleges is one full day per week. The para-professional courses (not for indentured students) originally started as night courses, but their popularity and the dearth of class rooms in colleges at night meant many were offered for daytime attendance.

STC offered 18 diploma courses, the most popular being Electrical Engineering, Architecture and Mechanical Engineering, with its graduates held in high esteem in Australia’s professional community (Neill 1991). During the depression in the 1930s, STC offered educational assistance to the unemployed through specially funded daytime trade classes for apprentices who had lost their jobs and for new apprentices who had procured an indentureship (Neill 1991). During the Second World War STC was opened 24 hours per day and trained 37,000 service personnel and civilians in three shifts – 7:30am-5:00pm, 5:30pm- 9:30pm and 10:00pm-6:00am (Neill 1991). The gargantuan reconstruction effort required after the Second World War led to calls for greater engagement in technical education by the federal government. The Education Act of 1945 proposed to expand the federal government’s powers, but this notion was defeated in the High Court (Ryan 2007).

In the 1940s and 1950s STC offered courses that were deemed necessary for those times, such as road and rail carriage building, as well as free courses for disabled returning Service personnel (Cobb 2000). After the Second World War courses were developed to train the tradesmen and women required by the new and emerging industries while also endowing the educational exigencies of the individual. Advances

118 in technology also created the demand for a new category of concomitant occupations to assist the university-trained professionals – the para-professional and/or technician (Goozee 2001).

The promulgation of the New South Wales Technical Education Act of 1949 separated the administration of technical education from the NSW Education Department. The Act also established the University of Technology (later the University of New South Wales - UNSW) and subsequently transferred all of STC’s diploma courses to the new institution. STC’s motto ‘manu et mente’ (hand and mind) was also adopted as UNSW’s motto. By the early 1960s the Technical Education Department commenced offering these courses again, “only to have the sequence of events repeated with the establishment of the New South Wales Institute of Technology” (Goozee 2001, p. 18). “The loss of the diploma courses to the new University of NSW (UNSW) in the 1950s meant that the Department turned its attention to the development of more ‘technician’ courses which were required by the advancing economy” (NSWTAFE 1983a, p. 103). New courses were introduced in biology, chemistry, electro-plating, electronics and communications. The STC Diploma of Architecture course was transferred to UNSW in 1960. The Architectural Draftsmans [sic] Certificate was introduced in 1961 to replace the Diploma of Architecture course with the objective of training the para-professionals required in Architectural offices.

In 1962, Prime Minister, Robert Menzies (1949-1966) argued that Australia’s technical and economic progress was dependent on highly-trained personnel. In a Statement to Parliament, he declared that “education is a matter of great social importance and that there can be no richer investment than the intellectual and social development of our future citizens” and that “the values in which democracy places its faith require opportunities for the balanced personal and social development of each citizen” (Menzies 1962, p. 2). This posture reiterated the “dual” purpose of technical education, that is, education and citizenship, evident in the technical curriculum of the late 1800s (Cobb 2000).

The development of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) in NSW

This section outlines the induction of lifelong learning, adult education and the

119 institution of social access and equity programs in technical education in Australia. It discusses the vicissitudes to the nature and values of technical education in the early 1970s with specific reference to TAFE NSW.

The Kangan Report

In 1973 the newly-elected Whitlam federal Labor government renewed its interest in technical education by establishing the Australian Committee on Technical and Further Education (ACOTAFE). The committee’s report, commonly known as the Kangan Report (1974), completely redefined technical education. It recommended that the concept of technical education should be broadened to include 'adult education', that its main purpose should be the 'betterment and development of individual people and their contribution to the good of the community', and that adults should have unrestricted access to this education (Neill 1991, p. 91).

The New South Wales Department of Technical Education was replaced in 1975 by the Department of Technical and Further Education, in line with the recommendations of the Kangan Report. The 1974 Kangan Report conceded TAFE a national identity. The inclusion of Further in its name encouraged life-long education for the ‘whole’ person. Kangan advocated a ‘humanist-democratic’ agenda that recognised an individual’s commitment to learning – both formal and informal – over a whole lifetime (Seddon and Bohren 2012). Technical education was seen as an agent of personal and social transformation, allowing students to become “democratic political agents who shape their vocational and social lives toward [a] greater measure of freedom and social justice rather than workers who are the passive objects of economic enterprise” (Hyslop-Margison and Naseem 2007, p. 349). The TAFE NSW curriculum became more inclusive and indorsed previously disenfranchised student cohorts, such as the unemployed, women, indigenous, non-English speakers and students with disabilities.

The training needs of industry no longer monopolised the TAFE NSW curriculum. While vocational training was still considered important, TAFE colleges now also offered continuing and second-chance education. New non-vocational, hobby courses and special programs units were developed to help specific groups overcome difficulties such as poor literacy or numeracy, disability, poor English or lack of

120 previous educational opportunities (Neill 1991). Student assistance schemes and the abolition of fees allowed new socio-economic groups to participate in TAFE, changing the student profile at TAFE colleges. Enrolments increased dramatically. National enrolments in technical and further education rose by 59% – from 400,700 in 1973 to 671,013 in 1975 (Goozee 2001).

The Corporate Plan for TAFE in NSW published in 1983 delineated the multifarious nature of Technical and Further Education as:

a post school educational process involving a study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to professional, paraprofessional, trade, operative and equivalent occupations in various sectors of economic and social life. Technical and Further Education embraces elements of both general education and continuing education, and includes programs aimed at personal development or enrichment, and the creative use of leisure time.

It incorporates a wide range of educational programs and activities offering individual citizens opportunities to pursue interests, develop talents, establish vocational competencies, advance careers aspirations and progress toward personal goals. Many of its programs provide an essential link between previous levels of educational achievement and entry or re-entry into educational programs and specific occupations (NSWTAFE 1983b, p. 3).

The Corporate Plan for TAFE in NSW had Kangan’s philosophy at its core. This was corroborated by Barry Jones, the former federal Minister for Science and Small Business (1983-1990). He argued that Australia should promote life-long learning as the “essential right of every person as a means of self-development”. He contended that “learning is a process of growth, self-actualisation and self-recognition – a means of pursuing the abundant life, assisting people to understand the world around them and the world within, to enlarge their personal range of choice” (Jones, B 1983, p. 171). Citizenship became a core value in TAFE. In the Endnotes (endnote 1) for this chapter, I explicate the curriculum development process undertaken by TAFE NSW1.

In 1987, the federal Minister for Employment, Education and Training, John Dawkins, introduced the Skills for Australia policy, which aimed to integrate employment, education and training (Ryan 2011), and set the foundation for the other policies that were to follow:

The government is determined that our education and training system should play an active role in responding to the major economic challenges now facing Australia… Our skills formation and training arrangements are not yet adequate to meet these demands (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. iii cited in Ryan 1999, p. 112).

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The closer links between industry and TAFE were seen as the panacea for Australia’s ability to reduce youth unemployment and skill shortages, while developing a strong and competitive economy. The subtext was also the federal government’s desire to link workers’ wages and the new industrial awards to workers’ qualifications, that is, level of skill-based education (ANTA 1994, p. 10).

Kangan’s philosophy was abandoned in the early 1990s, by the federal Labor government, when it was deemed that focusing on technology was more important than developing a well-rounded worker, and any discussion of philosophy or any attachment to social issues had become anathema in TAFE curriculum development.

In 2015, TAFE NSW’s mission was to support the development of skills to sustainably increase productivity, prosperity and well-being and to deliver services that support growing prosperity across NSW, to enable people to “successfully make the transition to further education and work and improve their skills and achieve higher level qualifications that meet the needs of industry” (TAFENSW 2015a). In 2016, TAFE NSW claimed that it aimed to become the primary global brand for technical training to allow its students to develop the skills required to achieve success in the market economy while remaining a competitive, sustainable and profitable organisation (TAFENSW 2016a). TAFE NSW is also dedicated to maintaining the wider economic and social role it has been entrusted by the NSW Government to ensure that sufficient skilled workers are available to meet the needs and the expectations of industry (TAFENSW 2016a).

Technical curriculum development from 1833 to Dawkins

From its inception, Sydney Technical College continually responded to the demands of the local community, government and industry to define and redefine its role and formulate curriculum to meet all stakeholders’ needs (Ross, R 1977). The curriculum of technical education in NSW within the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts was developed by the heads of the College together with the teachers of the subjects in consultation with professional experts in each field (Cobb 2000). In 1913, Course Advisory Committees were established to develop curriculum for specific disciplines, comprised of teachers and employer representatives (Cobb 2000).

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This framework continued until the promulgation of the New South Wales Technical Education Act of 1949, where the administration of technical education was separated from the Education Department. The Act also instituted the Technical Education Advisory Committee to make representations to the Minister of Education on all matters of Technical Education after consulting with the community, industry, unions and employer groups (Cobb 2000). The Director of Technical Education and the Director-General of Education were ex-officio members of the Council. The Director of Technical Education was also the Chairman of the Committee. The other members of the Committee were appointed by the Governor and were drawn from industry, commerce, relevant professions, the trade union movement and educational authorities. The Council met at least four times annually (TENSWUoTAct 1949).

The Technical Education Advisory Committee evolved into the Council of Technical Education, made up of numerous committees comprised of representatives from industry, unions, employer groups and technical education teachers and administrators, who also were influential in the development of curriculum (Ross, R 1977). The Curriculum Development department and the Policy Unit within TAFE NSW sought advice from these committees in their formulation of curriculum/policy.

The Department of Technical Education conducted regular surveys amongst industry and employer groups to ascertain what skills employers expected from their apprentices and college graduates (Niell 1991). The results of these surveys were used to inform course content and curriculum. The Curriculum Development Units had Industry Liaison Officers to consult with industry and community groups during the revision of existing curriculum and the formulation of new curriculum (Ross, R 1977). These surveys also examined which geographical locations required the skill bases and were also used to determine which new courses the Department of Technical Education should introduce and which colleges should be offering the courses (Niell 1991).

Kangan (1974) recommended TAFE develop a national curriculum and a uniform nomenclature of qualifications for all Australian states and territories. He advocated all TAFE teachers be afforded initial teacher training and on-going staff development to augment their professionalism (Fooks et al. 1997). Kangan argued that curriculum

123 development would be best accomplished in a formal educational context by educational professionals experienced in curriculum writing, learning philosophies and strategies and learning resource design (Fooks et al. 1997).

TAFE NSW explicated that its curriculum development and evaluation process was “responsive to the changing needs of students, industry and the community generally” (NSWTAFE 1983b, p. 17). All TAFE course documents incorporated “clearly defined educational objectives” against which course content, resource requirements, modes of study and assessment schemes would be developed (NSWTAFE 1983b). TAFE NSW’s unequivocal commitment to curriculum development between 1974 and 1983 is evidenced by its continuing to maintain the positions of Deputy Director-General of Educational Developments [sic] and Director of Curriculum Services. The following three Organisational Charts (figures 4.2 to 4.4), for TAFE NSW in 1983 confirm the importance afforded to curriculum development with the appointment of Principal Education Officers for Educational Resources, Curriculum Policy and Curriculum Support.

NSW Department of Technical and Further Education ORGANISATIONAL CHART

RESOURCES CO-ORDINATOR DIRECTOR - GENERAL COUNCIL OF TAFE

DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL - --- DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL (Educational Developments) POLICY UNIT (Coll ges) DIRECTOR I DIRECTOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR SECRETARY REGIONAL DIRECTORS, CONTR LLER (Schools) (Curriculum Services) (Planning, Research & (Personnel & I PRINCIPAL STC, BUILDING AND ,l,- Information) Industrial Relations) COLLEGE PRINCIPALS ENGINEERING ;>I', (see Organisational Chart I SERVICES over page] I T"j------,1------,1 HEADS OF INFORMATION ASSISTANT ASSISTANT HEAD CONTROLLERS STUDENT SCHOOLS SERVICES SECRETARY SECRETARY EXECUTIVE I UNIT SERVICES DIVISION (ADMINSTRATION) (FINANCE) SUPPORT DIVISION ouyEACH I I I GRouP I 1 BUILDING EDUCATIONAL ABORIGINAL EDUCATIONAL PERSONNEL BUDGET AND SECRETARIAT SERVICES COMPUTER EDUCATION PLANNING DIVISION ACCOUNTS TO COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT UNIT BRAICH I DIVISION AND NETWORK I MULTICULTURAL - - INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING T AFE LIBRARY EDUCATION PROJECT RELATIONS SERVICES SERVICES EEO UNIT I COORDINATOR DESIGN STAFF WOME I NS OFFICE DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION EXAMINATIONS AND DIVISION UNIT STUDENT RECORDS DIVISION I I TRANSITION ADULT LITERACY COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS EDUCATION INFORMATION OFFICE SCHOOLS ADMINSTRATION UNIT DIV(510N

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT BRANCH 1 STUDENT RECORDS, EXAMINATIONS AND STATISTICS PROJECT Figure 4.2 NSW Department of Technical and Further Education Organisational Chart 1983 (source: TAFENSW 1983b)

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TAFE NSW appointed its own Director of Curriculum Services who was responsible for curriculum policy, research, development and evaluation, and the production of curriculum resources for all TAFE courses (TAFENSW 1983b). The Curriculum Directorate employed up to 60 staff to liaise with Heads of Schools, head teachers and the teachers who wrote the new and revised curricula. The TAFENSW Curriculum Unit was a stand-alone unit, which recruited specialist curriculum writers to coordinate the teachers writing the TAFE curriculum.

DIRECTOR (Curriculum Services)

PRINCIPAL EDUCATION OFFICER PRINCIPAL EDUCATION OFFICER PRINCIPAL EDUCATION OFFICER (EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES) (CURRICULUM POLICY) I (CURRICULUi SUPPORT) I I I I CEO' CEO CEO CEO CEO CEO CEO CEO CEO I I I I I I I I I EXTERNAL CURRICULUM EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT CURRW:ULUM SCHOOL SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL COURSE RESOURCE RESOURSE SPECIAL RESEARCH EVALUATION CURRICULUM CURRICULUM RESOURSE DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT SERVICES PROJECTS AND AND PROJECT SERVICES SERVICES SERVICES UNIT UNIT UNIT ANO ISSUES DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION UNIT A+ UNIT B UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT

Media Section - Edueatlon Officers- Produce/source OHS Research on; Work on National Group of Group of Community produces films, offer advtce on the audio-Visual EEO 1. ExaminaUons Curriculum Educational Educational courses, slides, education structure of course nlds. PEP Including projects. Officers/ Officers f Regional resource content and the Policy for: validit1 and Curriculum Curriculum courses, packages etc theory of learning Media Advisory Aboriginal/ reliability of Core curriculum Consultants Consultants Womens/ and panels set up In Torres Strait s, tests and between states that look after that look after Outreach correspondence Graphic Designers schools Unemployed, assessments. a c: luster or a cluster of courses, course materials Technological 2. Measuremont New and Rovised spoclfic TAFE specific TAFE Ethnic courses Established Change of results and Course schools, eg sc:hools regional media objectives. Committee Building coordinators 3. Development of assessment Coordination of material banks curriculum projects

ADMIN UNIT AOMIN UNIT + See Organizational Chart over page EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM RESOURSE UNIT SERVICES UNIT

' CEO= CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER Figure 4.3 The Curriculum Directorate Organisational Chart within the NSW Department of Technical and Further Education 1983 (source: TAFENSW 1983b)

CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER I SENIOR EDUCATION I OFFICER SEN IOR EDUCATION OFFICER SENIOR EDUCATION OFFICER I I I Education Officer Education Officer Education Officer Education Officer Education Officer Education Officer

- School of Art and Design - Department of Business Studies - Department of Commercial Studies, - School of Building - Department of Social Studies, School of School of Business and Administrative - Foo d School Business and Administrative Studies Studies - School of Rural Studies - School of Fashion - School of Hairdessing - School of Mechanical Engineering - S chool of Home Science - School of Textiles Figure 4.4 The TAFE Curriculum Services Division Organisational Chart within the NSW Department of Technical and Further Education 1983, (source: TAFENSW 1983b)

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The TAFE NSW Architectural Drafting course and the subsequent Diploma of Architectural Technology course were written as a holistic curriculum (Arden, 1983) within the practice paradigm (Stenhouse 1975) to allow the teachers and the students to construct and develop knowledge within the classroom. General Studies subjects were incorporated into all TAFE curricula, to provide context and to inculcate socially valued knowledge and skills to contribute to the students’ personal and collective autonomy (Cornbleth 1990). These subjects were taught by teachers from the School of General Studies. As the coordinator of first year subjects in the Architectural Technology course, I attended numerous meetings at St George College where these teachers were initially castigated by other teachers who claimed their students did not require General Studies subjects and that these hours (2 hours per week) could be better utilised in their specific disciplines. In the Architectural Technology Section we coordinated the content of the General Studies subjects with these teachers to ensure the correct focus for our students, and they were appreciative of the cooperation.

The Kangan Report (1974) placed the student at the centre of all the cultural, social, economic, environmental and educational factors influencing curriculum. The first curriculum developed post-Kangan in the School of Building in TAFE NSW, to be implemented across the whole state, was the Architectural Drafting Associate Diploma that replaced the Architectural Draftsmans [sic] Certificate. This course was written by two teachers of the curriculum with input from the other teachers of the course. In 1982, they conducted surveys and interviews with professional organisations that employed TAFE graduates/Architectural Draftsmen, including architects, builders, engineers, interior designers, graphic designers, model makers and self-employed draftsmen. In addition, all of the graduates from TAFE NSW from the previous five years were asked to participate in the surveys. 85% of these alumni responded, specifically listing what topics they believed were required in the new course. The following is a summary of the response from the student surveys regarding the TAFE NSW Architectural Draftsmans course:

x TAFE graduates are not “office fodder”, but true technicians x the course content allows graduates to be self-employed x the subjects should be taught in a more holistic manner x a two-year course is not sufficiently long to allow for the inclusion of elective subjects (Arden 1983).

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The new course followed the curriculum development protocol established by TAFE NSW, including seeking input from the teachers in the School of Building (across all colleges teaching the curriculum in NSW), Industry, Government Departments that employed the School’s graduates and also administered building regulations, and UTS (see Figure 4.5, below). The new course was introduced in 1985.

TAFE SCHOOL I SECTION

UNIONS INDUSTRY

NEED

COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT GROUPS DEPARTMENTS

HEAD OF SC HOOL

ADVISORY COMMITTEE SUB-COMMITTEE

BOARD OF STUDIES * NRCC = New and Revised Course Committee Figure 2.5 The steps and procedures in establishing a new course or revising an existing course in TAFE NSW (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: Ross R. 1977)

The disparate nature of curriculum content and qualification standards between the states and territories prompted NSW to instigate the formation of a national system of course classification. This engendered a common-core curriculum that formed the basis of all TAFE courses in Australia, which also allowed each state and territory to supplement the common-core curriculum with additional course content and curriculum to satisfy individual state requirements and statutory regulations (Goozee 2001). The next section discusses the National Common Core curriculum and national nomenclature for TAFE qualifications that was implemented in 1986.

National Core Curriculum – the antecedent to privatisation

Before discussing the political machinations that resulted in the privatisation of VET curriculum where Industry Skills Councils were afforded the right to write and ratify course content in VET (see Chapter 2) I will discuss the development of the National Core Curriculum, which I contend was a necessary antecedent to privatisation.

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A quintessential recommendation in the Kangan Report (1974) was for TAFE curriculum to be continually up-dated, reassessed and redeveloped to facilitate the reform of Australia's technical education sector (McBeath 1997a). There is a direct congruence between Kangan (1974) and Ulrikson’s (2009) “implied student” concept. Figure 2.5 summarises the factors that influence curriculum from within and without the institutional context. Fotheringham et al. (2012) aver that the writers of curriculum are required to recognise and understand these factors to provide a sound rationale for decision making in relation to the planning and designing of curriculum. Curriculum developers may choose to examine each individual contributing factor in isolation but will discover a true complexity and richness when analysing all factors as a whole.

I will be including interview excerpts in the ensuing discussion as they are relevant to the narrative provided in this chapter. The six Australian states and two territories had their own curricula and qualification framework and nomenclature. Some states often adopted the curricula from another state:

Tasmania, by and large, would take the cover off the Victorian curriculum and call it the Tasmanian one (senior University VET academic and researcher 1)

lns tituti.onaJ faetq.ra-

Figure 4.6 Factors influencing Curriculum (source: Ulrikson 2009)

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It was generally accepted that TAFE NSW produced the best curriculum materials and that a national core curriculum would alleviate the disparate standards of the state and territory TAFE curricula, as these two retired TAFE Institute Directors reflect: TAFE NSW was the leader in curriculum development and we were, as an organisation, developing curriculum which was adopted by the other states… the curriculum that we produced was more like the old days of the school-based syllabus – taking what the outcomes were expected to be, along with the prescribed skills understanding and knowledge and then putting it into a context and providing the learning experiences to guide the teaching and learning practices (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 2)

If you rank the states in order of the best curriculum, NSW had the best curriculum with more content – which was more valuable to industry and everyone involved. Then it went Victoria, which was very close to NSW then Queensland. The others, including Western Australia, were lagging so far behind. The Northern Territory virtually had nothing, Tasmania had virtually nothing (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1)

The TAFE NSW curricula had, since the inception of Technical Education in NSW in 1883, been written by the teachers of the curriculum. The larger TAFE authorities (NSW, Victoria and Queensland) had dedicated Curriculum Development Units within their organisational structure (see Figures 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 earlier in this chapter):

There were two groups involved - the people in the curriculum section, and the teachers. The teachers were the content experts for the subjects – so in that sense you can say the curriculum was written by the teachers. The curriculum people were more concerned with what form the curriculum was to be in and the curriculum office staff that took the product away and typed it up, reproduced it and distributed it.

The teachers and the subject experts are always the people who must write curriculum. Generic or generalist curriculum writers are only as good as the people who are able to provide them with the actual information that is need to produce a meaningful course (retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies)

In 1981 there was an impetus from the newly established, federally-funded TAFE National Centre for Research and Development for a TAFE National Core Curriculum (NCC) (Clarke, E 1992). The NCC was underwritten by the state, territory and federal ministers responsible for TAFE. It sponsored curriculum development and other research and development projects. It later became the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). The success of a small number of NCC projects developed and implemented in the 1970s, notably the Electrical Trades curriculum in 1975, led to a recommendation for the states and territories to expand and support national curriculum projects (Parkinson & Broderick, 1988).

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TAFE curriculum was always written by teachers, but not necessarily by experts in a particular discipline: It was quite possible that you might have a music teacher developing engineering curriculum. Curriculum departments in my recollection – the early ones - were where people went if they were not very good teachers (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

The interview participant was referring to TAFE curriculum development practices in the ACT in the early 1980s. The privatisation of TAFE NSW curriculum has reinstated the previous practice of curriculum and/or training packages being written by teachers with no intricate knowledge of the subject. I will expound in Chapter 6 how the Diploma of Building Design course came to be written by a Physical Fitness Instructor who represented Skills Victoria (CPSISC 2011). I will also explain in Chapter 8 why it is necessary for curriculum to be situated within a context that will allow each student to develop and realise their full potential.

To improve the quality of curriculum, NSW and Victoria instigated a professional approach to curriculum development by incorporating “elements of occupational research, needs analysis, instructional design, curriculum and communications”. A federally-administered Curriculum Projects Steering Group (CPSG) was initiated and experts from the USA ran workshops to train curriculum “technologists and instructional designers” (McBeath 1997a, p. 1). Each state/territory authority established curriculum development branches that collaborated with the CPSG.

The Commonwealth State Training Advisory Committee (COSTAC) claimed at the time that the NCC would make more effective use of national resources - by eliminating the practice of producing seven disparate state and territory curricula and the duplication of State curriculum development departments. It also facilitated portability of TAFE students between various TAFE jurisdictions, expedited the accreditation of qualifications nationally and provided a basis for the development of minimum national training standards (COSTAC 1987). The development process of the NCC furthermore provided professional development for the curriculum writers by facilitating access to a national pool of experience, skill and knowledge and the consequent cross-fertilisation of ideas. It also provided ownership of the curriculum and the cultivation of a wider understanding of the curriculum development process (Parkinson and Broderick 1987).

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The first four CPSGs were established in 1982 to write the NCC for the Fitting and Machining, Electrical, Plumbing, Drainage and Gasfitting and Carpentry and Joinery trade courses. Each comprised eleven members. Nine were TAFE teachers or TAFE representatives, one was the national representative of the state/territory training commission and one was from a national industry training council. Some industry groups criticised the disproportionate number of TAFE representatives on the steering groups, claiming that TAFE was unreceptive to the real needs of industry, but the CPSGs had the general support of industry and bodies such as the Australian Council on Employment and Training (Parkinson and Broderick 1987).

The national core syllabus contained a statement of the minimum core knowledge, skills and curriculum practices which had been agreed upon by TAFE authorities as being commonly applicable to the needs of students. In most curricula the common content accounted for 70% to 80% of the total curriculum with the remaining portion developed at the local state/territory level (Jones, N 1983; Parkinson and Broderick 1987).

The NCC for each occupational curriculum contained a specific statement of course philosophy and aims, including the instructional approach and teaching methodologies recommended for each course and formed the basis from which future curricula can be developed. Each curriculum also specified the following: x Course pre-requisites and/or student entry requirements. x Course content, structure and prescribed learning sequence. x Course mode – modules or subjects, subject titles and objectives. x Standards for the development of student teaching and learning resources – including textbooks, hand-outs and workshop manuals. x Recommended assessment practices and assessment materials. x Expected ‘constraints’ in the implementation of curriculum products - specific student cohort characteristics, ie mature age students, students with disabilities etc. x Methodology for the incorporation of licensing authority requirements. x Recommended learning environment(s) and ‘minor’ equipment etc. x Recommended class size and class type, ie lecture, studio, workshop. x Rationale of how the core curriculum relates to the remainder of the curriculum. x In-service training or staff development requirements. x Report(s) evaluating the implementation of the curriculum (Jones, N. 1983).

The Australian Conference of TAFE Directors (now TAFE Directors Australia [TDA]) recommended that each state and territory TAFE authority establish its own committee to validate and implement the NCC within its own jurisdiction. They advocated that the committee be comprised of the state/territory representative on the CPSG – as

131 chairperson, a senior curriculum advisor, a senior TAFE administrator responsible for a particular study area, a teacher/researcher for a particular study area and two industry representatives with experience in TAFE/industry advisory committees (Parkinson and Broderick 1988).

The Australian Council on Tertiary Awards (ACTA) was established in 1985 to promote consistency in the standards and nomenclature used for tertiary awards throughout Australia and to monitor adherence to these standards. ACTA was encouraged to register the national core courses conducted by the different states and territory TAFE authorities and to develop a bank of generic student assessments that could be shared nationally, including the exchange of examination papers and the appointment of external moderators (Parkinson and Broderick 1987). The CPSG was encouraged to undertake a prominent role in the maintenance of standards of TAFE NCC (ACTA 1987).

There was impetus from the state and territory licencing and registration statutory authorities for reciprocity agreements on common trade standards, processes and industrial codes of practices across Australia, including employer and trade union associations. Jones, N (1983) claimed that there was evidence that the mobility of TAFE graduates throughout Australia was minimal and that the portability of qualifications for regulated trades was more importance to the respective professional associations than the TAFE graduates. The implementation of a NCC expedited the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) which led to increased course exemptions and articulation to higher qualifications, after the curriculum and course content became more consistent throughout all TAFE authorities in Australia (Strachan and Thomson 1987).

When the NSW Liberal/National Party coalition came to power in 1988, the new state Minister for Education, Terry Metherell, instigated a restructure of the Education and TAFE portfolios. TAFE NSW was persuaded to incorporate the initiatives of the Skills for Australia policy that had been adopted the previous year by the federal Minister for Employment, Education and Training, John Dawkins. In 1990 the NSW Greiner Government established the Vocational Education Training Accreditation Board (VETAB) to assume responsibility for the accreditation of VET courses in NSW, including courses conducted by TAFE NSW. In 1992 the Fahey Government obtained

132 passage of the Vocational Education and Training Act under which VETAB would also be given responsibility – in conjunction with the National Framework for the Recognition of Training (NFROT) agreement – to register VET providers (Wilkinson 2014, p. 15).

The Metherell restructure, was implemented in 1991, effecting TAFE’s focus on Vocational Education and Training and overturned many of the policies which had defined the nature of TAFE since Kangan. Administrative fees for courses were introduced, which immediately reduced the number of enrolments at Sydney Technical College (STC) by 15 per cent (Neill 1991).

The privatisation of TAFE Curriculum

Anderson (2003, 2004) claims that when the for-profit sector was invited to tender to deliver government-sponsored VET programs, the sector envied TAFE’s curriculum research and development capabilities and deemed it an unfair strategic advantage in VET. This section outlines the political process by which VET curriculum was privatised.

Industry Training and Advisory Bodies (ITABs)

The NCC was written by the teachers that taught the curriculum. The VET policy initiatives introduced in 1987 by Minister Dawkins allocated funding for national

Industry Training and Advisory Bodies (ITABs)2 to develop competency standards for all TAFE and VET courses:

It was essentially industry’s view to try and wrestle the development of training out of the cold dead hands of the educators and into [industry] where they believed it really belonged (senior University VET academic and researcher 1).

“…from the cold dead hands of the educators”

The assertion above by a senior VET university academic and researcher (1) that industry wanted to “wrestle the development of training out of the cold dead hands of the educators” reverberates back to 2000, when Charlton Heston, then president of the

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USA National Rifle Association, avowed “I’ll give you my gun when you take it from my cold, dead hands” (Berkvist 2008). In the context of VET policy reform, the trade unions and industry were empowered by the political rhetoric espoused by Dawkins (Ryan 1999, 2011) that TAFE was performing poorly and not serving industry’s best interest and exploited the political opportunity to “wrestle” the development of training from TAFE teachers. Zoellner (2015) argues that industry chooses to problematise skill shortages to maintain a “furtive” control over VET training even though workers in some age groups and professions do not attain any increase in income nor improve their career options after undergoing VET training.

My recollection at the time was that TAFE managers believed they would continue to contribute towards curriculum development albeit using training packages albeit employing a neoteric format. This is discussed in more detail later in this chapter. The transition time for the industry-written curriculum to supplant the teacher-written curriculum took a number of years for the para-professional qualifications, but was practically immediate for the trade qualifications, as they had well-developed teaching resources and closer links to trade unions and licencing regulatory authorities.

The federal government contracted the ITABs to procure the national core curriculum from the teachers and continued to develop common core curricula until the introduction of training packages in 1997. When the nationally-accredited training packages were adopted, all state or territory curricula and accredited courses were abolished. The curriculum developers that were interviewed averred that Dawkins privileged industry by taking the curriculum responsibilities from the teachers because of the perceived disjuncture that would have intensified during the development of the standards by the industry-affiliated standards bodies and the development of curriculum by educators, especially with the adoption of the industry-preferred competency-based assessment methodology incorporated in training packages (senior University VET academic and researcher 2). “Dawkins believed that this was the only means he could pursue to ‘wrestle’ the curriculum from the teachers” (senior University VET academic and researcher 1).

The ITABs were criticised by TAFE teachers and curriculum developers for employing industry “cronies” rather than professional curriculum developers:

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The CEOs of the ITABs – the several that I was involved with, such as construction, transport, arts and a few others – were accountants and managers. They weren’t educationalists. They really didn’t know anything, and most of them weren’t from the background of the industry they were representing (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

The ITABs employed “dictatorial” management practices to coerce TAFE to implement the industry-written curriculum:

They did call Faculty Directors together, but it was more dictatorial, more than anything else. It was “This is the way it’s going to be. It is being introduced. We have to do this and we have to do this in a short period of time”. That’s how it went. It went along those lines. TAFE and the educationalists, and the educational managers and even the teachers were not really considered to be of any value as far as having any input into a national curriculum (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

The above quote reinforces the previous quotes by the two senior University VET academics and researchers who claimed that this practice of deliberately eliminating teachers from the writing of curriculum was seen by Dawkins as the most politically expeditious means of implementing the VET policy of privatising VET curriculum.

A common theme espoused by all of my interview participants was that the quality of the curriculum material produced by the ITABs was deliberately lowered to allow the smaller states and territories to work with whatever existing teaching resources they had so as to not impose financial encumbrances upon them. The ITABs were also accused of reducing the quality of the abbreviated TAFE curriculum content to “placate” the smaller states and territories and to reduce expenditure on curriculum development and curriculum materials:

When the ITABs discussed going national they decided to reach a common ground, so they reduced the good curriculum to placate the states that didn’t have a good curriculum, so we ended up with a very mediocre curriculum (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

Another theme was that the reduction in the quality of the curriculum content was predominantly a result of TAFE colleges being obliged to continually reduce the cost of delivering VET by decreasing face-to-face teaching and the “volume of learning”:

You were driven by your budget. Your budget was reduced. It was all about reducing your dollar ASH [actual student hours]. You had to deliver [a training package] and there was no allowance for any explanation or any development time or any training.

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It was politically driven...they wanted to save money by introducing competition. It was more about reducing delivery costs. It wasn’t because, for example, that WA wanted to increase the content of or improve the quality of their curriculum. It was in effect, to lower costs. Industry wanted a product which the colleges could deliver or construct at a dollar rate that was less than the previous cost. We are teaching to a lower standard (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

The marketisation of TAFE NSW and its adoption of neoliberal administrative practices occasioned the use of non-educationalist managers to dictate curriculum content and the “volume of learning” with no conception of the educational impact on VET:

I have no doubt it was political. It was all to do with saving money and nothing else. I think it was cost cutting by bean counters (TAFE NSW senior head teacher 1).

TAFE links with industry

The main tenet in Minister Dawkins’ policy was the creation of closer links between industry and TAFE:

...it is clear that the tertiary education system has to lift its game if Australia’s skill base is to be improved. The most effective way of doing this is through forging closer links between education authorities and industry (ACTU/TDC 1987, p.119 cited in Ryan 1999, p. 112).

The closer link between industry and TAFE was a result of the Industrial Accords3 that the Hawke Labor government endorsed in the early 1980s. The Accords aimed to making Australia more globally competitive through restructuring the economy, promoting efficient work practices and increasing productivity:

There was an enormous shortage of skills and also a significant amount of unemployment. It was about trying to manage these things together, and also it was about trying to get these skills developed very quickly. We were trying to get away from a “volume of learning” or a length of training – more towards what the outcomes were of the training – it was a true competency based module. It was not competency- based standards (retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies)

It was industry driven supposedly, but I felt it was politically driven more than anything else. It was about trying to bolster the economy and trying to hasten education outcomes (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

The retired TAFE NSW Institute Director (1) claims that the speed with which the VET reforms were introduced and implemented was a political decision aimed at conciliating the unions. Buchanan et al. (2004) corroborate this view. Buchanan et al. argue that Dawkins was so preoccupied with implementing his VET reforms in a record time that

136 he and his union comrades became fixated with the “content of technical skill” training that they devoted significant federal government resources and many years developing competency standards and competency-based training – a neoliberal paradigm, excessively economistic and technicist in orientation which neglects the cognitive and behavioural attributes of knowledge.

The National Training Framework (NTF)

In 1996, a new National Training Framework (NTF) was introduced to ensure training products and services available through public and private training providers reflected both industry and enterprise requirements. The NTF mandated that:

The NTF introduced training packages to replace the traditional ‘curriculum’ documents. Training packages are sets of nationally-endorsed VET standards and qualifications that are used to recognise and assess the skills and knowledge that people need to perform effectively in the workplace (TAFENSW 2011). They specified a radically different form of training compared to the earlier curriculum development and implementation methods, as they were developed by the Industry Skills Councils to meet the needs of specific industries or sectors, and not by TAFE (Down 2003). Training packages define only the outcomes and the criteria against which each outcome is recognised, specified and assessed (Down 2003). Smith, E (2002) claimed that even though the traditional ‘curriculum’ was deemed to no longer exist, and ‘syllabuses’ and ‘modules’ were a thing of the past, the concept of ‘curriculum’ was still embedded in training packages. Based on my definitions of curriculum in Chapter 1 and in this chapter, I contend that there is no curriculum in training packages.

Industry Skills Councils (ISCs)

In 2003 the ITABs were replaced by Industry Skills Councils (ISCs), which performed a similar function but were an amalgamation of related industry groupings. In 1997 the

137 national curriculum had been replaced with national training packages:

The move to training packages was to ensure that the curriculum was written at a national level by the Industry Councils. It was then to be interpreted at the organisational level to make it meaningful and produce the [desired] student outcomes. That is where TAFE NSW, and indeed the other states, all believed that we had a very important role to interpret the skills in the training packages and to then put them into a user-friendly, teacher-oriented, student-centred approach (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 2).

The federal Department of Labour was responsible for the workforce, particularly apprenticeships and traineeships and more concerned with employers’ needs, whereas the federal Department of Technical Education was concerned with technical education and further education – the whole person concept. The need to urgently increase workplace productivity was pivotal in the federal government siding with the Department of Labour and implementing a competency-based vocational education system founded on a narrowly-defined skills base, transliterated specifically to mollify the needs of industry. Politically, the trade unions had more influence over federal Labor governments but their vocational education concerns were addressed by conservative governments if they correlated with the government’s vocational education policies:

The ACTU [Australian Council of Trade Unions] and the affiliated unions are in or out of favour depending on which government was in power at the time. More weight was given to employer bodies when conservative governments were in power, while the unions were given more power when Labor governments were in power, but it tended to have been that triumphant. We never got the duopoly that they got in the UK, especially during the Thatcher government where you essentially only had the employer bodies and government. We never went that far in Australia (senior University VET academic and researcher 1).

The adoption of training packages written by ISCs outside of an educational institution privileged industry over the learner. Curriculum needs to be situated within an education/knowledge context to allow each student to develop and realise their full potential. Only professional teachers understand and know students best – what they are like, what they know, how they learn and how they interact (Ulriksen 2009). Grundy (1987, p. 103) argues that the curriculum should countenance a teaching “process which takes the experiences of both the learner and the teacher and, through dialogue and negotiation” confront real problems, like real design projects, and instil in the students the ability to reflect critically about their chosen profession. This type of

138 curriculum cannot be written by anyone without an intricate knowledge of the subject and/or profession that the qualification is a requisite for.

The introduction of training packages and competency-based training

Training packages were introduced in 1996 and first adopted in 1997 as the basis for national VET qualifications4. The competency standards embedded in the training packages “possess a uniform structure with content drawn from analyses of the characteristic tasks of the jobs encompassed by the national VET system. It is a fundamental assumption of the system that the standards are a guarantee of consistent learning outcomes and assessment across the system” (Hodge 2013, p. 10). Competency-based training (CBT) was adopted as the instructional model for training packages in VET. It places emphasis on what a person can do (the outcomes) rather than the training process (the inputs). Within this paradigm, training to specific industry standards is considered more important than an individual’s achievement relative to others in a group (Guthrie 2009). Wheelahan (2004, p. 9) elaborates:

Training packages consist of prescriptive, reductive and atomistic lists of competencies. They strip knowledge from learning in VET, and result in impoverished learning in which learners do not require the ‘learning to learn’ skills necessary for today’s complex, changing world. Competencies embody codified skills (but not necessarily knowledge) that reflect current and past workplace practices, and not those required for continual change. Furthermore, training packages are too narrowly focussed on work to the neglect of the broader skills, knowledge and attributes that people need to manage their careers in a changing world and be active citizens who contribute to their local communities and the broader society

CBT polarised VET practitioners while educationalists have been critical of competency-based teaching for many years. As far back as 1916 Dewey (1916, p. 199) argued that “nothing has brought pedagogical theory into greater disrepute than the belief that it is identified with handing our teachers recipes and models to be followed in teaching”. Wheelahan (2015, p. 137) argues that “CBT is the curriculum that is used when institutions are not trusted”. This argument was previously advocated by Marginson (1997a) who averred that neoliberal governments trusted the markets ahead of their own public institutions, including education and health services. All of my interview participants claimed that in addition to normalising the student and teacher, CBT was the paradigm chosen by the unions as it proffered an expeditious transition from the traditional TAFE curriculum to the mechanised CBT curriculum. It also

139 eliminates any perceived indoctrination of the student by excluding the behaviourist and cognitive components of the curriculum. In addition, CBT does not require professional teachers, conceding the for-profit sector unfettered access to VET.

The competencies standards in the training packages are specified in behaviourist terminology. Kearns (2001, pp. 14-16) argues that the competencies/key skills adopted in Australia are narrowly focused as they neglect “personal attributes, values and attitudes, and cultural understanding” as well as “the cognitive processes and motivation that influence the acquisition of these competencies”. Kearns (2001), Wheelahan (2015) and Seddon (2015a) contend that this has led to a continuum of issues during their implementation and integration in VET institutions.

The competencies specified in training packages establish a profile or a “norm” of workplace performance against which students can be judged. The emphasis is on “doing” rather than thinking, “controlling” rather than understanding and “managing” student cohorts rather than innovating or reflecting on teaching and learning (Hall and Millard 1994, p. 153). Another argument against CBT is that it does not incorporate or prescribe problem-solving strategies (even at a heuristic level), which are essential for creative courses, nor does it postulate an effective curriculum that would construct and secure adaptable knowledge. TAFE teachers have to subvert or augment the intended curriculum (i.e. syllabus documents) to achieve the vocational goals demanded by both teachers and industry and to inculcate educational principles within VET (Billet, 2004).

Hodge (2009a, p. 4) suggests that CBT – a governmental mechanism within the VET policy initiatives – is a disciplinary technology to manipulate and manage the populations of a particular milieu by linking VET with “broader economic processes so it would be able to contribute to the nation’s economic security”. VET was marketised so that it could be “governed by the natural mechanisms of the market thus mitigating arbitrary and potential wasteful expenditure”. Hodge goes on to say that a suite of entry-level qualifications was introduced in VET “to maintain the unemployed population in a state of readiness for productive work” (Hodge 2009a, p. 4).

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National nomenclature in VET

The components of training packages

Training packages are written by ISCs. Training packages are revised every 3 – 5 years. To justify their continued funding, some ISCs write additional training packages and introduce new higher-level qualifications ostensibly due to industry demand (see the case study in Chapter 6):

I think 80% of the enrolments are in 10% of the qualifications, so why do we have so many qualifications on the books? It is because people like inventing things and dividing sectors up into little demarcated boxes which don’t really exist? Most occupations are now either becoming very, very narrow or doing the opposite. I think it is also about status. What’s the basis of a diploma anymore? (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

The above quote reveals how the ISC’s have adopted a self-perpetuating business model by writing new courses that are essentially components of existing courses. For example, the Certificate IV in Drafting is the equivalent of the first year of the Diploma of Building Design course yet a new stand-alone course was written by the ISC (CPSISC 2011). This practice allows the number of qualifications in VET to continue to increase. I include more discussion re ISC involvement in writing courses and qualifications in Chapter 6.

ISC’s generated additional work for themselves by writing post-graduate level training packages. The Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate qualifications are higher level qualifications within the Australian Qualifications Framework than a bachelor degree but their development process does not undergo the equivalent scrutiny of the TAFE-written bachelor degree courses, which require approval from the TAFE NSW Higher Education Unit and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) , are affiliated with the universities that issue a joint TAFE/University degree and guarantee articulation to university. Prerequisites cannot be incorporated in training packages, so prospective candidates can enrol in Graduate Diplomas in VET without any previous educational qualifications and claim credit via Recognition of Prior Learning.

The majority of my interview participants claimed misconceptions still endure amongst

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TAFE teachers and researchers regarding the difference between training packages and curriculum. It necessitates my regularly explaining the difference to colleagues in the Faculty of the Built Environment and Transport when they argue the shortfalls of the training packages they are teaching to. It is worth elucidating the components that constitute a training package and their purpose. I will use the transcripts from my interview with a retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies to clarify this:

“Training Packages” was an unfortunate choice of words. It would have been better if they were named Assessment Frameworks. We could have related these more easily to outcomes.

A training package is not a delivery program. A training package is not a curriculum. A training package is not an assessment scheme. A training package is merely a statement of outcomes. A statement of what we want people to do.

Training packages were intended to be a statement of the outcomes. The actually delivery, the actual course – call it the curriculum if you will - the detailed assessment systems and everything else should be in the hands of a training professional - a teacher

The actual definitions of the outcomes should be in the hands of industry. The curriculum to achieve that should be in the hands of the teachers

The delivery strategies should all be different as they all have different rationales, for example, refugees, ESL, programs for indigenous students etc.

The retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies contends that the writing of curriculum should be in the “hands of a trained professional – a teacher”, which emphatically supports my thesis. This interview reveals the political “deals” that transpired during the early negotiations that lead to industry writing training packages. The retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies declared that he was in meetings with federal Education Department representatives during which the state and territory TAFE delegates were encouraged to adopt training packages, competency-based training and competency- based assessment. In these meetings, TAFE authorities were “promised” federal funding to develop the curriculum to supplement the training packages. When training packages were adopted, the federal government funded the ISCs to write, ratify and verify the training packages, but “reneged” on its agreement to fund TAFE authorities to development the “connecting” curriculum. TAFE authorities were asked to fund their Curriculum Development Units from their seed funding. This arrangement was also corroborated by a retired TAFE NSW Institute Director (2).

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Figure 4.7 shows the individual components of a training package and that of a curriculum. It is derived from an interview with a retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies, responsible for the Curriculum Development Department for the whole state and for writing national curriculum.

STANDARDS GENERIC l I I I ASSESSMENT CURRICULUM TAFE FEDERAL STRATEGIES TRAINING GOVERNMENT NATIONAL SYSTEM FUNDED PACKAGES OF QUALIFICATIONS DELIVERY I TAFE STRATEGIES TAFE NSW CURRICULUM DETAILED ASSESSMENT FUNDED STRATEGIES I I RESOURCES PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TRAINERS AND V ~l ASSESSORS Figure 4.7 The components of Training Packages and Curriculum (Source: Interview)

The funding arrangements in Figure 4.7 have not been documented in any literature relating to TAFE and/or VET. TAFE NSW funded the development of curriculum up until 2009. The TAFE NSW Curriculum Centres were closed in 2010. TAFE NSW did not share curriculum documentation with private providers or other state or territory TAFE Institutes. The corollary for VET students is that the for-profit sector has been operating since the adoption of the 1987 VET policy initiatives with only a syllabus and no curriculum. The federal government sanctioned the for-profit sector to tender for government-funded training in competition to TAFE Institutes (Marginson, 1997a) and to offer any course/qualification that is registered with ASQA.

The for-profit sector and training packages

Without any curriculum in VET Training Packages, the for-profit sector certifies and validates the “volume of learning” for all VET qualifications without any obligation to incorporate statements of course philosophy and/or aims nor any instructional approach and teaching methodologies in their course outlines or any instructional approach and teaching methodologies. Private VET providers such as the Institute of Training are inducing students with offers of completing the Certificate IV qualification in Building and Construction (CPC40110), the minimum training qualification for a builder’s licence, by attending their training rooms one day per week over eight weeks or to acquire a Certificate III in Carpentry (CPC30211) for one-day attendance per week over 15 weeks. In TAFE NSW, the equivalent qualification takes one year of full-

143 time study. The fast-tracking of qualifications has resulted in less skills being taught, contravening the intention of the training packages and allows the for-profit sector to manipulate the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) assessment process. The quotes below verified this point:

Some private providers are offering the Certificate IV [Building Construction] in three nights. A private provider was coming on to a building site and offering a Certificate IV in three nights. That’s a building licence in three nights.

[Educationally] it is not possible, even with some sort of “recognition” [RPL] in it. The “recognition” would be pretty poor. It really worries me when this is the standard, and I see the standard becoming even lower over the next 10 or 15 years until they wake up to themselves and they find that they are in dire straits and they have to change it all again and go back [to the old system].

An apprentice who finishes the Certificate III, for example in bricklaying, gains his bricklaying [subcontractor’s] licence. As soon as you get the Certificate III, they give you the licence without having done any practical experience. A couple of years later he becomes an employer himself and takes on apprentices and he doesn’t have the skills and knowledge to impart onto the boys or girls, that he employs. It is just going to end up in the continual deterioration [of standards] (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

The retired TAFE NSW Institute Director (1) argues that the qualifications obtained through some for-profit institutions are not educationally sound. There is insufficient “volume of learning”, irrespective of what prior education and experience the students possess and no cognitive and behavioural components embedded in the learning. He is also concerned that when the graduates of the for-profit institutions become managers and business owners themselves they will not possess the intricate knowledge to support and/or mentor their apprentices and/or employees.

Later in this section I will discuss more instances where the absence of any curriculum in VET has occasioned the unfettered operation of the for-profit sector resulting in a profound impact on VET across all states and territories in Australia. In exposing these practices, I draw on Foucault (1971) who suggested that it is a teacher’s obligation to politically criticise the workings of such institutions and confront them by exposing the political “violence” which has always exercised itself obscurely through them.

Earlier in this chapter I explained how historically, skills have defined who we are within society. Skills formation and acquisition without a cognitive and behavioural dimension renders us as workers rather than as citizens. In a neoliberal economy we are viewed

144 merely as labour or human capital. This is what the VET policy reforms have conferred on students. This particular praxis allows industry to take control of the key process of skill development (Buchanan et al. 2004). The VET policy initiatives in Australia “merged political rationalities into pedagogies” and allowed industry to write narrowly focussed technicist training packages, which realigned the “dispositions, sensitivities, and awarenesses” of VET students (Popkewitz 1997b, p. 22). Popkewitz and Freedman (1984, p. 279) argue that when economic efficiency and administrative expediency take precedence over educational curriculum the “human values and interests embedded in our social institutions are obscured”. The preceding discussion builds a compelling argument for better connections between pedagogy and professional vocational preparation. The relinquishing of curriculum in VET produces graduates that have no understanding of their socialised selves or any context of their chosen profession.

The relegation of the TAFE NSW Curriculum Centres

Successive federal and state/territory governments have adopted economic rationalist practices and reduced core funding to all TAFE authorities. TAFE was obliged to make up the financial shortfall through marketisation and commercial enterprises, such as offering short commercial courses, commercial sponsorships and introducing degree courses. The reduction in funding initiated the relegation of the Curriculum Centres and the curtailment of curriculum development and teacher support services to TAFE Colleges. From 2008 to 2010 in TAFE NSW, the Curriculum Centres’ functions were reduced to austerely liaising with the ISCs on the implementation of new and revised training packages. The Curriculum Centres ceased operations at the end of 2010 in TAFE NSW, leaving all courses without any curriculum content and TAFE teachers with no curriculum support:

You can almost see it now. I don’t know if this is the larger picture or not, but it looks as though someone wants TAFE to fold. It’s as though someone wants the private providers to take over. It’s as if they don’t care if training is going to be worse down the track. It is all about saving money.

The new curricula are less rigorous than what we had in the past. I don’t think there has been any benefit to anyone other than the government. I can’t see any benefit to our students. There is no benefit for the employers at the end of the day (TAFE NSW senior head teacher 1).

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The TAFE NSW senior head teacher is arguing that the federal and state governments seem content to allow the for-profit sector to take over all of VET. Another recurring theme is that the curriculum, even in TAFE, was “dumbed down”5 to accommodate the smaller states and territories and to accommodate the for-profit sector. My interview participants claimed that a “dumbed down” curriculum enabled the for-profit sector to capture VET training along with the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (CertIVTAE), which replaced the Graduate Diploma of Education as the minimum teaching qualification in VET. The VET assessment methodologies, based on a “tick- and-flick” competency-based assessment model engenders mechanical “instinctual” habits rather than a predisposition to generate more complex thought and a capacity for reasoning (Popkewitz 2011).

The last course written by the teachers of Architectural Services in TAFENSW, which contained a curriculum – the Diploma of Architectural Technology – was revised in 2008. The last of those courses expired in 2012, and was replaced by the Diploma of Building Design. The process of how this new course was written by an Industry Skills Council, without any embedded curriculum, will be discussed in the case study in Chapter 6.

Organisational restructuring in TAFE NSW and its impact on curriculum

At the end of 1997 the New South Wales TAFE Commission, the Department of Training and Education Coordination and the Department of School Education were amalgamated to form the Department of Education and Training. TAFE NSW was constituted as a Commission within the auspices of the Department of Education in 1990 under the Technical and Further Education Commission Act. TAFE NSW had lost its authority as a separate government department in 1991, but it did retain its identity within the new organization (Goozee, 2001). The 24 Networks were amalgamated into 11 TAFE Institutes in 1992, reduced to 10 TAFE Institutes in 2003 and further reduced to 5 TAFE Regions in July 2016. TAFE became a department in its own right again, albeit a Commission in 2015.

From 1997 to 2002 TAFE NSW established seven Educational Services Divisions, in broad industry groupings, to liaise with the Industry Training Advisory Boards (ITABs)

146 on the development and review of vocational courses:

1. Access and Foundation Programs 2. Business and Public Administration 3. Community Services, Health, Tourism & Hospitality 4. Construction and Transport 5. Information Technology, Arts and Media 6. Manufacturing and Engineering 7. Primary Industry and Natural Resources

After the ISCs replaced the ITABs in 2003, there was no TAFE NSW department dedicated to curriculum. In 2008 the General Manager of Training and Education Support was appointed to liaise between ISCs and TAFE NSW Institutes and support teachers to become more responsive to the training needs of industry and the community. This role ceased to exist after 2013. According to the TAFE NSW website (2015b) “each industry area has a corresponding TAFE NSW training and educational support (TES) unit which develops and manages, with the TAFE NSW Institutes, educational programs and teaching resources for the industry-focussed courses it develops”. The TAFENSW website was accessed in April 2015, and still lauded the functions of the TES units, even though the TES Unit for Construction and Property Services ceased operations on 17 April 2014. The Construction and Property Services state-wide roles, functions and responsibilities were transferred to the South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE – Construction and Property Services Industry Support Unit.

Sydney Institute, the TAFE NSW Institute in which I work (see Figure 2.8 - Organisational Chart at the end of this chapter) confirms that there are no curriculum development responsibilities within the Institute. All the training packages that TAFE NSW is currently teaching have been prepared by the ISCs and are forwarded to each teaching section as the sole “curriculum” documents even though they contain no curriculum. TAFE NSW relies on the experience and good will of the current teachers to incorporate curriculum in its courses.

In 2012, the Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Councils produced and distributed the training package documentation for the Diploma of Building Design course, which replaced the TAFE NSW teacher-written Diploma of Architectural Technology course. There was no curriculum written for the new course and the TES

147 unit did not seek any teacher input to the new course, thereby formally severing all teacher input to TAFE curriculum from 2012.

Assessment in VET

The traditional assessment models which were developed and refined ever since the establishment of technical education in Sydney in 1833 were replaced with competency-based assessment (CBA) methods. CBA is inherent in training packages and deemed to be the single prescribed method of assessment. ANTA defined CBA as the measuring of outcomes against industry standards rather than institutional standards (ANTA 1998). CBA advocates the skills and knowledge needed to achieve a standard of performance expected in the workplace, within a national qualifications framework (Deissinger et al. 2011). In this section I discuss how VET adopted CBA as the prescribed assessment methodology. I will show how CBA has privilege industry by simplifying, depersonalising and de-professionalising the VET assessment process. In Chapters 6 and 7 I draw on Foucault to frame the discussion on VET assessment.

Competency-based assessment

CBA forms the basis of assessment for CBT. VET students are awarded either a result of competent or not-yet-competent. Gonczi (1993) defined a competent professional (or worker at any occupational level) as one who has the necessary attributes to perform a job to the appropriate industry standards.

A senior University VET academic and researcher (1) argues that the components which collectively generate the competencies in VET are too narrow:

We have too slavishly followed the British system. The idea of competency is accepted in many fields of higher education, but they take a far more holist view of it, and tend not to define it to the nth degree, which is unfortunately what the VET sector does.

The above quote corroborates the arguments by TAFE teachers that only narrow and mechanistic competencies are embedded in training packages. I suggest that CBA controls student behaviour by compelling students to perform tasks to industry standards with no scope for creative interpretation. This paradigm normalises VET students as every student has to achieve the same standard “so that they might all be

148 like one another” (Foucault 1984, p. 182). In TAFE, a student’s individual characteristics are disregarded as they are classified either competent if they reach the prescribed standard or not-yet-competent if they don’t (Broom 2012). Smith and Keating (2003, p. 126) argue that CBT/CBA: …is always concerned with what the student or worker-in-training will be able to do at the end of the training. There is not so much concern with what the inputs are or how the student has got there. So long as the learner achieves the listed competencies, it does not matter who taught him or her, how or when the training takes place, what resources are used or of what the content material of the curriculum consists

Smith, E. (2002) argues that the shift to CBA6 essentially privileged industry, by making it the most important stakeholder in VET, at the expense of the students. She contends that training packages are written for the workplace, but are being applied in educational institutions without any scope for the inclusion of curriculum. Hodge (1999b, 6) argues that the introduction of CBT in VET was a sanctioned attack on an educators’ professionalism, with its “emphasis on outcomes and [the] disdain for ‘inputs’ – pedagogy and curriculum – is reflected in [the] policy regarding the preparation of teachers of vocational education”, endorsed by the National Training Framework. All VET teachers are obliged to complete a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (CertIVTAA), irrespective of their previous educational qualifications, which according to Hodge (1999b) intentionally specifies “behaviourism” objectives to replicate the way work-place knowledge is coded in competency standards.

Cheetham and Chivers (1996) expounded a holistic model of the components required to accomplish professional competence to elucidate the interrelated components of competences and competencies. They listed knowledge/cognitive competence, functional competence, personal/behavioural competence and values/ethics competence, all of which are interdependent with an overarching meta-competency that encompasses communication, problem-solving and self-development. In 1998 they included reflection, motivation and personality along with the environmental context in which a practitioner operates (Torr 2008). In VET, only two of the components of competence – technical and organisational – are assessed. This assessment methodology deprives VET students of the capabilities commanded of them on graduation to fully engage in their chosen career. I contend that a holistic model will provide a more useful framework to investigate and assess professional competence in VET. I also argue that only a professional teacher is capable of

149 assuming a holistic assessment of VET students. As the for-profit sector relies solely on the CertIVTAE as the teaching qualification for its assessors, they would not be qualified to undertake this paradigm. I discuss the CertIVTAE in more detail in the Assessors versus Teachers section of this chapter.

Assessment and evidence7

CBA has been criticised by educationalists for assessing only observable behaviourist outcomes and being incapable of assessing attitudes and values (Deissinger et al. 2011; Wheelahan 2008, 2009, 2015; Smith and Keating 2003; Hodge 2009b; Smith, E.

2002; Harris and Hodge 2009). CBA8 conventionally utilises a spread sheet template that requires that each box be ticked, thereby gaining the pejorative tag of “tick and flick” assessment, especially when associated with the for-profit sector.

Hager et al. (1994, p. 3) concluded that all VET practitioners (except those who had a stake in postulating CBA as the preferred method of assessment) had significant concerns about CBA. They listed the following criticisms about CBA: x It only assesses what is observable or superficial x It is inherently unreliable as it involves inference and therefore invalid x It represents a departure from traditional proven methods of assessment x It neglects the importance of knowledge, by focusing on outcomes to the neglect of processes x It relies on professional judgement and hence is too subjective x It vainly tries to assess attitudes

My interviewees were also highly critical of CBA in VET. I have transcribed some interview excerpts below:

Competency- based training more than anything else was a concern. I know that it was meant to speed up delivery, and it was meant to reduce the stress that exams placed on students. In the old system you did a TAFE course for two, three or four years and you could be examined on any of the work that you did over the whole course. With CBA, you are judged or assessed just on that part or module.

Once you achieved a particular competency you didn’t have to maintain that competency or even had to prove or justify that you had that competency in say 18 months or two years’ time. The curriculum was taught in modules, which were assessed at the completion of the module, and when you achieved that competency, you didn’t have to prove that you still had those skills (retired TAFE NSW institute Director 1)

It took a long time for people to work out that the units of competency could be taught simultaneously and one project could in fact deliver on four different units. It took a

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long time for class room teachers, particularly part-time teachers who often weren’t trained in curriculum, who were often just handed a class and had to fend for themselves, who didn’t have the teacher training. It took a long time for people to realise that training packages are a form of packaging training - they are not a list of tasks or competencies (former Director of TAFE NSW Curriculum Centre).

Even though the idea of competency is accepted in many fields of higher education, they take a far more holist view of it, and tend not to define it to the nth degree, which is unfortunately what the VET sector does (senior University VET academic and researcher 1)

The above quotes encapsulate the concerns most professional TAFE teachers and educationalist have had since CBA was introduced in VET. The most significant point is that once a student has been assessed as being “competent” in a module, that student is not required to show competency in that module at any time throughout the remainder of their course. This typifies the disparate, seemingly disjointed, nature of how training packages can be taught and/or are assessed8.

Drawing on over 33 years’ experience in TAFE, I contend that CBA is entirely inappropriate as the assessment method for creative courses such as Architectural Technology (now Building Design), Art, Graphic Design and Fashion Design. The one- size-fits-all “tick and flick” assessment method does not allow apposite evaluation and/or discussion about design philosophy and design methodologies. CBA does not compliment or facilitate the traditional studio-based critiques and peer-review assessments. Creative courses are expected to be assessed with the same methodology as a trade course, where there can be minimal to nil variation in what is an acceptable outcome or solution to a problem. For example, the assessment checklist/spread sheet methodology for the repair of a gear box in a motor mechanic’s workshop cannot be utilised to adequately assess the design of a townhouse complex, a painting or sculpture nor an evening gown. At the annual validation meetings of all Architectural Technology teachers at Sydney Institute, the assessment strategy agreed upon in all the meetings I have attended since November 1983 is a holistic assessment regimen, contrary to the prescriptive requirements specified in the training packages. I discuss this in more detail in Chapter 6.

Current VET policy and organisational restructuring

The current state of TAFE NSW can be summarised by the submission to the 13

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February 2015 Senate Inquiry on Private Registered Training Organisations, by Jozefa Sobski, a retired TAFE NSW Institute Director and Deputy Director-General of Education and Training. She claims that the federal VET policy initiatives have had a deleterious impact on TAFE NSW. She argued to the Senate Inquiry that NSW needs a strong, comprehensive public VET provider to build the social, cultural and economic capacities of communities in NSW, and outlined which factors have altered the nature of TAFE NSW: x Incremental commercialisation or privatisation of TAFE x Shifting the cost burden progressively onto domestic students and businesses x Dumbing down content and reducing the quality of courses x Throwing TAFE into a wasteful bidding war for a share of public funds, transaction and promotional costs x Depressing the salaries of teachers and creating a part-time insecure workforce x Enriching some individual private providers and allowing too many to be established. 5000 across the nation x Increasing the cost of regulatory (audit and quality) framework to monitor compliance and manage risk of market failures without actually demonstrating how national education and training is improving in quality, effectiveness and efficiency x Reducing the capacity of TAFE to respond relevantly and opportunely to skills gaps and shortages by decreasing public funding or making it uncertain x Increasing the pool of unskilled or semiskilled workers by making courses increasingly expensive x Reducing access and hence equity for the most vulnerable in the community and contributing potentially to the costs of social exclusion x Failing to demonstrate how the creation of competitive or contestable training markets has contributed to improving the skills base and productivity of the workforce. The international student market relies on our TAFE system being publicly supported and quality assured. Its esteem and range and depth of expertise are a critical selling point (TAFECA, 2015).

The dot points made by Jozefa Sobski above encapsulate the impacts of the VET policies on TAFE NSW and reinforce the despair faced by TAFE teachers across Australia (Seddon 2009a, 2015a). It is beyond the scope of this research to expand on each of these points separately, though some have been discussed in Chapter 2, they could form the basis for future research projects.

Chapter summary

This chapter is a historical study of the technical education curriculum development process undertaken by TAFE NSW. It discusses the importance of curriculum within TAFE NSW and how curriculum was traditionally written by specialist teachers of the curriculum who sought the involvement of a larger number of stakeholders during its formulation and dissemination. The 1987 VET policies privileged industry by first

152 allowing Industry Training Advisory Bodies, then Industry Skills Councils and currently, Skills Services Organisations to write and ratify curriculum.

The traditional teacher-written curriculum, containing behavioural and cognitive components was replaced with competency-based training and outcome-based training packages, which contain no embedded curriculum.

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Chapter 5: A critical analysis of the Skills for Australia policy

Introduction

In this chapter I undertake a critical analysis of the policy that I claim appropriated technical curriculum from TAFE teachers and conferred the writing and verifying of technical syllabus and course content to industry. The chapter will examine the Skills for Australia (1987) policy by positioning it within its historical and social contexts while interpreting and analysing the inherent power relations and conflicts at the time of its introduction (Eppley 2009). I will analyse the policy by examining how power and knowledge are negotiated and experienced by investigating the ideological differences in and around curriculum development with specific emphasis to the curriculum development policies of TAFE NSW. This analysis will investigate closely the policy’s origins and its consequences to explore the broader sociological issues enveloping technical education. To that end, it brings in concepts and themes that were discussed in Chapter 3.

Political theorists (Rose and Miller 1992; Popkewitz 1992; Dale 1994; Milonakis and Fine 2009; Beiner 2014) posit that an understanding of policy-making and policy- effecting processes are central to the challenges of determining how scarce resources can be economically allocated to affect political change in preferred directions (Ilchman and Uphoff 1998). I demonstrate that TAFE NSW policy is influenced by the political mobilisation of the values and interests of the state government(s) regulating the policy process (Bahnisch 2000). VET policy can no longer be clearly demarcated from other social policies – political, economic and cultural – but particularly the political, because the future of VET in Australia will be determined by the slow accretion of political events as much as by the accumulation of fundamental social, economic and cultural change (Scott, P. 2012).

Drawing on the critical policy analysis outlined in Chapter 3, this chapter will be structured around the following three questions: 1. What was the historical context of the policy? 2. What were the goals of the policy? 3. Who has benefited from and who has been disadvantaged by this policy?

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This chapter concludes that the Skills for Australia policy privileged industry by underscoring the “needs of the labour market rather than the needs of the individual” by applying “economic rationalism to vocational education and training” (Harris et al. 1995, p. 107). TAFE curriculum no longer provides the learner with the opportunity to solve problems and envision alternative possibilities (Vasquez 2004). If VET graduates are expected and/or required to take responsibility for their decisions and self-manage their risks, they will need a curriculum that incorporates continual problem solving.

What was the historical context of the Skills for Australia policy?

When he became the Labor federal Minister of Employment, Education and Training in July 1987, John Dawkins launched his bid to take effective control of the state- administered TAFE system. Dawkins succeeded through unrelenting political effort to create a belief in, and an advocacy for his policies about TAFE within a limited number of relevant policy communities, which in this case were the trade unions (Ryan 1999). Dawkins claimed that the only means by which Australia could achieve full employment and better living standards was through “greater domestic production of high valued goods and services which are traded internationally; for which the country needs a highly skilled and flexible labour force and broader and higher level skills, at all levels of the design, production, management and marketing processes” (Stevenson 1992, p. 213).

The high level of youth unemployment and skill shortages in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the main catalyst for Dawkins pursuing financial control, and the concomitant political control of TAFE. Even though high youth unemployment was a global phenomenon at the time, the federal government saw this as an opportunity to ensure better employment opportunities for school leavers through a revolutionised TAFE system that would result in a highly-educated, globally-competitive workforce (Marginson 1997a). The VET policy initiatives were aimed at making VET more relevant to industry, with the corollary benefits of improving Australia’s global economic competitiveness and enhancing the life choices of individuals (Porter 1998). This occasioned a narrower, vocational focus in VET. The VET policy initiatives constructed an ideological vacillation away from the Kangan student-centred culture of access and

155 inclusiveness and a social-service/citizenship ethos in TAFE to the industry- and employer- centred culture of the ‘new vocationalism’ in VET (Ryan 2011).

The Dawkins policy document – Skills for Australia (1987) – set the foundation for the others that were to follow, with the constituting of VET as follows:

The government is determined that our education and training systems will play an active role in the process of economic adjustment which faces Australia, and in contributing to raising living standards (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. 6) (emphasis in original).

The world’s most successful economies over the past two decades have given high priority to education, skills and competence at work as vital factors in economic performance (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. iii).

The Government will also be taking action to achieve a more effective relationship between industry and the formal education sector in matters such as curriculum development, the sharing of training facilities and equipment, and the provision of training itself (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. 14).

The language of the policy reflected a neoliberal stance, typical of other OECD inspired policies in Great Britain, the USA and New Zealand. The policy adopted the “’language of futurology’ – steeped in hyperbole and laced with prediction”, with the same “entrenched clichés about ‘the future’” repeated page after page (Peters 2001a, p. 12): Action is required to improve the quality and flexibility of our education and training systems (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. iii).

Education and training will play a vital role in productivity performance, directly conditioning the quality, depth and flexibility of our labour force skills (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. 4).

The VET policy initiatives were implemented at a time of emerging globalisation, when Australian federal governments from both political parties deemed the adoption of neoliberal economic policies necessary to retain their global economic competitiveness. The VET policies compelled TAFE to operate in a neoteric range of spatial relationships – some global, some national and some local (Robertson, S.L. 2012). These spaces become the meeting places “of a whole series of complex networks and social relations” which have abandoned their local identity and become subject to ‘unequal relations of power and struggles’ when these relationships are contested” (Robertson, S.L. 2012, p. 6).

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Successive Australian governments implemented policies that discounted well established prevailing stakeholder relationships, especially in rural communities, where TAFE was an integral part of the local economy (Schofield 1999). Seddon (2015b, p. 1) extends the discussion about the spatialising of the politics of education, by suggesting that education is a particular “space of orientation”:

…an institutional configuration that is bordered and ordered as a means of soft governing, which frames, forms and filters learning and politics. The point of education is to mediate the making of everyday life and politics through learning, which forms identities.

Successive federal governments, following 1987, structured their educational policies within the context of their neoliberal economic policies. The ideology behind these policies encouraged political and economic practices characterised by strong private property rights, free markets and free trade. Government’s realigned their role so as to create, foster and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to such practices (Harvey 2005). The adoption of neoliberal economic principles resulted in the State divesting its social welfare and ameliorative responsibilities. The speed of electronic communications resulted in the readoption of Dewey’s 1915 phrase – “liquidity of knowledge” where “knowledge is no longer an immobile solid; it has been liquefied; it is actively moving in all currents of society itself” (Dewey 1915, p. 25 cited in Sobe and Ortegon 2009, p. 49). This phenomenon permitted nation states to effortlessly “plagiarise” education policies from like-minded nation states (for example, Australia from the UK) or from international organisations (for example, Australia from the OECD) (Marginson 1997a) even before the policies had been implemented in the original State.

Ball (1990, p. 3) contends that policies project images of an ideal society, while education policies “project definitions of what counts as education”. The Skills for Australia policy adopted the OECD stance on technical education where VET should be concerned with skills formation and implementing the processes that will fund training only for the jobs which industry demands. The policy defined education “in terms of its subordination to the mechanisms of global capitalism: education is for jobs, to enable change, increase understanding of technology, to allow them [workers] to move internationally” (Mulderrig 2003, p. 103) (emphasis in original).

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The central theme in Dawkins’ policy was that the government sought a profound involvement of industry in TAFE to elicit a more economically competitive TAFE. The evidence presented by Dawkins to justify his reforms contained “cleverly cannibalised” neoliberal terminology that pronounced copious “self-evidently” sensible statements to create a new regime of “truth” (Foucault 1984a, p. 73) about TAFE-industry relationships. The reforms transferred the power from the state owned teacher-student oriented training institutions to profit-orientated industry, which developed Training Packages that emphasised “this tilt in power relations and have meant a privileging of employers vis-à-vis providers” (Harris, R. 2002, p. 34). Dawkins (1988) claimed that his findings were based on a transparent relationship between policy, research and best practice and averred that there could be no logical reason why any stakeholders could complain about the augured improvements for VET. Ball (2009) argues that the same neoliberal rhetoric was used in technical education policies in Great Britain – upon which the Australian policies were based (Buchanan et al. 2004). Ball (2009, p. 93) contends that the “customary reiterative stream of ‘solutions’ and ‘best practice’ and ‘evidenced’ developments that are ‘offered’ through reports, ‘research’ and ‘evaluations’ seem almost always to privilege further privatisations or ‘business-like’ methods” (emphasis in original).

All of the discussion papers and policy documents that Dawkins released between 1987 and 1988 relating to VET mobilised similar discourses about the desirability of more industry involvement in vocational education, both within TAFE and in competition with TAFE:

x “the government has made clear its wishes to see greater industry involvement in TAFE” (Dawkins 1988, p. 8) x “increased industry-based training will provide healthy completion for TAFE” (Dawkins 1988, p. 8) x “industry has frequently complained about the inflexibility of the TAFE system and lack of relevance of many TAFE courses” (DEET 1988, p. 34) x “there should be a ‘close involvement of industry’ in TAFE” (DEET 1988, p. 35) x “there is a need for ‘national consistency and co-ordination of training’” (Dawkins 1989, p.22) (Dawkins and DEET, cited in Ryan 1999, pp. 113 -114)

I suggest the above policy statements are no more than “small acts of cunning, calculated methods, techniques” and sciences that institute the fabrication of a disciplined subject (Foucault 1977, p. 308). They act as technologies of ‘modernisation’ and ‘transformation’, a series of moves which are always meticulous, often minute (Ball

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2010, p. 129). The VET policy initiatives were based on economic assumptions that Stevenson (1992) argues were never debated nor took into account the nature of post- industrial Australian society. He contends that the discourse used by Minister Dawkins to transact vocational education was based on assumptions that were merely technological, technicist or scientific, which were legitimised through the institutionalisation of a new kind of policy language. This can be recognised as an exercise in “power and control” via the construct of a new relevance, in legitimising adopted emphases that “has led to a distortion in the concerns of vocational education and assessment, in particular in TAFE” (Stevenson 1992, p. 221).

Dawkins’ policy statements reinforce Apple’s (1990) argument that educational politics are inseparable from national politics. Apple contends that policies espousing the benefits of privatisation – which are based on the eloquent fiction – rely on a free market; the drastic reduction of government responsibility for social needs and the reinforcement of intensely competitive structures – are aimed at ensuring the lowering of people’s expectations for economic reliance on government. Apple (2001, p. 412) further contends that these type of “reforms have not been notable for their grounding in research findings, and when research has been used, it has often served as a rhetoric of justification for preconceived beliefs and in some cases based on quite flawed research”.

To implement the Skills for Australia policy initiatives the federal government established the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) in 1992, to fund VET and report to the federal Minister for Employment, Education and Training. Goozee (2001, p. 85) asserts that ANTA’s main aims were to promote:

x A national VET system, with agreed objectives and priorities, assured funding arrangements, consistent national strategies and a network of providers delivering high quality, nationally recognised programs at the state and local level x Close interaction between industry and VET providers to ensure that the training system operates within a strategic plan that reflects industry’s needs and priorities x An effective training market, with public and private provision of both high-level, advanced technical training and further education opportunities for the workforce and the community generally x An efficient and productive network of publically-funded providers that could compete effectively in the training market x Increased opportunities and improved outcomes for individuals and target groups, including school leavers, to enhance their employment outcomes x Improved cross-sectoral links between schools, higher education and VET

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The overarching strategies embedded in these reforms were the opening up of provision of VET to both public and private providers and the privatisation of VET courses content (syllabus) and curriculum development. As was noted in Chapter 2, economic rationalist ideology and economic expediency has since 1994 influenced TAFE curriculum development policy. In 1994 the federal government funded Industry Training Advisory Bodies (ITABs) and from 2003 it sub-contracted Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) to formulate VET course content. The federal government conditioned its funding of state and territory TAFE colleges on their incorporating the training packages produced by these industry bodies in all its courses. The learning outcomes underpinning the training packages emphasise the tacit, contextual, “more productive” and immediately applicable knowledge to ensure graduates are “work-ready” rather than theoretical, disciplinary knowledge “as a consequence of putatively authentic and relevant learning experiences” (Wheelahan, 2010, p. 3).

Minister Dawkins’ proposal to marketise VET by allowing private providers to compete for federal educational funding, as well as the privatisation of VET curriculum development, was based on the neo-liberal philosophies of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), whose views and reports Dawkins regularly exploited to add legitimacy to his policy proposals (Ryan 1999).

The preceding discussion outlined the social, economic and political problems which challenged the Australian federal government in 1987. The government argued that for Australia to remain economically competitive in a global market and for youth unemployment to be kept in check, industry should write technical curriculum and the for-profit sector should to be invited to deliver VET courses. The Skills for Australia policy initiated the VET policy initiatives, which created a greater federal control over the state and territory run TAFE systems. The following section analyses the official goals of the policy.

What were the goals of the policy?

The official goals for the Skills for Australia (1987) policy were for VET to:

x involve industry in course design (p9) and to monitor the relevance of training (p34) x improve Australia’s performance in generating the skills required for national economic

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development (p12) x fund education and training which is more closely linked to labour market demands, and to national economic and industry development objectives (p32) x foster a competitive environment which provides an opportunity for TAFE and other [private] training providers to tender for the provision of relevant courses (p38) x develop a competency-based rather than time-served approach to the acquisition and recognition of skills (p62) (Dawkins and Holding 1987, pp. 9-62)

The above excerpts from the policy highlighted the ways that Dawkins equated technical education and “knowledge with certain kinds of highly formalised truth claims” which emanated from the narrow-focused terms of reference and his engaging trade unionists and economists rather than educationists to undertake his research (Freeman 2014, p. 210). Dawkins framed his Skills for Australia policy on the recommendations of the joint Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and Trade Development Council (TDC) Mission to Western Europe (UK, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Norway). The Mission was charged with three Terms of Reference: x To examine the relations of government, trade unions and business and available tripartite mechanisms in the formulation and implementation of trade and related policy matters. x To consider the implications of technology, work organisations, education and productivity for international competitiveness. x To evaluate the contribution of trade union research, education and organisation to union participation in trade related issues (Kelty et al. 1987, p xi).

There was negligible discussion about the nature of technical education in the Terms of Reference. Dawkins argued his VET policies would single-handedly reduce Australia’s high rate of youth unemployment and skills shortages, increase economic competitiveness in a global market and contribute towards reducing Australia’s balance of payments (Kelty et al. 1987, p iii). The report did not elaborate on how the VET policies would achieve these outcomes. The Mission’s core recommendation was the

creation of closer links between industry and TAFE: ...it is clear that the tertiary education system has to lift its game if Australia’s skill base is to be improved. The most effective way of doing this is through forging closer links between education authorities and industry (Kelty et al. 1987, p. 119).

The following sub-sections discuss the specific changes to technical education and VET curriculum policy after the Skills for Australia policy was implemented.

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National VET qualifications

National nomenclature and governmentality in VET

The Australian literature on VET suggests that Foucault’s notions of governmentality and disciplinary power are manifest in the VET reforms. All VET courses in Australia were recodified to align with a national nomenclature, covering virtually all aspects and levels of most occupations and qualifications. This produced a gigantic grid for articulating the contents and context of the trainee-worker that was also: …aligned with a new national qualifications framework, which, through the technology of ‘recognition of prior learning’ assessment, allows workers and potential workers to discover what they have become, and points the way to what they could yet be. In the new system the trainee-subject is encouraged to take responsibility for their own skill development and expected to manage themselves as entrepreneurs of their own ‘skill sets’ on the job market (Hodge 2009a, p. 5).

The policy aimed to provide consistency across all VET qualifications in both course content and assessment by allowing industry to write the course content. There was no acknowledgement, in the policy documentation, of the existence of the federally coordinated teacher written common-core curriculum that had been implemented a year earlier. The Industry Training Advisory Bodies (ITABs) were funded to write the course content/outcomes via Training Packages. The Australian National Training Authority (ANTA 2004) “guaranteed” that training packages would provide VET students with nationally recognised formal qualifications where the course content will be nationally consistent across all industries or industry sectors, while employers were assured that any employee they recruited would have the same skills irrespective of where they gained their qualification.

The policy continued to avoid any discussion regarding general educational issues, such as a theoretical and philosophical stance on the meaning of technical education, modes of delivery and the structure and sequencing of learning outcomes. This provoked significant criticism from educationalists, who argue that economic efficiency was given priority over a technical student’s educational needs in the allocation of educational resources, and that the new policy would not produce a fairer distribution of educational benefits, but was targeting economic efficiency and/or improved customer service rather than educational outcomes (Marginson 1997a; Seddon 2009; Wheelahan 2010).

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The main assumption underlying the policy was “power and control” whereby the federal government’s agenda in VET had a greater emphasis on the performance of prescribed tasks and an alignment of those tasks towards perceived economic needs (Stevenson 1992). Hodge and Harris (2012, p. 156) argue that Foucault’s notion of disciplinary power, which he derived from his studies of modern institutions such as prisons, armies and schools, uncovered how the “subtle mechanisms of surveillance and systems of knowledge shaped the self-understanding and activity of inmates, soldiers and students” and could be employed to illustrate the effects of CBT and CBT. CBT and CBA allowed industry to covert the humanistic values in the traditional TAFE curriculum into technicist training objectives in the VET Training Packages to develop the specific skills demanded by industry. This exposes VET students to a system of surveillance where their abilities, knowledge, skills and individual learning needs is revealed to the VET trainers through the assessment “performances” (Hodge and Harris 2012) and the extensive ASQA compliance checklist.

Similarly, I draw on Foucault (1984c, p. 197) to contend that CBA is a technology that provides “hierarchical observation” and “normalizing judgement” by incorporating “a surveillance [system] that makes it possible to qualify, to classify and to punish. It establishes over individuals a visibility through which one differentiates them and judges them”. Foucault elaborates by suggesting that assessment/examination “manifests the subjection of those who are perceived as objects and the objectification of those who are subjected". The privatised VET curriculum, with CBT and CBA at its core, removed the ability for teachers to exercise their professional judgement. CBA appealed to politicians, bureaucrats and administrators as it is apposite to the accountability methodology they comprehend (Hodge and Harris 2012).

CBA allows students to be individually managed, while the record keeping - a prominent part of the system – leaves students more individually visible as every aspect of their work is broken up into small assessable units of competency. Foucault (1977e) observed that the disciplinary mechanisms imposed by the state inculcates docility in its subjects that translates into unquestionable acceptance. The VET policies proliferated this behaviour to teachers and students via CBA, when it was adopted as the official discourse in VET, by rendering those who adopt the paradigm unable to perceive the relevance of educational thought outside of the paradigm, or to relate it to

163 the paradigm (Hodge and Harris 2012). CBA also impedes those without an exclusive focus on observable and measurable learning outcomes in communicating about values and concepts of the rule of knowledge which lie outside the paradigm (Hodge and Harris 2012). As a result, criticism and other research are often labelled irrelevant, or out of touch, or too ‘academic’ (Stevenson 1992).

The privatisation of VET

The Skills for Australia policy allowed private Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), for the first time, to operate within VET and to tender for public education services. This included the non-for-profit community organisations, Enterprise Training Organisations and the for-profit sector. This resulted in a frenzy of education activity and TAFE’s governance being relocated across geographic scales, from the local to the global. It also introduced a new array of stakeholders – public and private and for- profit organisations (Robertson, S L 2012). In Chapter 4 I discussed the politicisation of VET qualifications and in Chapter 7 I will discuss how some private training providers (with overseas shareholders) and their agents instigated “unconscionable” recruitment practices and awarded qualifications without conducting any training. One of the consequences of the alacrity of the privatisation of VET is that federal funding bodies had not undertaken any risk assessment of the possible corollaries of an unfettered push towards full contestation of TAFE and the privatisation of VET.

Bahnisch (2000, p. 2) argues that technical education became “one of the most obvious and influential ways for the state and other powerful political actors to directly intervene in shaping the conduct of citizens’ conduct” to promulgate the state’s skills formation and youth employment policies. This is evidenced by the deletion of the Kangan social equity focus of TAFE and the VET policies discounting the importance of adult and lifelong education. The marketisation of TAFE and the introduction of contestability connoted a discursive reorientation of governmental strategies to steer technical education away from its traditional values. Ball (1990, 3) corroborates this proposition by contending that “values do not float free of their social context” and that “we need to ask whose values are validated in policy, and whose is not” because the “authoritative allocation of values draws our attention to the centrality of power and control in the concept of policy”. Iannaccone (1984, p. 11) argues that “the merging of

164 educational politics into the general politics of the State signifies the severe weakening of the public creed that justified their previous separation”.

Training Packages

The privatisation of VET curriculum development was another fundamental goal of the Skills for Australia policy. It entrusted private industry to develop the VET syllabus, and took away the responsibility for the development of ‘curriculum’ from the teachers of the curriculum. This was initiated by the federal government sub-contracting the development of training packages to Industry Training Advisory Boards (ITABs) and Industry Skills Councils (ISCs).

There are a number of significant differences between the traditional teacher-written curriculum development process and the ISC-written Training Packages procedure. A comparison of the how the teacher-written and industry-written curriculum was formulated and ratified is explained in the flow charts in the Endnotes (Endnote 4) of Chapter 3.

The most indicative differences are:

x The traditional model has a larger number of stakeholders which may seek the writing of a new curriculum or revisions to an existing curriculum, i.e. the teaching section/school, community groups, unions, government departments and industry, whereas the privatised model only has industry as the stakeholder (Ross, R 1977). x The traditional curriculum was written by the teachers entrusted to teach the course, whereas the privatised curriculum is written by an Industry Skills Council sub-committee, whose members are often not the teachers teaching the course. The curriculum is therefore developed and evaluated outside the classroom (Cobb 2000; CPSISC 2011). x The traditional model allowed for the evaluation and dissemination of the curriculum amongst the teachers teaching the course before it was finalised, whereas the private model does not have that provision. In this model, the teachers are presented with the curriculum after it has been finalised and approved by ASQA (McBeath 1997b, 1997c).

Smith, E. (2002) and Holland (1992) argue that the privatised model of curriculum development has privileged industry at the expense of the students, the most important stakeholder.

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The privatisation of VET curriculum development

One view on curriculum development is that curriculum needs to be designed and developed by professional teachers for it to be effective to encourage students and teachers to engage in discussions of important issues that lead to both the acquisition of deep intellectual knowledge and the practical skills to apply that knowledge to solving problems in the real world. “This will foster a pedagogy that encourages emotive motivation in students” (Bowers 2006, p. 9). Boud (2003, p. 46) also argues that: …there needs to be a focus on an educational approach to the curriculum not a narrow operational competency-based approach suitable for pre-defined learning outcomes. Competency-based frameworks that delineate the universe of outcomes – such as those used in vocational education and training derived from industry-based occupational standards – are unlikely to be appropriate except for low-level work-based programmes.

Who has benefited from and who has been disadvantaged by the Skills for Australia policy?

I look to answer this last question by looking at the interconnection of the purpose of education, values, social change and equality. Simons et al. (2009, p. 24) declare that one of the intentions of undertaking a critical policy analysis is to critique education policies “that support educational systems that reproduce inequality and maintain specific cultural and moral formations” while concomitantly supporting “progressive education policy, generated by politics linked to the attempt to develop counter-politics in view of a more socially just and liberating allocation of values” through these policies.

Taylor et al. (1997, p. 21) also suggest that any analysis of education policy commands a focus on politics and power and the concomitant discussion of values and debates on the social role of education. They claim that this discussion should include “how values and power are related to policy knowledge and how they are symbolised, which sorts of conditions lead to the imposition of these specific values, discourses and/or ideologies, and how a values-loaded policy text is debated and used in the practice of schooling and what the political contexts of the texts might be”.

The Skills for Australia policy legitimised industry’s control over technical education

166 curriculum in Australia. VET became narrowly focused on proffering only the skills that led to direct employment and the awarding of qualifications for workers without formal credentials via the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) (Buchanan et al. 2004). The for-profit sector was afforded a niche education market with RPL as they could issue VET qualifications “from the back of a Toyota HiLux ute” (TAFE NSW teacher 2; former TAFE NSW Institute Director 1), with minimal capital investment. In Chapter 7 I discuss how the for-profit sector has abused this privilege and the negative impact educationally, fiscally and socially, on the unsuspecting students that have had their VET qualifications cancelled by the Victorian government.

Giroux (1985b) argues that teachers must to be transformative intellectuals. Similarly, Foucault (1972b, p. 1) suggests that: the intellectual’s role is no longer to place himself ‘somewhat ahead and to the side’ in order to express the stifled truth of the collectivity; rather it is to struggle against the forms of power that transform him into its object and instrument in the sphere of ‘knowledge’, ‘truth’, consciousness’ and ‘discourse’

Foucault claims that the power/knowledge nexus has multifarious manifestations, that is, there is no “common form of morality which is acceptable by everyone” (Dreyfus and Rabinow 1986, p. 118). Professional TAFE teachers, such as those in the Architectural Technology section of Sydney Institute, have the power to develop their own views on knowledge and interrogate the VET curriculum to embellish the course content, alter the sequence of teaching and increase subject content to improve on the pedagogical shortcomings of the training packages.

Drawing on Foucault, I will divide the analysis of this question into three sections – the nature of VET curriculum, truth in policy documents and contestability.

The nature of VET Curriculum

From a Foucauldian perspective, the process of curriculum development is a study of power relations or as Apple (1990, p. vii) suggests a discourse regarding “whose knowledge is of most worth”. Boyd (1979, p. 12) argues that “whether they attempt to preserve or reshape society, curriculum policymakers are inescapably involved in a political act, for their positions will have some bearing upon who gets what, when and how now and in the future”. Every curriculum shapes character, while every experience

167 cultivated by the curriculum allows a student to make value judgements about the worth of what they do in the future (Schubert 1997). The VET policy initiatives integrated technical education and lifelong learning with Australia’s “economic” policy. TAFE become “an arm of economic policy and part of the social process of commodity production” (Marginson 1993, p. 20).

In the years preceding and overlapping the Skills for Australia policy, the Australian government, between 1985 and 1995, borrowed freely from other Western neoliberal governments in both the formulation of problems and the projection of solutions (Hodge and Harris 2012). VET policy reflected the paradox inherent in the modern nation-state which is ideologically neoliberal while simultaneously and contradictorily a democratic state. In Australia, within the paradigm of neoliberal economic and political regulation, VET students faced “the demands of global capitalism’s inequalities and the opposing demands of national equality. The [VET] subject also contains these contradictions; on the one hand the individual is the worker in an unequal economic system, but that person is also the citizen who carries the equal rights of citizenry status” (Rata 2014, p. 352).

A VET graduate is purported to have learned to be a citizen, “who has abstract responsibilities related to the governing of the state, who has ‘potential’ as a worker, who learns cultural skills and sensitivities for future ‘use’ and who is ‘self’ monitoring in affective and cognitive development” (Popkewitz 1997a, p. 135). Conversely, Stevenson (1992, p. 216) argues that the VET policy initiatives sanctioned Minister Dawkins’ and the federal government’s view that the role of vocational education is to reproduce – …reproduce practices in industry, adapt to changes in industry generated by others, reproduce social classes, reproduce injustice, disempower dissidence, and shape and discipline population. Clearly, the only form of legitimisation of content to be taught or learned is approval by new, but seldom seen gods, the self-appointed spokespersons for industry (my emphasis).

Bessant (2008, p. 285) extends this argument: …factors external to the social actors determine their actions. The sociology of social systems proceeds either by establishing a limited range of possibilities for action, or by imbuing actors with particular and objective interests constrained by various ‘structural’ factors to act in a particular way. Either way, social actors are determined by a limited range of structural and objective forces or interests (emphasis in original).

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The critical analysis of policy should become an apparatus “for uncovering and identifying beliefs and practices that serve to perpetuate oppression, [and] also an avenue through which to liberate the oppressed, or rather, through which social actors might determine their own liberation” (Gale 1997, p. 103). The federal government privileged industry without the traditional scrimmage where stakeholders and “agents struggle and compete over (cultural, economic and social) capital and strategise in order to secure their own position and social power” (Simons et al. 2009, p. 64).

From a Foucauldian perspective, it is through knowledge that VET students (subjects) are socialised and/or normalised. It is at the intersection of the power/knowledge nexus where VET students “casually” accept the “reality with which they are presented” (Pitsoe and Letseka 2013, p. 24). The policy analyst should therefore examine and interpret the power relationships and the conflicts and ideological differences in and around curriculum development (Apple 1982a) and not assume that educational policies represent a diversity of interests, as unchecked political intervention from non- educational agencies can threaten the quality of education programs (Stellar 1980). Prunty (1985) argues that covert power relations and conflicts, based on sectoral interests, are patent in every sector of education, especially in curriculum (what counts as knowledge), pedagogy (what counts as valid transmission of knowledge) and evaluation (what counts as valid realisation of knowledge). It is through the curriculum that the rules and standards of reason and “the reasonable person” are generated. The curriculum writer(s) determine which knowledge is important and how that knowledge is to be inculcated (Popkewitz 2011).

Prior to Skills for Australia, TAFE curriculum was traditionally determined by socially- orientated teachers, who consulted all stakeholders with decisions made through a publically-accountable education system. Under the VET policy initiatives, TAFE is obliged to deliver a curriculum shaped by private companies, influence by industry, working through an education market (Connell 1998) with minimal transparency. By privileging industry, the VET policies emphasised “the needs of the labour market rather than the needs of the individual” student. The adoption of the term ‘skills formation’ replaced TAFE and technical training. This “gave a strong indication of the new directions which were to be taken in applying economic rationalism to vocational education” (Ryan 2001, pp. 135-135). The VET curriculum has embraced the globalised, economically-driven neoliberal knowledge-economy by generating

169 knowledge that can be effectively exploited to create employment (Peters 2001a). Education (or knowledge) has become displaced in TAFE curriculum by ‘skills’ training. Wheelahan (2010) argues that the adopted VET pedagogies have denied students access to knowledge – the principal goal of education – and the means to participate in society’s debates and controversies and “society’s conversations”.

Conflicts between professional TAFE teachers and industry over ideology in VET curriculum are connected to how curriculum content determines a student’s, and ultimately, a worker’s identity as curriculum determines “what we know”, which “affects who we are (or are perceived to be)” (Moore, R 2007, p. 3) (emphasis in original). Without abstract theoretical knowledge in the VET training packages, TAFE graduates will not be educated to “think the ‘not-yet-thought and unthinkable’ and to imagine alternative futures” (Bernstein 2000, p. 30 cited in Wheelahan, 2010, p. 2). Imagination has also been marginalised, if not completely eliminated from the VET curriculum. The diminution of the importance of imagination has resulted in a “corresponding decrease in the quality of learning which comes from our underpinning assumptions about life or our ‘world view’” (Meyer 2011, p. 1).

Industry is focused on productivity and profit, rather than ‘learning’. Asking industry to write the curriculum is exploitive and oppressive (Smith, E 2002), and insolent by their devaluing the existing teacher-written curricula. No matter how radical the VET ‘reforms’ are and no matter how weak the empirical basis for their support has been, they have now redefined the terrain of debate of all things educational. After years of debate and analysis it has become clear that “ideas that were once deemed fanciful, unworkable – or just plain extreme” are now increasingly been seen as common-sense (Apple 2001, p. 412). The neoliberal ideologies adopted by TAFE “defamiliarise the present practices and categories to make them less self-evident and necessary and to open up spaces for intervention of new forms of experience” (Ball 1995, p. 266). The VET policies gained legitimacy by claiming to “meet the needs of industry, meeting individual needs for self-fulfilment and meeting the needs of society” (Stevenson 1992, p. 215), while avoiding any discussion of the effect of these policies on the nature of vocational education. Stevenson (1992, p. 218) continues this argument with reference to VET policies:

There is no room for discussions of the nature of knowledge and its construction, the role of values in society, the nature of work, the effects of technology on society, power and control, [and] ideology…criticism is not accepted wherever it uses terminology which

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lies outside official discourse…education, freedom, fulfilment, problem-solving, qualities, learning, students, conceptual understanding, higher order thinking, cognitive processes, knowledge, debate…

Ryan (2011) argues that of particular concern for VET graduates is the recent preference for employers to hire university graduates for associate professional occupations for which TAFE diplomas are more closely designed. This is due to the restrictive nature of VET curriculum. The removal of contextual and General Studies subjects from the TAFE NSW training packages, due to the reduction in federal funding for TAFE, has rendered them narrow and focussed on teaching technical skills by rote. This is also evidenced by the removal of the cognitive and behavioural aspects of learning. The curriculum leaves little room for ‘education’ or the development of the adaptability needed in the so-called new world of work (Smith, E 2002). Ryan (2011, p. 21) also contends that any education “policy innovation that adopts a one-size-fits-all approach is usually wasteful and ineffective”.

TAFE and VET are conciliating the skill needs of industry without meeting the individual citizen’s need for self-fulfilment and/or meeting the needs of society, that is, the Skills for Australia policy has transmogrified the role of vocational education solely into “being preparation for economically productive activity” (Stevenson 1992, p. 215). The displacement of educational goals from VET in favour of economic goals resulted in replacing the educated citizen by the enterprising citizen (Bahnisch 2000). Within VET, knowledge is no longer seen as disciplinary, or an understanding of “reality”, but merely as technical, or an understanding of “experience” (Rata 2014). The sole role of vocational education has now become the preparation of students for economically productive activity.

Truth in policy documents

Ryan (1999) was openly critical of the rhetoric in John Dawkins’ policies. He pointed out that little concrete evidence was abducted in any of the documents used by Dawkins to support his argument that TAFE was unresponsive to industry and was performing poorly and that for over two years, this position was repeated to mobilise a bias and to reset the parameters of policy debate. In this instance, lies and politics [and VET policy] are coterminous (Belfiore 2009). Ryan (1999) argues that the evidence Dawkins used was “paltry”, anecdotal and methodologically dubious, but was excused

171 and justified as it promised a favourable outcome for the Australian economy. Before Ryan, Hall (1988) also claimed that industry was well represented at all levels of TAFE governance, well before the VET policies were implemented. It appears that Dawkins invented his own “regime of truth, [and] general ‘politics of truth’” (Foucault 1980b, p. 131) when formulating and implementing his VET policies to connect his neoliberal economic and political ideology to the creation of the economically self-sufficient subject (student). Through a series of well-prepared and well-rehearsed “truth” statements Dawkins claimed that TAFE did not meet the demands of industry, was underperforming and inefficient, thereby allowing him to arrest control of TAFE from the state and territory governments and incorporate TAFE into a national VET system. Olssen (2006a, cited in Frejes 2008, p. 5) suggests that Dawkins’ policies engendered “educational and economic practices” and policies to “mutually condition and adapt to each other” enabling the state to abolish its social welfare obligations.

Truth according to Foucault (1980b, p. 131) is;

…a thing of this world: it is produced only by virtue of multiple forms of constraint... Each society has its regime of truth, its ‘general politics’ of truth: that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true; the mechanisms and instances which enable one to distinguish true and false statements, the means by which each is sanctioned; the techniques and procedures accorded value in the acquisition of truth; the status of those who are charged with saying what counts as true.

Foucault is not concerned with distinguishing whether what is said is in fact true (or fiction), but with how the effects of truth are produced within discourses, historically. He claims that truth and knowledge “organises itself strategically and politically” (O’Farrell 1985, p. 87), and suggests that political falsehood existed in a myriad of forms from the earliest days of politics. The political rationality engaged by the State is to gradually enshrine into law the truths generated about “society” and “economy” – “one of multiple regulatory means by which truth governs the population” (Bastalich 2009, p. 7). The problem in recent years has been the exponential rise in the phenomenon where governments deliberately espouse rhetoric that contains outright and blatant lies whose intention is to deceive and obfuscate the true intentions of its policies (Osborne 2005). Belfiore (2009) argues that many of the key actors in policy debate create their own version of the “truth”. She argues that if this practice is employed as a means of promulgating their vested interests by intentionally misleading their fellow interlocutors

172 for their own purposes, it is morally execrable and pernicious as the lie becomes accepted as truth within the discourse.

Competition

The Skills for Australia policy introduced competition into VET by advocating for “TAFE and [private] training providers to tender for the provision of relevant courses” (Dawkins and Holding 1987, p. 38). This elicited the marketisation and privatisation of TAFE through contestability and student entitlement – where the for-profit sector was allowed to tender for government training contracts and/or students could choose the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) with which to enrol. Competition became an instrument of reform with all states instigating “a completely open competitive training market, full contestability of funding between TAFEs and between TAFEs and private providers and the application of competitive neutrality principles to public TAFE providers” (Forward 2008, p. 5). Competition was ruminated as a means of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of government expenditure. As early as 1998, Bannikoff (1998) suggested that competition will leave a trail of instability and create a reservoir of resistance to wider VET policy changes (Angus and Seddon 2000).

Since 2014, competition between TAFE and private VET providers has become the single most contentious issue in VET with a proliferation of unscrupulous and unethical recruitment methods employed by the for-profit sector resulting in Senate hearings into the industry’s practices. Robertson and Verger (2012, p. 13) aver the practices engaged in by the for-profit sector are to be expected when the “privileged rights of citizenship and representation are conferred on corporate capital…when the state divests itself of the activity we traditionally associate with the public sector and in the public interest…[it] will result in an upward trend in the management of national, regional and global affairs by economic and not state/political actors”.

Educationalists (Ball 2005; Marginson 2007a) and economists (Quiggin 2002) argue that the State’s aim of attaining bureaucratic and fiscal efficiency through the devolution of governmental functions and/or responsibilities, such as VET, comes at considerable social, political, and even economic cost and that this cost often outweighs the advantages for society (Suliman 2005). “It is paradoxical that while the most determined reformers of the state bureaucracy have argued for the importance of

173 the reduction of the costs of bureaucracy, they have neglected to calculate the [real] costs of achieving these efficiencies” nor have they questioned the economic soundness of the transfer of state responsibility to private enterprise (Suliman 2005, p. 4).

Bannikoff (1998) argued that the rapid marketisation of TAFE from 1990 onwards, after the adoption of the Deveson Report (1990), combined with funding pressures imposed by federal governments led to a cut in public funding for TAFE and a decline in the quality of programs offered. He supplicated state governments to fund TAFE institutes as they provided core educational values that the for-profit sector could not. Bannikoff (1998, p. 11) suggests that TAFE provides “a value beyond efficiency and effectiveness” as it delivers “training to industry sectors, rural areas and particular [disadvantaged] groups that are important to the economy” that are either not provided for or are considered uneconomically viable for the for-profit sector, while offering “stability and continuity of supply in the face of cyclical commitment to training by industry”. Bannikoff also claims that TAFE has traditionally provided “an opportunity for risk taking and innovation that would not necessarily happen if left to the private sector” such as “second chance” education to individuals to enter the workforce and community life. If VET is either completely privatised or TAFE reduced to providing only trade training, there will be no TAFE to take over if the for-profit sector fails in lifelong, adult and second-chance education.

Stone (2012) argues that since 2010, the level of contestable federal VET funds awarded to private providers was disproportionate to the benefits they contribute to society compared to TAFE. In 2014, TAFE institutes in Victoria were responsible for only 27% of all VET training in the state (NCVER 2014), compared to nearly 47.5% in 2012 and approximately 96% before the VET policy initiatives were introduced. In 2015, the enrolments in the Faculty of the Built Environment and Transport within Sydney Institute TAFE NSW were half of the 2013 figures (Craven 2015).

Epilogue to Skills for Australia

The VET policies allowed technical curriculum to be arrogated by industry. This left no room for ‘education’ or the development of the adaptability that a student requires in

174 the so-called world of work (Smith, E 2002). In June 2015, the NSW Upper House launched an inquiry into TAFE and its future under Smart and Skilled, the NSW government’s latest VET policy, which impacts upon TAFE NSW. The Terms of Reference included the:

x role played by public and private vocational education providers and industry

x development of opportunities for unemployed people, particularly migrants and persons in the mature workers' category, to improve themselves and increase their life, education and employment prospects,

x delivery of services and programs particularly to regional, rural and remote communities

x factors affecting the cost of delivery of affordable and accessible vocational education and training, including the influence of the co-contribution funding model on student behaviour and completion rates

x effects of a competitive training market on student access to education, training, skills and pathways to employment, including opportunities and pathways to further education and employment for the most vulnerable in our community including those suffering a disability or severe disadvantage

x level of industry participation in the vocational education and training sector, including the provision of sustainable employment opportunities for graduates, including Competency Based Training and the application of training packages to workforce requirements, and

x alternatives to the Smart and Skilled contestable training market and other funding policies

The findings from the Inquiry made no recommendation for any changes to the TAFE NSW Smart and Skilled policy, nor TAFE’s funding structure. TAFE NSW continues to be committed to full contestability. The Committee focused on implementing means by which the marketing practices undertaken by the for-profit sector could be better controlled (NSWLC 2015). Dr John Kaye (2015), the Greens education spokesperson, argued that the NSW government brokered a deal with the Christian Democrats to ignore all of the submissions forwarded to the Inquiry from educationalists, teachers, students, community groups and unions. This assured the NSW government of achieving the recommendations they sought from the Committee.

Maddison and Denniss (2009, p. 19) suggest that the policy formulation process often encompasses “grand visions, grand theories and grand gestures” while being rife with contradictions and inherent tensions as policies are both created and constrained by the political context in which they are framed. The policy process is habitually dictated

175 and/or constrained by the harsh reality of politicians’ need to be re-elected irrespective of the rhetoric espoused in press releases and the derisive “populism” of their policies. The criteria which politicians advocate when selecting “policy ‘problems’ and the solutions developed by political parties must always be understood in this context” (Maddison and Denniss 2009, p. 136). A policy analyst should also investigate how in some policies “symbols are manipulated in order to shape the composition and distribution of values and exploit the sense of personal insecurity in citizens” (Parsons 1995, p. 178).

Under the current VET policies in NSW it would not be possible to revert to the traditional curriculum model in TAFE NSW. Even though the VET policy initiatives were radical at the time of their proposal and implementation and the empirical basis was for their support was weak, they have now redefined the terrain of debate of all things educational. To this end it is essential for the policy analyst to recognise and analyse the existence of ‘dominant’ discourses, such as neoliberalism and managerialism as in these instances: …the effect of policy is primarily discursive; it changes the possibilities we have for thinking otherwise. Thus, it limits our responses to change, and lead us to misunderstand what policy is by misunderstanding what it does. Further, policy as discourse may have the effect of redistributing ‘voice’. So that it does not matter what some people say or think, only certain voices can be heard as meaningful or authoritative (Ball 1993, p. 15).

An analysis of the characteristics and machinations of neoliberal States would suggest that it would not be possible under the current Australian political climate of protracted privatisation of government services and institutions, for VET curriculum development to revert to the traditional model or for significant improvements to the current model to take place. It may also not be possible to halt the continuing privatisation of TAFE, and dumbing down of TAFE curriculum development. Arguably halting these moves towards privatisation would be critical in reinvigorating the relevance of technical education and skills training in NSW. The perennial issues of how to best educate a skilled workforce for the economic development of Australia will need to be continually analysed.

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Chapter summary

In this chapter I undertook a critical policy analysis of the VET policy that appropriated technical curriculum from TAFE teachers and conferred the writing and verifying of technical syllabus and course content to industry. One of the principal aims of this critical policy analysis was to examine whether the VET policies supported practices “that reproduce inequality and maintain specific cultural and moral formations” (Simons et al. 2009, p. 24). The analysis of the VET policies was taken up and framed around Foucault’s power/knowledge nexus so as to investigate the politics and power relations surrounding the policy and the concomitant discussions regarding the values embedded within the social role of education (Taylor et al. 1997).

In 1987 the Australian federal government argued that the closer links between industry and TAFE were the panacea for Australia’s ability to reduce youth unemployment and skill shortages and to develop a strong and competitive global economy. The subtext was also the federal government’s desire to link workers’ wages and the new industrial awards to a worker’s qualifications, that is, level of skill-based education (ANTA 1994, p. 10). The Skills for Australia policy emphasised the “needs of the labour market rather than the needs of the individual” by applying “economic rationalism to vocational education and training” (Harris et al. 1995, p. 107). The emphasis placed upon skills training at the expense of education was motivated ostensibly by the desire to meet industry’s requirements, eschewing any notion of personal development.

TAFE curriculum no longer provides the learner with the opportunity to solve problems and envision alternative possibilities (Vasquez 2004). “The pedagogical distinction of problem-solving embodies a cultural thesis concerning a mode of living; that is, problem-solving instantiates particular principles related to a mode of life and its rules of satisfaction and happiness” (Popkewitz 2011, p. 8). This paradigm does not form part of TAFE curriculum. Dewey (1916, p. 74 cited in Schubert, 1997, p. 24) claimed that “education is that reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experience”. If VET graduates are expected and/or required to take responsibility for their decisions and self-manage their risks, they will need a curriculum that incorporates continual problem solving exercises to develop the correct application of

177 reason and rationality (Popkewitz 2012). Seddon (2015b, p. 1) argues that this is a “political question; it is central to the making and remaking of relations of domination- subordination, possession-dispossession, and autonomy-heteronomy”.

The following chapter discusses the politics of curriculum development which resulted in a teacher-written curriculum being replaced by and industry-written curriculum in the school of Architectural Technology at Sydney institute in TAFE NSW. A case study is utilised to illustrate how the Diploma of Architectural Technology course was replaced by the Diploma of Building Design in 2012 – a course that had no teachers of the curriculum on the Industry Skills Council’s Project Steering Committee.

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Chapter 6: The politics of curriculum development for the Diploma of Architectural Technology course: A case study

Introduction

In this chapter I document the case study that explicates how neoliberal politics has introduced mechanisms in VET that privileged certain political and professional actors since 1987 to dominate knowledge and thereby assume their identity in economic affairs by imposing their identity in the construction of educational policy. I will present background information crucial to understanding the particular issues unique to the evolution of the Diploma of Architectural Technology course. This case study will illustrate the impact of neoliberalism on the curriculum development polices in TAFE NSW.

This case study will examine the TAFE NSW curriculum development methodology by firstly identifying the process utilised to develop the curriculum for the Diploma of Architectural Technology course, which was written by TAFE NSW, from the inception of the course in 1961 to 2012, including the genesis and structure of the course. Secondly, I will discuss the Diploma of Building Design course, which supplanted it in 2013, which was written by an Industry Skills Council. I will examine the supplanting of the teacher-written curriculum as one example of the politics of VET curriculum development. Thirdly, I will compare the curriculum for both courses with specific reference to the cognitive and behavioural differences in their assessment methodologies to demonstrate how the Skills of Australia policy changed the nature of VET and its educational values. I was involved in both the implementation and the teaching of the Diploma of Building Design course in Sydney Institute TAFE NSW, and have first-hand experience of the economic and political factors that directed VET policy. I conclude that it is not educationally acceptable for curriculum to be written by an institution whose directors do not possess the underpinning knowledge to understand and/or appreciate the course content or nature and value of the curriculum they are sanctioning and/or “rubber-stamping”. I historically trace the power relations that have shaped the industry-written curriculum.

The dearth of qualitative research in VET necessitates the use of interview data to provide original source material specific to curriculum development in TAFE NSW.

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Interview data from administrators, practitioners and experts in curriculum in TAFE and VET will be incorporated in this chapter to supplement the academic literature. The curriculum experts I interviewed have published extensively about the process of curriculum writing and dissemination and the various methodologies and approaches of curriculum development exercised by TAFE but in my interviews they divulged the nature of the political machinations that took place during the implementation of VET curriculum policy. This interview data has resulted in the section entitled The politics of ISC sub-committee membership in this chapter.

I reflect on how to interpret and use interview data that divulged historical and political practices that have not been published in academic literature. The interview participants were former directors of TAFE Curriculum Units and writers of federal and state curriculum. They were privy to this privileged information and since they have either retired or resigned from TAFE NSW, they were no longer bound by confidentiality agreements. The questions that I asked my interview participants (Appendix V) required them to recollect events and depict their views surrounding these events.

Case studies

In Chapter 3 I explained how case studies may be ethnographic, and that the analysis of the data generated is interpretive. I draw on McBeath and Richards (1997, p. 2), who aver that a case study “sets out to focus on, and interpret, a part of reality which is considered to be significant to the researcher and to the reader”. This chapter employs a qualitative analysis to compare the traditional curriculum development process – where the course was written by the teachers, with that of the current scenario, where the curriculum was written by industry. The completed case study could stand alone as a holistic entity or used for comparison purposes with other case studies (Burns 2000).

Case studies reflect what is really happening in all its social reality:

A case study investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident (Yin 2009, p. 18).

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Case studies organise social data so as to preserve the “unitary character of the social object” being studied (Goode and Hatt 1952, p. 334). They are the study of a bounded system with a conception of unity or totality (Bryman 1988). Flyvbjerg (1997, p. 8) suggests that it is imperative to choose a case study that can be investigated over a long period of time, as political strategies “consist of long, complicated, multiple chains of events without obvious beginnings and endings”. This chapter covers the politics of curriculum development in TAFE NSW from 1961 to the present and continues the thesis investigation of the changes in educational policy due to the impact of globalisation and neoliberalism. It is the first study of its kind in TAFE NSW to examine the politics of curriculum development. The chapter focuses on national VET policy and investigates how political ideology and economic influences have impacted on the curriculum development process in TAFE. By employing a case study, it offers the opportunity to incorporate a more holistic approach to an already multifaceted and complex study (Ball 1984a; Connell et al. 1982; Angus 1986).

The Diploma of Architectural Technology course

The genesis of the course

The Diploma of Architecture course was one of the foundation courses when the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts was established in 1833 (Cobb 2000). Design was first introduced as a separate subject in 1893 at Sydney Technical College (STC 1893, p. 7). The 1893 Course Handbook stated:

The practice of architecture is “par excellence”, a technical art, requiring a wide and yet exact knowledge. It combines technical training in order to give visible expression, in the form of architectural drawing, to the design pictured in the mind; the artistic instinct and training, whereby the design shall be harmonious in its parts and grammatical, be intelligent or practically conceived for an intimate and intelligent knowledge of the technical crafts embraced in the building trades.

Graduates were eligible to be registered as architects and afforded membership of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and the Royal British Institute of Architects. The Diploma course was taught over 4 years part-time and included the following subjects: x Architectural drawing – including freehand drawing, plane and solid geometry, perspective projection and fine art x Architectural design – including studio projects x History of architectural styles and of building – including ancient and modern Western and Eastern architecture x Practical building construction – including structures, materials, trades etc

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x Applied physics x Sanitary engineering of buildings x Quantity surveying (STC 1893, pp. 8-12)

The New South Wales Technical Education Act of 1949 conferred the administration of the STC Diploma of Architecture (and 19 other courses) to the New South Wales University of Technology (NSWUoT), which became the University of New South Wales in 1958. The first degree in Architecture (BArch) at NSWUoT was offered in 1950 with Frederick Edward Antony Towndrow the lecturer in charge of the Diploma of Architecture at STC appointed Professor of Architecture and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at NSWUoT in 1949 (Daniels 1988). The University classes were conducted in STC classrooms and laboratories (Neill 1991) with academic and administrative staff also accommodated in STC buildings at Broadway (NSWUoT 1950). After the faculty buildings were completed at the UNSW Kensington campus the Architecture degree course moved to the School of Architecture at UNSW, Kensington. The Diploma of Architecture course was last offered at STC in 1960.

Between 1955 and 1960 the NSW Department of Technical Education investigated the introduction of Certificate level courses to replace the Diploma courses arrogated from STC (Goozee 2013). Industrial surveys were conducted to determine the skills employers required in technician level graduates. In 1961 the Architectural Drafting Certificate was offered to train the draftsmen and technicians employed in architect’s offices, who previously would have been Diploma of Architecture graduates or students that had not completed the full qualification.

The embedded curriculum in the Diploma of Architectural Technology

In Chapter 4 I outlined that curriculum development and revision in TAFE NSW was undertaken by the teachers of the curriculum. To cognise the role of curriculum in TAFE within the context of the evolution of the Architectural Draftsmen’s course I have undertaken a historical study from the course’s inception to the present. I situate the teacher-written curriculum historically as well as deliberating on the educational concerns of the curriculum writers at the time the curriculum was formulated. The ensuing spreadsheet (Appendix VI) illustrates the consistency with which TAFE curriculum was revised and rewritten to reflect the changes in technology and work practices (through the changes in subject name and course structure) and that up until

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2013, the curriculum was written by the teachers of the course. The spreadsheet also incorporates the changes in the name of the course, the changes to the level of the qualification (from Certificate IV to Diploma), the volume of learning, the student entry requirements, the core subjects, and whether the qualification offered articulation to university. The full spreadsheet is provided for reference in Appendix VI. In Table 6.1 I have summarised the evolution of the Architectural Drafting course in TAFE NSW from 1961 to 2012, including the changes in nomenclature, who wrote the curriculum and the minimum course hours.

Year Course Name Qualification Duration Written By Course Hours 1961 to 1971 Architectural Drafting Certificate IV 4 years p/t Teachers 2,500 hours 1972 to 1978 Architectural Certificate IV 4 years p/t Teachers 1,584 hours Draftsmen 1979 to 1984 Architectural Drafting Certificate IV 2.5 years f/t Teachers 1,584 hours 1985 to 1997 Architectural Drafting Associate Diploma 2 years f/t Teachers 1,584 hours 1998 to 2006 Architectural Certificate IV 1 year f/t Teachers 792 hours Technology followed by Diploma 1 year f/t Teachers 792 hours 2007 to 2012 Architectural Diploma 2 years f/t Teachers 1,584 hours Technology 2013 to Building Design Diploma 2 years f/t Industry Skills 1,400 hours present Council

Table 6.1 The evolution of the Architectural Drafting course in TAFE NSW (Drawn: G. Loupis, Source: TAFE NSW Handbooks 1961 to present)

Prior to the adoption of the VET policy initiatives, the size of the student cohort in TAFE NSW, compared to that in other states and territories, legitimated its ability to dictate the curriculum and influence the other states and territories: TAFE NSW was the leader in curriculum development…which was adopted by the other states (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1)

If you rank the states in order of the best curriculum, NSW had the best curriculum (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 2)

Senior TAFE NSW Directors of Curriculum had also strategically/politically manoeuvred themselves as the leaders of curriculum development by being elected to chair the national Conferences of TAFE Directors and chairing the Curriculum Project Steering Group (former TAFE NSW Director of Studies), which wrote the National Core Curriculum (discussed in Chapter 4).

From 1997 onwards, the modules/subjects were written within the putative training package template, but the TAFE NSW Curriculum Units contracted curriculum experts to incorporated elements of educational philosophy, volume of learning, behavioural

183 and cognitive outcomes and the expected competency levels. Up until 2012, the curriculum for all iterations of the course was written by the teachers of the curriculum.

The curriculum development process for the Diploma of Architectural Technology

The 2006 iteration of the Diploma of Architectural Technology course was the last course to be written by the teachers of the curriculum. It was commissioned in 2006 by the TAFE NSW Manufacturing, Engineering, Construction and Transport (MECAT) Curriculum Centre. Professionally qualified teachers were contracted to write the curriculum by the MECAT Curriculum Unit. Depending on how much curriculum the teachers wrote they would be either financially remunerated or seconded on a time- release basis from their teaching. When I wrote the 6 subjects for the Advanced Diploma of Architectural Technology course I signed a contract and was paid a lump sum. When I was on the Steering Committee to incorporate sustainability subjects in all MECAT subjects throughout TAFE NSW (Moore, K. 2003), I volunteered my time, similarly to when I took on the role of Sustainability Trainer and Sustainability Mentor in Sydney Institute.

The Diploma of Architectural Technology course was replaced by the ISC-written Diploma of Building Design course in 2013.

The structure of the Architectural Technology course

The penultimate Architectural Technology course, from 1998 to 2005 was the only course to have an atypical structure. The two-year full time course was divided into two separate qualifications. Students were awarded a Certificate IV in Architectural Technology after one year of full-time study (or two years part-time) followed by the awarding of a Diploma of Architectural Technology after a further one year of full-time study (or two years part-time).

The Certificate IV centred on residential design, presentation drawings and construction, while the Diploma focussed on industrial and commercial design, presentation drawings and construction. This was a sagacious course structure for TAFE NSW as the students who did not wish to pursue the Diploma course were

184 awarded the Certificate IV qualification and could use the qualification to acquire employment in the residential market or return and take up further study for the Diploma course at a later date. This course structure was abandoned in 2006 and all students were obliged to enrol in the two year full-time (or four years part-time) Diploma course. This decision effectively allowed TAFE NSW to charge students Diploma-level fees for both years, rather than Certificate IV fees for first year and

Diploma fees for second year – a net increase in fees of $260 (TAFENSW 2006).1 The Institute management argued that this change was initiated to streamline the enrolment process – as students would be required to enrol in only one course – and reduce the administrative procedures required for awarding two qualifications and was not based on charging additional fees for the course (Lou Martini, Head Teacher, TAFE NSW personal communication).

The latest version (2007) of the Diploma of Architectural Technology course at TAFE NSW was taught over two years full-time or four years part-time. The first year focussed on residential buildings, while the second year concentrated on industrial and commercial buildings2. There were three core subjects in both years, with the design and/or documentation: 1. Produce Residential Architectural Drafting Office Administration Documents – which included lectures on national, state and local government codes and regulations, the design process, ecological sustainability principles, OH&S legislation for offices and building sites, quality assurance requirements for offices, office management and project administration documentation. 2. Produce Development Application Documents – which included lectures on national, state and local government codes and regulations, site analysis, site surveying, project brief writing, ecologically sustainable design principles and presentation drawings (both computer and drawn) for clients and local council. 3. Produce Construction Certificate Documents – which included lectures on national construction codes, building materials, detailed site surveying, construction principles, structural principles, construction drawings, legal/ethical issues in building and construction drawings (both computer and drawn) for clients, principal certifying authorities and for construction purposes.

In each semester, the complexity of the building used for the design and/or construction documentation would increase3.

The embedded curriculum

The curriculum was sponsored by the MECAT Curriculum Centre. The curriculum documents claimed that the federal Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) had not identified an ISC that could produce the training packages for the

185 qualification, so they funded the Curriculum Centre to write the national curriculum for the Architectural Technology course (NSWTAFE 2007, p. 4). The writing of the curriculum was co-ordinated by Scott Beasley – the Head Teacher of Architectural Technology at Wollongong College. Specialist teachers were contracted and/or seconded to write selected Units of the curriculum. The course was written in July 2005, updated on November 2006 and was taught until November 2012, after which it was replaced by the Diploma of Building Design.

The writers of the curriculum followed the protocols for the previous curriculum development methodologies and conducted “considerable” (NSWTAFE 2007, p. 4) consultation through workshops, with peak industry associations throughout Australia to determine the broad parameters of the competencies for the course. The curriculum had approval from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) NSW Chapter Education Committee and the Building Designers Association (BDA) NSW Chapter (NSWTAFE 2007). In NSW the course was reviewed annually with input sought from the RAIA and BDA. Any requests for changes to the course from the national consultations were incorporated into the course each year (NSWTAFE 2007).

The course documents complied with the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) requirements and were written using the ASQA training package template. This was the first course in Architectural Technology in TAFE NSW that was competency-based. The writers of the curriculum opted for a graded competency for all outcomes to comply with Australian universities requesting graded qualifications for the purposes of articulation to Architecture courses (Hager et al. 1994).4 The course documents incorporated curriculum methodology and pedagogical directives (Appendix VIIa) including the following directives which are discussed in the endnotes at the end of this chapter:5 x Entry Requirements x Competency levels x Volume of learning x Assessment x Equity Issues x Delivery Modes x Student/Teacher Ratio x Essential Teaching Qualifications x Teaching and learning resources

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I will conclude this section by extricating and discussing the curriculum directives which differentiate the teacher-written curriculum from the ISC-written training packages. I will focus on Competency Levels, Volume of Learning, Student/Teacher Ratio and Teacher Qualifications. The following discussion demonstrates that the philosophical, theoretical and educational components of curriculum are not present in the ISC- written courses.

Competency Levels

The teacher-written curriculum documents specify the expected performance level for each competency in all the training packages for the course be based on the seven

Mayer Key Competencies6. The seven Key Competencies, which are required to be embedded in each training package, are prescribed to be performed at three levels of performance – Levels 1 – 3. At Level 1 the tasks/skills specified in the competencies are anticipated to be undertaken with direct supervision, while at Level 3, the worker is required to make independent decisions regarding the evaluation and reassessment of specific tasks.

Table 6.2 lists the seven Mayer Key Competencies and correlates these with the three performance/complexity Levels.

Performance Level 1 Performance Level 2 Performance Level 3 Key competency Collecting, analysing and Access and record pieces Access, select and organise Access, evaluate and organise organising ideas and of information from a information from more than information from a range of information single source one source sources Communicating ideas and Communicate routine Communicate complex ideas Communicate complex ideas and information ideas and information in a and information in familiar information in unpredictable or familiar setting settings unfamiliar situations Plan and organise a Planning and organising With guidance, plan and Initiate, perform and evaluate a routine activity under activities organise a complex activity complex activity independently supervision Work with others to Working with others and Help formulate and achieve Collaborate with others to undertake familiar in teams group goals undertake complex activities activities Use mathematical ideas Select and use mathematical Evaluate adapt and use Using mathematical ideas and techniques to ideas and techniques for mathematical ideas and and techniques complete simple tasks in completing complex tasks techniques in completing tasks familiar situations Solve routine problems Solve routine problems Implement a systematic with minimal supervision without supervision and approach to the solving of Solving problems or tackle exploratory exploratory problems with complex problems and explain problems with close some guidance processes used supervision Reproduce or present a Construct, organise or Design or tailor products or Using technology basic product or service operate products or services services

Table 6.2 The Levels of complexity of the Key Competencies (source: Mayer 1992; Gardner and Palmer 1997).

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In two excerpts – Range Statement and Evidence Guide – the Diploma of Architectural Technology course curriculum documents specify the performance/complexity level required for each competency. Most competencies are at either Level 2 or Level 3, reflecting the curriculum writers’ intention for the students of this course to be capable of making independent decisions upon graduation and to be capable of undertaking future university level studies or to operate as an independent professional (NSWTAFE 2007). Competency Levels are included only in the teacher-written curriculum documents, not in the generic training packages which the for-profit sector exploits for its training. The omission of Competency Levels in training packages allows the professional TAFE teachers to be replaced by Assessors. Assessors are not required to hold professional teaching qualifications. In TAFE NSW their role is to assist the teachers in the classroom by undertaking the assessment of students, thereby allowing the teachers more time to concentrate on teaching (TAFE NSW 2015c). My experience would lead me to conclude that the Assessors will eventually replace the professional teachers and/or result in TAFE NSW increasing the professional teachers’ face-to-face teaching load. This has been confirmed by TAFE NSW’s 2015 Teachers and Related Employees Enterprise Agreement which sought to increase teachers’ class time by 3 hours a week without any corresponding increase in salary (TAFE NSW 2015d). The incongruity in teaching qualifications in VET authorises the for-profit sector to recruit non-professional teachers to undertake VET training, which relies on expediting the awarding of VET qualifications via on-line learning and the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). I suggest it is ironic that training packages are written with the explicit aim of assessing skill competencies, yet they do not specify any competency levels.

Volume of learning

The academic complexity or level of difficulty of any qualification is determined by the volume of learning that underpins the knowledge embedded in its training packages. The minimum prescribed knowledge is at the level deemed necessary for students to acquire the skills that will allow them to be proficient in the application of this knowledge and the execution of these skills (ASQA 2015a). VET teaching programs are designed to “give each learner the opportunity to fully absorb the required knowledge, and to develop skills over time in the different contexts they would experience in the workplace” (ASQA 2015a, p. 2).

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The Australian Qualification Framework (AQF 2013) provides the following typical volume of learning guidelines for VET qualifications:

COURSE VOLUME OF LEARNING COURSE HOURS Certificate IV 0.5 to 2 years 600 to 2,400 hours Diploma 1 to 2 years 1,200 to 2,400 hours Advanced Diploma 1.5 to 2 years 1,800 to 2,400 hours

Table 6.3 The typical volume of learning for VET qualifications (source: AQF 2013).

The “typical” volume of learning incorporates all teaching and assessment activities required for a student cohort to successfully achieve the prescribed learning to ensure the integrity of the qualification outcomes are maintained. Teaching and assessment activities could include a combination of guided learning (such as classes, lectures, tutorials, on-line study or self-paced study guides), individual study, research, learning activities in the workplace and assessment activities (AQF 2013, p. 1). The concept of ‘typical’ when used to describe the volume of learning, is intended to provide flexibility in relation to pathways into and from AQF qualifications that are incorporated into the design of the qualification. It is not intended for VET providers to justify reducing the volume of learning for their qualifications (AQF 2013), which is common practice with the for-profit sector. In Chapter 7, I discuss numerous examples of how the for-profit sector awards VET qualifications with minimal volume of learning and questionable evidence of RPL.

The teaching, learning and assessment activities are usually measured in equivalent full-time years. The accepted length of a full-time year, used for educational participation, is 1200 hours. The AQF requires providers that substantially reduce the volume of learning for any qualification to provide the pedagogical rationale to support the variation (AQF 2013).

Table 6.1 indicates that the equivalent hours for the Diploma of Architectural Technology course in TAFE NSW have diminished over the years with successive iterations of the course7. The hours quoted are the face-to-face hours at the college and do not include the self-directed study time to complete drawings, reports and models expected to be completed at home or in the college library. Students at St George College, during orientation week, are instructed to dedicate an addition 10 hours per week on self-directed activities to complete assignments and models that

189 are not finalised in class time and to undertake independent research for project reports. The weekly face-to-face time has been condensed to three days of attendance at the college to allow students two full days at home or attendance at the college library for their self-directed activities.

The AQF guidelines indicate that the volume of learning is the total time expended in gaining a qualification. The for-profit sector interprets the flexibility in the guidelines to reduce the volume of learning by incorporating a significant proportion of their training on-line and reducing or eliminating face-to-face training. With no curriculum in training packages, the for-profit sector has been enabled to determine the volume of learning for all their qualifications and assessment protocol to augment their shareholders’ profits. Dr Craig Fowler (2016), the Managing Director of the National Centre for Vocational Educational Research (NCVER), confirmed that the for-profit sector is offering the same qualifications in less time than TAFE and spends substantially less time teaching a narrower “training scope”. Bates (2016) argues that the reduction in the volume of learning through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is the main reason for a large proportion of the for-profit VET sector being brought into disrepute by their not providing adequate course content and/or training support for its qualifications and subsequently fraudulently claiming federal government funding for non-existent training. TAFE NSW is now abrogating its responsibilities to volume of learning, by continually endeavouring to reduce teaching hours and recruiting Assessors (TAFENSW 2013b, 2015c, 2015d) to replace teachers.

Student/Teacher Ratio

The curriculum documents specified a 15:1 student/teacher ratio for the Diploma of Architectural Technology course as the majority of the face-to-face teaching is in either a studio environment or computer (CAD) laboratory. Without a specific directive in the latest version of the training packages TAFE NSW has endeavoured to increase the student/teacher ratio to reduce its teaching costs, while continuing to argue “flexibility” and “innovation” (TAFENSW 2015d). VET institutions can determine their own Student//Teacher ratios and are permitted to conduct classes without restrictions on student numbers and unaudited on-line learning as training packages do not stipulate Student/Teacher ratios.

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Teacher qualifications

Since the inception of the Certificate IV in Architectural Drafting course in 1961, TAFE NSW appointed full-time and part-time teachers who held university qualifications in Architecture. The minimum qualifications and experience for all TAFE NSW teachers for the Diploma of Architectural Technology course was specified in the curriculum documents as: x Degree or diploma in education x Degree in Architecture or equivalent qualifications which are accepted by the Architect’s Accreditation Council of Australia for registration as an Architect x Three years’ practical experience as endorsed by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (now Australian Institute of architects) (NSWTAFE 2007).

This practice continued until 2014. In 2015 TAFE NSW commenced recruiting Assessors (TAFENSW 2015d) to reduce teachers’ wages and conditions. Assessors are required to hold the following minimum qualifications: x Appropriate vocational qualifications (my emphasis) x Two years’ practical experience x Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (CertIVTAE) (TAFENSW 2013b)

Before the VET policies were adopted, TAFE teachers were required to hold university degrees in both a specific profession and in teaching. The current requirement specifies that teachers hold Vocational qualifications, at the same level as the qualification they are teaching, and a Certificate level training qualification. The professional TAFE teacher will be gradually replaced by assessors as they retire (Seddon 2009a, 2015a) while TAFE NSW will lose the experienced professional teachers qualified to interpret and solve the educational challenges facing VET.

The preceding discussion demonstrates that the teacher-written curriculum in TAFE NSW incorporated cognitive and behavioural essentials with an embedded curriculum that explained and directed the teachers towards the educational philosophy and course structure recommended for a qualification. The curriculum encouraged the teachers to challenge the students to become reflexive professionals. The ensuing discussion will establish that the industry-written course documents have no curriculum which allows the for-profit sector to dictate the structure and delivery of VET courses to increase the profits emanating to their shareholders. Before this discussion, I will elaborate on the established articulation options for TAFE NSW graduates.

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Pathways to university

Pathways are established articulation/transfer arrangements between TAFE NSW and other tertiary educational institutions which guarantee admission and/or credit for previous studies (TAFENSW 2016a). The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recommends the following transfer credits for a VET qualification to a university qualification: x 50% credit for an Advanced Diploma or Associate Degree linked to a 3-year Bachelor Degree x 33% credit for a VET Diploma linked to a 3-year Bachelor Degree x 25% credit for a VET Diploma linked to a 4-year Bachelor Degree (AQF 2013, p. 79)

In Chapter 4 (see page 116) I include a flow chart that indicates that there was a formal articulation agreement as far back as 1889 between Sydney University and the NSW Department of Technical Education (NSWDTE). NSWDTE graduates were granted articulation into Science and Engineering courses at the University of Sydney with an exemption from the first year of the university course.

Since 1993 TAFE NSW students have been granted entry to architecture courses at universities in Australia with advanced standing (Appendix VIII). In 1993 TAFE NSW Diploma of Architectural Technology graduates initially received 1.5 years’ credit at the University of New South Wales, when it was a 5.5-year course leading to the Bachelor of Architecture degree (Loupis, G. 2015). When the professional Architecture degree was upgraded to a Master of Architecture8 course in 2007, TAFE NSW graduates received 12 credit points for a pass level diploma and 24 credit points for a credit or distinction level diploma at the University of Sydney, UNSW and UTS (Appendix IX). This amounts to an articulation credit of approximately half of first year. Four of my former students who were accepted into Architecture at the University of Sydney in 2015 advised me that their TAFE credits translated into a $4,000 tuition fee saving, in addition to reducing the total time spent studying or $4,512 in 2017 (SYDUNI 2017).

The Diploma of Building Design course

The politics of VET curriculum development

The TAFE NSW curriculum development process elucidated in the preceding discussion was typical for all Schools and Departments in TAFE NSW up until 1987, when the VET policy initiatives were adopted and progressively implemented in

192 subsequent years. The trade schools were the first to adopt the ISC-written curriculum, as their syllabi were more prescriptive and required minimal adaptation for conversion to training packages. The paraprofessional schools, like Architectural Drafting, were more evasive and resisted the transition for many years by revising existing curricula. This explains why it took up to 2012 for an ISC-written curriculum to be adopted.

The case study that I am expounding in this chapter demonstrates the impact of the VET policies on TAFE NSW curriculum development in the Department that I have worked in for over 33 years.

In Chapters 1, 2 and 4 I outlined the economic and political factors that led to VET curriculum being privatised. In Chapter 5 I analysed the Skills for Australia policy that entrusted industry with the writing and ratifying of VET curriculum. The policy instigated an alternative paradigm to the traditionally accepted practice and approach to curriculum development in TAFE. Historically, changes and updates to TAFE curriculum were undertaken ‘internally’. After the VET policies were implemented the writing of the syllabus and course content – condensed into training packages – for all VET construction courses was sub-contracted to a private company, the CPSISC. TAFE NSW incorporated curriculum into their training packages until the Curriculum Centres were closed down in 2010. After January 2016, all training packages for the construction industry will be written by another private company, Artibus Innovation (ARTIBUS 2016).

In the following sections I will outline the political process by which the curriculum for the Diploma of Building Design was developed by an Industry Skills Council.

The curriculum developed by Industry Skills Councils (ISCs)

Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) – federally funded industry groups, constituted as private companies – took over the writing of training packages from the Industry Training Advisory Boards (ITABs) in 2003. The ISC responsible for writing the Diploma of Building Design course was the Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council (CPSISC). None of the directors of the ISC are educationalists. The Directors of the CPSISC were company directors and union officials with no educational or

193 curriculum qualifications (CPSISC 2011). I contend that it is not educationally valid for curriculum to be formulated and ratified by an institution whose directors do not possess educational qualifications, nor required to explain their philosophical and theoretical stance, nor their understanding of the nature and value of technical curriculum or the intricate and underpinning knowledge of the course they are “rubber- stamping”.

Rationale for the development of the course

The CPSISC (2011, pp. 2-3) claimed two key requirements and/or needs emerged during the early stages of the industry consultation it conducted when it was developing the Diploma of Building Design course. I will write these requirements in italics and comment on both below each of them:

“Differentiate building designers and their qualifications from draftspeople (sic), who have a narrow work role, while recognising the importance of drawing skills to their work”

The last “drafting” course offered by TAFE NSW was the Associate Diploma in Architectural Drafting, which was superseded in 1998 by the Diploma of Architectural Technology. In the endnotes, (endnote 9) I have drawn a table (Table 6.7) comparing the course content of the previous Certificate IV and Diploma courses with that of the current Diploma of Building Design9 course. The Certificate IV in Architectural Technology course had more design content than the current Diploma of Building Design course, while the Diploma of Architectural Technology course included additional design content and construction technology for buildings more complex than those in the Building Design course (TAFENSW 2002; CPSISC 2011). A comparison of the design content between the teacher-written course and the ISC-written course establishes that the previous curriculum was more design focused and offered TAFE graduates additional theoretical and historical topics to enable them to adapt to studying Architecture at university, notwithstanding that the new course’s nomenclature is Diploma of Building Design. The new training packages have been written so that neither Architects nor professional teachers will be required to deliver the course.

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The training packages for the Diploma of Building Design course were written by the

Project Steering Committee10 – a committee appointed by the CPSISC. The majority of the Project Steering Committee members were from the Building Designers Association (now Building Designers Australia – BDA). Six out of the 13 members on the Committee were from the BDA, including the Chair. It ensued that the course name was changed to reflect that of the Association. There were no TAFE teachers from any related discipline, nor any who had taught the Architectural Technology courses on the Project Steering Committee. The Australian Institute of Architects (AIA), who participated in the development of the previous teacher-written courses, are listed as Observers. They confirmed to me via email that they did not attend any of the Steering Committee meetings (Appendix X), and that they had no interested in the Building Design course. The AIA’s non-involvement in the writing of the training packages should have been noted in the CPSISC documents as it is construed from their narrative that the AIA supported the implementation of the new course.

The training packages do not contain any of the curriculum that is embedded in the previous course. An investigation of the Project Steering Committee membership indicated they were written by Luke Behnche, a TAFE Fitness teacher from Victoria, who was working for Skills Victoria and representing the State Training Authorities – a teacher without the underpinning or intricate knowledge of the subject area (CPSISC 2011). From a Foucauldian perspective the removal of curriculum in training packages and CBT normalises students’ behaviour and thinking by steering them towards predetermined modes of thinking, feeling and acting (Pitsoe and Letseka 2013). CBT correlates with Foucault’s (1984c) notion of disciplinary power vis-a-vis “the means of correct training”. CBT concentrates “techniques of surveillance, normalisation and examination into a system that sharply foregrounds the trainee-subject against a discrete scaffold of power” (Hodge 2009a, p. 3).

In the following sections I will show that the industry-written training packages lack the nuance and detail evident in the teacher-written curriculum that they supplanted. The Diploma of Building Design training packages do not specify any of the Mayer Key Competencies or Performance Levels for each learning outcome. The Mayer competencies incorporate the cognitive and behavioural attributes required to interpret skills in a workplace. I contend that they have been deliberately expunged from the

195 documents to allow the training packages to be delivered by non-professional teachers. VET teachers with the minimum vocational qualifications and the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment would not have the academic training to incorporate and/or discuss the Mayer Key Competencies in their classes.

“Ensure appropriate distinction between the work of building designers and that of architects”

All TAFE NSW courses in Architectural Drafting or Architectural Technology from 1961 to 2012 distinguished between the academic and profession attributes required for an Architect and those required for an Architectural Technologist. The design lectures and projects in all the teacher-written qualifications were not intended to produce diploma- level Architects, but to develop the creativity and design capabilities of the TAFE students. The majority of TAFE graduates (approximately 60%) were motivated by the teachers and the course content to utilise their qualifications as a pathway for a university degree (Loupis, G. 2015). The remaining students either worked for themselves or sought employment in a related professional office – architects, building designers, engineers, construction managers, building component fabricators etc.

When questioned in 2012 by Lou Martini – the Head Teacher of Architectural Technology at St George College – as to why the teachers of the curriculum were not invited to write the new course, the BDA asserted that they deliberately disregarded the TAFE teachers when writing the new course as they believed that the Architect teachers would not have cooperated with or sanctioned the ISC-written course nor approved the course content and structure of the subsequent training package (L. Martini, personal communication). During my association with the TAFE NSW Curriculum Centre a significant level of antagonism existed between the Curriculum Managers and the BDA. The BDA insisted on having a greater involvement in course development. One former TAFE NSW Curriculum Centre manager refused to be interviewed for this study, stating that her views regarding the politics surrounding the writing of the new course [and the BDA] would be too polemic. Emails I have obtained suggest the CPSISC contrived the need for a new course and established a Project Steering Committee to write their course syllabus and course content without inviting any TAFE teachers from the relevant disciplines or consulting the current TAFE

196 teachers, who are Architecture graduates. The emails in Appendix I demonstrate that the CPSISC followed protocol by asking for teacher input, but invariably ignored all submissions.

The CPSISC published the following statement to justified revisions to the Diploma of Building Design course two years after it had been written:

“The need to develop a building design industry specific 2-D CAD unit was identified during implementation of CPP50911 Diploma of Building Design”

The above excerpt from the CPSISC (2013) documents was used to justify why the CPSISC rewrote the Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) components of their training packages. The wording and scheduling of this revision suggests that the course was written by a Committee with no specialist teachers of the curriculum nor any experience in course structure and/or sequencing. Sydney Institute has taught 2D and 3D CAD since 1988. Students are introduced to AutoCAD, ArchiCAD and Revit programs for their presentation and construction drawings, including modelling (3D generation), and progress to the walk-through components of the programs. The content of the previous course covered all of the presentation and contract documentation requirements for every sector of the construction industry. The CAD subjects in the Diploma of Architectural Technology course were of a higher standard that that proposed for the Diploma of Building Design course even after this revision. The assertion that there was a specific need for the CAD subjects to be customised for the Building Design course indicates a dearth of background research and limited understanding of the previous teacher-written courses.

The writers of the Diploma of Building Design course admitted in their Report (CPSISC 2013) that the initial version of the course documents had specified the use of a “lower level and more generic imported construction sector 2-D CAD drawing unit in the Diploma qualification” (CPSISC 2013, p. 6). The previous courses specified the use of 2-D and 3-D CAD programs for Construction (CC) subjects with the addition of 3-D animation (walk-through) programs for the Presentation (DA) subjects. The graduates of the Diploma of Architectural Technology were proficient in the use of a range of high-level CAD programs which are utilised in all types of professional offices and at

197 universities. The writers of the new course had not undertaken extensive research of what CAD programs industry utilised. Rather than admitting to this faux pas, they chose to claim that their correcting this anomaly was “evidence of their responsiveness and recognition of industry’s needs” (CPSISC 2013, p. 6) and also argued that this was evidence of their commitment to “continuous improvement in regard to a building qualification that industry believes will improve training delivery for the sector” (CPSISC 2013, p. 9).

The politics of ISC sub-committee membership

The members of the sub-committee that wrote the training packages for the Diploma of Building Design were primarily representing the BDA. According to the senior University VET academics and researchers and former TAFE NSW Curriculum Centre managers and directors that I interviewed, they claim that the membership of the ISC sub-committees which formulate the training packages is generally comprised of representatives from the more politically-perceptive sectors of particular industries rather than from a wide cross-section of members: Sectoral interests do come into play…That is one of the biggest complaints that the majority of people have with ISCs…the complaints are about the structure of the ISCs or their focus…they’re trying to carve a space for themselves (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

The loudest voice will get things. It’s either a squeaky wheel has dominated or alternatively the whole notion of curriculum and what is in the training packages has become an element of compromise, so it doesn’t represent an ideal for anybody. That’s what I think you often find. I don’t think it necessarily gets dominated by a particular voice but that it is a product of compromise, which I believe it then compromises the quality of the product (senior University VET academic and researcher 1).

An investigation of which organisation(s) the Project Steering Committee member represents would conclude that the Committee was “stacked” in favour of the BDA. The most politically-active industry groups, under the auspices of the CPSISC training package development process, have been afforded the opportunity to “hijack” the curriculum of VET:

When you and I get down to [use it at] our local level with our trades at our college and we get the notion of “what is this shit?” “This is not what we want, this is not what we need” (senior VET university academic and researcher 1).

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The teachers at Sydney Institute TAFE NSW continue to argue that the Diploma of Building Design course content, structure and sequencing are educationally deficient. The teachers at Sydney Institute, including myself, defy the training package by embedding curriculum and incorporating higher-level learning and complicated design projects to challenge the students academically. This is evident in the scale and complexity of the past student design projects I have included in Appendix XI.

In 2015, I held discussions with Samantha Donnelly, the “TAFE to University” liaison officer from the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at UTS regarding the articulation of TAFE NSW graduates into the UTS Architecture degree program. I presented examples of our students’ work to Samantha, at St George College, to justify the articulation credits that UTS offers and explained how we incorporated the teaching of the design process into our studios. She confirmed that our graduates had an easier transition into university learning, and performed better in the technology and design subjects at UTS. Samantha also invited our students to participate in the first year design crits at UTS at the end of 2015, to offer them an insight to the complexity of their design projects and the assessment methodology employed by UTS lecturers. My students realised the similarity in the assessment process undertaken in the St

George College design studios.

The ISCs are constituted as private companies. This does not allow the public the opportunity to question their operations nor to access documents under the Freedom of Information Act. I demonstrated in Chapter 4 that the appointment of Committee members in the Industry Training Advisory Boards (ITABs), the precursors of the Industry Skills Councils, was political, so it is not surprising that this practice has continued: The people from industry that they can get access to don’t often represent the diversity of that sector. Try as they might to get diversity of voice from industry, the reality is that they get a few loud voices (former TAFE NSW Curriculum Centre Director).

The Skills Council, via these subcommittees - have their own stakeholders. That was their way of saying “yes there has been broad consultation”. The fact that particular inputs were ignored – that’s the power and politics of curriculum, which is always present (former TAFE NSW Curriculum Centre Manager).

The literature suggests that the BDA lobbied the ISC to allow them to write the Diploma of Building Design training packages. The appointment of the committee Chairman and

199 a proportional majority of BDA members to the CPSISC sub-committee is indicative of the neoliberal governmentality process of subjectification, where certain actors “structure the field” for “other possible actions” (Foucault, 1982, p. 791). The CPSISC judiciously chose the members of their Project Steering Committee to ensure a predetermined outcome. The VET policies privileged the BDA – a single stakeholder – to determine what type of knowledge was most important and/or valid for the numerous VET qualifications and training packages it required for the Association’s members. The BDA were tendered the opportunity to “hijack” the curriculum as the executives of the CPSISC had neglected to investigate and/or invite all of the organisations and employers that are stakeholders in the Architectural Technology/Drafting industry. The Projects Steering Committee was “stacked” in favour of the BDA, and produced a curriculum that served the political purposes of the BDA. This allowed the BDA to assume their identity in an educational context and in Australia’s economic affairs. Torfer et al. (2012) suggest that this process lays the foundations or parameters for economic actors to dictate their future actions and to produce amenable outcomes by shaping identities via forms of subordination and control.

Graduates from the TAFE NSW Diploma of Architectural Technology course traditionally worked for themselves or in architectural or building design offices. They also gained employment in numerous related industries, namely construction firms, component fabricators (curtain walls), kitchen design companies, engineering firms, local councils and theatrical set design and construction to name just a few. The Diploma of Building Design course does not have the higher level of design theory and/or practice to give the graduates the broader design theory that will allow them to be multi-disciplined.

Unsubstantiated claims to justify federal funding

“Architecture is a male-dominated profession” – CPSISC

This section analyses various claims made by the CPSISC to justify their submissions for federal government funding to undertake research projects that can be used to verify their predetermined claims. The CPSISC argued that one of the reasons they pursued the writing of the Diploma of Building Design training packages was that “architecture is traditionally male-dominated” and that Building Design is a “challenging

200 and creative career alternative to architecture” (CPSISC 2009, p. 4). The CPSISC formulated a strategy to procure federal government funding as part of their Women in Non-Traditional Trades project. They developed their own “truths” to support their claims for federal funding. When I started Architecture at UNSW in 1973, the female students comprised about 50% of the first year cohort. My research disputes the CPSISC’s claims that Architecture is a male-dominated profession. At Sydney Institute TAFE, an average 30% of the student cohort is female. In recent years the percentage of female students in architecture degree courses is similar at both UNSW and the University of Sydney:

Year Female Male 2011 40.4% 59.6% 2012 54.3% 45.7% 2013 53.8% 46.2% 2014 49.7% 51.3% 2015 54.7% 45.3%

Table 6.4 1st year undergraduate Architecture students at UNSW (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: Wibowo 2015)

Year Female Male 2010 49.2% 50.8% 2011 46.6% 53.4% 2012 44.5% 55.5% 2013 45.6% 54.4% 2014 49.4% 50.6%

Table 6.5 1st year undergraduate Architecture students at University of Sydney (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: SYDUNI 2015)

In the architectural profession in Australia, in the 20-24 age group 47.21% of architects are female, in the 25-29 age group 45.71% are female. Beyond these age groups, in NSW, the gender division averages out to 30% female architects and 70% male architects as women take time out of the profession and that after the age of 30, there are 15% more males than female architects employed in the profession compared to the numbers after graduation (Connolly 2013).

The statistics in Tables 6.4 and 6.5 and Connolly (2013) refute the claims made by the CPSISC that Architecture is a male dominated profession. An examination of the training packages (Appendix VIIb) establishes no specific mention of the course being female friendly. There is no evidence to support the CPSISC’s claim that their course was written to allow more females to enter the Building Design profession. The

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CPSISC made unsubstantiated claims to acquire federal government funding for its projects. According to Ball (2003, p. 224), the practice of fabricating evidence is common practice amongst organisations tendering for government funding: …fabrications are versions of an organization (or person) which does not exist – they are not ‘outside the truth’ but neither do they render simply true or direct accounts – they are produced purposefully in order ‘to be accountable’. Truthfulness is not the point – the point is their effectiveness…

The CPSISC submitted unverified claims and/or misleading documentary evidence to procure their funding, the federal funding bodies “rubber-stamped” funding applications without testing the assertions upon which the funding application was constructed.

Unsubstantiated claims to justify writing VET curriculum

“TAFE students are only interested in becoming Building Designers not Architects” – BDA executive

This section analyses claims by the BDA to justify writing VET curriculum. When the ISC-written curriculum was being introduced into TAFE NSW, the Head Teacher of Architectural Technology at St George College, Lou Martini, mentioned to representatives from the BDA, in 2012 during his negotiations with the BDA for TAFE NSW to grant qualifications to its members via RPL, that the teachers at St George and Ultimo Colleges believed the Diploma of Building Design course was inferior and did not have the quantity of design theory and practice to enable TAFE graduates to cope academically with Architecture courses at university. The BDA representatives declared that TAFE students are not interested in going to university, but want to become Building Designers.

The BDA had not conducted any surveys from prospective TAFE students to verify these claims. Their conclusions befitted their arguments to the CPSISC and the Project Steering Committee that wrote the Diploma of Building Design training packages. I had informally surveyed TAFE graduates every year at St George College since 1993, when the first graduates from St George were accepted into Architecture at UNSW (Appendix IX) and subsequently formally surveyed St George and Ultimo College students since 2009. The surveys concluded that the majority (between 50 - 63%) of TAFE NSW students who enrolled in the Diploma of Architectural Technology intended to articulate into Architecture at university. The percentage of graduates that were

202 successful in being accepted into university – with advanced standing – substantiates this claim11.

Question: What is the main motivation for your enrolling in the Diploma of Architectural Technology course at Sydney Institute?

Year of surve v: Percentaae of students wishina to aoolv to universitv after araduatina from TAFE % wishing to apply % accepted into % wishing to apply % accepted into for university university for university university St George College St George College Ultimo College Ultimo College 2009 50% 57.14% 43% 45.23% Graduauno 2010 2010 56% 57.14%* 55% 32% Graduauno 2011 2011 54% 61.9% 56% 29.57% Graduauna 2012 201 2 63% 68.1 8% 56% 34.04% Graduauna 2013 201 3• 58% 57.1 4%* 68% N/A** Graduatina 2014

• correct percentage **NIA= statistics Not Available • Diploma of Building Design replaces Diploma of Architectural Technology

Table 6.6 Diploma of Architectural Technology Graduates from 2010 to 2014 1st Year Course Entry Student Pathway Questionnaire Results Summary (Source: Loupis, G. 2015)

The data in Table 6.6 also indicates that the majority of the students who enrolled in the Diploma of Architectural Technology course articulate to university. At St George College, with the mentorship and encouragement of the architect teachers, a higher percentage of students applied for and gained entry into Architecture than those that initially indicated were interested in pursuing university studies. A higher percentage of graduates at Ultimo College progressed to the Advanced Diploma courses at Sydney Institute, which explains the lower percentage for university acceptances at Ultimo College. The majority of students used TAFE NSW as a second-chance training provider to gaining access to the Architecture degree course. If they were to apply for admission directly from high school, they would require an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of between 95 - 96 out of 100.

In Chapter 3 I elaborated on why, as an activist researcher, I am prepared to discuss concerns that may be in contravention of the Department of Education and Communities Code of Conduct, which prohibits any comment of TAFE policy, governance or procedural issues (NSWDEC 2014). The “N/A” result for Ultimo College in Table 6.7 was due to all of the students at Ultimo College (approximately 60) not graduating due to a malfunction with the Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) Computer System. This malfunction reoccurred in late 2015 with the mid-year

203 graduating students (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 3). I will discuss the LMBR system in more detail in Chapter 7 and will include interview quotes to explain the effects of the system’s failure. None of the students from Ultimo College were accepted into university due to the LMBR system claiming they had not finalised their course12. This anomaly affected only two students at St George College. Even though the Head Teachers at both St George and Ultimo Colleges manually remedied the fault, it was too late for these students to be accepted into Architecture courses at university.

The research I undertook to ascertain what motivated high school students to study Architectural Technology at TAFE NSW concluded that the majority of TAFE NSW students wished to use their TAFE qualification as a pathway to university (Loupis, G. 2015). This contradicts the motives and reasoning espoused by the BDA that TAFE students are not interested in becoming architects. It also corroborates my claims that the BDA had not conducted any surveys or research into what motivates high school students to pursue a career in Building Design.

The establishment of the BDA and its power base

Introduction

In this section I discuss the circumstances that suggest why the BDA became politically active and concerned with dictating VET curriculum. In 1992 NSW became the only state or territory in Australia to exclude Building Designers from designing apartment buildings over 3 stories in height. The NSW branch of the BDA continues to lobby the state government to rescind this legislation. I conclude that the Association’s inability to have this legislation overturned initiated its desire to control VET curriculum to exploit the Association’s members’ qualifications in its deliberations with government.

The Architects Act

The architectural profession in Australia has been formally regulated under the various state and territory Architects Acts since the 1920s (Freeland 1971). Currently, in all Australian states and territories, the use of the title architect is restricted to those who are registered with the Architect’s Board in that jurisdiction. They must have acceptable tertiary qualifications, a minimum period of practical experience post-graduation and

204 passed an examination in professional practice (AACA 2015). The practice of architecture – design, construction documentation, tendering and contract administration – is not limited to architects. Any practitioner can undertake these practices, as long as they do not call themselves Architects.

The BDA was established in 1992 in NSW to represent practitioners involved in the practice of building design and to supervise the construction of buildings by those who are not registered as architects:

The BDA represents designers of all sorts of buildings who are not necessarily architects, but who pursue excellence in all its manifestations - being responsive to the client and their needs. And to the environment and the need for ecological sustainability, and partnering the various government authorities whose role is to balance the needs of all community sectors (BDA 2004).

The BDA regularly lobbies state and territory governments and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) arguing that the Architects Acts constitute a restriction of trade (Smith, A. 2015), with minimal corollary. The BDA had anticipated that the Productivity Commission’s Review of Legislation Regulating the Architectural Profession, in 2000, would have resulted in the revocation of the Architects Acts. The commission made the following recommendations:

x that architects be incorporated under general Building Practitioners Boards which have broad representation (including industry-wide and consumer representation); x that there be no restrictions on the practice of building design and architecture; x that use of a title such as ‘registered architect’ be restricted to those registered but that there be no restrictions on use of the generic title ‘architect’ and its derivatives (ProCom 2000, p. xxxviii)

The Commission’s recommendations were ignored by the NSW government. In 2003 the NSW Architects Act reinstated the status quo (ArchAct 2003). The following section discusses why the BDA are more politically active in NSW compared to other states. The introduction of the SEPP65 legislation, unique to NSW, resulted in Building Designers not being allowed to design apartments over three stories in height. This mobilised the BDA to explore other options to allow its members to design high-rise apartments. One option was the political lobbying of State Planning Ministers, the other option was to negotiate with TAFE NSW to upgrade the qualifications of their membership, via RPL, to allow the Association to argue that their members possess the competencies to sanction them to participate in apartment design.

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The politicisation of apartment design in NSW – the introduction of the SEPP65 legislation

There has been a long history of antagonism between architects and building designers13. The BDA regularly argues that its members are capable of designing any type of building and that the sole difference between Building Designers and Architects is that Building Designers charge significantly lower fees for their services. This antipathy was exacerbated further in 2002 when the NSW premier, Bob Carr, introduced the State Environmental Planning Policy No.65 – Design Quality of Residential Apartment Development (SEPP 65), which stipulates that residential units over three storeys in height must be designed by a registered architect. Premier Carr claimed that he was “disgusted” by the “ugly flats” he observed on the drive between his home in Maroubra and his office in Parliament House in Macquarie Street Sydney, and that urban design in Australia had failed (Nicholls 2012, p. 1). The result was the implementation of SEPP 65. NSW is the only Australian state or territory to have such landmark legislation:

SEPP65 is unique in Australia in terms of policy and it established NSW as a leader nationally in recognising that design is a matter of public interest (Matthew Pullinger quoted in Johnson 2014a, p. 1)

The 2015 iteration of the guidelines for SEPP 65 are contained in the Apartment Design Guide which aim to:

x deliver better quality design for buildings that respond appropriately to the character of the area, landscape setting and surrounding built form x improve liveability through enhanced internal and external apartment amenity, including better layout, apartment depth and ceiling heights, solar access, natural ventilation and visual privacy x deliver improved sustainability through better traffic and transport solutions, greater building adaptability and robustness, improved energy efficiency and water sensitive urban design x improve the relationship of apartments to the public domain including streets, lanes and parks x deliver design guidance and assist in the provision of more diverse housing mix and choice x support councils in developing planning controls and master plans through improved guidance (NSWDPE 2014, p. 8).

The revised 2015 SEPP 65 guidelines continue to stipulate that only registered architects are allowed to design residential buildings over three storeys in height

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(Wheeldon 2015). The BDA argued during the public submission stages that a restraint of trade continued to exist and that it would put building designers out of business. There seems to be a distorted logic in their protestations when the BDA also acknowledges that non-architect building designers prepare 97% of residential designs, including 90% of multi residential designs (Johnson 2014b). Building Designers continue to design high-rise residential projects by engaging registered architects to sign off on their documentation. I was engaged to take over from a building designer for a multi-level residential project in Coogee after the Randwick City Council planners asked the client to discharge the building designer and the architect that had signed off on the project after the Council refused to accept the third re-design of the project. The architect admitted to the council-appointed Design Review Panel that all he was engaged to do was sign off on the documentation, not to scrutinise or design the project (J. Laftsidis (client), personal communication, January 2007).

Curriculum enters the political domain

Lobbying for the licencing of Building Designers

I have attended meetings with the NSW branch of the BDA where the executive outlined their strategies for lobbying the NSW government to introduce a licencing scheme for Building Designers (Johnson 2014b), similar to what has operated in Queensland since 1991, Victoria since 1993 and Tasmania since 2000. In Queensland, for example, Building Designers can apply for one of three licences:

1. Building Design – Low Rise 2. Building Design – Medium Rise 3. Building Design – Open

In the Endnotes for this chapter (endnote 14)14, I have outlined in more detail the Queensland Building Designer licencing requirements which are equivalent to what the NSW Chapter of the BDA is asking the NSW government to introduce.

The BDA have been lobbying the NSW government to introduce a registration process, based on their level of qualifications and experience, similar to that in Victoria and Tasmania (Johnson 2014b). Those with the Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma would have the highest level of licence (Building Design – Open) and would have no

207 restrictions on the type and/or size of building project they design. For this to eventuate, the SEPP65 legislation would need to be rescinded.

Architecture and the correlation of design curriculum

I contend that only a tertiary-level course involving the theory and practice of the design process will enable a designer or architect to understand the effect of the built environment, “as man [sic] has made it, on the feelings of people” (Loupis, G. 1978, p. 9). Good design emerges from the synthesising of the disciplines pertinent to architecture; a knowledge of man’s [sic] physical, mental and spiritual aspirations and an objective appreciation and understanding of the needs of man in contemporary society (Loupis, G. 1978). Drawing on Foucault, Seisun (2004, p. 4) argues that urban design, architectural form and spatial relationships can “engender a form of social control”. He suggests that the urban fabric is planned with the intention of normalising the individual to become a functional and docile subject within the Power-Knowledge dynamics of the industrial city. It is imperative that the built environment is design by adequately-trained professionals. I argue society and custom would designate the university-trained teachers as the experts in design and not the VET-trained teachers. Expertise is a social construct determined by people in various groups that would judge a person in a particular profession as an expert (Stevenson 2003). In architecture:

An expert architect can design a new building better than a new architect – quickly, without recourse to multiple schematics, taking the various factors into account, overcoming design problems and complexities in the brief with ease, and creating original design. Often expertise is so automated that it cannot be described (Stevenson, 2003, p. 4)

In the VET context, the architecture-trained teachers would be considered the experts in building design. The architecture-trained teachers would have the authority to “speak” as they possess the academic and professional qualifications (position) to speak (Gale 2001, p. 389) compared to the Building Design teachers who hold a two- year VET qualification and a CertIVTAE teaching qualification.

The Diploma of Building Design does not include the design process as a learning outcome (see Endnote 9). Only professionals with an architectural training think beyond the boundaries of their site. The study of Architecture goes beyond training in functional spatial relationships, aesthetics and construction. It is also about

208 understanding context. Architecture is permanent. Only university-level courses offer the broader town planning and urban planning subjects to allow architecture students to incorporate context and appreciate the contribution good design provides towards the amenity of a whole community. I contend that university graduates should be teaching design in TAFE. The Assessors who will be recruited by TAFE NSW require only two years of practical experience and VET- level qualifications. They will not have the academic qualifications or experience necessary to teach the design process and will lack the underpinning knowledge required to stimulate the TAFE students to be creative and to pursue articulation to university-level qualifications.

Kollar (1985) suggests that only practitioners who have studied and practiced the design process at a higher academic level would be capable of designing good buildings. The BDA argues that its members should be judged on their level of competency rather than whether they are architects (Bassett 2014). Through the BDA’s political machinations many of their members attained TAFE NSW qualifications through RPL. A prescribed level of competency in a VET training package is not an adequate indicator of an individual’s design capabilities. After having taught design for over 40 years at university and TAFE level I contend that design is not a discipline that can be judged by “competencies” alone, especially those obtained via the current VET qualification, which contains no curriculum, which I believe to be inferior and/or through RPL.

The BDA regularly cites a commercial and residential project in Sutherland – The Belmont – designed by building designer Cameron Jones which Premier Carr claimed was well designed (Johnson 2014b). What the BDA does not declare is that Cameron Jones was taught design by Architects (including myself) at St George College and that he registered as an Architect in 2004 (C. Jones, personal communication). Of the 19 Diploma of Building Design RPL applications that I approved in 2015, about 30% received recognition because they had completed university or TAFE qualifications equivalent to or higher than the Diploma, but coveted a qualification with the nomenclature of Building Design. The remaining 70% were relying on their design and documentation experience from previous projects. None of these applicants have the design ability of some of our current students at St George College. In Appendix XII I have shown some of the design schemes for mid-rise buildings from our students. The teachers at St George defy the ISC-written curriculum and challenge our students to

209 undertake design and construction projects that are equivalent to the competencies outlined in the Graduate Diploma of Building Design course. We continue to assess our students within the framework of the training packages, but encourage more from them with regard to the quality and uniqueness of their designs than what is required in the training package competencies.

Lobbying the ISC to change the name of the course to reflect the association’s name

When the Associate Diploma of Architectural Drafting replaced the Certificate IV in Architectural Drafting in 1985, design was unofficially incorporated into the curriculum to allow graduates to solve design problems in an architectural office rather than their being used as “office fodder” or “tracers” (Arden 1983). The design classes incorporated the design of both the egress/fire code requirements in various buildings as well as spatial/functional planning and 3D massing. I recall many of the teachers specifically at Ultimo College insisted on being called “lecturers” rather than “teachers” and integrated design into their classes to raise the academic level of the course. In 1985 the Associate Diploma of Architectural Drafting was offered at Sydney (Ultimo) College, St George College, North Sydney College and Granville College. All four colleges attended bi-annual Professional Development forums and conducted project and assessment validation exercises15 in which I participated.

I attended meetings with representatives from the Architecture Faculty at UNSW at St George College, from 1992 to 1998 to discuss articulation arrangements between TAFE NSW and UNSW. From 1993, TAFE NSW Graduates were afforded 1.5 years’ credit towards the 5.5-year Architecture degree course at UNSW (Loupis, G. 2015).

Design was officially introduced into the Certificate IV and Diploma of Architectural Technology within the Architectural Appreciation subjects in 1997 (TAFENSW 1997). When the course was revised, individual subject names were changed, but the design content was embedded into other subjects. In Endnote 9 of this chapter I have drawn a table that compares the design content in the Architectural Technology course with the design content in the Diploma of Building Design course. The main differences between the design content in the Diploma of Building Design course compared to the Diploma of Architectural Technology is that Architectural Technology students were

210 required to design residential buildings (single family housing and medium density housing), non-residential buildings (Student Union, Community Centre, Sports Hall etc), complex buildings (theatre complex, courthouse, medium-rise educational building) and large industrial complexes etc. The Building Design course focuses on small-scale buildings only. The Architectural Technology courses also incorporated appreciably more design content/ learning outcomes, which are tabulated in Endnote 16 for this chapter.

Contracting TAFE NSW to issue qualifications via RPL – competition between TAFE Institutes

The BDA has been actively seeking to become registered as a Private Registered Organisation (RTO) and a number of the BDA executive have obtained the CertIVTAE qualification. The BDA has also published guidelines outlining the qualifications and experience that its members require to obtain accreditation with the organisation. The aim of the BDA accreditation program is to introduce a three-tiered licencing arrangement for Building Designers, similar to that in Victoria and Queensland, and to lobby the NSW government to introduce the licencing scheme and override the SEPP65 legislation.

In 2012 Sydney Institute management convened a meeting between the BDA and the head teachers from the Architectural Technology courses to inspect TAFE facilities and forge a relationship to provide training for the BDA and its members. The briefing documents I obtained indicated that the Director of the Faculty of the Built Environment and Transport was supporting the introduction of the ISC-written curriculum that was to replace the teacher-written curriculum the following year (Craven 2012). The Faculty Director had not discussed any of these issues with the teachers. Appendix I contains typical comments from Head Teachers who argued that the ISC-written course is inferior to the curriculum it was replacing.

The Faculty Director claimed that the teachers supported the new training package, because Sydney Institute was developing an Associate Degree course in Architecture. In all the Faculty meetings I attended since 2012, every Architectural Technology teacher has been highly critical of the content and structure of the ISC-written course.

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All the teachers argue that the primary reason for their developing the Associate Degree course was that they predict that Sydney Institute would engage trainers or assessors to deliver the new Diploma of Building Design course rather than professional teachers. I attended meetings chaired by TAFE NSW Higher Education where the degree course was discussed. The teachers – all with architectural qualifications – were endeavouring to teach a higher level course, but none of them supported the new training packages. The Faculty Director fabricated these facts to reinforce her argument for TAFE NSW to adopt the industry-written curriculum.

The Faculty Director also argued that “Sydney Institute is not meeting the demand from the marketplace for qualifications in architectural courses” (Craven 2012, p. 1). This claim echoed Dawkins’ claims in 1987 that TAFE was unresponsive to industry and not meeting the demands of industry. The Faculty Director furnished no documentary evidence to substantiate this claim, but chose a managerialist stance, aimed at convincing the BDA to “not form their own Registered Training Organisation” (Craven 2012, p. 2) and to engage Sydney Institute to provide their training. I have written numerous commercial courses for TAFE NSW (one of which won an Innovation Award), with some generating considerable income for Sydney Institute.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was subsequently signed between Sydney Institute and the BDA. Sydney Institute became the BDA’s preferred training provider. Up until the end of 2015, St George College processed approximately 50 applications from BDA members to have their previous qualifications and experience recognised (via RPL) for the issuing of the Diploma of Building Design. I processed 19 of these applications. When Sydney Institute increased the RPL fee from $1,400 to $4,500 per applicant, the BDA made Western Sydney Institute (WSI) their preferred training provider, as WSI offered the RPL for $2,000. I suggest that the Faculty management was naïve to suppose that the BDA would not “shop around” when appointing its preferred training provider.

Lobbying the ISC to write the Graduate Diploma/Certificate courses (without prerequisites)

The BDA used their influence on the CPSISC to have the CPSISC write the training packages for the Graduate Certificate of Building Design and the Graduate Diploma of

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Building Design (Johnson 2014). Ian Bassett, the former president of the BDA, currently the Policy & Professional Development Director of the BDA, was also on the Property Services Industry Advisory Committee (PIAC), the Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CIAC) (CPSISC 2016) and the Chairman of the Project Steering Committees that formulated the training packages for all the Building Design qualifications from Certificate IV to Graduate Diploma level. The Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate qualifications are at Level 8 of the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF), equivalent to a post graduate degree from university – one level above a Bachelors and one level below a Masters qualification17.

The Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma courses do not have any academic prerequisites – typical for all training packages – whereas the previous Advanced Diploma courses (AQF Level 6) required a Diploma or Associate Diploma qualification as a prerequisite. The curriculum for the Associate Diploma of Architectural Technology and/or Sustainable Building Design was written by TAFE NSW teachers, for which I wrote six subjects.

The BDA lobbied the CPSISC to write these “post graduate” courses, which do not require any prerequisites, to facilitate their members applying for either of the two qualifications through RPL. I was at a meeting at St George College in 2015 with two executives from the BDA where they asked St George College to process their members’ applications via RPL. I argued at that meeting that after processing 19 out of the 50 RPL applications for the BDA for the Diploma of Building Design, I would consider only 3% of their applicants would be eligible for the awarding of the Graduate Certificate. The remaining 97% would be required to undertake additional academic studies and submit additional assessments and evidence before being considered competent to be awarded the qualification. I outlined the blend of learning modes (lectures and on-line assessment) I recommended the BDA members would need to acquire additional competencies to attain the higher level qualifications. The BDA executive decided to obtain the higher level qualifications from Western Sydney Institute. In July 2016, Sydney Institute concurred that it will not be offering the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma courses (L. Martini, Head Teacher, TAFE NSW).

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“Small acts of cunning” … Foucault – the BDA scheming with the TAFE TES Unit to discontinue the Advanced Diploma of Sustainable Building Design course

The BDA were duplicitous in the discontinuation of the Advanced Diploma of Sustainable Building Design course. It had emailed a request to the TAFE NSW Training Education and Support (TES) Unit seeking the termination of the Advanced Diploma course, which was written by TAFE NSW teachers. My investigations established that the TES Unit had sought this request from the BDA executive and wrote this request on the BDA’s behalf. At Sydney Institute the course was offered as a one year part-time or six-month full-time course. It required the Diploma of Architectural Technology (or equivalent) as a prerequisite. St George College also offered the course on a commercial basis to practicing architects and building designers. I wrote the commercial course and Lou Martini marketed the course. The course made the finals of the TAFE NSW 2012 Innovation and Excellence Showcase at Darling Harbour in the Customising Mainstream Content for Commercial Delivery category.

The commercial course offered practical exercises in the Ecotect18 Building Information Modelling (BIM) software. Ecotect allows a building in a CAD format to be integrated into the BIM program to determine the building’s Sustainability Index. The program calculates the environmental sustainability characteristics of the building’s layout with regard to its orientation as well as its internal design and external configuration and fabric and suggests solutions to improve the sustainable qualities of the building. The course was conducted over seven Saturdays to allow building professionals from regional areas to participate. In one offering of the course there were 10 architects from the award-winning architectural practice of Allen Jack + Cottier.

When the course was discontinued, the positive feedback from practicing architects and overseas students was instrumental in getting it extended for one additional offering. The political machinations for discontinuing the course, which were conducted without any consultation with the TAFE NSW teachers had already been approved by the TAFE NSW managers, who “rubber-stamped” the TES Unit’s recommendations without any understanding of the ramifications. It was ironic that this complicity came to

214 light because BDA members were enquiring as to why the Advanced Diploma course was no longer being offered at St George College.

Based on my deliberations with the TAFE NSW TES Unit I suggest that the Advanced Diploma course was discontinued rather than reapproved due to the laziness and ignorance of the TES Unit staff. Most of the personnel were redeployed teachers that had no underpinning knowledge of the courses and/or training packages they administered. The email trail in Appendix XIII demonstrates how the TES Unit staff approached the BDA to write back to them to claim that the course was not needed as the competencies were contained in the Diploma of Building Design course. The Ecotect competency in the Diploma of Building Design is covered in an elective subject and is not mandatory for the awarding of the qualification. Private providers and TAFE colleges which elect not to purchase the computers and the licences for Ecotect or equivalent BIM computer programs will not offer this elective, nor any other electives which require high capital investment. VET graduates will not have this knowledge to apply for positions requiring an understanding of Ecotect thereby restricting their employability capabilities and reducing the number of credit point exemptions they receive from universities.

Ecotect was only a minor component of the Advanced Diploma course. The Advanced Diploma course also included tuition at a higher-level for the design of complex buildings, such as, sustainable multi-unit residential building projects and sustainable commercial building projects. Students also developed complex architectural detailing for residential and commercial buildings as well as undertaking post-occupancy assessments of both residential and commercial building projects.

The design competencies embedded in the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma are equivalent to the design competencies in the Advanced Diploma of Architectural Technology qualification (AUSGOV 2014a; AUSGOV 2014b) which was replaced by the BDA’s political manoeuvring. The design competencies in the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma (AQF Level 8) do not go beyond the level required for the Advanced Diploma, which is at AQF Level 6.

The previous discussion suggests that the teacher-written Diploma of Architectural

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Design course was educationally more vigorous and vocationally more valuable than the ISC-written courses. An examination of the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma training packages documents suggests they were written to supplant the teacher-written Diploma of Architectural Technology course/curriculum, which is of a higher technical and academic level than most of the competencies in these two graduate level courses, and to specifically address the licencing needs of the BDA in NSW, by writing the qualifications to match those required for the licencing of Building Designers in other Australian states (see Endnote 14).

Assessment in the Diploma of Building Design

The current teachers at Sydney Institute are university-trained professionals (in architecture) with university-level education degrees (graduate diplomas in education) who stalwartly believe in teaching the design process rather than solely adhering to a list of outcomes from a training package. The assessment methodology in the Diploma of Building Design is competency-based assessment (CBA) with selected core subjects assessed with a graded competency.

Hodge (2009a, p. 4) argues that the examination (of competence) is a depiction of ‘disciplinary power’ and/or a ‘dividing practice’ - “a ritual in which evidence is submitted to a judgment of ‘competent’ or ‘not-yet-competent’ against the workplace standard in which process the truth of the assessee-subject as a competent/not-yet-competent worker is articulated, registered and broadcast”. From a Foucauldian (1984c) stance the CBA spreadsheet expended in VET is a “highly ritualised” disciplinary mechanism that allows the assessor to surveil a student’s performance “at a glance”, without any intricate knowledge of a student’s capabilities or overall achievement.

A number of the interviewees that participated in this study concurred that it may be possible to assess the creative disciplines, within the parameters of CBA, but that it is an exceedingly complicated and time-consuming process that can only be adequately realised when undertaken by “experienced” professionals with supplementary “tools” and resources, entailing cooperation and involvement from industry and/or professional colleagues who volunteer to participate in the assessment process. The assessment and feedback process requires many more hours than the “tick and flick” approach and

216 there is never any funding to pay the volunteer assessors. At St George College, we often had four teachers (three of which were not on the class and volunteering their time) to assess the design projects of both first and second year students. Two of my interview participants explain how they assessed creative courses:

Nowhere in a training package does it even acknowledge creativity. It’s like innovation. We stick it in there, but how do you actually assess innovation?

[CBA for creative courses] can be done, but it is a huge challenge. It can be especially done if you’ve got someone who is a well-trained architect with lots of experience, but if you’ve got someone with only the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment they won’t have a clue about how they will go about that in a valid way. I’ve seen it done. I’ve seen it done in fashion (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

There is only one mention of “creativity” and no mention of “originality” in the Diploma of Building Design training package documents (CPSISC 2011). These attributes cannot be assessed in an outcomes-based CBA methodology or by teachers with only VET-level qualifications, as these teachers would not be trained in interpreting the assessment parameters beyond what is prescribed in the training packages and the ASQA manuals. It is also exceedingly arduous to apply these attributes when assessing a RPL application, which is sought by industry to fast-track qualifications:

In the fashion area they brought people from fashion houses in Sydney and sat them down around a table over two days to work through a basic draft of what they thought the determinants of creativity were, because the intent was to grade. We wanted to grade so that people would be able to go forward into universities that wanted grading in creative areas. At the end of the process those panel members that helped with the assessment criteria were the assessors along with the teachers (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

The above interview excerpts describe the elaborate process that is necessary for the apposite assessment of any creative course. The process is beyond the purview of a competency-based-assessment (CBA) methodology. For it to be undertaken efficiently, the assessors must be experts in their discipline and need to recruit colleagues and/or industry specialists prepared to contribute towards drawing up the parameters of how the students’ work will be assessed and how the assessment process and criteria will be explained to the students. The students are also encouraged to talk about their [design] work as though they were “selling” the scheme to a client.

[CBA for creative courses] was always one of the great difficulties, because what it really depended on was the reasoned judgment of professionals. It depends on the

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collective judgment of a range of people who have had the opportunity to work with and experience that particular student [cohort]. The trouble is that [in VET] we often do not make collective judgments (senior University VET academic and researcher 1).

Both interview excerpts affirm the need for the assessment to be undertaken by experienced industry professionals with professional teaching qualifications. TAFE NSW’s current recruitment of Assessors with only two-year’s industry experience, VET- level qualifications (equivalent to the qualification being assessed) and only the CertIVTAE teaching qualification will devalue the assessment process. The for-profit sector would not engage experienced teachers to assess creative courses, thereby lessening the students’ learning experience and reducing their academic achievement, while depriving them of the feedback necessary to participate adequately in their chosen career.

While CBA is opposed by many educators who regard it as excessively instrumental, it is supported by some for its potential to break down the class effects in education (Taylor et al, 1997). I do not agree that this would apply in VET, as there is little evidence of any class stratifications in VET courses. There are generally no academic entry requirements for many VET courses, and the academic level of most TAFE courses is not at the same level as what is expected in university courses.

TAFE NSW teachers are obliged to use the VET training packages which do not contain any teaching/transference methodologies (curriculum) nor the key competencies of “organising information, communicating ideas and information; planning and organising activities; working with others and in teams; using mathematical ideas and techniques; solving problems and using technology” (Cornford 2006a, p. 2). This has resulted in employers complaining that VET students lack generic competencies (Cornford 2006b) and the “life skills” to be effective workers. Anderson (2006) corroborates this argument by suggesting that under the current VET policy reforms the quality of technical education in TAFE has “declined”, as a result of a the marketisation of TAFE – where TAFE colleges were not prepared to share information and resources, and due to the adoption of managerialist practices which diverted resources from teaching to administration and marketing. He suggests that the standard of technical education in Australia will diminish to a point where VET graduates will be unable to obtain employment due to their low educational

218 achievements while the skills shortages that instigated the implementation of the VET policies in 1987 will continue to affect every state and territory’s economy. Managers place a higher priority on reducing teaching costs rather than improving the quality of the education delivered to students.

Holistic Assessment

Competency-based training (CBT) is a paradigm where the student is taught only the skills required to perform a particular job in a specific work-place setting. It is a narrow mechanistic approach when it is aligned with CBA. I argue that VET teaching and assessment should be holistic in nature. Field (1990) argues that VET should include discussions around general educational philosophies, personal development, vocational-specific training, practical (on-the-job) learning and contextual or experiential learning.

Athanasou (1992) investigated the discernible cognitive, performance and attitudinal components in 36 TAFE courses. All 36 courses had cognitive components, 26 courses had both cognitive and performance components and 16 courses had all three components. He argues that the 16 courses (45%) that incorporated attitudinal components in their teaching could not be adequately assessed using solely a CBA methodology, as CBA does not and cannot assess attitude.

Art and Graphic Design teachers in both NSW and Queensland argue that their courses could not be assessed via CBA (Cartledge and Watson 2008), while the Arts Training community declared that CBA was:

…unable to account for the complex conceptual knowledge, and focussed instead on the technical skills; that they were too outcome orientated and do not take account of perceptual, technical and conceptual processes of making; and, that they are unable to account for unquantifiable tangibles such as creativity (ATA 1995, p. 55)

The literature suggests that CBA cannot be used to adequately assess creative courses. A holistic, integrated assessment method should be obligatory for all creative courses, especially where there is no single correct answer. In a design studio it is possible to have 30 students with 30 completely different design concepts for a building project. All of the solutions may satisfy the client’s brief and the statutory authorities’ requirements and elicit a valid response and/or design solution. An

219 experienced teacher through detailed explanation can elucidate and elaborate to their students why some designs are “better” than others. My interview participants argue that this detailed assessment methodology is not undertaken in the for-profit sector as it is not specified in the training package and the sector would not invest in seconding industry specialists to engage in a holistic assessment process. The components of holistic assessment, shown in Figure 6.1 could be used as a guide for the requisite components of assessment.

KNOWLEDGE

ETHICS UNDERSTANDING HOLISTIC ASSESSMENT

ATTITUDES PROBLEM SOLVING

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Figure 6.1 The unifying features of an integrated assessment method (Source: Gonczi 1993).

Graded competency-based assessment

Graded assessment contradicts the philosophy of CBA, but the assessment criteria for numerous competencies in training packages were modified to allow for the grading of subjects and qualifications. Australian universities requested graded assessments to determine which VET graduates they would accept into their degree courses and how many credit points of advanced standing they would offer. The Diploma of Building Design is awarded in the pass, credit and distinction grade.

The introduction of graded assessment in some of the professional courses generated significant criticism from some sections of industry which argued that graded assessment was a clandestine means by which the educationalists would regain control of VET (Dickson and Bloch 1999) and that it would lead to changes in the classification of industrial awards and workers’ pay (Peddie 1995).

Graded assessment was also demanded by some employers in the commercial sector and other tertiary education institutions to provide more comprehensive assessment information for the purposes of articulation, advanced standing or competitive entry.

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Other reasons espoused for the adoption of graded assessment included the motivational impacts of higher grades and the impact on validity and reliability estimates (Hager et al. 1994).

Williams and Bateman (2003) argue that only professional teachers are qualified to undertake graded assessment, whereas teachers whose sole teaching qualification is the CertIVTAE would require professional development and workshops in the concept of graded assessment to discuss and develop exemplars of assessment tools, grading schemas which reflect content-specific and profession-specific criteria, and alternative validation processes. The for-profit sector does not invest in the additional professional development of its assessors to develop the skills required to undertake holistic assessment (Y. Mckee-Wright, personal communication).

A comparison between the Diploma of Architectural Technology and the Diploma of Building Design

In this section I will outline the differences between Architects and Building Designers. I draw on Popkewitz’s (1997, p. 131) notion of curriculum being a practice of regulation and an effect of power to identify the “actors” who have been privileged by the VET policies to assume the role of “casual agents who bring or suppress social change”. I will discuss how these “actors” have adopted the terminology of “reason” to limit the possibilities of there being any alternative paradigm in VET curriculum.

The UNSW Faculty of Architecture Handbook in 1964 claimed that:

Since the dawn of civilization man (sic) has sought to endow his environment with physical and spiritual qualities appropriate to his way of life, to explore the limits of his materials and techniques, and in so doing, to create buildings of enduring beauty. In each great culture of the past this search produced a characteristic architecture which was a reflection of the aspirations and capabilities of its age (UNSW 1964, p. 3)

Architecture has been defined as the “mother of all arts” – the highest form of art. Buildings are not considered architecture unless they are a work of art (O’Neill 2013). According to Kollar (1985, p. 2): ...delightful architecture is a reminder of the wonders of the world…it reveals the wondrous texture of life in our magical world so that we may discover, through knowledge, sensitivity and insight, the invisible significance beyond the visible signs (my emphasis).

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Training packages do not discuss the concepts of “spiritual” qualities or “joy” or “delight” in architecture. The Diploma of Architectural Technology design projects introduced “environmental psychology” and “spatial relationships” as a basis for design projects. The teacher-written curriculum embedded an understanding of the world – local, national and global – and “the conception of ‘self’” (Popkewitz 1997a, p. 132) to frame the levels of knowledge and degree of detailed research essential for the design of any building – a space in which people live or work. The study of Architecture at university also involves an understanding of people and space. Bond (quoted in Loupis, M. 2000) elucidates that Architecture taught him to observe spaces, then to observe people in those spaces, and from there he learned to observe people, allowing him to design spaces for people. This level of understanding of how spaces affect people is not contained in the Diploma of Building Design course, nor specified in any learning outcome, but is embedded in the design projects conducted by the Architect teachers at Sydney Institute. See Endnotes 3, 9 and 16 at the end of this chapter.

It is beyond the scope of this study to indulge in design concepts or to outline all of the significant differences between Architects and Building Designers, but the most significant academic difference is that Building Designers have generally studied two years of design at Diploma level whereas Architects have studied design for three years at Bachelor level and an additional two years at Masters level. The study of design at university starts with an understanding and appreciation of the design process. The design process is a methodology for problem solving that affords an architect the ability to design any type of building. It is not possible to learn/study how to design every possible type of building in one’s lifetime, but the design process allows the architect to competently design any building they are commissioned to design. “In a great work of architecture the aesthetic value can be appreciated at various emotional and intellectual levels” (Loupis, G. 1978, p. 7). The more a well- designed building is studied, the more one discovers in it. We become conscious that someone cared, that someone resolved to carry out the practical function of providing shelter in a way that the occupants can favourably respond. A well-designed building is one which the owners and/or occupants love, find delight and joy in and which influences their lives for the better.

The design process commences by understanding that in all creative endeavours there

222 are infinite design solutions, all of which could be valid and satisfy a client’s brief. The quote from Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the park with George, a musical about the French Neo-impressionist George Seurat, invokes the complicated yet stimulating nature of design:

White…a blank page or canvas…so many possibilities. (Sondheim 1984, p. 1)

An appreciation and/or comprehension of the parameters surrounding the infinite possibilities within the design process can only be attained through a university level education. This level of education cannot be procured at VET level.

The structure of design curriculum

For curriculum to be effective, it needs to be designed and developed in a way that encourages students and teachers to engage in discussions of important issues that lead to both the acquisition of deep intellectual knowledge and the practical skills to apply that knowledge to solving problems in the real world. “This will foster a pedagogy that encourages emotive motivation in students” (Bowers 2006, p. 9). Boud (2003, p. 46) claims that:

There needs to be a focus on an educational approach to the curriculum not a narrow operational competency-based approach suitable for pre-defined learning outcomes. Competency-based frameworks that delineate the universe of outcomes – such as those used in vocational education and training derived from industry-based occupational standards – are unlikely to be appropriate except for low-level work-based programmes

The privatised VET curriculum, with CBA at its core, removes the ability for teachers to exercise their professional judgement.

Curricula need to retain links with the real world, but at the same time they should remain flexible to allow ideas, concepts and theories to be expanded and explored in a scholarly way. The design and development of vocational curriculum should be enhanced with the “consultation of both academic and industry experts as it is a vital aspect of the presage; that range of procedures and plans that form the context into which the students situate their learning” (Bowers 2006, p. 20).

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A holistic design curriculum

Since the introduction of the Associate Diploma in Architectural Technology in 1985, and to the present, the Architectural Drafting/Technology courses have been taught by architects in a holistic structure where each subject/module/training package is related and taught to specific design projects. All the teachers coordinate the design project and structure the learning sequence and assessments towards one common project. The design, construction and graphic presentation (both manual and CAD) classes relate to the same design project. All of the teachers assess the components of each project as they relate to the whole.

Irrespective of how the courses were written or structured, the teachers at Sydney Institute collectively defied the curriculum documents and employed a holistic curriculum as it is deemed the most appropriate pedagogy for reflexive learning for all creative courses. This approach is not embedded in the Diploma of Building Design training packages. Drawing on my 33 years’ experience in TAFE NSW I argue that this pedagogy can only be employed by teachers that have studied university-level design.

The structure of the Diploma of Building Design courses is linear and discordant. The outcomes in the training packages are generic. They do not relate to any particular building project. They have been deliberately written as stand-alone competencies to privilege industry through the RPL/recognition process. The Diploma of Building Design contains a prevalence of learning outcomes that relate to local Council Codes and Regulations as well as state and national Codes. This does not allow for the design process to be taught adequately or proficiently. The current teachers conform with the “outcome” requirements of the training packages, while holistically integrating the knowledge required to fully contextualise the learning. My research suggests that this value-added paradigm is only evident in TAFE NSW.

Chapter summary

This chapter demonstrates that the federal government privatised the writing and ratifying of VET course content by contracting Industry Skills Councils (private companies whose directors are neither educators nor curriculum specialists) to

224 produce training packages. These documents specify the learning outcomes and required competencies embedded in the competency-based VET qualifications (Goozee, 2001). The VET curriculum was rationalised by the removal of the cognitive and behavioural attributes of knowledge to permit the awarding of qualifications via the Recognition of Prior Learning (Buchanan et al. 2004).

Through the case study of how the Diploma of Architectural Technology course was replaced by the Diploma of Building Design course, I have demonstrated that the VET policy initiatives introduced mechanisms that privileged certain political and professional actors to dominate knowledge and thereby assume their identity in economic affairs. The dominant educational philosophies in VET aim to inculcate people to adapt to these social forms rather than critically interrogate them.

The next chapter discusses and analyses the impact of corporate managerialism on TAFE NSW curriculum development of the VET policies. It discusses Foucault’s concept of governmentality to examine the management and administrative practices adopted by TAFE NSW to implement the federal VET policies.

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Chapter 7: The impact of corporate managerialism on TAFE NSW curriculum development

“An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all”…Socrates

Introduction

In this chapter I discuss and analyse how the neoliberal praxes adopted by TAFE NSW influenced TAFE NSW curriculum development policy. In chapter 2 I demonstrated that the evolution of curriculum policy in TAFE NSW reflected the changing political discourses advocated by successive federal, state and territory governments in Australia. Foucault (1980b) was interested in how some discourses become acceded as truths1. He claimed that discursive practices enable and constrain the production of knowledge by allowing certain ideologies while excluding others (Cheek 2000). Ball (1994a, p. 22) augments Foucault’s claim by averring that discourses are not only about what can be articulated and thought but also “about who can speak, when, where and with what authority”. In Chapter 6, I demonstrated how the VET policy initiatives introduced mechanisms that privileged certain political and professional actors to dominate technical education curriculum and thereby assume their identity in the construction of VET policy. Foucault explained that a discourse could even be a particular language, which articulates and reinforces our knowledge and shapes our understanding. The possession of this knowledge instructs what can be said about objects and phenomena in a specific domain of knowledge and that those using this discourse may end up being defined by this discourse (Finken 2003). The introduction of new actors in VET and the adoption of their industry-specific language changed the nature of technical education in Australia, as this new language became accepted as the official language of VET.

In this chapter I explain how the political discourses that framed the VET policy initiatives constituted TAFE NSW policy. Governments in Australia, along with those in New Zealand, Great Britain and the USA, speak about social “problems” and postulate solutions to these problems by giving social issues, for example, TAFE curriculum reform, “education access and/or transformation” a particular shape, or “problem representation” (Bacchi 1999, p. 112). I will also show how governments allow these “problems” to enter into discourse to allow them to reinforce existing ideologies and practices2, and also reshape/transform them. The modern state developed a “new

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‘economy’ of power, that is to say, procedures which allowed the effects of power to circulate in a manner at once continuous, uninterrupted, adapted, and ‘individuaIized’ throughout the entire social body” (Foucault 1984a, p. 61). Governments resolve this by constituting people as subjects with particular aspirations, self-concepts and fears to create beliefs about the relative importance of these problems (Edelman 1988).

I noted in Chapters 2 and 4, that corporate managerialism was part of the changes to policy more broadly, and VET specifically. It is the purpose of this chapter to establish how it occurred in TAFE NSW. The adoption of corporate managerialist practices encouraged structural changes in the governance and administration of TAFE NSW. The 1987 VET policy initiatives elicited the marketisation of TAFE NSW via a political process that publically espoused the benefits of a managerialist framework while disavowing politics by covertly working politically to replace the social services role of TAFE with that of an economic role (Bahnisch 2000). Corporate managerialism (the organisational arm of neoliberalism that determines an institution’s mode of governance) was promoted as the most effective and efficient means of steering TAFE NSW through the protracted processes of privatisation and marketisation (Lynch 2014).

The governance of TAFE NSW, from 1987, was subjugated by the logic of instrumental rationality (Turner 1997) and orientated its policies towards the neoliberal values of marketisation without any ensuing internal (TAFE staff) or external (public) debate regarding the long-term impacts of these policies on TAFE’s traditional stakeholders. The marketing discourses adopted by TAFE NSW acted “to impose the values of managerialism as ideology” (Hackley 2009, p. 652). TAFE NSW proffered its management to professional generic, non-educational managers and/or administrators to legitimise the control of its institutions, its communities, its teachers and students in the interest of capital (Davis 1997), usually on short-term contracts and Performance Agreements. Tenured managers were offered higher salaries to enter three-year contracts. The implementation of corporate managerialism by TAFE NSW also resulted in it becoming another financial/economic institution that developed new conceptions about competition, contestation and the use of market mechanisms to guide the allocation of resources and the management of the whole organisation (Harman 2007). These management technologies continue to persist, including the recruitment of Directors of Faculties without the underpinning knowledge and/or

227 experience of the Faculties they administer. These practises reflect the neoliberal ethos and involve “the calculated deployment of techniques and artefacts” and “strategies of motivation and mechanisms of reformation or therapy” to instigate forms of “organisation and procedures, and disciplines or bodies of knowledge, to organise human forces and capabilities into functioning systems” (Ball 2003, p. 216).

Pusey (1991, p. 22) claims that: …there can be no quarrel with the notion of efficiency as such. The inherent problem lies instead at another level – with the criteria that define what count as costs and benefits; with the loss of social intelligence; and with the number and range of potentially constructive discourses that have been suppressed.

When TAFE NSW adopted corporate managerialist practices, the focus on implementing policy countermanded any concerns regarding economy or cost benefits, prompting Schofield (1996 cited in Anderson 1997, p. 49) to argue that “it is possible to forge a consensus between social justice and an efficient training market by: defining clear policy objectives; developing principles to guide the application of competition policy in VET; and undertaking public benefit tests”. Management restructures are recurrent as are changes in institutional catch phrases and logos along with the concomitant design, production and distribution of new stationary and business cards.

VET policy in Australia, as in the UK, was framed “in terms of its economic value, its contribution to international market competitiveness” (Ball 2004, p. 13), rather than its contribution to citizenship. Victorian TAFE became fully contestable in 2009, followed by TAFE NSW in 2013 (TAFENSW 2013c). This was confirmed in a keynote address to a VET conference by Adrian Piccoli (2014, p. 12), the NSW Education Minister, responsible for TAFE up until May 2015:

Our approach is not about protecting TAFE – it’s about allowing TAFE to prosper as a sustainable and viable business in the competitive world we find ourselves in.

The marketisation of TAFE, from 1990 onwards resulted in the erosion of public technical and lifelong education. Seddon (2015a, p.15) argues that: …the declining TAFE market share in the VET market provides evidence of education being opened up to profit-making interests, an expansion of commercial territory through the design of curriculum and assessment [and] control of educational work…These trends…turn [vocational and adult education] over to agencies where profitability rather than civility is the primary imperative.

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In this chapter I identify how the economic rationalist policies of TAFE NSW resulted in the introduction of managerialist practices for curriculum development, assessment methodology and student administrative practices. I draw on Foucault’s notion of governmentality to conceptualise the myriad of neoliberal practices that have become ensconced in TAFE policies and governance hierarchies since the sanctioning of the 1987 VET policy initiatives. I show how these practices shaped the actions of TAFE

NSW teachers, how they normalise3 them and how particular processes and procedures were adopted as the preferred or prescribed TAFE NSW praxis while the government proselytised its VET policies as the only economic solution to the state’s training problems.

The first section of this chapter discusses governmentality within TAFE NSW, including notions of governance and compliance. I consider the effects of corporate managerialism on TAFE NSW by discussing the impact of the adopted managerialist practices – such as managers versus educators, contracts, management restructures and the LMBR computer system etc. on TAFE NSW and the privatisation VET of curriculum.

Governmentality within TAFE NSW

I draw on Foucault (1991) to argue that TAFE NSW seeks to establish a specific rationality or “mentality” for the practices which the organisation develops to exploit the productive capacities of individuals and to exercise control over its teachers and students. This praxis, or governmentality, specifies the level of government necessary to allow these practices to appear “normal” (Christie 2006). TAFE NSW introduced corporate managerialist administrative practices to extricate maximum performativity from its teachers. In all of the Institute staff meetings I attended in the last 5 years, the corporate slogans of “sustainability”, “efficiency” and “competitiveness” were exploited by TAFE NSW in their negotiations relating to teachers’ salary claims. Sustainability was a euphemism for “increase class numbers and/or cancel ‘small’ classes”, efficiency meant “reducing the cost of teaching resources and/or close down capital intensive courses” and competitiveness was an aphorism for “reducing teaching costs by compelling teachers to increase face-to-face teaching” as TAFE NSW has higher student/teacher ratios than the for-profit sector. The discussion perpetually centres around TAFE NSW’s need to increase teaching hours, by expecting full-time teachers

229 to teach longer hours and undertake additional administrative duties without a corresponding increase in salary. This form of governance encourages the population to regulate, or conduct, themselves towards ends that are congruent with the forms and effects of power deployed by the state (Miller and Rose 1990).

Foucault (1988a) claimed that the neoliberal state economises on its administrative efforts by relying on self-regulation to control the population. From an early age the individual is taught to control his own life, control his emotions and subordinate himself politically through schooling in the “minute arts of self-scrutiny, self-evaluation, and self-regulation ranging from the control of the body, speech and movement in school, through the mental drill inculcated in school and university, to the Christian practices of self-inspection and obedience to divine reason” (Rose 1998, p. 77). Through neoliberal governmentality “[there is] no longer a conflict between the self-interest of the subject and the patriotic duty of the citizen” (Rose 1999, p. 145). In TAFE NSW students are unwittingly “constituted as patriotic, productive neoliberal subjects” (Robinson 2013, p. 74) through the federal government’s control of the VET curriculum, while coincidentally contributing to the development of NSW and Australia’s global economic competitiveness. Butler (1997, p. 2) argues that “subjection consists precisely in this fundamental dependency on a discourse we never chose but that, paradoxically, initiates and sustains our agency”. According to Lemke (2000, p. 5) neoliberal governments operate by constructing: …responsible subjects whose moral quality is based on the fact that they rationally assess the costs and benefits of a certain act as opposed to other alternative acts. As the choice of options for action is, or so the neo-liberal notion of rationality would have it, the expression of free will on the basis of a self-determined decision, the consequences of the action are borne by the subject alone, who is also solely responsible for them.

Rabinow and Rose (2003, p. 5) claim that Foucault: …forged the concept of ‘governmentality’ in an attempt to understand the characteristics of liberalism as a mentality of government that started from the presupposition that society existed external to the state, and constrained itself by limiting the scope of legitimate political power, subjecting it to a range of constraints, and constantly requiring it to justify itself”.

According to Foucault, the main characteristic of the state is not the “estatisation of society” but the “governmentalisation of the state”, that is, the establishment of a complex hierarchy of “centralising governing relationships and mechanisms aimed at steering people, both as individuals and populations” (Simons et al. 2009, p. 65).

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Within the modern state, “the analytics of government takes as its central concern how we govern and are governed within different regimes, and the conditions under which such regimes emerge, continue to operate and are transformed” (Dean 2010, p. 33).

The preceding discussion explained some general examples of the corporate managerialst practises which TAFE NSW adopted as the organisation’s response to the VET policies. In the following section I will examine and analyse specific corporate managerialst practises and their impact on technical education in NSW.

The governance of TAFE NSW

Lingard et al. (2012) claim that educational governance is now linked with data collection and numbers on performance indicators, which leads to the development of patterns of “governing by numbers” or “policy as numbers” allowing governing from a distance. As a result, a numerically-based, value-less kind of research on education and learning becomes strategically important4. The NSW government analyses the NCVER statistics (VET student enrolment data and longitudinal surveys regarding student engagement and satisfaction with their training) to determine the effect(s) of TAFE policy on the state’s economy. In February 2015, the NSW government sponsored 200,000 VET positions for disadvantaged youth, which were funded by charging full fees for all TAFE courses from Certificate IV level and above (McNeilage 2015). The NSW government had not undertaken any detailed analysis of market trends to determine whether these places would be supported by industry, resulting in the negligible uptake of the disadvantaged youth places while conventional enrolments in TAFE NSW dropped by 83,000 by the end of 2015, due to the increases in student fees as a consequence of the Smart and Skilled policy (Kembrey 2015). There were fewer students enrolled in trade courses in 2015 in TAFE NSW compared to the previous year (NCVER 2016), even though there were negligible fee increases for apprentices. Neither the VET policies nor the TAFE NSW policies have succeeded in reducing skill shortages, prompting the NSW government to selectively add non-trade courses to the state-sponsored list (STS 2016a). The prescribed list of state-sponsored courses changes regularly based on whether political opponents are critical of TAFE NSW policy or subsequent to specific industry groups lobbying the government (Harris, D. 2015).

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Since April 2015, TAFE NSW has been expunged from the Education ministry and is now the responsibility of the Minister for Regional Development, Skills and Small Business. From a Foucauldian viewpoint, I suggest that the separation of TAFE NSW from the Education ministry is a judicious political strategy. For the first time since 1833, technical education is the responsibility of the Minister of Skills. TAFE is no longer cogitated as an educational institution but a skills practicum. This effectively and politically allows the NSW government to promote its funding of public education without the general public being cognisant that none of that funding is allocated to

TAFE5.

This change in ministerial responsibility from education to skills represents a 30-year interval since public TAFE institutes became just another VET provider with the adoption of the 1987 Skills for Australia policy. TAFE NSW has officially acknowledged that its core focus is on skills. It also underpins the recurrent diminution of funding for paraprofessional, adult and life-long learning courses in TAFE. A senior University VET academic and researcher (2) claimed that

Further education no longer exists in TAFE.

In Victoria, the “F” [Further] has gone. It has just disappeared [from TAFE]. That goes back to your question about have we lost sight of the “learner” in the policies? The policies don’t talk about learners. Standards don’t talk about learners. That says something doesn’t it?

One retired TAFE NSW Institute Director (1) laments the diminution of Further education in TAFE:

TAFE was Technical And Further Education. Further Education meant life-long learning, whereas VET aims to deliver a product – a commercial product – as cheaply and as fast as they possibly can…

TAFE NSW has formal Diploma-to-Degree pathway agreements with at least 27 universities and higher learning institutes (Loupis, G. 2015) but the Smart and Skilled policy punishes students with previous post-secondary school qualifications by charging them an additional loading on their tuition fees. This confirms TAFE NSW’s discounting its commitment to lifelong learning and second-chance education.

ASQA and compliance

The Australian Skills Quality Authority6 (ASQA) is the national regulator for the VET

232 sector. Its statutory responsibility is to ensure the quality of VET providers, accredited VET courses and the regulation of institutions and courses for overseas students (ASQA 2015b). TAFE NSW is obliged to comply with ASQA governance and student assessment regulations.

Foucault (1990, p. 128) contends that compliance regulations aim to control deviance using “directors of conscience, moralists and pedagogues”, which has resulted in “increased governability”, through new forms of regulation and the imposed “standardization of peoples’ conduct” (Nicoll and Fejes 2008, p. 13). The ASQA regulations were devised to compel VET institutions to obey compliance rules and protocols, while intending to “control in considerable detail the conduct of men, and which are constituted and legitimised by a discursive logic of truth, informed by claims to represent the public good” (Jackson and Carter 1998, p. 51). The compliance regulations have made the class room and its workings more visible as teachers are no longer trusted as professionals, but have become “subjects which have to be seen” (Foucault 1977c, p. 187). When I was required to prepare documentation for an ASQA audit in 2015 at St George College I discovered that TAFE NSW sought evidence documents and followed the ASQA rules beyond the intent of the regulations (ASQA 2015c, 2015d, 2015e), while some training providers in the for-profit sector continue to participate in fraudulent practices (Andrews 2015).

My interview participants, which includes retired TAFE NSW Institute Directors and retired TAFE NSW Curriculum Directors and Managers, argue that TAFE NSW underscores and attributes unwarranted importance to the ASQA compliance requirements, to the detriment of TAFE staff, students and educational principles. TAFE NSW instigated compliance protocols that required additional managers and created an administrative hierarchy disproportionate to the intent of the ASQA requirements. This is TAFE corporate managerialism exemplified, where with successive administrative restructures additional managers are recruited, while teachers are retrenched. The interviewees contend that it is less problematic for TAFE NSW to recruit managers and administration staff to assiduously [re]interpret the ASQA compliance requirements, and to fund gratuitously expensive and convoluted quantitative compliance campaigns (much more complex than any undertaken by the for-profit sector), than to focus on education quality, which may entail open-ended

233 qualitative analysis. The ASQA compliance requirements are amalgamated into a spread sheet, permitting each item to be ticked off as it gets audited. This manner of evaluation is unlikely to generate any controversy for TAFE NSW. A retired TAFE Director of Studies, responsible for the whole of TAFE NSW’s curriculum made the following comments:

Compliance is a cancer.

It’s a language of systems that makes no sense to those in industry, which is more concerned with what people can do and what sorts of qualities they have to be able to support abilities/capabilities (Retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies).

There is a loss of control. If you are seen to be doing anything innovative, you will be questioned: “Why are you doing that? That’s not going to pass muster”. “I’m being innovative”. “No, no we won’t have any of that because you won’t be compliant”. What a terrible environment you are operating in.

How do we turn the thing around within an organisational framework that has policies and processes that must be followed overlaid by compliance requirements where people are too terrified to do anything that may be vaguely different because they will be questioned by an auditor? What a mind-set (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

In the above interview excerpts, the retired TAFE Director of Studies and VET academic are alluding to what Ball (2003, p. 221) called “values schizophrenia – where a teacher’s professional commitment, judgement and authenticity” are sacrificed to impress their supervisors. Ball coined this locution while interviewing high school and polytechnic teachers in Britain. In TAFE NSW professional teachers are also compelled to sacrifice their professional judgement, commitment and authenticity for best practice and performativity so the Institute may pass the ASQA audits. Ball (2003) recounts how an experienced teacher reluctantly left the teaching profession, after a 30-year career, arguing that the technical intelligentsia (educational managers) had chosen the neoliberal management model where teachers are judged solely by their contribution to measurable outputs and their contribution to organisational performance:

Education has traditionally been about freedom. But there is no freedom any more. It’s gone. Initiative and resourcefulness are banned. Every school has become part of the gulag (Ball 2003, p. 222).

This reflects the de-professionalisation of VET teachers in Australia. Ball (2016) claims that the neoliberal reforms that marketised education and compelled them to work

234 within performativity frameworks has acculturated the professionalism of teachers. This was further demonstrated by the adoption of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (CertIVTAE) as the prescribed teaching qualification for VET teachers. The characteristics of the CertIVTAE are discussed in more detail later in this chapter. From a Foucauldian (1988a) stance, the ASQA regulations, and the adoption of the CertIVTAE, compel teachers (subjects) to acquiesce to authority. Conformity and obedience have become the accepted virtues of the VET system, the key indicators of the success of the system and essential for the subject’s continued employment. This aspect of governmentality has pervaded VET whereby only what is observable is examined. Emphasis is placed on visible compliance rather than on the spirit of compliance (Jackson and Carter 1998). The limitations of the normative values assigned to compliance mechanisms resulted in the establishment of an ever- increasing bureaucracy in TAFE to manage the ever-increasing levels of information and documentation.

My interview participants argue that compliance has denigrated educational values in TAFE NSW and VET. This will be discussed in more detail in the concluding chapter. The following quotes capture the general view:

VET is nailed down by compliance. There is no room for values in any of that. There is a supposed commitment to quality, which is quality in the eye of which beholder? And again, quality only from the perspective of every other stakeholder except the individual who is actually undergoing the education.

We have got a set of bland standards. A piecemeal set of training packages – I’m glad I am not being named here – and a framework which I think is excellent. I think the qualifications framework’s intent – as a quality framework - is fine, but value free (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

I don’t believe that you can improve the quality of the system through assessment, regulatory requirements and a compliance auditing system often administered by people who are generalists, who don’t have the necessary expertise to make the wisest decisions.

The most important thing in the world to me, as an educationalist, is the way we inspire people to learn and to have an understanding of how to learn throughout their lives on a 24/7 basis (Retired TAFE NSW Director of Studies).

TAFE NSWs adoption of corporate managerialist practices has compelled the institution to focus on attaining ASQA compliance audit approvals rather than emphasising educational quality. From a Foucauldian perspective, compliance has

235 imbued the VET system with “inauthenticity and meaninglessness” (Ball 2004) where the professional teacher is required to conform to the institutional qualitative catchphrases of excellence and innovation within a system where all accountability is measurable in a quantitative framework.

Clayton (2007) argues that educational organisational structures and cultures need to be “flexible, adaptable, agile and responsive” to the ever-changing demands placed on VET institutions to enable them to assess the potential impact of policies and regulatory arrangements on their ability to respond to their clients’ needs. The ASQA regulations do not allow for such flexibility or adaptability and neither excellence nor innovation are discussed in the regulatory framework. TAFE NSW has adopted a conventional neoliberal managerialist ethos towards compliance, evidenced by TAFE NSW’s bureaucracy accounting for nearly 50% of its budget (Charlton, quoted in Ross, J 2016). TAFE NSW’s bureaucratic structures and organisational cultures will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

The manifestation of corporate managerialism in TAFE NSW

TAFE NSW has incorporated a neoliberal ethos into its governance by defining all educational issues, including curriculum development, as problems that can be solved through management (Fitzsimons 2011). In this section I examine managerialism beyond the deliberations in Chapter 2. I discuss how these practices evolved and show how TAFE NSW’s policies have been formulated by exploiting corporate managerialist practices that realigned TAFE NSW’s traditional student-centred social service obligations towards an industry-centred economic utility paradigm.

Managerialism is a governmental mechanism deployed as a disciplinary technology to regulate individual’s behaviour through practices of subjectification. Lynch et al. (2012, p. 106) argue that managerialism “exemplifies a ‘regime of truth’ which promotes the body’s utility, while at the same time rendering it dependent on external control and monitoring”, resulting in the construction of elaborate and intrusive regimes of micro- level control and supervision, that employ a combination of eclectic auditing, performance monitoring and accountability technologies (Deem et al. 2007). TAFE NSW has elected to ascribed selected administrative practices with specific kinds of meanings and attributed hand-chosen actors with particular roles and dispositions that

236 have reshaped the institutional culture within which people work and live (Edwards 2008).

Managerialism incorporates a form of instrumental rationality where economic efficiency countermands values. Drawing on Foucault, Fitzsimons (2011, p. 4) argues that the adoption of a managerialist ethos precludes discourse on alternative organisational strategies, presenting the advocated practices as a “superior” rationality, and as “a moral technology, setting itself against social disorder via a set of discursively constituted oppositions. These counterpoised, dialectical nodes of thesis and antithesis locate managerialism as a modernist notion within the Enlightenment Tradition”. Pusey (1991, p. 10) argues that the alacrity with which economic rationalism was adopted by governmental institutions in Australia, where “primacy was given to the economy, second place to the political order, and third place to the social order”, indicates an indolent cultural and social structure. Pusey (1991) suggests that TAFE’s excuse of being compelled to implement the VET policies to secure federal funding nonetheless makes it complicit as it did not investigate alternative paradigms. In every staff meeting I attended in the last five years (2010 to 2015) at St George College when the Faculty Directors or Assistant Directors of Education Programs were challenged by senior staff for not questioning the impact of VET policies upon curriculum, equity and access and generic educational concerns the same catch phrase was espoused – “these policies were forced upon us”. These Directors seemed ingenuously uninformed that TAFE NSW had developed its own administrative practices within the framework of the federal VET policies, including their own appointment to specific stations and job descriptions within the institution.

While there were other dominant economic theories and views that TAFE NSW could have investigated to ensure its economic viability after the 1987 VET policies were implemented, the institution embraced Dawkins’ reasoning and instead recruited executives with “degrees or experience in business administration and corporate management with a trained incapacity to think intelligently about society or the common interest” (Pusey 2003, p. 10). TAFE NSW adopted an economic rationalist ideology (McBeath 1997a), in its administrative hierarchies. It “presupposed a distinction between ends and means”, and became more concerned with the “relation

237 between means and ends rather than the appropriateness of those ends” (Stokes 2014, p. 203).

Rabinow (1984, p. 18) claims that “the growth and spread of disciplinary mechanisms of knowledge and power preceded the growth of capitalism in both the logical and temporal sense. Although these technologies did not cause the rise of capitalism, they were prerequisites for its success”. The corporate managerialist ethos adopted by TAFE NSW included an array of historically-established economic and political discourses within which managers possess managerial and/or organisational leadership expertise. This transmogrification of TAFE NSW from an educational institution into an economic institution can be attributed to the organisation constructing its teachers and students “as objects in need of a disciplinary technology” (Fitzsimons 2011, p. 4) and concurrently constituting them as economic subjects.

Managers versus educators

Before John Dawkins was appointed Minister of Employment, Education and Training in 1987, he was Minister of Finance. Compared to the previous practice of recruiting ‘lifelong’ and ‘neutral’ public servants, Dawkins seconded his senior economic and finance advisers to the education ministry, entrenching an economic rationalist philosophy in higher education. Dawkins reduced his reliance on his departmental bureaucrats and wrote his policies with his economic advisers: …a handful of elite and narrowly trained neo-classical economists, most of them steeped in American econometrics…together they destroyed the capacity of a once excellent and highly professional public service, one of the best in the world, to deliver independent advice and policy in the public interest without fear or favour (Pusey 2003, p. 10).

Emulating the UK practice, these educational managers brought with them new “methods, ideals and concepts (objectives planning, human resources, performance monitoring, and accountability) from the private sector” (Ball and Youdell 2007, p. 18). Tingle (2015) argues that this managerialist practice, where ministers ignored career departmental experts in the public service and seconded/employed departmental secretaries on contract (initiated by all the Hawke and Keating Ministers) has resulted in the public service being devoid of policy experts. This allowed the Minister to dictate policy and consign government departments with managers that had no intricate/underpinning knowledge of their portfolio. This practice is intrinsically political

238 as government ministers admonished independent expert advice (Tingle 2015) and create a caste of politically-appointed government advisors that develop policies that even government ministers themselves believe are too polemic. NSW Skills Minister Barilaro (quoted in Ross, J. 2015a, p. 1) claimed that he did not support 100% contestability for TAFE NSW:

While I hesitate to use the word, a degree of protectionism may be in order so we don’t put a valuable public asset at risk.

The above quote illustrates the disconnect between the NSW Skills Minister’s views of federal VET policies – which are approved by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) – and his own government’s TAFE policies. The Victorian state government had also not predicted the impact of the neoliberal federal VET policies on its own TAFE system. In Victoria, TAFE commanded a 27% share of VET enrolments (Cook 2015), compared to the 96% share it controlled ten years ago. This prompted the Victorian government to wind back some of the effects of federal VET policy by subsidising more TAFE courses (Tierney 2016, p. 1).

Fitzsimons (2011, p. 9) argues that the managerialist reforms implemented by TAFE NSW are a series of perpetually-failing “minimally coordinated policy initiatives and organisational experiments – such as internal quasi-markets, quality management, devolved agencies, contracting out / competitive tendering, best value audits, customer satisfaction surveys – that oscillate between centralised strategic direction and devolved local control”.

Managerialism reduced every administrative relation in TAFE NSW to a mere financial transaction capable of solving all economic and social ills (Davis 1997). The previous departmental managers were ex-teachers. In theory, the new managers are expected to be innovative, externally orientated, performance-centred and dynamic (Clarke and Newman 1997), compared to the career manager. In practice, the new managers have no background in educational administration, and in some instances have no qualifications or experience relevant to the departments they manage.

I will elaborate further by using a recent TAFE NSW example. The July 2016 recruitment campaign to appoint a General Manager Training Operations for TAFE NSW lists the main roles of this administrator as:

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x Ensuring optimal TAFE NSW class size x Optimising course size [volume of learning] x Recommend course delivery rationalisation x Scheduling courses to enable asset optimisation (TAFENSW 2016b).

There is no discussion about the quality of training or educational values. The focus is on economic optimisation of training. TAFE NSW’s obsession with achieving projected pecuniary targets resulted in a bourgeoning administration that focuses on auditory mechanisms, while ignoring the effects of VET policies on the quality of teaching (Lynch 2014). The TAFE NSW compliance mechanisms have been drawn up, managed and administered by non-educationalists. My interview participants claim that while TAFE NSW Faculty Managers are compelled to focus on ‘compliance’ they don’t have the time to consider their leadership obligations or to “care” about students or education. They certainly don’t care about ‘curriculum’ or teaching methodologies.

The professional mangers turned TAFE’s administration into a conglomeration of low- trust relationships (Clarke, J. et al. 2000) necessitating new administrative structures and practices that created an increase in paperwork, new reporting lines, and additional layers of management that generated “performance and comparative information systems” (Ball and Youdell 2007, p. 47). The additional layers of management, subsequently created more-subtle levels of accountability, which TAFE teachers saw as the ‘restricting’ of previous ‘freedoms’ (Mifsud 2013). The reforms called into question the professionalism of teachers, by managers that had no intricate knowledge of teaching. Popkewitz (1992) suggests reforms such as these generated a strategic site that allowed social regulation to occur and power relations to be reinforced. Referencing power relations, Foucault (1977a, p. 156) claimed that in the modern state:

…power is not totally entrusted to someone who would exercise it alone, over others, in an absolute fashion, rather, this machine is one in which everyone is caught, those who exercise power as well as those who are subject to it.

Foucault argues that power, for example, within an organisation such as TAFE NSW, is ubiquitous and that all of the workers in the organisation are merely cogs in its machinery within which everyone – the ruling and the ruled – are caught (Merquior 1991). In this context, everyone in TAFE NSW is bound together as institutional subjects who exert a mutual and indefinite hold on one another. It would follow that

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Foucault compels both managers and teachers to enter into a relationship of both mutual support and subjugation (Mifsud 2013).

Ball and Youdell (2007, p. 47), argue that these neoliberal reforms occasioned the adjuvant: ...increased surveillance of teachers' work and outputs and a developing gap in values, purpose and perspective between senior staff, with a primary concern with balancing the budget, recruitment, public relations and impression management, on the one hand, and teaching staff on the other, with a primary concern with curriculum coverage, classroom control, students’ needs and record-keeping.

While Ball and Youdell are echoing the impact of education policies in schools in Great Britain, the same could be said for Australian educational institutions, including TAFE NSW, which hastened to emulate corporate business models and structured its management hierarchies and administrative practices by recruiting more managers at the expense of teachers (Currie and Vidovich 1997).

Since 2010, senior managers and executives in NSW government departments consolidated their positions by employing additional managers after having retrenched customer service staff. When the new TAFE NSW General Manager, Jon Black, was appointed in 2016, he recruited 14 executives on a salary of $250,000 each and awarded a contract to McKinsey, a global management consulting firm, for $1.65m to direct another restructure of the organisation (Needham 2016). At the College and Institute level, TAFE NSW pursued similar managerial practices. While student enrolments diminished and teaching staff were retrenched, at Sydney Institute TAFE NSW alone, between 2012 and 2015, 3,610 teachers were retrenched (35.3% in total), 1,020 support staff (22.2% in total) were also retrenched, while the number of management positions were correspondingly reduced by 15 (1.5% in total) (TAFENSW 2015e). These managerialist practices allow senior executives to maintain their existing salary and/or seek promotion, by arguing that they are responsible for additional managers, while the number of students7 – the core stakeholders of the institution – has decreased and teachers’ working conditions and salaries are being eroded. This practice of retrenching teachers while retaining administrators is pervasive in TAFE NSW and all TAFE institutes in all states and territories as evidenced by the following quote: We have restructured, I don’t know how many times, but how many of the senior executives have we got rid of? None - it’s much easier to get rid of 800 [teaching and

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office] staff, which we’ve just done over two years (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

The preceding quote demonstrates how educational institutions are now administered by economists and business administrators, and incorporated within an economic rationalist order. Every decision is defined within managerialism with democracy, ethics and values having disappeared (Fitzsimons 2011). Senior managers in TAFE NSW are recruited for their business and economic credentials not their educational qualifications. By way of example, in September 2015, Sydney Institute advertised for a manager for its new Centre of Excellence. The advertisement stated that the prospective Manager will “join an historic organisation as it moves from a public service experience to a commercially competitive environment with a continued passion for serving the community of NSW” (JOBSNSW 2015a, 30/9/15). The applicants for this position were required to have tertiary qualifications in either Human Resources or Industrial Relations and experience in; organisational strategy, business needs analysis, business partnering, data analysis and reporting, leadership and people management skills. There was no requirement for educational qualifications or experience. This example illustrates that TAFE NSW continues to recruit managers with a focus on commercial excellence rather than advocating the pursuit of excellence in teaching.

In August 2015 NSW Department of Education directorates finalised a realignment plan that promoted and renamed senior managers to positions of Director, and in some instances created additional Director’s positions. This realignment awarded the “new” Directors a salary increase of up to $40,000 per annum (NSWPSC 2015a; JOBSNSW 2015b), while some managers were promoted to Executive Director, with a salary increase of up to $64,200 per annum. The then NSW Treasurer, Gladys Berejiklian, argued that “the pay rises reflected the level of experience of senior staff and some pay rises had been possible because departments had made cuts in other areas” (Wood 2016, p. 7). Ms Berejiklian neglected to elucidate that the increased salaries for the directors were accounted for by the retrenchment of full-time staff (NSWPSC 2014) not any improvement in public service or efficiencies.

Contracts for TAFE managers

Management positions in TAFE NSW were traditionally recruited from tenured career

242 teachers. They are now recruited externally or via secondment for fixed terms or on contract. Contracts were introduced into TAFE NSW with the adoption of a corporate managerialist administrative restructuring. All managers above Head Teacher level were placed on performativity contracts. Contracts are a governmental mechanism through which the subject can be disciplined and controlled. Borch (2015) suggests that contracts nexuses individual freedom, responsibility for one’s own actions and the “conditioning of freedom” through duty. Contracts reshape “the culture and structures of governance” by regulating and dislocating the subject’s commitment to genuine public and/or social values (Yeatman 1996) to that of economic outcomes. Foucault (1977c) avers that education has now been impelled by a mercantile ethos where teachers’ “performance and productivity must be constantly audited” (Shore and Wright 1999, p. 559) on the pretext of continuing improvement while necessitating additional administrative layers to manage the mandatory six-monthly performance reviews for administrative staff and yearly reviews for teachers.

Contracts elicit performativity and invite the subject to operate within a framework of judgement where the subject strives to improve and become more effective so as to be measured against a matrix of measures and targets, making the subject susceptible to leadership directives (Ball 2010). The benchmark for these measures and targets tactically create uncertainties within the subject (Shore and Wright 1999), resulting in the subject becoming compliant and acquiescing to managerial diktats without questioning superiors nor evaluating the concomitant impacts of their actions on colleagues. Ball (2010, p. 125) argues that “performativity ‘works’ most powerfully when it is inside our heads and our souls; that is, when we monitor and manage ourselves, when we take responsibility for working harder, faster and better, thus ‘improving’ our ‘output’, as part of our sense of personal worth and in the ways we judge the worth of others”.

TAFE NSW incorporated contracts (disciplinary mechanisms) within their administrative structures to normalise and govern its managers so as to underpin and legitimise its realignment towards a marketised VET sector, where the demands for operational efficiency have subsumed the educational ideals of personal autonomy or citizenship (Marshall 1999). VET administrators, including those in TAFE NSW, claim they themselves are continually being “surveilled” by their “superiors” (Misfud 2013)

243 which accounts for their insistence on the teachers they supervise adhering to compliance protocols. Not unlike the VET sector in the UK, TAFE NSW pedagogy and scholarship have now become re-oriented towards activities that are easily measurable and/or will produce a positive outcome against measurable performance indicators, while the non-measurable social and moral purposes of education that cannot be afforded a measurable performative value are threatened (Ball 2010).

Eyssens (2009) suggests that by the mid-1700s, Homo Economicus emerged and was defined by the dynamics of exchange and competition between individuals pursuing their own self-interest and interacting spontaneously in free markets. Fitzsimmons (2011, p. 4) argues that the managerialist practice of “self-governance” is inappropriate for administering educational institutions “on the basis that its subject, homo economicus, cannot adequately account for the other in the educational relation”. From a Foucauldian (1997) viewpoint, the contracts in TAFE NSW contracts are a divisive technology introduced by TAFE executives to achieve control over teachers, from a distance, by compelling managers to adopt a “caring for the self” attitude.

Foucault (1982) claimed that contracts were contrived by bourgeoisie society, not to guarantee and protect the liberty and rights of the subject, but to conceal power relations and domination/subordination. Foucault (2003) averred that contracts normalise the subject, consequently alienating the subject from the state. The contract, invariably linked to performance reviews, is a disciplinary technology through which individuals could be “looked after, looked over, directed and shaped in the interests of the state’s own self-legitimation, self-preservation and self-perpetuation” (Eyssens 2009, p. 1).

Perpetual management restructuring in TAFE NSW

The managerialist practice of perpetual restructuring commenced in TAFE NSW in 1983 (Marginson 1993), and continues until the present day. Some restructures are politically motivated and habitually occur after a change of government when new policies, structures and programs are introduced so that they are noticeably ‘different’ to those of the preceding regime (Hughes 2002). As far back as 1991 I have been arguing with St George College management that the administrative restructures in TAFE NSW have increased the number of managers with no corresponding

244 discernible advantage to either the students or teachers in the classroom. The following narrative will demonstrate this point.

Scott, B.W. (1990) in his report of the Management Review: New South Wales Education Portfolio recommended that about 70% of the administrative staff (both managers and clerical) in TAFE NSW could be retrenched without impacting on its operations, and that the remaining administrative staff should be focussing on developing policy guidelines and providing effective system-wide planning and coordination (Boston 2001). The recommendation relating to staffing numbers were ignored. Gregor Ramsey (1992), the Managing Director of TAFE (under a Liberal State government) claimed that TAFE’s central support staff had been reduced by 66%. He neglected to elucidate that the majority of the staff that left TAFE’s Head Office in Sydney was redeployed into administrative positions in the 11 newly-devolved TAFE Institutes. In 1995 Dr Ken Boston (1995, p. 2) was appointed Managing Director of TAFE NSW after the Labor party were elected to power in NSW. He claimed that the latest restructuring “eliminates duplication and waste and produces a leaner and simpler bureaucracy”. After being replaced as Director-General of Education and Training, Boston altered his stance, arguing that neither efficiency nor profitability was realised when TAFE NSW was decentralised as it resulted in the duplication of administrative and service costs (Boston 2001). Each TAFE Institute has its own finance, human resources, curriculum, marketing, property, IT and business development units.

The NSW Minister of Skills, John Barilaro (2016), confirmed the cost of the current TAFE NSW managerialist practices. He declared that in 1989 the cost of administering TAFE NSW was 18% of the organisation’s total budget with 73% for teaching (9% for infrastructure) compared to up to 60% for administering TAFE NSW in 2016.

During my interviews – mostly conducted between 2014 and 2016 – I asked the participants what they believed the impact would be in a TAFE NSW classroom on the students and teachers if 80% of the management and administrative staff were retrenched. I was alluding to both Scott’s, 1990 review (Scott, B.W. 1990) and that during my 33 years’ of teaching in TAFE NSW I saw no difference or improvement in the classroom after any restructure. Ten of my eleven interview participants agreed

245 that there would be no difference in the classroom. The one interview participant (a TAFENSW Institute Director) that did not agree claimed that he was able to take advantage of the additional administrative personnel for his Institute’s advantage. The following quotes are indicative of the responses to my question:

Not one iota. Of course it won’t. If you got rid of it, you would notice a significant difference because teachers wouldn’t be sloughing around with “administrivia”. (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

Zilch (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 1).

None whatsoever (Retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 2).

There would be no positive difference in the classroom (TAFE NSW Senior Head Teacher 2)

Zero ( TAFE NSW Senior Head Teacher 1)

The above quotes provide some indication of how the “administrivia” of the ASQA compliance processes have burdened the VET system (and teachers) with administrative practices without any corresponding improvement in teaching practices and/or quality. I will discuss in more detail later in this chapter why the ASQA compliance regulations are not infallible and not the panacea for teaching quality.

The penultimate restructuring at Sydney Institute was the amalgamation of all teaching sections into seven related Faculties. As of November 2015, the seven Faculties have been reduced to five. The Faculties are managed autonomously and report to the Institute Director. The managers “float” between the colleges where the qualifications they administer are taught. The apportionment of the managers to the Faculties was not dependent on the managers’ qualifications or professional experience. In the Faculty of the Built Environment and Transport in one TAFE institute the managers were from outreach and hairdressing backgrounds, while in another institute the managers were from chiropractic and dental technician backgrounds (Prof. R. Whittaker, personal communication, August 2015). These managers do not possess the detailed knowledge or the educational requirements – course content, pedagogy or epistemology – of the courses they administer. Whittaker argues that this has resulted in management and/or administrative decisions being made that were pedagogically specious and that some senior staff appointments contravened the ASQA regulations. The restructuring in TAFE NSW, where generic managers were appointed to administer teaching section and/or faculties commenced as far back as 2001. Malcolm

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Pettinger, the General Manager of the Master Plumbers Association of NSW representing the Plumbing Industry Regulation Committee wrote to the then Minister of Education and Training, John Aquilina, to complain that generalist managers were being appointed in the TAFE NSW Training Divisions (Appendix XIV). Pettinger requested that the Plumbing Program Manager should have both educational and plumbing qualifications and appropriate industry experience. He argued that the standards of Plumbing education in TAFE NSW would otherwise be compromised and “we will no doubt return to the appalling health problems that existed in Sydney in the nineteenth century”. His impassioned plea was ignored by both John Aquilina and the TAFE NSW management.

The impacts of the privatisation of VET curriculum on TAFE NSW

Ball (2004) argues that within educational policy discourse privatisation is “idealised and romanticised”, while the public sector’s social-welfare provision of educational services is often demonised. In this section I examine how the federal government’s VET policy reforms of privatisation (from 1987) and contestation (from 1990) encouraged TAFE NSW to adopt a managerialist ethos and the impacts on TAFE curriculum development policy. I will also deliberate on the political machinations that resulted in the development of the Australia-wide common core curriculum and how it evolved into the privatised curriculum. I will commence by discussing and defining privatisation in an educational context and then correlate this discussion to the privatisation of TAFE NSW Curriculum.

Privatisation in an educational context

According to Ball and Youdell (2007, pp. 8-9), there are two types of privatisation in education:

x Privatisation in Public Education or endogenous privatisation, which involves the importing of ideas, techniques and practices from the private sector in order to make the public sector more like business and more business-like, and/or the

x Privatisation of Public Education, or exogenous privatisation, which involves the opening up of public education services to private sector participation on a for-profit basis and using the private sector to design, manage or deliver aspects of public education.

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The VET policy initiatives imposed the endogenous model of privatisation on TAFE NSW in two modes. Firstly, TAFE NSW adopted a corporate managerialist structure to administer the organisation (Marginson 1997a) and claimed that its operations would be targeting best practice protocols for its administration and pedagogy (TAFENSW 2004, 2015f) to emulate the commercial procedures of private enterprise. Brown (2015) argues that best practice is a neoliberal governance apparatus adopted by educational institutions to eliminate the need for legal, political or ethical scrutiny of an organisation from the state. Drawing on Foucault (1977f, p. 308), I would suggest that the adoption of best practice by TAFE NSW is a “small act of cunning”, which includes “calculated methods, techniques, ‘sciences’ that permit the fabrication of the disciplined individual”. Brown (2015, p. 140) posits that, within the context of educational contestability, best practice manages to combine “ethics, fairness, legality, efficiency, and maximized outcomes” to construct standards and guidelines that when implemented by an organisation will evade governmental regulation. The implementation of best practice protocols is a neoliberal governmental practice that allows the state to govern from a distance. The adoption of best practice by TAFE NSW resulted in the interleaving of additional layers of management. It became a mechanism of observation that underpinned the normalisation of TAFE NSW teachers by employing managers to “qualify, measure, appraise, and hierarchize …” (Foucault 1990, p. 144).

Secondly, the VET reforms obliged TAFE NSW to become marketised (Seddon 2015a). The ten TAFE NSW institutes were transformed into commercial entities tendering against each other, and against the for-profit sector, for federal and state government funding for marketable programs to augment their running costs after their funding was reduced by budget cutbacks. The impact on TAFE NSW was significant. The VET reforms and the adoption of CBT and CBA were based on the British model of technical education:

…we have too slavishly followed the British system and that goes back to when Michael Murphy and Laurie Carmichael [Australian Council of Trade Unions delegation to Britain] and their mission came back in the late 80s with the idea of CBT, and they came back with the British approach (senior University VET academic and researcher 1).

Australia emulated Britain in “the way in which education is organised, managed and delivered; how the curriculum is decided and taught; how students’ performance is

248 assessed; and how students, teachers, schools and communities are judged” (Ball and Youdell 2007, p. 9). This practice has been undertaken since the early 1990s. This practice operates in TAFE NSW in the following four examples:

1. The adoption of the Deveson Report in 1990 marked the entry of TAFE into a contested market. TAFE institutes were compelled to offer commercial courses and enter training contracts/arrangements with industry to generate income after the federal government reduced its funding.

2. In July 1990 the government introduced the Training Guarantee Act, which induced businesses and industries with a payroll threshold of $200,000 or more (indexed annually) to allocate 1.0%, in July 1990, increasing to 1.5% in July 1992, of their payroll to approved training for their employees (Frazer 1996). All TAFE NSW colleges commenced competing against each other to procure commercial training contracts. St George College appointed a professional Marketing Manager (my wife) in 1990 to encourage teaching sections to develop commercial courses and solicit training contracts with local industries and commercial organisations. The Training Guarantee levy was suspended in July 1994.

3. The Building Designers Association, now Building Designers Australia (BDA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sydney Institute for St George College to process and award the Diploma of Building Design qualification to its members via RPL. I attended meetings with Institute management between 2013 and 2014 and processed 19 out of the initial 50 applications. In mid-2015, Sydney Institute’s management utilised the TAFE NSW Smart and Skilled policy to increase the RPL fee from $1,400 to $4,500 per applicant. At the end of 2015 the BDA informed Sydney Institute that forthwith their members’ RPL applications will be processed at Western Sydney Institute for $2,000 per application.

4. In 2013 I submitted a proposal to Sydney Institute to conduct a commercial course at St George College in a new (revit) CAD program. I was advised that St George College could not offer or conduct the course because the same commercial course was being offered at Ultimo College. This was confirmed by Russell Scott, the Director of St George College. Both Ultimo and St George Colleges belong to the same TAFE NSW Institute, nonetheless, they are in competition with each other.

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The four examples above illustrate how for TAFE NSW, the VET policy initiatives encouraged the institution to undergo a discursive shift from a social equity orientated educational institution to a marketised neoliberal institution (Quiggin 2002). To account for this TAFE NSW occasioned multiple layers of administrative duplication and inefficiency and consequently introducing an indiscriminate tuition fee structure among TAFE colleges – while all being controlled by one state-owned organisation. Traditionally, students chose a TAFE college based on their work or home address. Now students are compelled to “shop around” and obtain “quotes” for tuition fees from colleges within the same state organisation as the cost of training varies between TAFE NSW institutes. For example, in 2016, the tuition fees for the two-year Diploma of Building Design course at Sydney institute TAFE NSW were $19,990, while at Western Sydney Institute TAFE NSW, the fees were $4,000.

The VET reforms also initiated exogenous privatisation on TAFE NSW. The for-profit sector was allowed to compete with TAFE in the delivery of VET to reduce the federal governments’ financial burden (Marginson 1997a). The privatisation of VET has had a significant impact on the equity of access to public education with consequences for social justice and citizenship (Ball and Youdell 2007). The VET policies congruently initiated contestation in TAFE NSW – where both public and private registered training organisations can openly tender for federal VET funding. The state and territory governments subsequently encourage the for-profit sector and their own public TAFE institutes to tender for a share of federal VET funding. NSW adopted the policy of full contestation in 2013 (TAFENSW 2013c). This placed TAFE NSW in full competition with the for-profit sector. These policy discourses and practices have drastically blurred “the already fuzzy divide between the public and the private sector” (Ball and Junemann 2012, p. 37). The for-profit sector has now adopted the “language” and on- line “look” of the public TAFE institutes to the extent that VET customers now assume that all VET organisations are state-owned. Consequently, the for-profit sector’s lower overhead costs have concomitantly weakened the education unions’ influence on teachers’ conditions and pay (Ball and Junemann 2012).

TAFE NSW has commenced negotiations with the education unions to trial and introduce the new position of assessor8. TAFE NSW (2015d) claims that the assessor’s role is to design, validate and implement assessments and support

250 teachers and head teachers in meeting the ASQA compliance requirements. All of my colleagues at Sydney Institute believe the assessors will eventually replace the professional teachers. This is corroborated by Seddon (2009a). Ball (2004) concedes that while there may be some benefits from privatising educational services, he contends that the espoused benefits are extensively exaggerated, the spin surrounding them is well rehearsed and the social costs are overlooked.

The NSW Skills Minister, John Barilaro, announced on 13 July 2016 that competition between TAFE NSW Institutes would cease and the ten TAFE Institutes will be amalgamated into 5 Regions (Pearson 2016b). This restructure will be fully implemented by 2018, to coincide with the federal government procuring conclusive control of VET from the states and territories. This timeframe will not permit an analysis of the impacts of this restructure to be included in this study.

The impacts of the privatisation of VET curriculum

In the Skills for Australia policy, Dawkins argued that the private sector’s involvement in VET would reduce the government’s commitment to funding VET with the student paying commercial scale tuition fees without reducing the quality of delivery (Dawkins 1988). Forward (2007) argues that the architects of the Accord adopted a mangerialist ethos, displaying extraordinary “suspicion and contempt” for teachers by actively excluding the educationalists from the major decision-making bodies such as Australian National Training Authority and from the Industry Training Advisory Boards. Forward contends that this is one of the main reasons for the malaise evident in the TAFE and VET system in Australia. During an interview with a senior University VET academic and researcher (2), they claimed Dawkins’ VET policies:

“Did a significant amount of good, but there was also a lot of collateral damage” - senior University VET academic and researcher 2

My interview participants claimed that the concept of a national VET curriculum was laudable. This process had commenced, developed and implemented with the National Core Curriculum well before Dawkins introduced the 1987 VET policy reforms. Dawkins initiated the privatisation of VET and had the opportunity to introduce structural reforms to achieve economic efficiencies, including implementing the

251 recommendations of the Scott Report (1992) (Scott, B.W.) without having to fully privatise vocational education. Dawkins was influenced by his union colleagues and industry to introduce competency-based training to accommodate work-place training and assessment and to expedite the acquisition of trade qualifications. These themes will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter. It is worth discussing some examples of “collateral damage” to corroborate my contention that this resulted from there being no curriculum in VET.

The “collateral damage” caused by the privatisation of VET

The collateral damage mentioned above, by the senior University VET academic and researcher (2), could include any or all of the following practices that the for-profit sector undertakes. These practices have become more prolific after the Gillard Labor government allowed the for-profit sector the opportunity to recruit students who could sign VET-FEE HELP contracts with the federal government in 2012 (Noonan 2016). In August 2015 the NSW government instigated an Upper House Inquiry into the practices of the for-profit sector after these practices became widespread throughout Australia. It is beyond the scope of this thesis to elaborate in copious detail on each of the following dot points nonetheless they could form the basis of future research projects:

x The regulatory system focuses on ensuring that RTOs meet the requirements of the training packages and provider standards prospectively, rather than on the quality of student outcomes attained or the student experience retrospectively (VICDET, 2015a)

The 2015 review of the Victorian VET system concluded that the for-profit sector’s capacity to meet the ASQA compliance requirements during an audit does not translate into high quality individual student outcomes. The regulatory system does not discuss nor measure if private training organisations are delivering high quality training. The Victorian state Premier, Daniel Andrews (2015), stated that the VET system should provide quality training which will lead to jobs, rather than the current focus of merely increasing the number of people being trained.

x Unscrupulous marketing practices by private training providers which sign up students on contracts requiring advance fee collection, offering inducements to enrol, such as ipads and not explaining the conditions of enrolment, (PHA 2014a, p. viii)

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Private training providers engaged agents to canvassed nursing homes, shopping centres, Centrelink offices and public housing estates to sign up prospective VET students to contracts for courses costing up to $25,000, knowing that the students had no capacity for VET study or the financial means to repay the tuition fees. Some of these agents were trained by Jordan Belfort, the real-life Wolf of Wall Street9 (Gough 2015).

Some private training providers received federal government funding immediately upon signing up students on VET-FEE HELP. Unique International College enrolled 3,600 students in diploma courses costing up to $25,000 each in the 2014-2015 financial year, received $57 million in funding, with only 2.4% of their students completing their qualifications (McDougall and Carswell 2015). Empower Institute secured $46 million in federal funding. Its 0.12% student completion rate translated into their diplomas costing the Australian taxpayers $9.2 million each (Bagshaw 2016c). TAFE NSW had an 87.1% completion rate for apprentices in 2014 (TAFENSW 2015e) and an 80% completion rate in the Diploma of Building Design course at St George College in 2014 (Loupis, G. 2015).

Ball (2004) foreshadowed these practices amongst the for-profit sector in Britain. Students are “valued” only as a source of income. Institutions place their financial interests ahead of the interests of the students. Some institutions enrolled students knowing they were not suited for a particular course so they could charge again for the students’ second attempt at passing the course.

x Loopholes in ASQA compliance regulations that allow high-risk and unscrupulous practices to jeopardise the learning experiences of students and the reputation of training provision (PHA 2014a, p. viii).

Some private training providers issued qualifications after three evenings of study, or after five lessons for courses which normally take between six and twelve months of full-time study in TAFE. These graduates neither obtain nor subsequently possess the skills required for gaining employment in the profession they have qualified for. Rush (2015) argues that in the building industry, there is the risk that these “fast-tracked” graduates, who are inadequately trained, will propagate poor construction outcomes

253 and financial mismanagement, impacting on their client’s financial livelihood, as well as impeding safety on site.

ASQA produces reports and best practice training guidelines in response to unscrupulous practices as they unfold. A recent report into training in the equine industry, prompted by the death of a young rider at a riding camp, detailed how a for- profit college was offering training qualifications for jockeys via online learning, in one week, with there being no need to have a horse (ASQA 2015f).

x In 2013-2014, approximately 80% of Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) had not complied with ASQA’s regulatory and on-going registration requirements in their first audit and 23% of RTOs were not able to show rectification evidence after being re-audited (ASQA 2014)

As at July 2015, the for-profit sector, or private RTOs comprised 79.9% of all RTOs. The remaining 20.1% constitute TAFE, community-based and enterprise-based training organisations (ASR 2015).

Heaton (2015) listed some of the most common concerns with the for-profit training sector in the construction industry;

o Trainers and assessors have no practical experience in the courses for which they provide training, o Trainers are not complying with the ASQA requirements of the training packages, o Trainers are giving students the assessment sheets and the answers at the same time, o Training providers are “sprouting up” so quickly that it is not possible for them to guarantee the resources, personnel or administrative systems to provide adequate training

x 10,000 Victorian VET graduates had their “sub-standard” qualifications disqualified after qualifications were issued to students who had no demonstrable skills (Andrews 2015)

In a media release on 29 June 2015, the Victorian State Minister for Training and Skills, Steve Herbert, stated that since November 2014 the state government had to restore funding eligibility10 by disqualifying and refunding the tuition fees to more than 10,000 students who gained qualifications without acquiring any demonstrable skills (Herbert 2015).

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x Private training providers claimed government funding without delivering any training (Andrews 2015)

Some private providers are claiming government funding for “non-existent” training delivery, while others sub-contract the training to third parties without adequate quality controls (Herbert 2015). Some providers enrol students in diploma courses, claiming up to $12,000 in government funding, while providing certificate-level training worth around $2,000 (Norman 2015). Audit firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu claimed that poor quality training by some for-profit sector colleges places the general public at “risk” in certain industries with heightened Workplace Health and Safety (WH&S) concerns or other work-place risks. The Victorian state government claimed that students in Children’s Services and Aged-Care have not acquired specific competencies due to the nature/complexity of the profession being beyond the capability of most for-profit colleges (VICDET 2015a).

The then federal Labor education spokesperson, Kim Carr, admitted that the 2012 Gillard policy that allowed the for-profit sector access to VET-FEE HELP funding and removed the requirement that providers required credit transfer arrangements in place with universities was fundamentally flawed:

What we're seeing here are the unintended consequences of the deregulation of the vocational education system. In the lived experience of this scheme, the unscrupulous private providers have overwhelmed the regulators. There have been too many rip-offs and abuses. We are talking about the transfer of billions of dollars from the public purse to the profits of private companies who are often quite new to the education game. The blow-out to the commonwealth budget is simply unacceptable (Carr, quoted in Knott 2015, p. 1).

A week after Kim Carr made this admission, he was demoted from the position of Labor Education Spokesman.

This “fundamental” miscalculation is typical of numerous failed VET policy initiatives that I discuss in detail later in this chapter. It demonstrates the paucity of analysis and/or risk assessment undertaken by the policy formulators. It is indicative of policy advisers entreating their masters’ political ambitions without examining all the possible scenarios or examining alternative options. My interview participants lamented the long-term damage to VET’s reputation in Australia due to the unscrupulous practices by the for-profit sector.

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The “dumbing down” of curriculum

In this section I discuss specific examples to illustrate the impacts of the replacement of educational goals with economic goals in the management of TAFE NSW upon technical education curriculum. I can substantiate the “dumbing down” of the curriculum in the courses I have taught in TAFE NSW. When I started teaching in 1983, the Certificate IV in Architectural Drafting was offered to year 10 students, took two and a half years to complete and required 28 hours per week attendance at the college. The current Diploma of Building Design course takes two years to complete and requires 20 hours per week attendance. My lecture notes, externally-written examinations and samples of students’ projects confirm that the volume and complexity of the projects in the diploma courses has been reduced compared to the Certificate IV course. Sydney Institute Faculty managers are continuously pressuring Head Teachers to reduce the diploma course from 20 hours to 15 hours per week to save on teaching costs. They justified their claims based on there being no curriculum:

When I started teaching, ten years ago, there were curriculum documents that were used to ensure consistency of delivery across TAFE NSW… With the development of training packages no curriculum was developed… This has led to ongoing difficulties in trying to validate outcomes across the delivery centres (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 3)

The Deputy Faculty Director regularly asked the Head Teachers to reduce the course hours to reduce teaching costs. She argued that the courses could be taught in 15 hours a week instead of the prescribed 20 hours per week as there were no hours [volume of learning] specified in the Training Packages (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 2)

Anderson (2006) corroborates the above quote. One of the retired TAFE NSW Institute Directors that I interviewed in 2015 argues that the decline in the quality and employability of TAFE graduates that Anderson predicted would transpire has already ensued:

TAFE has fallen into the trap of trying to match private providers by lowering the delivery content.

TAFE has gone backwards at a rapid rate. The quality of the students that are coming out now, their outcomes, are poorer. It is not as good as before. When I talk to employers now, they are embarrassed to say how bad their apprentices and their employees are. More so from private providers, but TAFE also falls in that category too. While TAFE tries to reduce costs, they are taking short cuts, which is a major concern to me. Basically, the standard in VET has dropped dramatically.

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The supplanting of the Diploma of Architectural Technology with the Diploma of Building Design

The supplanting of the Diploma of Architectural Technology with the Diploma of Building Design revealed that the ISC Project Steering Committee (PSC) was stacked with a diminutive cross section of stakeholders, which ensured a predetermined result for the learning outcomes contained in the VET training packages for a whole industry. The Diploma of Building Design PSC avowed the marketing aspirations of Building Design Australia (BDA) (CPSISC 2011; CPSISC 2015). My research supports the view that as a consequence of the BDA’s national president chairing the PSC the following outcomes were reassured. Before I will discuss the corollaries of each of the claims I am asserting I admit that some of these declarations (in italics) have been formulated while I was present at numerous meetings with BDA executives, while representing St George College. The Head Teachers (Lou Martini and Tom Hore) and Assistant Director of Education Programs (Keith Greenough) at St George College were privy to my undertaking this research when they nominated me to attend the meetings, but believed that any “conflict of interest” would be outweighed by my extensive experience of the course content, curriculum development methodologies, the structure of training packages and the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) protocols:

x The BDA changed the name of the new course to reflect the name of the association, ie Diploma of Building Design allowing the BDA to increase its profile in the wider community.

The BDA were afforded access to intellectual property and the naming rights of a federal government VET qualification. I explained in Chapter 6 that the BDA have instigated numerous attempts to establish their own Registered Training Organisation, but resolved to engage TAFE NSW to undertake the procurement of qualifications for their members via RPL. I suggest that by naming the qualification after the BDA it will obscure the boundaries between public and private VET organisations which deliver the training. x The BDA wrote the new course to enable its members the opportunity to teach it by removing the word “architectural” from its title.

Up until 2015, the minimum professional qualification to teach the course was either a Bachelor of Architecture (up to 2007) or Master of Architecture degree. Currently it is the Diploma of Building Design. The change in course nomenclature will ensconce the for-profit sector’s practice of recruiting non-professional teachers – a practise that

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TAFE NSW is currently pursuing, which I suggest will continue to discount the importance of curriculum in VET and short-change students.

x The BDA used its involvement in the ISC to write the Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate courses – with no academic prerequisites.

This practice encouraged members of the BDA to acquire post graduate qualifications via RPL, which benefited the BDA in its negotiations with the NSW government to rescind the SEPP65 policy. In Chapter 6 I demonstrated that the post graduate qualifications – at Level 8 in the Australian Qualifications Framework – are one level below a Master’s degree, have no curriculum and contain less design content than the Diploma of Architectural Technology course. I suggest that the general public will be misinformed about the academic veracity and professional credibility of these courses.

The preceding discussion elaborated on specific examples of how the nature of technical education and the values in technical education in TAFE NSW and TAFE in other states and territories has changed since the adoption of corporate managerialist practices, in response to the VET policies introduced in 1987. The following section examines the impact of these corporate managerialist practices on regional TAFE colleges.

The loss of a sense of community

My interview participants agreed that the adoption of the VET policies has reduced the quality of technical education in Australia, diminishing morale amongst the professional teachers and reduced TAFE’s place in local and regional communities: TAFE institutes have lost their confidence. They have lost their place in the community. In TAFE, community was everything. Looking after our community was what we were all about. If you are sitting on a TAFE Institute, wherever in whoop whoop - somewhere in NSW, your community is everything. Your students are everything. Industry was the local employer. You were addressing his needs, not industry per se. It is those connections with community, those connections with local industry to some extent that have been broken, that has given some people working in TAFE a loss of identity (senior University VET researcher and practitioner 2).

Regional TAFE colleges formed part of their greater community. Regional TAFEs traditionally delivered courses that were tailor-made for their communities’ specific

258 needs (Schofield, 1999). With the adoption of the VET policies, regional TAFE colleges were also marketised and compelled to adopt neoliberal management practices, which did not safeguard them from closure or amalgamation (Pearson 2016a).

Section summary

In Chapter 4 I revealed how historically, skills have defined who we are within society. Skills formation and acquisition in VET are now viewed only as a means of contributing to Australia’s global economic competitiveness. The VET policies have removed the cognitive and behavioural dimension of technical education curriculum. This has rendered VET students as workers rather than as citizens. In a neoliberal economy technical education graduates we are viewed merely as labour or human capital. This is what the VET policy reforms have conferred on students. This particular praxis allows management to take control of the key process of skill development (Buchanan et al, 2004) and dictate how VET qualifications are used in the workplace to determine the impact they will have on the Australian economy. Foucault’s argument that curriculum socialises and indoctrinates the subject (worker) is not problematic if the curriculum is written by the teachers of the curriculum within a social equity paradigm.

The following section discusses and analyses how the adoption of competency-based training and competency-based assessment in VET necessitated the introduction of a new teaching qualification, the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.

The Certificate IV in Training and Assessment – a regulatory mechanism for VET teachers, or Assessors versus Teachers

In this section I examine the introduction of the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (CertIVTAE) as the prescribed teaching qualification in VET. I draw on Foucault (1988b, p. 18) to demonstrate how this qualification has become a regulatory mechanism and technology of power that has changed the nature of VET teaching and “dominated the conduct of individuals and [submitted] them to certain ends or domination, and objectivization”. It has turned TAFE teachers into “docile” subjects.

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Up until 2007, TAFE NSW sponsored all of its full-time teachers to undertake a university-level teaching qualification (Coutts-Trotter 2008), even for those, like myself that had taught at university level for 8 years. The successful completion of the course was a condition of tenure. Trade teachers were enrolled in a Diploma of Teaching course. Teachers with professional university qualifications were enrolled in a Graduate Diploma of Education (Technical), initially at Sydney College of Advanced Education (SCAE) then at The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). The duration of the GradDipEd(Technical) course that I completed was two years part-time. It included the following subjects; post-secondary education, communication, education and social reproduction, philosophy of education, sociology of education and curriculum development in TAFE. The course provided a contextual framework for technical education in NSW and encouraged reflexivity in teaching within specific TAFE course areas.

Since 2008, the minimum teaching qualification in TAFE NSW has been the CertIVTAE (Coutts-Trotter 2008). This teaching qualification was developed to allow private training providers to participate in the VET market:

The teachers now only require the Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment to teach the courses, whereas previously they needed the Graduate Diploma in Education. This came about because there were concerns that the private providers were not capable of conducting workplace assessment, because they didn’t have the proper industry knowledge and experience, and they didn’t have the teacher training qualifications to conduct workplace assessment. They put the Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment into place and went from there (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

The academic merits of the CertIVTAE11 qualification have been criticised by all educationalists, except the practitioners who have a stake in its development and promulgation. The qualification contains units on learning environment, learning design, delivery and facilitation and assessment which correlate with training packages and competencies. Hodge (2009b) argues that the procurement of the CertIVTAE qualification has become a normalising process for VET teachers as the policy reforms have removed the teachers’ control over the curriculum, and forced them to undertake a new mandatory qualification in training that acts as an induction into the training reform version of CBT. It is a governmentality mechanism through which VET teachers can be controlled, regulated and disciplined – another means by which to erode the

260 professional status of teachers and reduce TAFE’s delivery costs, by appointing assessors to replace professional teachers.

Ball (2010, p. 126) argues that the neoliberal subject has become “malleable rather than committed, flexible rather than principled – essentially depthless”. These practices are “nevertheless not something that the individual invents by himself. They are patterns that he finds in his culture and which are proposed, suggested and imposed on him by his culture, his society and his social group” (Foucault 1988, p. 11). VET pedagogy has linked the administrative concerns of the state with the self-governance of the subject, by using knowledge to “classify the world and the nature of work, which, in turn, have the potential to organize and shape individual identity” (Popkewitz 1991, p. 14).

TAFE teachers are expected to be skilled both pedagogically and vocationally (Smith, E. 2002), while also keeping abreast of state-of-the-art technology and embedding the principles of sustainability (environmental, economic and societal) in their lessons, yet the knowledge needed for VET teachers to understand their position within this context is not inculcated by the CertIVTAE qualification. Educationalists argue that the CertIVTAE is adequate for a novice teacher, but will neither allow nor encourage the development of pedagogical content knowledge for a VET teacher to develop into an expert teacher (Robertson 2008) or the proficiency to be reflective. The qualification is considered adequate for new practitioners only if it is taught well (Guthrie 2010; Clayton et al. 2010), but given that numerous private providers offer the qualification on-line in as little as 3 days it behoves cynicism from any VET practitioner and/or researcher:

COAG is determined that in the case of the Certificate IV, they are going to revamp it yet again. Well, what they are going to demand is that everyone will have to re-do it again, and they don’t realise that every time they demand that, it’s just building up this wonderful market where every shonky private provider out there who has the course on scope to do it in 3 days, 900 bucks. ‘You can get two diplomas for $2,200 and we will give you an i-pad’. Sadly, some TAFEs are doing that. It’s just appalling (senior University VET academic and researcher 2). While some private providers market their courses unethically, others market their courses unconventionally. One private provider exploited Scoopon discount vouchers to entice candidates. For a fee of $695, and attending classes for one night per week for five weeks, students will be awarded the CertIVTAE and be eligible to enter the

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VET sector as accredited assessors (Scoopon 2015). Another private training provider offered the CertIVTAE for $390 as an “EOFY Last Chance” Sale (Inspire 2016). University level VET academics and practitioners (Wheelahan 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009; Harris and Hodge 2009; Hodge 2013, 2014; Billett et al. 1999 etc) continue to criticise the processes engaged in by private providers offering the qualification and the quality of the prospective candidates:

It’s like the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. You don’t even need to have a training background or access to a training environment. Anyone can do it. In fact, Centrelink send young people that are unemployed off to do it regularly (senior University VET academic and researcher 2).

The VET sector’s reliance on the CertIVTAE as its only teaching qualification is one of the foremost reasons the quality of teaching in VET has drawn significant complaints:

It is hard to figure out why the VET industry has allowed this disaster to happen to itself. The research I have done within industry over the past fifteen years has made it clear that employers want better teaching for their current and prospective workers; they are not at all impressed with poorly qualified teachers who can’t deliver authoritative and engaging training (Smith, E. 2010, p. 10).

Clayton et al. (2010, p. 8) argue that new VET practitioners without previous teaching experience and/or qualifications will require mentoring support and additional staff development training after graduating with the CertIVTAE. The participants they surveyed “felt less well prepared to manage the needs of diverse learners, to undertake assessment, to use training packages and to manage classroom issues”. These skills are obligatory for all VET teachers, but especially for TAFE teachers as they teach diverse learners, that is, students with academic or physical disabilities, indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders, non-English speakers, women preparing to re- enter the workforce and youth at risk. In this context it is incongruous that TAFE NSW subscribes to the CertIVTAE as its minimum compulsory teaching qualification. Pat Forward, national TAFE secretary with the Australian Education Union (quoted in Ross, J. 2011, p. 1) claimed that it was “ironic” that VET teachers are not expected to undertake professional development or higher-level teaching qualifications when they promote and deliver qualifications to the rest of the workforce. They “do not tell other workers that they don't need higher-level qualifications". I suggest that the for-profit sector would be less likely to invest in professional development and mentoring

262 schemes for their assessors, especially as up to 80% of the trainers in the sector hold the Certificate IV as their sole teaching qualification (Smith and Grace 2011).

Guthrie and Clayton (2012, p. 3) argue that “an increased reliance on a contingent or peripheral workforce and the relatively low level of the initial qualifications required for practice (the Certificate IV) had led to the de-professionalisation of VET’s practitioners”. Guthrie (2010) suggests that this problem could be resolved if VET institutions encourage and promote a lifelong commitment to continuing staff development for their teachers. There is no indication that this recommendation will be adopted by TAFE NSW, while it continues to pursue the appointment of assessors. Drawing on Ball’s (2010) research in the UK, it may be concluded that the employment of assessors by TAFE NSW will allow personnel without teaching qualifications on lower pay and flexible working conditions to slowly replace the professional teachers. The assessors’ salary will be $20,000 per annum lower than the professional teacher while working more hours per week and for 48 weeks per year (TAFENSW 2015d). Seddon (2009) foreshadowed that TAFE’s adherence to a neoliberal ideology would result in a pertinacious lack of any succession plan to manage the risk of losing an important resource in Australian VET when the aging VET workforce retires:

It seems the agencies responsible for governing VET have failed to fully recognise the contribution that the teaching occupation makes to skill building…policy and investment decisions have resulted in an erosion of workforce capacity in VET. It means that the teaching expertise that sustains sophisticated skill-building in Australia is being dispersed, rather than concentrated to maximise its impact, and is not being renewed (Seddon 2009, p. 60)

The cartoon, over page, from a lecture by Hugh Guthrie (2012, p. 3), on “Do students learn better with a teacher or without a teacher” in the VET context illustrates what my colleagues at Sydney Institute believe to be the assessment methodology employed by the for-profit sector. The fusillade of negative reports about the for-profit VET sector emanating from academic research and the media (discussed earlier in the collateral damage section of this chapter) validates this cartoon. Guthrie’s cartoon suggests that it is common practice for Victorian VET institutions to engage assessors in place of professional teachers. The teachers at Sydney Institute also believe the “Resultor” will form the assessment methodology employed by the assessors that will be appointed by TAFE NSW over the next few years (TAFE NSW 2015d).

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Ne.w for m• VET ••••h•r aaacssorl / l:deal fo,. wort

~-...... ,

The ~J~esuJtor'

Figure 7.1 The “resultor” assessment tool – new for VET assessors (Source: Guthrie, 2012)

The dividing practices of the Smart and Skilled policy

The Australian federal government is committed to full contestation in VET – where VET students are offered a limited training sponsorship which can be utilised at any Registered Training Organisation (RTO), either a TAFE institute or a private provider. If the course fees are higher than the sponsored amount, the students are required to supplement the tuition fee. The NSW government implemented full contestation in 2013 for TAFE NSW, where both the public TAFE Institutes and the for-profit sector were invited to tender for the delivery of VET courses. This was manifested with the instigation of the Smart and Skilled policy, which took effect from 1 July 2014 at Sydney Institute. Under the policy, eligible students will be entitlement to government- subsidised training up to and including Certificate III in any Registered Training Organisation (RTO). Students undertaking Certificate IV or higher level qualifications (in targeted priority areas) may also be eligible for government-subsidised training (NSWGOV 2015). Students that are not awarded a government-funded place in VET can pay full fees and enter an arrangement under VET-FEE HELP to pay their tuition fees in instalments after graduation when their salary increases to $53,000 per annum.

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Under this arrangement, the student will be charged a levy of 20% in addition to their tuition fees for the administrative costs of the scheme.

VET students are conferred the opportunity to choose their preferred VET provider based on reputation, tuition fees and/or flexibility of class attendance patterns. For the Diploma of Building Design course at St George College, in 2016, only students with disabilities were offered government-funded places. The remainder had to pay full fees - $19,990 for the course, or $9,995/year – an increase of over 580% from the $1,710 per annum charged in 2014. At Ultimo College, approximately half of the students enrolled in the 2014 mid-year enrolment class were offered the government funded places, while the other half of the same class were charged full fees, as the Faculty allocated a limited number of sponsored places. There was no published policy on which students would be offered the subsidised places. The students ascertained their course fees when they enrolled on line. The whole process was ad-hoc. At St. George College in 2015 the Certificate IV Building Construction course full-time students were assigned subsidised enrolments ($2,420) while the part-time students were charged full fees ($7,800). The Institute managers are currently handling submissions from students demanding a refund of course fees, after they discovered this incongruity and that at Granville College all students in the Certificate IV Building Construction course were charged only $2,420. An interview participant confirms this:

The Faculty has offered the initial students that complained a “scholarship” to conceal the real reason for the refunds in the TAFE computer system.

This issue got worse after we enrolled students from other colleges in Sydney Institute which were charging the lower fees last year as well as those from other TAFE Institutes. Some students have complained to the Minister regarding this issue. It has not been resolved (TAFE NSW teacher 1).

This funding model divided Ultimo College into two groups of economic subjects. One group were state-sponsored citizens, the other group were forced to become entrepreneurial, self-sufficient and to take responsibility for their own economic existence. This practice is one example of how a government policy is interpreted differently during its implementation (Deacon 2006) and takes on a different form according to mechanisms inherent within the particular TAFE institution where it is implemented. The State does not see this as an imposition of financial constraints upon its citizens, but as a means of effecting citizens capable of bearing a form of

265 regulated freedom. The state develops education funding mechanisms constructed from “calculative technologies” that deliberately manoeuvre educational institutions towards particular ends (Rose and Miller 1992). The teachers have unwittingly become political pawns in this contrivance and unable to explain the policy to the students nor criticise the Institute’s managers and/or course costing practices while they are bound by the Code of Conduct.

As noted in Chapter 2, neoliberal globalisation is an ideology which promotes markets over the state and regulation and individual achievement/self-interest over the collective good and common well-being. In this chapter I demonstrate that TAFE NSW has created a new individualism, with individuals now being deemed responsible for their own “self-capitalising” over their lifetimes. Common good and social protection concerns have been given less focus and the market valued over the state, with enhanced market or private sector involvement in the workings of the state (Lingard 2009, p. 18).

This funding model has the potential to be manipulated by Faculty managers who allocate the government-funded places disproportionally amongst the Colleges they administer within Sydney Institute. The head teachers that are more persuasive, politically better situated or “yelled” the loudest are in a position to be able to be awarded more government-funded places for their colleges, as one interview participant explains:

The Director of the Built Environment and Transport Faculty, who is also the Gymea College Director chose to allocate internal cost centre funding to match the fees of state-sponsored places in the post trade Certificate IV Building course qualification to Gymea College even though the teachers do not possess the same level of qualifications as teaching staff at St. George and Ultimo colleges. This decision was politically motivated to “punish” the St George teachers and protect the entrenched and lucrative overtime program enjoyed by staff at Gymea College [which is in the same TAFE NSW Institute as St George and Ultimo Colleges] that would have otherwise been put at risk if full fees for the Certificate IV course were implemented.

I also see this as an equity issue. The state-sponsored places should have been awarded evenly throughout the whole Faculty based on the teaching staff’s expertise. The Faculty should have applied or argued for more state-sponsored places (TAFE NSW Teacher 2).

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As I stated earlier, at Sydney Institute the Diploma of Building Design course fee in 2016 was $19,990 (or $9,995 per year). The Smart and Skilled website discloses the fee as $14,270 (STS 2016b). The $5,720 difference in fees is due to the Faculty of the Built Environment and Transport managers at Sydney Institute seeking to increase the Faculty’s administration and marketing component in the student fee structure from 45% to 60% on top of the actual teaching costs for the course:

The [fee] increases are due to the Institute requesting a greater percentage cut of the fees in 2016. As a result of the fee increases, we lost 30% of our [domestic] student intake and some International students had their visas cancelled as they could not afford the huge cost increase (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 3).

One of the consequences of the fee increase under Smart and Skilled was identified by an interview participant:

People will probably still pay it, but the problem is that you will not get the right type of people. You will get those that are affluent or those that have a few dollars or those that have parents that can back them up. You’re not going to get the right people, those whose heart is in learning (retired TAFE NSW Institute Director 1).

The retired Institute Director argues that the higher fees in TAFE will make TAFE courses unaffordable for students from low social-economic backgrounds who are passionate about learning but see the higher fees as an obstacle to their education. Another interview participant claimed:

I’m a big fan of my taxes going to health and education, so I am very anti what is happening. I don’t like what is happening with Smart and Skilled because it is all about saving money (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 1).

The Head Teacher, quoted above, claims that he is in favour of his taxes contributing towards education, but disagreed with TAFE students having to pay increases in fees of up to 7000% under the Smart and Skilled policy. He is suggesting that education is an important social service and that TAFE fees should remain affordable. To achieve this goal he would be prepared to pay more tax, rather than the federal and state governments offsetting any reduction in taxation revenue by decreasing funding for educational services.

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The Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) computer system – another corporate managerial disciplinary mechanism

In this section I discuss the Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) computer system. The LMBR computer system is a “disciplinary” device that monitors and cross-references all aspects of a teacher’s role while coercing the teacher to undertake administrative tasks previously performed by clerical staff. The computer program is a surveillance technology similar to Foucault’s (1975) panopticon, where the prisoner is at the receiving end of asymmetrical surveillance where “he is seen, but he does not see; he is an object of information, never a subject in communication” (Beiner 2014, p. 156).

I include LMBR in this chapter as its mode of implementation and its subsequent management processes are worth discussing from a governmentality standpoint. The LMBR computer system was introduced into TAFE NSW in late 2014 to manage the organisation’s administrative requirements including finance, staff salaries and timetabling, student enrolments, student attendance and assessment and academic transcript management. McMullan (2015) suggests that TAFE NSW’s implementation of the LMBR system demonstrates the proclivity of disciplinary societies to subjugate their citizens. By logging in to the LMBR system, managers can “observe” what every teacher is doing, where they are at any given time, which subject they are teaching, which student cohort they are with and in which classroom they are conducting their teaching. The computer system serves a normative purpose. TAFE teachers are aware that they are being “observed” but not when they are being “observed”, so the “internalised self-surveillance is more ominous that actual surveillance” (Beiner 2014, p. 156) (my emphasis).

The LMBR system failed in late 2014 and became a public-relations “nightmare” for TAFE NSW. In early 2015 media reports emerged of students not receiving their academic transcripts and either being refused a place in university courses or not being eligible to apply for their trade licences (Needham 2015a). TAFE NSW responded with “spin” about why the system failed and lies about the number of students impacted and the extent of the aggravation it caused. As I was still employed full-time at the time, I was not allowed to comment on the “truth” of the responses TAFE NSW proffered to journalists. I was bound by the Department of Education and Communities Code of Conduct, which prohibits any comment of TAFE policy,

268 governance or procedural issues (NSWDEC 2014). I am making an ethical decision to comment on the failure of the LMBR system here, regardless of any potential employment consequences. The LMBR system issued all the graduating students in one Department at Sydney Institute with “course incomplete” transcripts:

In January 2015 students were leaving frantic messages over the [Christmas] holiday break, basically stating that they could not get into university and their careers were going down the tube. This affected approximately 60 students. It took 4 weeks to resolve.

This fiasco occurred again at the end of the year 2015 with the mid-year [graduating] students. A lot of the students missed out on university places as the system could not produce formal transcripts and Diplomas in time (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 3).

I can confirm this anomaly took place. For my pathways research project (Loupis, G. 2015) each January I would examine the University Entrance lift outs in the metropolitan newspapers, the University Admissions Centre (UAC) website and contact the teachers at Ultimo College to ascertain which Sydney Institute graduates were accepted into University courses. None of the Diploma of Building Design graduates from Ultimo College were accepted into university. Only two students were similarly affected at St George College.

My interview participants claimed that the LMBR computer system failed as a result of the TAFE NSW managers implementing economic rationalist procedures and inducting new technologies prior to undertaking exhaustive research and investigation solely to impress their superiors and consolidate their positions within the organisation. In staff meetings, the Institute Managers and Faculty Directors avoided any questions from teachers seeking assurances of when the faults in the system would be rectified. Two years later, the system still has problems. At a staff meeting I attended at St George College on 17 January 2017, an Institute Manager accused the teachers of not working hard enough to resolve the problems with the LMBR system.

A head teacher who was seconded to Sydney Institute to an administrative role corroborates my suggestion by claiming that there was insufficient research and testing undertaken before the system was launched: I have heard from a number of people that the EBS software was not ready for release and had not met any of the key point indicators. Consultants were employed to assess readiness for release and apparently their advice was it was not ready. Internal Sydney Institute IT advised against launching the software. There were staff in head office,

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Oxford Street, also advising against implementation due to concerns about its limitations, usability and readiness. My understanding is that Tribal, the software developer, also advised against implementation (TAFE NSW Head Teacher 2).

It seems that the TAFE NSW executives ignored this advice and implemented the LMBR system even after they were warned that the system was too complex. I suggest they should have trialled the system for a year in only one of the ten TAFE NSW Institutes before launching it, to resolve any implementation issues.

In May 2016 I witnessed academic transcripts for students who had previously graduated and were awarded their qualification which showed they had not completed their courses. When TAFE NSW transferred all of its records over to LMBR, the system “realigned” individual results. Students who graduated from Sydney Institute are now shown as not having completed their course. The auditing ramifications of this issue are momentous. As at August 2016 (when I was writing this chapter) half of the students in my first year Diploma of Building Design course at St George College, who were attending classes since February 2016, were unable to enrol in the course due to the caprices of the LMBR system. This cohort was unable to obtain a college student card, which afforded them access to borrowing and/or photocopying of resources from the library, legal access to College facilities and academic transcripts.

From January 2016 the enrolment process for VET-FEE HELP was modified to ensure that only “legitimate” VET students were afforded federal loans, by compelling students to submit proof of their Higher School Certificate or to undergo an on-line literacy and numeracy test. A two business day “cooling-off” period was also introduced (AUSGOV 2016). This policy aimed to thwart unscrupulous providers from signing students that neither needed the training nor were incapable of completing VET courses. Some private providers duped the process by contracting Indian call centres to undertake the literacy and numeracy tests for unsuspecting students and also completing students’ assignments (Bachelard 2016).

The LMBR system cost the NSW government around $752m to purchase and implement (Coyne 2016). This figure, in the public domain, is conservative and does not include the “hidden” costs involved in resolving the problems created by the failure of the system. On 16 June 2016, Minister Barilaro announced that the LMBR computer

270 system will be abandoned and TAFE NSW will find a new IT system (Barilaro 2016). The timing of the announcement is a “small act of cunning” (Foucault 1977f, p. 308) as TAFE NSW is encumbered with LMBR until at least 2018. The announcement allows the NSW government to suppress criticism of the IT system, while TAFE NSW continues to utilise it.

The Unique Student Identifier (USI)

Introduction

In this section, I will discuss the introduction of the Unique Student Identifier (USI) in VET. The USI is a technology that allows the collection of statistics on student populations and sanctions VET students to be observed and subjected to normalising practices such as ranking/categorisation and optimisation (Curtis 2002; Foucault 1977a). Foucault (2007) claims that the process of counting and separating populations was a political process aimed at dividing the population into economic subjects. The subjects are viewed as political “objects” or an abstract conceptualisation of human beings (Curtis 2001) so that they can be readily studied, managed, normalised and subjected to the state’s governmental mechanisms.

The Unique Student Identifier (USI)

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) (see chapter 2), introduced a national “cradle-to-grave” Unique Student Identifier (USI) reference number that integrates the entire national education and training system (Nous 2011). In January 2015, the USI was introduced into the VET sector. All students enrolling in nationally-accredited VET courses, either in a college or school, throughout Australia, are required to obtain a USI before they could commence their enrolment. It is comprised of ten numbers and letters and looks like an account number, ie, 3AW88YH9U5 (AUSGOV 2015).

ASQA (2015g) claimed that the USI will enable students to securely access a national databank that collects and collates their educational achievements into a single transcript. This will assist with the recording of enrolment details and will help to streamline the assessment of course prerequisites, credit transfer for RPL and the

271 assessment of eligibility for funding assistance. It will also enable students to provide training providers with access to an online authenticated record of their attainment.

The USI will capture longitudinal data on course completions and comprehensive information about students' training achievements and movements within the VET system. This will allow governments to easily collect statistics on the number of students within the VET sector – in both TAFE and the private providers, the length of time students undertake VET and the pathways students are taking through the system. The initiative will also assist governments with the management of their student entitlement programs (Nous 2011). The USI might have some positive outcomes, by allowing the government to determine if there is equitable educational provision across a disparate system, but nevertheless, I argue that the data could be manipulated to suit the government’s political purposes.

The Australian Government (AUSGOV 2015) claims that the collection and analysing of information is essential to ensuring the VET system can respond to students' preferences and to the skills needs of industry and the Australian economy. Foucault (1975) argues that governments collect statistics about their subjects (students), to acquire the information required to manipulate these subjects. Governments argue that for them to operate effectively, they require knowledge (information) about the subjects that they govern. The government discursively legitimises the process of collecting this knowledge about the populations they govern as one of the necessary technologies for the operation of good governance. For a government to manage its populations, it needs to be “grounded in the knowledge about the things it operates on and in relation to. Knowledge about the subject is the basis for the operation of power and power defines what knowledge is legitimate” (Nicoll and Fejes 2008, p. 14).

It can be seen that the USI is "an apparatus in which the techniques make it possible to induce effects of power, and in which, the means of coercion make those on whom they are applied clearly visible" (Foucault 1977c, pp. 170-171). It is another governmental technology that reinforces the argument that neoliberal governance is about increasing productivity or capacities rather than simply training for educational purposes. To achieve this, everything about the subjects needs to be known because this knowledge will form the basis of “efficient management and the maximization of

272 productive capacity in all parts and levels of the social order” (Edwards 2008, p. 25). The USI will also enable the NSW government to determine which citizens have previous qualifications, so they can charge the additional $450 tuition fee (NSWGOV 2015). Every student’s educational history can be cross-checked within the USI databank. I contend that the additional fee is another disincentive for students to pursue lifelong learning, and further evidence that TAFE NSW does not consign any educational or political importance to lifelong learning and second-chance education.

Government Employee Number (GEN)

Introduction

In this section I discuss how the NSW Government has numericalised politics and politicised statistics (Lingard et al. 2012). Neoliberal governments claim to use statistics in their policies and their governing mechanisms to depoliticise their activities while procuring even more information and knowledge about their populations. I will demonstrate how the NSW government has introduced another managerial mechanism that will render the State’s public service employees more visible.

The Government Employee Number (GEN)

In 2015, the NSW government allocated a Government Employee Number (GEN) to all government sector employees. The state government claims that the GEN is designed to help with career planning and job opportunities across the sector as well as enabling improved workforce management and analysis to improve the management, measurement and analysis of employee mobility, capability and career paths as employees move between government agencies or in and out of the sector (NSWPSC 2015b).

My concerns with the GEN extend to the additional information and knowledge that the government will be sourcing, accumulating and storing about all of its employees. Two of the stated benefits of the GEN listed on its website are:

x communication with employees within and across agencies, including sending targeted emails, surveys, newsletters and information to selected audiences across the NSW government sector x ability for agencies to undertake longitudinal workforce analysis of employee mobility and career paths (NSWPSC 2015b)

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The GEN is another governmental technology deployed to make individuals behave, to be efficient and productive workers (Foucault 2007) and to use statistics to manage the NSW government workforce. Foucault (2007, p. 354) elaborates why the state requires statistics about its workforce: Because statistics is etymologically knowledge (connaissance) of the state, the knowledge of forces and resources which characterise a state at a given moment. For example, knowledge of the population, measured in its quantity, measured in its mortality, its birth rate, estimation of the different categories of individuals in the state and their wealth, estimates of the potential (virtuelles) disposable wealth in the state: mines, forests, etc., estimates of the value of products, estimates of circulating capital, estimates of the balance of payments, measures of the effects of taxes and imports…all essential for the knowledge of the sovereign.

Neoliberal governments claim that they are making a complex and intimidating world “understandable and stable” (Legg 2005). Rose (1991) argues that the state should be held to account for the means it employs to source the statistics it collects on its populations, and it should make quite transparent which “ethical” technologies they employ to gather information (knowledge), the accuracy of their statistics and how they interpret the statistics. Information and statistics must not become “univocal tools of domination, but mobile and polyvocal resources” (Rose 1991, p. 684).

Chapter Summary

This chapter explains how TAFE NSW adopted corporate managerialist administrative practices to manage and guide the affairs of the institution and how this changed the nature of technical education. The emphasis afforded technical education by the Kangan Report (1974) on educating the individual student, encouraging lifelong, second chance and adult education changed in 1987 where technical education is framed through the VET paradigms of skills formation and human capital. The VET policies privileged industry by emphasising only the skills demanded by industry and by the technicising the TAFE curriculum. This has resulted in a “utilitarian concept of education which accepts the social goals defined by corporate elites and asks how to meet them most efficiently” (Connell 1998, p. 88). One of the main purposes of education is to enable the construction of psychological, moral and spiritual character by selecting course content from the best available intellectual traditions (Schubert 1997). These attributes are no longer deemed relevant in VET. The VET curriculum does not afford TAFE students this privilege.

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The following chapter is the concluding chapter which provides a summary and an extension of the arguments proffered in this thesis.

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Chapter 8: Conclusion: there is no curriculum in TAFE NSW or in VET in Australia

“Problems cannot be solved by the same consciousness that created them”… Albert Einstein

Introduction

This chapter aims to provide a summary, and an extension of the arguments proffered in this thesis. In this final chapter I make a contentious and provocative, but I hope compelling claim – that there is no curriculum in TAFE NSW or in VET in Australia. Specifically, that the objective of the dominant educational philosophies and views of VET is to educate people to adapt to the government’s prevailing ideologies on technical education rather than critically interrogate them.

The conclusions promulgated by this study embody the extant impacts on TAFE NSW, which are the result of VET policies “strategically established (and disrupted) and negotiated by policy actors operating within and around the state” (Gale 1997, p. 251). The conclusions will also field any concerns that were beyond the scope of this research, which could form the basis of future studies.

This chapter will commence with a brief recap of the thesis, and will revisit the Research Questions that I asked at the outset of the study. I will reiterate the Theoretical Framework for the study and discuss the impact of the VET policies on the nature and values of technical education, after which I will deliberate on the research findings. The chapter will culminate with a discussion of emerging issues in TAFE NSW and suggestions on how to restrict the diminishing educational and social service role for TAFE NSW instigated by the VET policy initiatives.

Key premise of the thesis

This thesis has been concerned with problematising the impact of federal government VET policy on curriculum development in TAFE NSW. The Skills for Australia policy deregulated public technical education by marketising TAFE and instigating competition in the Australian VET market by allowing the for-profit sector to participate

276 in VET, ostensibly to compel TAFE to become more efficient and industry focussed, but essentially to reduce the federal government’s financial commitment to training. TAFE became another VET provider. All TAFE NSW institutes were transformed into commercial entities and required to tender against each other for federal and state government funding and offer commercial fee-for-service courses after their core funding was reduced.

The renewed involvement of industry in TAFE and the privatisation of VET curriculum were intended to create a more industry-relevant and flexible technical education system that would develop the skills required to allow Australia to be economically competitive in global markets.

I argue that the VET policies changed the forms of knowledge in TAFE and the conditions of power contained in these policies. One key aspect of this was the proposition that the privatisation of curriculum development in TAFE NSW may have allowed the curriculum to be influenced by industry-vested interests since the VET policies allowed industry to write their own curriculum. At the commencement of this study I sought to investigate what factors explicated the changes in curriculum development policy in TAFE from when curriculum was developed internally, by the teachers of the curriculum, to where curriculum was developed by Industry Skills Councils and currently by Skills Services Organisations. I also investigated in what ways the changes in curriculum development policy in TAFE altered the nature of vocational education and how these changes reflect and also constitute wider changes in educational values. This study also aimed to uncover the mechanisms that privileged certain social, political and professional actors to dominate knowledge and thereby assume their identity in the construction of VET policy. My research strongly suggests that the forms of knowledge in TAFE frame and classify the world and the nature of work, which in turn, has the potential to organise and shape the individual identity of technical students (Popkewitz, 1991) and the workforce of the future.

The research investigated the effects of federal government VET policy on curriculum development in TAFE NSW. Drawing on Foucault, Lye (1997, p. 1) and Popkewitz (1994) I argue that curriculum formulation is the manifestation of power relations, whereby it allows any group holding power to exercise maximum control with a minimum amount of conflict. The state, through its educational institutions, engages in

277 value systems and conceptions of the world to normalise students and teachers and legitimise the current political order (Lye 1997). Curriculum is structured to instruct the mind to obey specific laws and rules that dictate forms of expression. It represents a microcosm of the larger processes and situations by which human vision and intellect could be ordered and organised (Popkewitz 1991). Popkewitz argues that the state exploits curriculum as a “converting ordinance” (regulation or dictum). Curriculum was invented to stress a rational coherence and sequencing of knowledge related to the forming of social and economic organisation, that is, “appropriate options and permissible action” (Popkewitz 1991, p. 22).

Foucault (1977c, 1977e, 1977g, 1977h) saw curriculum as one form of social regulation that ties the citizen to the state. The curriculum imposed by the VET policy initiatives is tied to skill formation, human capital, economic growth and Australia’s capacity to remain competitive in the global economy. The VET policies, introduced in 1987, prescribed new technologies to regulate the individual in a manner that were interrelated with the multiple demands of the new neoliberal economy and the expanding control of the state. VET became a mechanism for social and macroeconomic reform through privatisation and contestation, while its curriculum development embodies power relations and new forms of social regulation. TAFE espoused a neoliberal ethos and adopted a corporate managerialist administrative model that exploited market mechanisms to guide the allocation of resources and the management of the whole organisation (Marginson, 1997a), transmuting the traditional federal/state funding models and creating new state governance administrative hierarchies.

Key findings

Policy and politics

With the adoption of neoliberal economic and administrative practices by both sides of government in Australia, politicians, both Labor and Liberal (and their policy architects) appear to have forgotten they are part of the state that elected them to govern and have allowed their political machinations to “denigrate” the state, resulting in a “high- level of mistrust of politicians by citizens” (Suleiman 2013, p. 6). Modern Western societies no longer recognise politicians and the policies that define them as the indispensable bulwarks for democratic order, especially when politicians choose to

278 distance themselves from the state and its institutions (Brown 2015; Suleiman 2013) when it suits their political agenda. This is exacerbated nowadays when political opposition parties single-mindedly focus on “scoring political points” rather than cooperating with the elected government to support legislation that will generate long- term benefit to the economy which is drawn up in response to “existential challenges facing the country” (Mann and Ornstein 2012, p. 101).

All policy, and in particular education policy, is inherently and unavoidably political. It involves complex political decisions made, not just by politicians, but by a range of ‘policy makers’ that necessitate the weighing up and prioritising of competing interests and values within the constraints produced by individual institutional frameworks (Maddison and Denniss 2009). Education was never a “neutral enterprise”. The very nature of modern educational institutions renders the educator’s involvement in a “political act” whether he or she is conscious of it (Apple 1990). It is vital that education policy analysis and policy development be aligned beyond the parameters of “efficiency, effectiveness and political feasibility” (Ingram and Schneider 2006, p. 169) towards a multidisciplinary approach to reconstruct educational systems in the community’s and student’s interests (Simons et al. 2009). Ingram and Schneider (2006) aver that it is only in this way that policy will have any demonstrable positive impact on citizenship, justice, discourse and democracy.

In Chapter 5 I explained how the Skills for Australia policy problematised the educational issues surrounding national skill shortages and Australia’s global economic competitiveness. This elicited VET to adopt competency-based training and competency-based assessment – both narrow and excessively economistic and technicist paradigms that neglect the cognitive and behavioural attributes of knowledge (Buchanan et al. 2004).

Giroux (1992, p. 141) argues that curriculum must have theoretical underpinnings, and that the teachers of the curriculum should be allowed to teach by example:

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The Skills for Australia policy disadvantaged VET students as learners, not just pedagogically, but because they often come from less privileged circumstances where learning opportunities and educational outcomes are constrained by their cultural, political and economic circumstances. This group is usually the first to be targeted by the for-profit sector, as they frequently achieve lower marks in their schooling and are less capable of exploring alternative options (Robertson, S.L. 2012). The less privileged in our society do not realise that the for-profit sector is more focused on profit rather than educational outcomes (Smith, J.S. 1995). TAFE has traditionally played an important role in the delivery of training and related services in assisting disadvantaged groups to participate in the labour market and in society as more active citizens, but TAFE’s ability to continue to provide these services was eroded when it entered a more competitive and open market (Smith, J.S. 1995).

The politicisation of technical curriculum

Successive federal governments have continued the Dawkins’ model for VET from the early 1990s to the present. Each federal government instituted administrative and organisational amendments for TAFE to suit its political agenda at the time. The Kangan (1974) concept of humanistic post-secondary education, which was linked to social objectives, was replaced with an economic rationalist view of education.

Buchanan et al. (2004) argue that the introduction and implementation of the VET reforms was a political decision aimed at conciliating the trade unions with whom John Dawkins had an enduring relationship (see chapters 2, 4 and 5). Dawkins sought to accelerate the implementation of his VET reforms and consequentially adopted competency standards and competency-based training (CBT) (Buchanan et al. 2004), as the most expedient pedagogics to accomplish the transition from the conventional modes of technical teaching. This was expedited by TAFE and the for-profit sector being compelled to award technical qualifications by Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), a mechanism that accelerated workers’ procurement of VET credentials.

The VET policies’ concession to awarding qualifications via RPL also allowed the for- profit sector to award VET qualifications with minimal scrutiny, leading to high-risk and unscrupulous practices (PHA 2014, p. viii), with some private training providers awarding VET qualifications after three evenings of study for courses which previously

280 required between six and twelve months of full-time study. These graduates neither obtain nor possess the skills required to gain employment in the profession they have qualified for. In the building industry, for example, the “fast-tracked” and inadequately trained graduates will propagate poor construction outcomes and financial mismanagement, impacting on their clients’ financial livelihood, as well as impelling safety on building sites (Rush 2015).

I conclude that the quality of the privatised curriculum was deliberately lowered to allow the smaller states and territories to work with whatever existing teaching resources they had and to allow the for-profit sector to participate in the VET market. The reduction in the educational quality of VET was predominantly aimed at reducing the cost of delivering training by decreasing the volume of learning. The VET policies removed curriculum from technical education. It is here that I posit the main contention of the thesis: there is now no curriculum in VET or TAFE in Australia. The OECD, which originally supported the Australian VET policies, claimed that TAFE colleges in Australia had “no academic teachers or programs” and questioned whether TAFE was capable of incorporating “general content” into its courses or if its teachers were even qualified to deliver quality education (Grubb 2006, p. 21).

The training packages – which the for-profit sector and TAFE exploit – contain no curriculum. TAFE NSW embedded curriculum into the ISC-written training packages up until 2010, after which TAFE NSW, persisting with its economic rationalist ideologies discounted the value of curriculum in technical education and closed its Curriculum Development Centres. This subsequently allowed individual TAFE colleges, for the first time since their inception, and the for-profit sector to determine what educational philosophy, pedagogy, entry requirements, volume of learning, teaching modes/methods and assessment strategies etc (if any) they embed into training packages. I contend that with the removal of curriculum in VET, some of the for-profit sector inadvertently adopted the fraudulent practices discussed in Chapter 7. These practices have resulted in over 10,000 qualifications being cancelled in Victoria (Andrews 2015; Mitchell 2015) after it was established that VET qualifications were awarded without any teaching taking place (Bates 2016). The federal government has been encumbered with over 6 billion dollars in unpaid VET-FEE HELP debt that it will have to relinquish (Ross, J. 2015b). Peace (2015) claims that the majority of VET

281 students do not realise they are being “rorted” by the minimal volume-of-learning provided by the “unscrupulous” providers, until they are unable to get a job – well after the damage is done.

TAFE NSW recruited redeployed teachers to manage its Training and Educational Support (TES) Unit. This practice would not have been accepted between 1974 and 1987, when curriculum was afforded its educational significance in TAFE. The TES Unit connived with industry to terminate courses embedded with the teacher-written curriculum. The VET policies also allowed for technical education syllabus and course content to be written by inexpert practitioners without either foundational or intricate knowledge of the subject. The Diploma of Building Design course, the case study in this research was written by a Physical Fitness Instructor who represented Skills Victoria (CPSISC 2011).

Contrary to Dawkins’ claims that TAFE was unresponsive to industry’s concerns, my research suggests that industry was well represented at all levels of TAFE governance well before Dawkins introduced his VET policies (Hall 1988), including in the development of curriculum (Ross, R 1977). Ryan (1999) and Buchanan et al. (2004) argue that Dawkins had little concrete evidence to support his argument that TAFE was unresponsive to industry and was performing poorly and aver that for over two years Dawkins invented his own “regime of truth” to mobilise this bias and reset the parameters of policy debate.

Since April 2015, TAFE NSW has been expunged from the Education ministry and is now the responsibility of the Minister for Regional Development, Skills and Small Business. I contend that TAFE is no longer cogitated as an educational institution but a skills practicum allowing CBT to normalise student behaviour and thinking by steering them towards predetermined modes of thinking, feeling and acting. CBT does not require professional teachers to deliver it. It also eliminates any perceived indoctrination of the student by excluding the behaviourist and cognitive components of the curriculum. Wheelahan (2015, p. 137) claims that “CBT is the curriculum that is used when institutions are not trusted”. In 2015, TAFE NSW commenced negotiations with the education unions to inaugurate the new position of assessor (TAFENSW 2015d, 2015g) to eventually replace the professional teacher (Seddon 2009a).

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Privileging industry in TAFE NSW

The VET policies privileged industry. Industry was sanctioned to define the “purpose and potential of education” (Ball, 2004) by writing, ratifying and assessing VET curriculum through Industry Skills Councils. Through the case study in Chapter 6 I demonstrated how the VET policy initiatives introduced mechanisms that privileged certain political and professional actors to dominate knowledge by allowing them to specify what knowledge was of most worth to them and to assume their identity in the construction of VET policy. Without a curriculum, TAFE NSW students are not offered any historical or cultural context. Only those courses that lead to employment are offered and sponsored by the NSW government, without any commitment to lifelong learning, or allowing students to develop their own view of “self” and contribution to society as citizens. Macedo (2006) suggests that students should be encouraged to become knowledgeable about their histories, their experiences and the culture of their everyday environments to enable them to discern the dominant culture’s codes and signifiers. This could be achieved if educators teach a dual curriculum: a curriculum that empowers students to make sense of their everyday life, and a curriculum that empowers students to obtain the tools for mobility and value in the dominant culture (Macedo 2006). This will enable teachers to become cultural agents, but for this to eventuate, the teachers will need to make the curriculum – not merely interpreting and/or putting into practice a curriculum that had been fixed outside the classroom (Bowers 2006). In the classroom, the VET teachers are forced to deliver a “reductionist pedagogy and curriculum”, and simply become the “enforcers” of a curriculum that they have had no involvement in its development. The teachers do little more than follow a script. This Dudley-Marling et al. (2007), declare renders the teachers’ role ethically bankrupt.

The privatisation of the VET curriculum gave priority to the needs of government and industry rather than the student/worker, since 1987, and has failed to produce a workforce for the future (Kell 2006). The VET policies have turned students into economically measurable commodities. Contrary to the political rhetoric about raising living standards and opportunities for all, this instrumental system only managed to further entrench existing social inequalities (Rouse, 2005) by failing to address youth unemployment (Stone 2012). Popkewitz (1997, p. 132) avers that “curriculum is a disciplinary technology that directs how the individual is to act, feel, talk and ‘see’ the

283 world and ‘self’…as such, curriculum is a form of social regulation” that determines forms of knowledge whose function is to regulate and discipline the individual. This argument creates a compelling case that better connections need to be made between pedagogy and professional vocational preparation. The VET curriculum, based on a “tick-and-flick” competency-based assessment model engenders mechanical “instinctual” habits rather than a predisposition to generate more complex thought and a capacity for reasoning (Popkewitz 2011).

Through the case study in Chapter 6 I demonstrated that VET Training Packages are not written by experts but are compiled by the politically-perceptive and politically- active sectors of industry rather than by those representing a wide cross-section of particular industries.

Corporate managerialism in TAFE NSW

TAFE NSW reflects a corporate managerialism in its attempts to achieve its obligations to “improving student results and delivering the skills base needed to grow the NSW economy” (Minister Piccoli quoted in Baird 2016, p. 1). Managerialist values endorse professional managers as “heroes” whose authority and methodologies should not be interrogated, and afforded free reign to manage government departments as they would the for-profit sector (Pollitt 1990). The current TAFE NSW governance and management structure situates teachers within a “long line of authority in terms of their accountability for reaching measurable outcomes” (Sachs 1999, p. 3) stretching through to the Faculty Director and Institute Director. The neoliberal ethos has recreated the TAFE teacher as a:

…professional who clearly meets corporate goals, set elsewhere, manages a range of students well and documents their achievements and problems for public accountability purposes. The criteria of the successful professional in this corporate model is of one who works efficiently and effectively in meeting the standardised criteria set for the accomplishment of both students and teachers, as well as contributing to the school’s formal accountability processes (Brennan 1996, p. 22).

I contend that TAFE NSW Managers, without educationalist qualifications and without any intricate knowledge, understanding and appreciation of education will find it problematic to understand education policy and the educational context of TAFE NSW or VET. They are not qualified to assess excellence in either curriculum, pedagogy,

284 theory of knowledge, teacher professionalism, student engagement, special needs programming etc. It appears that TAFE NSW has forsaken the pursuit of educational excellence for the pursuit of commercial excellence.

TAFE NSW is predominantly administered by executives with no educational credentials, who manage the department as though it were a financial institution, while not being submitted to the checks-and-balances afforded a for-profit enterprise. I contend that without any educational qualifications and experience, the governmentality mechanisms introduced and imposed by these executives cannot be translated into valuable educational outcomes in the class room.

The impact of VET policies on the nature and values of technical education in NSW

In this section I outline the ways TAFE NSW’s adoption of neoliberal praxes altered the nature and values of technical education in NSW. The VET policy initiatives introduced by Dawkins in 1987 marketised TAFE, integrated TAFE within the newly-created nationalised VET entity and allowed the for-profit sector access to federal funding for the provision of technical education in Australia. The VET policies “blurred” the boundaries between what constitutes a public or private institution and imposed a managerialist, audit-centric organisational culture in TAFE which Wheelahan (2005) argues is the basis for many of TAFE’s current problems.

Efficiency has become a powerful mechanism for increased surveillance of previously- autonomous professionals (Gleeson and Shain 1999). Currie and Vidovich (1997) and Randle and Brady (1997) argue that there has been little evidence that managerialist practices in educational institutions in Australia and the USA have generated greater productivity or efficiency. They also claim that any commitment towards management- prescribed goals has led to an increase in staff alienation towards the new management regime and a decrease in morale. The increase in staff numbers required to administer the managerialist processes in TAFE NSW is seen by many as inefficient and ineffective, as it diverts resources away from the core productive activities of teaching.

TAFE NSW recast the role of technical education as an instrument of micro-economic

285 reform that redefined (and reduced) the role of the state and commodified social relations through consumer sovereign models of citizenship (Wheelahan 2004; Marginson 1997a). Thirteen years after TAFE NSW accepted Kangan’s (1974) recommendations to educate the individual for citizenship and to facilitate lifelong learning, the VET policies redefined technical education in narrow and rigid terms solely to serve the needs of industry.

The impact of VET policies on the nature of technical education in TAFE NSW

Vocational education has historically endeavoured to educate students for citizenship, particularly between 1974 and 1987, while also qualifying them to participate in Australia’s economic production. The VET policy initiatives relating to curriculum development in TAFE NSW have reset the traditional agendas, which I outlined in Chapter 5, by enforcing new economic priorities that minimise or elevate particular knowledge and subject positions (Walshaw 2007). The VET reforms changed “the way in which education is organised, managed and delivered; how the curriculum is decided and taught; how students’ performance is assessed; and how students, teachers, schools and communities are judged” (Ball and Youdell 2007, p. 9).

Education is a key input into the development of a research sector that produces new knowledge and ideas, which can determine a country’s capacity to profit from globalisation. Therefore, education and federal skill policies have a strategic function in making globalisation more inclusive (Woessmann 2011). TAFE NSW curriculum traditionally incorporated workplace-related skills, contextual learning experiences and professional behavioural competencies (Lunenburg 2011). The VET policies do not deliberate on “the nature of knowledge and its construction, the role of values in

286 society, the nature of work, the effects of technology on society, power and control [or] ideology” (Stevenson 1992, p. 218). The VET curriculum dis-aggregates knowledge into small components without incorporating the higher-order cognitive skills necessary to integrate the dis-aggregated components (Stevenson 1992). TAFE NSW students are now processed “through stratified steps [competency-based assessment] leading to predictable, marketable credentials for the workplace” (McNeill 1999, p. 3). Drawing on Foucault (1982) I contend that TAFE NSW has now constructed vocational students into economic subjects by framing technical education as skills formation and connecting it to the economic development of the State and contributing towards Australia’s global competitiveness. The introduction of commercial fees for courses that are not on the governments “preferred” list of qualifications – negotiated with industry – subjects TAFE NSW students to labour market forces and the verisimilitude of the Australian economy.

In the VET curriculum the emphasis is on observable outcomes. In this paradigm, students are not afforded the opportunity to develop their internal cognitive aptitudes, such as “conceptualisation, learning how to learn, discovery, analysis, problem-solving and experimentation” (Stevenson 1992, p. 235), which are attributes sought by employers (Anderson 2006). Pascarella and Terenzini (1998) further argue that the fragmented and disjointed nature of the VET training packages limits student learning capabilities compared to the traditionally-structured and coherently-sequenced learning which integrated academic experiences and resulted in higher-order learning outcomes.

The VET curriculum avoids any discussion of educational theory. There is no dialogue relating to the personal disposition or attributes of technical students, such as “education, freedom, fulfilment, problem-solving, qualities, learning, student [cohorts], conceptual understanding, higher order thinking, cognitive processes, knowledge, debate…” (Stevenson 1992, p. 218). VET students’ suitability to a particular career is constructed socially and culturally (Seddon, 2015b). The structure of CBT has de- socialised the TAFE classroom, as the paradigm does not promote teamwork and group interaction1, which is the preferred practice in professional offices. Pring (1986) argues that due to the removal of education options and life-science subjects from the curriculum, these students will not be able to navigate whatever their future holds, and

287 this will not ultimately serve the needs of industry, whatever emphasis is placed on skills and technology, but rather, it will create a disillusioned and alienated generation of workers.

It would be appropriate at this point to analyse a quote regarding the role of technical education in Australia by Dawkins (1992, p. 9), the architect of the VET policies:

Cleverness is not purely about grappling with theoretical matters. Indeed, there is nothing clever about a nation that is not capable of implementing bright ideas and that does not have the dexterity or know-how to deal capably with problems in the work place and in industry

Dawkins derides theoretical knowledge not unlike industry denigrating university graduates for being “too theoretical” and not being “practical enough”. I suggest that Dawkins miscalculated the impact of his VET policies on technical education in Australia. The VET policies introduced competency-based training (CBT) and competency–based assessment (CBA) to normalise the individual and turn them into “meaningful subjects and docile objects” (Olssen 2014, p. 31) for the economic benefit of the state. Stevenson (1992, p. 218) argues that CBT and CBA do not satisfactorily allow VET students to “have the dexterity or know-how to deal capably with problems in the work place and in industry”.

There is always more to education

The VET policies employed a neoliberal political rationality which connects the capabilities of the individual to the state’s economic policies. Popkewitz (1996, p. 28) argues that this paradigm does not allow students a fair eligibility for participation in education and that TAFE NSW’s pedagogy produces “systems of inclusions/exclusion as local, and partial knowledges are inscribed as universal and global”. The VET policies emphasised the role of the Australian economy in technical education and the concomitant functions of preparing and selecting people for employment, but Marginson (1997a) argues that there is always more to education. He suggests that education can change the character of people’s social attributes – their nature as self- managing, autonomous citizens.

The current VET curriculum does not endow TAFE NSW students with the capabilities

288 to compete effectively for employment in a globalised marketplace. To succeed, they will need to respond creatively to the pressures – economic, environmental and cultural – they will encounter when they graduate (Andrzejewski and Alessio 1999), and to this end, my research suggests, the VET curriculum has not succeeded. The broader educational and societal needs of VET students have been neglected in favour of the requirements of business and industry (Cornford 2006b). Apple (2001) suggests that if the state articulated educational policy with cultural policy it would avoid the dehumanising effects that have resulted from the economic ascendency in education, especially when the economy is closely identified with market liberalism. He claims that this would achieve better educational outcomes. This will also allow more critical questions to be raised about citizenship and identity and about the ‘winners and losers’ in our globalised world. Taylor et al. (1997) suggest that Dawkins had discounted the impact that the VET policies would have on TAFE NSW pedagogy and curriculum, management and governance, teachers and the student body itself.

The structure and content of the current TAFE NSW courses do not encompass the knowledge and skills required for its graduates to be capable of participating effectively and holistically as global citizens (Conford 2006b) nor does it promulgate a hankering for lifelong learning (Seddon 2015b). TAFE NSW adopted a neoliberal managerialist ethos within its organisational structure and administration and now rationalises its management decisions based on economic and/or business protocols rather than on educational outcomes. I contend that TAFE NSW has lost its broader educational function and is neglecting its commitment to further (lifelong) education, by commercialising all courses above Certificate IV level. This development was lamented by the majority of my interview participants who suggest that the reduced volume-of- learning in VET – “If it is not needed immediately on the job we don’t do it” – and the reliance on the “tick-and-flick” competency-based assessment protocol, to reduce the cost of VET, has resulted in there being no general studies subjects or contextual knowledge in TAFE. Students now receive a narrow, mechanistic education. The marketisation of TAFE and the adoption of full contestation have compelled TAFE NSW to give priority to economic efficiency over students’ educational needs in its allocation of educational resources (Marginson 1997b). Codd (1993) endorses this claim by arguing that the VET policies are not producing a fairer distribution of

289 educational benefits as they target economic efficiency rather than centring on educational outcomes.

The impact of VET policies on educational values in TAFE

Foucault (1986) suggested that in Western societies educational institutions are encouraged to take over the duties of the family such as the transmission of culture, imparting knowledge, and developing beliefs, values, and norms. These institutions have become the agencies responsible for socialising groups of children and young people for specific employability skills and values in society (Saldana 2013).

The VET policies conceded the neoliberalist system of values whereby the cost of education is conceded to the individual and were shaped by discourses that reconfigured the goal of education as the construction of the economic citizen (Marginson 1997a). The marketisation of TAFE NSW and the prioritisation of efficiency and productivity in the VET sector have given consequence to “product and output” over “process and input” while validating a market-type accountability (Lynch 2014). The marketisation of TAFE resulted in the erosion of public [lifelong] education while turning technical curriculum, assessment and the control of educational work over to agencies where profitability rather than civility is the primary imperative (Seddon 2015a). Ball (2004, p. 10) summarises the neoliberal managerialist ethos adopted by the professional managers in education:

Value replaces values. Moral reflection is unnecessary, indeed obstructive. What is needed is flexibility, in terms both of skills, interest, application and morality. The new knowledge worker should not be encumbered by scruples. Here cold calculation and extrinsic values predominate2. This is the archetypal 'post-modern' professional - defined by depthlessness, flexibility, transparency and represented within spectacle - within performances. Like the performative institution, the 'post-professional' is conceived of as simply responsive to external requirements and specified targets, armed with formulaic methods – ‘what works’- suited to every eventuality. Their ‘professionalism’ inheres in the willingness and ability to adapt to the necessities and vicissitudes of policy…Beliefs and values are no longer important - it is output that counts. Beliefs and values are part of an older, increasingly displaced discourse of public service.

Ball (2004, p. 9) elaborates on what mechanisms constitute the formulaic methods he references in the above quote – “the use of metrics, targets, linked to incentives and sanctions, and the constant collection and publication of performance data, embeds instrumentality in everything we do. And in the process, what we do is all too often

290 emptied of all substantive content. Increasingly, we choose and judge our actions in terms of effectivity and appearance”.

I contend that as polemic as the above quotes appears, and though it is specific to the UK in 2004, it is an accurate description of the mindset of the current TAFE NSW executives. At all College or Faculty meetings that I attended over the last 5 years there has been no discussion about educational values or educational quality. The discussion is perpetually about reducing costs. My interview participants have recounted many of the points that Ball makes in the quote, when they reflected on the characteristics of TAFE NSW management, but they were not able to articulate all of the points summarised by Ball above.

Foucault (1991, p. 2008) suggests that the modern neoliberal state habitually claims that specific political and economic demands dictate education policy which, in turn, necessitates the creation of a new set of values, which override traditional values. Ball (2012a) suggests that this has led to the rescinding of funding for programs that succoured the historic struggles of “class, gender, race and ability”. TAFE NSW implemented policies that required people to conform their behaviour, values and understanding to standards and norms that maximised economic efficiencies (Mourad 2001).

ASQA’s modus operandi and the structure of the VET regulatory system focuses on ensuring providers meet the requirements of the training packages and provider standards prospectively, rather than on the quality of student outcomes attained or the students’ educational experience (VICDET 2015a). I suggest that economic rationalism will eventually backfire on industry and the state and territory governments as the standard of technical education in Australia will diminish to a point where VET graduates will be unable to obtain employment due to their low educational achievements. The skills shortages that instigated the implementation of the VET policies in 1987 will continue to affect every state and territory’s economy.

The marketisation of TAFE NSW has also brought it within the human capital paradigm. Industry has been allowed to define the “purpose and potential of education” (Ball 2004, p. 11) while it writes, verifies and ratifies course content in VET. The

291 demands of industry have been given priority over the needs and demands of TAFE’s students. The volume-of-learning and content of technical education has been adapted to suit a particular cost rather than quality. Seddon (2009a) argues that TAFE has focussed on economic expediency rather than educational ethics. Seddon (2015b) suggests that TAFE teachers have expressed “incredulity” and fear for the continued survival of TAFE in Australia, along with its distinctive social justice commitments, which are not evident in the for-profit sector. Saltman (2002) argues that the VET policy initiatives have not produced the benefits they had promised, such as creating a strong economy and increasing individual wealth, but the policies have imbued a profit incentive in TAFE. He contends that education is a valuable resource that the state owes to its citizens, but the hegemony of the neoliberal policies in the VET market has displaced democratic values and blurred the boundaries between moral spheres.

My research suggests that it is not possible to reconcile values in technical education when the compliance Framework makes no reference to values or quality in education. I argued in Chapter 7 that TAFE NSW has embraced compliance as it is an empirical disciplinary mechanism which allows a simplistic right/wrong outcome, while obfuscating the gargantuan administrative structures that have been created to support it. The expected increases in effectiveness and efficiency for TAFE administration did not eventuate. In all instances the compliance methodologies adopted by TAFE NSW resulted in additional staffing costs including the procurement of additional layers of leadership, management and coordinating roles that produced an even more complex decision-making structure and hierarchy (Christensen 2006; Currie and Vidovich 1997). I have also argued in Chapter 7 that the budgets spent on successive organisational restructures and administrative realignments in TAFE NSW have rerouted funding from TAFE NSW’s core function of technical and further education without contributing any discernible positive outcomes in the TAFE class room.

Conclusions

Technical education has been politicised. TAFE has become just another VET provider. This stance is also supported by Seddon (2001, p. 308), who avers that the curriculum in VET serves as a means of “regulation, an instrument of control and construction, wrapped up in nation-building rhetoric, which connected and organised

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‘people’ into a collective productive force to advance the nation, consolidate national identity and realise national destiny”. She goes on to argue that the ethical and moral implications of control, dominance and power are eliminated from any discussion when the only problem of education is implementing technologies aimed at regulating and managing populations (Seddon 2001).

The traditional social welfare and citizenship attributes of TAFE curriculum have been replaced by economic and human capital considerations. Dawkins was influenced by his union colleagues and industry to introduce competency-based training to accommodate work-place training and assessment and to expedite the acquisition of trade qualifications through RPL. The removal of curriculum from the training packages has afforded the for-profit sector, and now TAFE NSW, the opportunity to reduce teaching costs rather than improving the quality of the education delivered to students. I contend that the training packages do not encompass the underpinning theoretical and cognitive knowledge required for VET graduates to be capable of participating effectively and holistically as global citizens or promulgate a hankering for lifelong learning.

The marketisation of VET failed to reduce the cost of VET for the federal/state governments as billions of dollars have been defrauded by unscrupulous operators in the for-profit sector. Entire industries and trades have been lost, while high rates of youth unemployment and endemic skill shortages continue to afflict the Australian economy just as they did in 1987 (Riordan 2016; Patty 2015; Stone 2012) compelling employers to recruit migrant workers under the Temporary Skilled 457 Visa scheme.

By pursuing the British VET system (Kelty et al. 1987), the Australian VET policies failed from an educational perspective as they imposed a narrow technicist definition for skills which served “narrow private interests rather than the wider public good” (Gallagher and Anderson 2005, p. 9). I suggest that this may have prompted the recent increase in the formation of Enterprise Training Organisations (ETOs) where many large industrial manufacturers, eg Toyota, Boral, Coles Myer, McDonalds (BCA 2004) are setting up their own training divisions, after their training contacts with TAFE NSW have expired, further reducing TAFE’s role in VET. I contend that TAFE NSW should

293 adopt the Northern European concept of VET, which encompasses a broader definition of skills and offers graduates the flexibility to perform a multitude of tasks in a number of related industries (Riordan 2016), or as Wheelahan et al. (2015, p. 20) argue, “prepare individuals to work in a career rather than [in] specific jobs” (my emphasis). I maintain that there is a structural failure in VET governance and policy when the fee for the Diploma of Building Design course at Sydney Institute TAFE NSW is $9,995/year compared to $8,917/year for the Architecture degree courses at UNSW. Toner (2014, p. 222) asserted that the marketisation of VET was predestined to fail. He utilised a transaction cost economics model and concluded that “the characteristics of publicly funded VET as a commodity and the conditions under which it is privately produced and consumed” does not “meet the minimum conditions for efficient contracting out”. He argues that the economic and social consequences of the declining quality of VET provision by the for-profit sector will be “potentially severe”.

Recommendations for research and policy

There is a need for closer analysis and continuing debate about the VET policy initiatives especially “the equation made between economic and educational goals, the values which have been adopted, the assumptions about the nature and role of knowledge, and the conceptions of cognitive structures, their acquisition and their use” Stevenson (1992, p. 214). These educational principles are not discussed in VET.

From 1987 to the present, successive federal, state and territory governments in Australia have incorporated economic rationalist principles when framing VET policies. They argue the need to reduce educational funding and for TAFE colleges to operate more like a business, but neglect to explain or elaborate on how the policies will impact on the nature of technical education. I suggest that for TAFE NSW to survive it will need to reduce its costs, not by retrenching professional teachers, but by reverting to a central administrative structure and replacing the inefficient and distended corporate managerialist model of governance. Professionally-qualified teachers should be involved in the development of curricula that incorporates educational principles. All future policies should emphasise citizenship and educational quality. I suggest that the $65m annual ASQA budget could be used for course development rather than for compliance monitoring strategies. VET providers should be charged for accreditation

294 audits with course experts utilised to undertake these audits. When a VET provider fails an audit, they should be compelled to pay to be reaudited to encourage a commitment to compliance.

It will be ethically negligent for TAFE NSW to ignore the above suggestions. My research corroborates with Cornford (2006a, 2006b), who argues that the educational quality of VET graduates has steadily declined since the introduction of the VET policies in 1987. I suggest that the VET system needs to be restructured to adopt a student-centred educational perspective, utilising social equity paradigms, rather than economic viewpoints. I argue that if this is not done, skills levels in Australia will drop to a level where graduates are unemployable. Stone (2012) and Mulheron (quoted in Patty 2015, p. 1) claim that industry is now asking for TAFE to retake a larger role in VET in Australia. TAFE has historically provided substantial value to technical education and is capable, with some adjustments to its current federal funding models, of continuing that traditional role in Australia, particularly as the for-profit sector delivers only training and/or qualifications that are inexpensive to deliver. My interview participants claimed that there is evidence of a resurgence of state owned technical colleges in the USA being invited to deliver more federally-funded educational programs and for-profit colleges being deregistered, similar to the current situation in Australian (ASQA 2017). It would be of significant benefit to technical education in this country if Australian politicians emulated the changes instigated in the USA.

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Endnotes

Chapter 1

1 The Building Designers Association (BDA), now called Building Designers Australia was established in 1992 in NSW to represent practitioners involved in the practice of building design and to supervise the construction of buildings by those who are not registered as architects.

2 The federal Government funds and administers universities. It also funds VET through the Council of Australian Government (COAG) agreements, but allows the state and territory governments to administer VET.

3 I have deliberately included which political party John Dawkins belonged to as I want to demonstrate that state and federal governments from both sides of Australian politics introduced educational policies incorporating neoliberal ethos.

Chapter 2

1 TAFE NSW was incorporated as an independent statutory body under the Technical and Further Education Commission Act of 1990. The legislative framework and accountabilities of the TAFE Commission Act sanctions the role of TAFE NSW as the State's public VET provider (TAFENSW 2015a). The functions of the TAFE NSW Commission include: x consulting with industry and the community to ensure technical and further education services are relevant to industry, business, students and other groups x providing students with the maximum opportunity to progress to further education and training by linking into further TAFE NSW courses or those of other education and training providers x providing educationally or vocationally disadvantaged groups with access to technical and further education and other specialised services (TAFENSW 2015e, p. 8).

2 Table 2.4 below shows the latest version of the AQF hierarchy of qualifications.

Level Qualification 1 Certificate I 2 Certificate II 3 Certificate III 4 Certificate IV 5 Diploma 6 Advanced Diploma, Associate Degree 7 Bachelor Degree 8 Bachelor Degree (Honours) Graduate Certificate Graduate Diploma 9 Masters Degree 10 Doctoral Degree Table 2.4 The AQF hierarchy of post-secondary qualifications (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: AQF 2013).

3 Fooks (1994) summarised what he claimed were the main reasons for labelling TAFE as educations Cinderella:

x Lack of status. TAFE has always been viewed as something for the working class, relating generally to technical training, as though what occurred was not of sufficient merit to be described as education. x Lack of an effective lobby. Unlike the other sectors of education, there are no alma maters or P&Cs. x Student groups have been non-existent or ineffectual. x Teachers and unions were never successfully organised nationally and their campaigns have never been as effective as those of their counterparts in higher education or schools. x TAFE Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) or assemblies of college directors have never had the clout of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee (AVCC). x Employer groups have generally tended to content themselves with levelling criticisms rather than being fully involved in constructive reform.

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x Trade unions have generally understood training issues, but have tended to let the big gains slip away because of an inability to let go of some of the industrial relations baggage*.

*The teachers / education unions have traditionally been more focused on wages and work hours for TAFE teachers rather than getting involved in educational or curriculum issues.

Through my more than 33 years’ experience in the TAFE system, I would suggest the following reasons for TAFE being frequently ignore by all levels of government:

x There are no academic rankings of TAFE Institutes, colleges or courses for TAFE or any private VET provider, as there is for universities (Marginson 1997a, 1997b), so there is no data that prospective students can use when applying for enrolment to a TAFE course. x There are no politically-active student unions in TAFE as there are in universities, pursuing the students’ academic rights. The TAFE student unions are more concerned with arranging students’ extra-curricular activities and non-academic campus activities than canvassing students about their thoughts and/or attitudes toward the academic component and/or outcomes of their courses.

4 The flow charts, over page, compare the traditional procedure for the writing or revision of a course (figure 1) with that of the current procedure (figure 2).

Figure 1. The steps and procedures in Figure 2. The steps and procedures establishing a new course or revising an in establishing a new course in VET existing course in TAFE Drawn: G Loupis, after Ross, R., (1977) Drawn: G Loupis, after CPSISC (2012) *NRCC = New and Revised Course Committee *RTO =Registered Training Organisation

UNIO N S ~

COMMUNITY GROUPS

ASQA A u s tralia n Sk i l l s Q u ality Authorit y

TAFE o r RTOs * f o r imple m e ntation

APPROVAL OFFICER cou ld be Minis t e r of Educatio n

SECRETARIAT notifie s s chool o f a pproval s tatus an d appr o v e s lmp lemo ntatlo n

E XAMINATIO N S BRANCH t racks exa minat ion c onte nt

C URRICULUM RESE ARCH a rchives and rosoar c ll

I NFORMATION SERVICES UNIT cours e Info rmatio n b rochures e t c

5 Chris Eccles was the senior public servant that introduced the concept of contestability to TAFE South Australia (in 2012) and TAFE Victoria in 2009 which reduced TAFE Victoria’s share of VET to 26% in 5 years. He was brought to TAFE NSW in 2011 by Premier O’Farrell to introduce a similar policy, which evolved into the Smart and Skilled policy. Eccles boasted that his job was to “clean up the bodies”. He was considered too polemic and had his contract paid out by Premier Baird when he took over from O’Farrell (Clennell 2014), but the Smart and Skilled policy was retained.

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6 This dichotomy may be better explained in the following table.

Education Privatisation Goals The accumulation of knowledge that is The accumulation of profit, which is kept shared and is free and accessible for all by the owners Motivations Educates those who are motivated to Educates those who can pay for the learn, independent of their financial status education Methods To give education to whoever wishes to To buy or sell education at whatever have it price the market will pay Standards of excellence The more difficulty the degree of problem How easy the product is to sell, and the solving, the better degree to which the product remains problem-free Standards of freedom Freedom to ask questions and to seek Freedom to buy whatever one wishes to answers buy and freedom to make a profit from what one buys Table 2.5 A comparison of Education and Privatisation (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: Hill 2003).

7 The following table summarises and compares the social justice values of education before the influence of neoliberalism objectives on educational policy formulation.

Neoliberal utilitarianism Social justice as fairness Primary social objective Choice Equity What is distributed? Education as a preferred good Education as a primary social good (exchangeable commodity) Distributive principle Utility (optimal average benefits for all – Fairness (Inequalities are justified only if even if disparities are wider) they benefit those who are disadvantaged) Main criterion for resource Efficiency (invest to maximise aggregate Need (invest to improve opportunities allocation gains) for least advantaged) Major educational outcome Increased educational productivity Fairer distribution of educational benefits Major social effort Disproportionate acquisition of resources Redistribution of benefits by limiting by most advantaged (profit by some) choice (welfare for all) Table 2.6 Ethical frameworks for educational policy (Drawn: G Loupis, Source: Pont et al. 2013)

8 In October 2012, the New South Wales government announced that only TAFE courses up to Certificate III level would be sponsored. All students undertaking paraprofessional courses – from Certificate IV to Graduate Vocational Diploma/Certificate – would be charged full fees. Many VET teachers argue that this creates more competition between TAFE and private VET providers and will encourage students to pursue their studies at private VET providers. Some TAFE courses, for example, Building Construction have had a steady reduction in enrolments over the last three years due to the competition between TAFE and private providers, like the Master Builders Association, the Housing Industry Association and numerous other private providers. In this instance, the students are prepared to pay higher fees as the private providers offer their qualifications on-line and/or in a fast-tracked format.

It is also being proposed that all entry level VET teachers in TAFE would now be recruited at Tutor level. The NSW Greens MP Dr John Kaye argued that this was “an attempt to cut costs by undermining TAFE teacher salaries. Students will be denied the right to be taught by a professional with experience and detailed subject knowledge. A teacher is expected to have detailed subject knowledge beyond the specific topic being taught. The O'Farrell government is picking up where Labor left off in downgrading the professionalism of TAFE teachers” (Kaye 2012, p. 1).

Kaye (2012) also claimed that in 2008 the government downgraded the qualifications required of TAFE teachers from a university graduate diploma to a Certificate IV. The current government is pushing to have instructors who only know a little more than the students deliver the courses. The objective is to replace qualified and knowledgeable teachers with lower paid paraprofessionals to cut costs, regardless of the short and long term consequences.

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Table 2.7 below, compares the 2012 TAFE teacher entry qualifications and employment conditions with the current qualifications and employment conditions.

Course / curriculum Diploma of Architectural Diploma of Building Design Technology (up to 2012) (from 2013 to present) Starting position: Teacher Starting position: Tutor Starting salary (2013) $73,256 plus super contributions $65,000 plus superannuation Teaching hours per week 20 hours 28 hours Attendance at college / week 35 hours per week 35 hours per week Attendance at college / year 41 weeks per year 48 weeks per year Teachers’ qualifications Qualifications acceptable by the Appropriate vocational qualifications Architect’s Accreditation Council of Australia for registration as an architect, ie BArch (before 2007) or MArch (after 2007) Industry Experience Five years relevant post-graduate Appropriate knowledge and skills experience, including expertise in CAD Teaching Qualification Cert.IV in Training and Assessment None stipulated Table 2.7. A comparison of the 2012 TAFE teacher entry qualifications with the current qualifications. Drawn : G Loupis Source: JobsNSW website (column 1) and TAFENSW 2013b (column 2)

Chapter 3

1 The fact that it took over 10 years to embed Kangan’s philosophy in the new curriculum was indicative of the “time-lag” between policy formulation and policy implementation in TAFE. The policy initiatives that have driven this study were introduced in 1987 and implemented in 1994. The first curriculum that incorporated these initiatives was taught in 2013.

2 The design process is essentially a problem solving methodology utilised by Architects to design any type of building. As there are countless types of buildings, the design process is taught in all Architecture courses to allow architects to design any building by following a sequence of problem-solving steps and check lists. There are numerous design philosophies and methodologies, but one leading proponent was Christopher Alexander (1978) who published A Pattern Language.

3 VET-FEE-HELP – HELP is an acronym for Higher Education Loan Program. It is available to assist eligible students studying higher level vocational education and training (VET) qualifications to pay their tuition fees. Higher level VET qualifications are at the diploma level and above.

4 Docile objects, from the Latin docilis or teachable relates to Foucault’s (1977c) chapter on “The Means of Correct Training” from Discipline and Punish where he discusses the “practices or micro-technologies that bring together the exercise of power and the constitution of knowledge, in the organization of space and time along ordered lines, so as to facilitate constant forms of surveillance and the operation of evaluation and judgement” (Hoskin 1990, p. 31).

5 Apparatus means a thoroughly heterogeneous ensemble consisting of the discourses, institutions, architectural forms, regulatory decisions, laws, administrative measures, scientific statements, philosophical, moral and philanthropic propositions...the apparatus itself is the system of relations that can be established between these elements (Gordon 1980).

Chapter 4

1 TAFE NSW explicated its curriculum development process in The Corporate Plan for TAFE in NSW: To provide a program of curriculum development and evaluation which ensures high quality and relevance of all TAFE courses and which is responsive to the changing needs of students, industry and the community generally. This program to be achieved through:

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information gathering, educational research and liaison with industry and the community at the college, regional, state-wide and national levels the development of courses with clearly defined educational objectives, structure, content and minimum resource requirements. The evaluation of both existing and proposed curricula to ensure that they can efficiently and effectively fulfil the educational objectives for which they have been designed. The development and evaluation of student assessment schemes and the type of examinations most appropriate for each course the development of alternative education methods, resources and technology and assessment of the ways in which they can be used to improve the quality and extent of technical and further education provision activities that ensure special modes of study such as external studies or distance education are of appropriate standards (NSWTAFE1983b, p. 17).

2 By 1990, the formulation of course content and course outcomes was undertaken by Industry Training Advisory Boards (ITABs) – organisations (usually an incorporated association or company) representing a particular industry to provide advice to federal and/or state/territory governments on its particular vocational and training needs. In 2003 the ITABs were replaced by Industry Skills Councils (ISCs), which performed a similar function but were an amalgamation of related industry groupings

3 In 1983, the Hawke Labor government sponsored the Prices and Incomes Accord between the government, the trade union movement and employer groups to prevent union militancy and high wage increases from undermining both economic growth and the political stability of the government (Hearn 2013). Skills training and retaining became linked to wage and award restructuring. Workers’ wages were classified based on their training, on the assumption that improved skills would lead to higher productivity (Lindsay and Ginsberg 1995). This resulted in the introduction of the VET policy initiatives, and the introduction of competency-based training and the restructuring of the publically-funded TAFE system (Buchanan et al. 2004).

4 Training packages comprise the following nationally-endorsed components: x The units of competency. These specify the knowledge and skills required to perform specific tasks in a workplace, x The qualifications which are created when units of competency are grouped together. x The assessment guidelines used to assess competency within specific industry frameworks (Guthrie 2009, p. 12). As at August 2014 there were 65 nationally-accredited training packages and approximately 1,600 qualifications. Training packages cover around 85 per cent of Australian occupations (DEPTIND 2014, p. 9).

5 I can substantiate the “dumbing down” of the curriculum in the courses I have taught in TAFE NSW. When I started teaching in 1983, the Certificate IV in Architectural Drafting was offered to year 10 students, and took two and a half years to complete requiring 28 hours per week attendance. The current Diploma of Building Design course takes two years to complete and requires 20 hours per week attendance. The volume and complexity of the projects in the diploma courses has been reduced compared to the Certificate IV course. Sydney Institute mangers are continuously proposing to reduce the diploma course to between 15-18 hours per week to save on teaching costs. They justified their claims based on there being no curriculum.

6 A significant amount of literature, from 1999 to the present, has been critical of the principle of CBA, especially in the assessment of the creative disciplines, eg graphic design, fine arts and architectural technology (Billett et al. 1999; Misko 1999; Booth 2000; Williams and Bateman 2003; Pickersgill 2005; Guthrie 2009; Wilkinson 2010; Deissinger et al. 2011). It is worth examining the origins of CBA to understand why it has been criticised by researchers and teachers of VET, not only in Australia but also in the USA and Europe. CBA originated in the USA in the early 1970s as an alternative method of assessing vocational educational teachers who were receiving poor results in their teacher training courses. The paradigm for vocational

300 teacher education became “performance-based” and was centred on assessing the “role requirements” and “standards of behaviour” of trainee teachers (Deissinger et al 2011, p. 6).

7 Before training packages were adopted, TAFE NSW had three classifications of examinations: Class A – externally set, externally reviewed, externally supervised and marked by a panel comprised of teachers from all colleges where the course was delivered. This examination was undertaken in the final year of selected core subjects. Class B – externally set, externally reviewed, internally supervised and marked by the teacher who delivered the class in each college. This examination was undertaken at the end of the first year of a two-year course. Class C – internally set and internally marked by the teachers who delivered the classes in each college. These examinations could be given at any time throughout the course. This practice ceased with the introduction of training packages, where all assessment is undertaken internally, by the teachers/assessors of the subject.

8 ASQA requires that “assessment involves the collection and analysis of a sufficient quantity of evidence from a sufficient variety of sources in order to make a confident professional judgement regarding competence” (Smith, L. R. 2000, p. 25). Assessment is undertaken against each individual competency specified in the training package.

Chapter 5 (no Endnotes)

Chapter 6

1 The current course structure proved problematic in 2015 when the Smart and Skilled policy was implemented. Some of the students at St George College that completed the first year of the Diploma course refused to complete the second year of the course as their fees had increased from $1514 for first year to $8700 for the second year. These students would have been awarded a Certificate IV in the previous course structure. Under the Smart and Skilled policy in 2016, Certificate IV students are subsidised, which also means that if the previous courses structure had continued, the first year of the courses would have been subsidised. The fee for 2016 was $9,995/year or $19,990 for the two-year Diploma course.

2 At St George College First year construction lectures discussed the codes, regulations and theory related to the following types of residential types: Term 1: Timber frame and brick-veneer single-storey cottages Term 2: Full brick, two-storey and split-level houses Term 3: Medium density residential development Term 4: Residential apartments with complicated detailing

3 The typical design projects at St George College for First year (full-time) were: Semester 1: Beach Hut – on a waterfront property, and Upper Floor Residential Additions Semester 2: Dual Occupancy or Townhouses Typical design projects for Second Year (full-time) were: Semester 1: Large Span Structures, eg Community Centre or Art Gallery or Television Studio Semester 2: Mid-rise Structure, eg 4-5 storey Educational Faculty Building or Office Building

4 The previous course was subject-based with graded assessments. This courses was competency-based with graded assessments, where students would be awarded their diploma in either pass, credit or distinction grade. Assessments were awarded the following grades:

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50% - 69% - Pass 70% - 82% - Credit 83% -100% - Distinction

5 Curriculum Directives for the Diploma of Architectural Technology course:

Entry Requirements Students had to satisfactorily complete year 12 with a minimum of 10 Higher School Certificate units, or equivalent.

Assessment The curriculum documents specified a holistic assessment methodology by inter-relating the units across a common design project. Students were expected to provide the following evidence for assessment: x Produce work (exercises) in a simulated workplace – collected via a portfolio of work, logbooks and complementary documentation x Produce work (exercises) in a TAFE college – the process and outcomes to be undertaken during direct observation x Demonstrate underpinning knowledge and the ability to apply this knowledge – via questioning, interviewing and set assignments The assessment of each competency was required to incorporate four specific skill sets, including: x Task skills – assessing the student’s ability to perform work-related tasks, x Task management skills – determining whether a student is capable of performing a number of different tasks concurrently to achieve a specific outcome, x Contingency management skills – assessing whether a student is capable of dealing with irregularities, imperfections and unknown factors. Students would be exposed to practical projects that necessitated their apply knowledge in a wide range of contexts requiring higher- order problem solving, x Job/role environment skills – determining whether students are capable of dealing with the responsibilities and expectations of the work environment and in working with others. There students will be given practical exercises that closely simulate a workplace environment.

Equity Issues The curriculum documents stipulate that the assessment methodology and process should reflect the workplace demands (eg literacy) and the needs of particular target groups such as people with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, people with a language background other than English. An individual’s access to the assessment process should not be adversely affected nor restricted by the location or context of the assessment process beyond the requirements specified in the assessment criteria.

The curriculum documents allow for flexibility of the assessment methodology to ensure equity (and sensitivity) in the assessment for people with disabilities, by allowing adjustment and changes to the assessment process or context that will meet the individual needs of the person with a disability, that do not change the competency outcomes.

The following guidelines are recommended for use to support the assessment of all students, including those with disabilities: x Identify the issues – building a rapport with the learner will help you to identify any particular needs they may have and help you to meet those needs x Create a climate of support – successful assessment will not be possible in a climate of hostility or ignorance. As an assessor it is your role to create and foster a climate of tolerance, acceptance and support, x Ensure access – for people with disabilities access can sometimes pose a problem and it is the trainer, assessor and employer who can provide assistance to ensure access is achieved. Access needs are based on the individual’s needs and abilities and can include the provision of; - Ramps, height-adjustable desks/benches - Enlarged material, braille translations - Technology such as audio tapes and speech synthesisers - An AUSLAN interpreter, a scribe to write lecture notes and take dictated responses to questions x Appropriately structured assessment – the structure of the assessment may be altered to

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achieve the same outcomes. The assessment may be broken into smaller, more manageable segments, and/or more time may be allocated for the completion of the assessment. It may also mean changing the nature of the assessment task by not including multiple-choice assessments for people with certain learning difficulties.

Delivery Modes Each unit included a section on preferred delivery strategies, including teaching space type and size and technology/equipment. All delivery methods are to incorporate an awareness of safety and security issues in the classroom, workshop or workplace including all the WHS guidelines issued by the NSW Department of Education and Training, TAFE NSW, the appropriate TAFE Institute, TAFE College and teaching section.

Essential Teaching Qualifications The Australian Quality Training Framework [now Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)] requires all Registered Training Providers (RTOs) to ensure that all delivery and assessment personnel have the following appropriate qualifications and experience; x Educational qualifications – to ensure competence in educational delivery and in competency based assessment x Vocational qualifications – to ensure knowledge of the occupation or vocation in the vocational education is being provided x Industry or related experience – to ensure the currency and relevance of the vocational program to the learner and the industry or community.

Teaching and learning resources This section includes the following: x Textbooks, reference books, Australian Standards, National and State legislation, Codes and Regulations, appropriate websites etc x Learning environment, technology, quantities of equipment and physical resources for the two types of learning spaces – theory/studio and computer laboratory, as well as surveying equipment. x Computer Programs – including word processing and spreadsheets, 2D and 3D Computer Aided Drafting (CAD), specifications packages, Building Code packages, Desktop publishing and Cost estimating packages

6 Mayer (1992) averred that before any VET student was capable of participating effectively in an emerging workforce they needed to acquire seven Key Competencies: 1. Collecting, analysing and organising information – the capacity to locate information, sift and sort information in order to select what is required and to present it in a useful way, and evaluate both the information itself and the sources and methods used to collect it. 2. Communicating ideas and information - the capacity to communicate effectively with others using the range of spoken, written, graphic and other non-verbal means of expression. 3. Planning and organising activities – the capacity to plan and organise one's own work activities, including making good use of time and resources, sorting out priorities and monitoring one's own performance. 4. Working with others in teams - the capacity to interact effectively with other people both on a one-to-one basis and in groups, including understanding and responding to the needs of a client and working effectively as a member of a team to achieve a shared goal. 5. Solving problems - the capacity to apply problem solving strategies in purposeful ways both in situations where the problem and the solution are clearly evident and in situations requiring creative thinking and a creative approach to achieve an outcome. 6. Using mathematical ideas and techniques - the capacity to use mathematical ideas, such as number and space, and techniques such as estimation and approximation, for practical purposes. 7. Using technology - the capacity to apply technology, combining the physical and sensory skills needed to operate equipment with the understanding of scientific and technological principles needed to explore and adapt systems.

7 The rationale for TAFE NSW changing the level of the qualification from a Certificate IV to Associate Diploma and subsequently Diploma, and also reducing the volume of learning for the course from 2,500 hours to 1,500 hours was adjusting the minimum entry requirement for the

303 course from School Certificate to Higher School Certificate. My 33 years’ experience in TAFE NSW suggests that the complexity of the course content did not increase to warrant the awarding of a Diploma. The federal government agreed to a uniform national qualification framework for TAFE after the Colleges of Advanced Education were disbanded and incorporated into universities. The course has become easier. The main reasons for the change in qualification nomenclature was to firstly, reduce the volume and thereby the cost of training, and secondly, to allow the federal government to force all teenagers to continue onto the Higher School Certificate by increase the age when teenagers can apply for the dole (Marginson 1997a).

8 Since 2007 the professional degree for registration as an Architect in Australia is the Master of Architecture. This course is academically equivalent to the previous Bachelor of Architecture course. The change in nomenclature for the course was the Australian universities aligning themselves with the Bologna Process. The Australian universities are not signatories to the Bologna Protocol, but have been represented in Bologna Policy Forums to participate in discussions regarding the global recognition of qualifications and educational quality assurance (Walters 2009).

9 Table 6.7 A comparison of the learning outcomes in the Certificate IV in Architectural Technology and Diploma of Architectural Technology and the Diploma of Building Design course contents

Learning outcomes: Certificate IV in Architectural Learning outcomes: Diploma of Building Technology * Design ^ 1. Design methodology – “pattern language”, Contextual factors analysed, construction materials space/time/motion studies, spatial relationships, bubble analysed, design principles are applied to building diagrams designs 2. Design briefs – space usage, materials and finishes, Design brief and site analysis for small-scale budget evaluation, performers and questionnaires, statutory building design project requirements 3. Anthropometrics and ergonomics – used in spatial Anthropometrics and ergonomics – apply principles relationships to the design of workplaces 4. Contemporary design methods – pioneers of modern architecture – Western world and Australia 5. Australian architecture – from colonial to present. Current directions in Australian architecture 6. Architecture in the Asia/Pacific 7. Ergonomics for disabled people Identify the critical ergonomic features impacting on the ability of a person with a disability to work and function independently. Prepare a concept design for accessible building work. 8. Functional relationships – circulation and zoning in Factors contributing to spatial requirements and residential buildings. relationships are analysed and incorporated into designs 9. Design a residential building Produce concept sketches incorporating accurate proportions. Apply rendering techniques. Review sketches to ensure they conform to design brief. Design concepts are presented to client. Client provides feedback. Implications of adjustments are discussed. Documentation requirements for small- scale building design are obtained from relevant authorities. Address and/or document health and safety issues in building designs. Support application through approval process. 10. Design a non-residential building, such as a Student Union, Community Centre, Sports Hall etc. Learning outcomes: Diploma in Architectural Technology * 11. Solve complex planning problems eg medium density housing 12. Design briefs, council codes and regulations, statutory Legislation affecting small-scale residential building authority requirements, Australian Standards, ergonomics projects, codes and standards. Analyse compliance requirements. Clarify compliance requirements with relevant professionals and discussed with client. Propose innovative solutions. Design drawings assessed against compliance requirements,

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explained to client, amended as required to obtain client approval 13. Hierarchy of spaces and functions, morphological charts and data for complex planning problems 14. Analyse and evaluate design options Aesthetics visualised and refined 15. Aesthetics, interior spaces, environmental psychology, post-occupancy studies 16. Evaluate consultants’ information Structural systems for small-scale buildings are reviewed with consultants. Documentation required from other professionals is specified and obtained. 17. Incorporate energy efficiency features into the design Incorporate sustainable construction materials and project methods, sustainable water usage, energy-efficient design principles and renewable energy sources 18. Incorporate energy efficient principles to heating, ventilation, lighting and air conditioning 19. Incorporate passive solar design principles to large scale/complex buildings 20. Incorporate “state-of-the-art” passive solar technology to large scale/complex buildings 21. Case studies of large scale/complex buildings which incorporate these technologies, Governor Philip Tower, Grosvenor Place, St George Bank 22. Apply problem solving skills to complex building designs, eg, theatre complex, courthouse, medium-rise educational building, large industrial complex 23. Spatial relationships, anthropometrics and ergonomics for the above project 24. Formulate client brief and discuss typical client preconceptions during the preparation of the brief 25. Research development of historical and current technological achievements that may be incorporated into the above design 26. Research major historic styles of architecture that may be incorporated into the above design 27. Compare the design process between Western and Eastern architecture, by relating the influences of society, culture, economics, aesthetics, philosophy, materials and resources, technology, environment and climate 28. Contextual design – relationship between buildings and their immediate surroundings, hierarchy of external space 29. Landscape schemes – hard and soft landscaping, watering systems, incorporation of services, writing specifications 30. Passive energy systems for various climatic zones, conventional and alternative energy systems, energy conservation ^ Learning outcomes embedded in subsequent training packages in mandatory subjects * Includes learning outcomes in elective (non-mandatory) subjects

10 Project Steering Committee included the following members: x Ian Bassett (Chair) – Building Designers Association of Australia/ Building Designers Association of NSW (BDAA/BDANSW), x Luke Behnche – Skills Victoria (representing the State Training Authorities) x Russell Brandon – Building Designers Association of Queensland (BDAQ) x Peter Brilliant – Building Commission Victoria x Peter Ebell – Central WA TAFE – replaced by Paula Dewhurst – Central WA TAFE x Michael Gray – Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) (Observer) x Chris Hardy – Australian Institute of Architects (Observer) – replaced by Flavia Marcello – Australian Institute of Architects x Anna Henderson – Business Services Victoria x Lisa Kennedy – Construction Industry Training Board (SA) x Phil Ker – Building Designers Association of WA (BDAWA) x Brian Morison – Building Designers Association of Victoria (BDAV) (withdrew prior to final meeting) x Michael Noble – Building Designers Association of SA (BDASA) x Glen Place – Building Designers Association of Queensland (BDAQ) (Observer)

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(CPSISC 2011, p. 7)

11 On average VET graduates represented 11% of the non-year 12 applicants accepted into Australian universities in 2015 (AUSGOV 2015a, p. 12). From 2011 to 2015, on average, 60.3% of the St George TAFE graduates have been accepted into university for Architecture (Loupis, G. 2015). This average would have been higher if all of the St George students received their academic transcripts at the end of 2014.

12 TAFE NSW officially claimed that only one student from Wollongong College was affected and they endeavoured to assist him to gain admission to university. This student recanted TAFE’s claim. TAFE NSW also lied about the true extent of the problems surrounding the LMBR computer system. The teachers at Ultimo College contacted the Vice-Chancellors of the universities offering architecture to explain that their students would have been eligible for admission their university if the TAFE NSW computer system had not malfunctioned. The Vice- Chancellors claimed that undergraduate admission was the responsibility of the Universities Admission Centre (UAC) and could not assist the TAFE students.

Only two students were similarly affected at St George College who were eligible to gain admission to university. One accepted a second-round offer to study Landscape Architecture at UNSW, with the option of transferring to Architecture after the completion of first year, the other student decided to re-apply to university for the following year.

13 Since the early 1990s many of my ex-students have claimed that when they work for Building Design firms their employers suggest that they don’t need to pursue university studies nor to become architects as Building Designers are able to design buildings of any type and size. As recently as February 2016 I spoke with an ex-student that had completed 3rd year of Architecture at UNSW (Jake French) who was doing most of the complicated design projects for a Building Designer. The irony of my ex-student undertaking this work was lost on his employer. My student was being encouraged to give up his university studies, and because of this was looking elsewhere for employment. In March 2016 he was working for an architectural firm, which not only encouraged him to complete his studies, but also mentored him and assisted him with his University projects. One of the retired senior managers at the TAFE NSW Curriculum Unit responsible for the development of the Diploma of Architectural Design courses refused to participate in my research because the previous antagonism between her and the BDA would not allow her to be impartial in any interview.

14 Building Design – Low Rise, which allows the following work – Prepare plans and specifications for a class 1 or class 10 building Prepare plans and specifications for classes 2 to 9 buildings with a gross floor area not exceeding 2000m², but not including Type A or Type B construction Contract administration in relation to building work designed by the licensee. Educational qualifications – seven units of competency (out of 17 Units) from the Diploma of Building Design or equivalent Experience - two years’ experience in the above work

Building Design – Medium Rise, which allow the following work – Prepare plans and specifications for buildings to a maximum of three storeys above a storey used for the parking of vehicles but not including a Type A construction other than class 2, 3, or 9 buildings Contract administration in relation to building work designed by the licensee. Educational qualifications – either one of the following qualifications: Associated Degree of Building Design Diploma of Building Design and Technology or equivalent Experience - two years’ experience in the above work

Building Design – Open, which allows the following work – Prepare plans and specifications for buildings of any height or floor area

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Contract administration in relation to building work designed by the licensee. Educational qualifications – either one of the following qualifications: Bachelor of Built Environment (Architectural Studies) (QUT) Bachelor of Building Design (CQU) Advanced Diploma of Building Design and Project Administration or equivalent Experience - two years’ experience in the above work (QBCC 2015).

15 All the schools that offered Architectural Drafting were managed at the state level by a Head of School, who oversaw both the architectural and building construction courses. Below him were two Heads of Division – one for Architectural Drafting and one for Building Construction. They were in TAFE NSW Head Office in Sydney. At Ultimo College there were specialist Head Teachers for each qualification, that is, Head Teacher of Architectural Drafting and Head Teacher of Building, while in the smaller colleges one head teacher managed both courses.

16 The following additional design content/learning outcomes were part of the Architectural Design curriculum: x Design methodology – “pattern language”, space/time/motion studies x Contemporary design methods – pioneers of modern architecture – Western world and Australia x Australian architecture – from colonial to present. Current directions in Australian architecture x Architecture in the Asia/Pacific x Aesthetics, interior spaces, environmental psychology, post-occupancy studies x Incorporate passive solar design principles to large scale/complex buildings x Incorporate “state-of-the-art” passive solar technology to large scale/complex buildings x Case studies of large scale/complex buildings which incorporate these technologies, Governor Philip Tower, Grosvenor Place, St George Bank x Research development of historical and current technological achievements that may be incorporated into the above design x Research major historic styles of architecture that may be incorporated into the above design x Compare the design process between Western and Eastern architecture, by relating the influences of society, culture, economics, aesthetics, philosophy, materials and resources, technology, environment and climate x Contextual design – relationship between buildings and their immediate surroundings, hierarchy of external space x Landscape schemes – hard and soft landscaping, watering systems, incorporation of services, writing specifications (TAFENSW 2007).

17 In 2013, the Head Teacher of Architectural Technology at St George College, Lou Martini, asked if I would be prepared to deliver the Graduate Certificate and/or Graduate Certificate courses for the BDA members, as I was the only staff member with a Masters degree. I enquired as to why the BDA members wanted the higher level qualifications. He claimed that the BDA executive wanted their members to have post-graduate qualifications at a level higher than a Bachelor of Architecture degree so the BDA can lobby the NSW government to have the SEPP65 legislation rescinded. I pointed out that since 2007 the professional qualification for architects has been the Master of Architecture degree, as Australian universities followed the Bologna Protocol. The Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma qualifications offered by TAFE NSW were previously named Graduate Vocational Certificate and Graduate Vocational Diploma. The Vocational nomenclature was removed in 2013. From a Foucauldian perspective, this is an “act of cunning” aimed at increasing the academic level of the VET qualifications by placing them on par with the qualifications offered by universities.

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18 Ecotect is a complete environmental design tool which couples an intuitive 3D modelling interface with extensive solar, thermal, lighting, acoustic and cost analysis functions. Ecotect is one of the few tools in which performance analysis is simple, accurate and most importantly, visually responsive. Ecotect is driven by the concept that environmental design principles are most effectively addressed during the conceptual stages of design. The software responds to this by providing essential visual and analytical feedback from even the simplest sketch model, progressively guiding the design process as more detailed information becomes available. Ecotect application utilises the building geometry created in the Revit. In order to utilize this model created by the designers in Revit, it need to be exported into the CAD format (DXF file) within Revit, and then imported into the Ecotect application. This application can be used to perform a variety of analysis such as, solar study, overshadowing, thermal design and analysis, heating and cooling loads, prevailing winds, natural and artificial lighting, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, scheduling, geometric and statistical acoustic analysis etc. (Patel 2008)

Chapter 7

1 Foucault (1980b) was interested in how some discourses become acceded as truths. He claimed that discursive practices enable and constrain the production of knowledge by allowing certain ideologies while excluding others (Cheek 2000). Ball (1994, p. 22) avers that discourses are not only about what can be articulated and thought but also “about who can speak, when, where and with what authority”. Foucault explained that a discourse could even be a particular language, which articulates and reinforces our knowledge and shapes our understanding. The possession of this knowledge could instruct what can be said about objects and phenomena in a specific domain of knowledge and those using this discourse may end up being defined by this discourse (Finken 2003).

2 In 2012 the NSW Government instituted the Smart and Skilled policy, whereupon it would subsidise only the courses/qualifications deemed necessary to support the continued economic growth of the state. The Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, reinforced his government’s neoliberal framing of VET policy, by claiming Smart and Skilled would make the NSW training system more responsive to business and industry. The NSW Government drew up a list of skills which they were prepared to sponsor, based on “industry consultation and labour market trends” (Bold 2012, p. 1). NSW State Training Services refused my request for a copy of the industry consultation report that formed the genesis of the list of courses that would be state-sponsored. This report has never been published. Patty (2012, p. 3) averred this policy will allow the NSW Government to dictate which courses it deems politically appropriate or expedient to fund, and which courses would convert to a user-pays basis.

3 Foucault used the term normalise or normalisation to explain the neoliberal practice where organisations establish “measurements, hierarchy, and regulations around the idea of a distributionary statistical norm within a given population – the idea of judgement based on what is normal and thus what is abnormal” (Ball 1990, p. 2).

4 The federal and state governments procures these “numbers” from the federal, state and territiory-funded National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), which collates quantitative data on student characteristics, course enrolments patterns and outcomes through student and employer surveys (NCVER 2016). This data is supplied to the NCVER by registered training organisations as part of their legislative obligations. The most prolific publications are the yearly Student Outcome Surveys (SOSs) which present information on the outcomes of students who have completed or partially completed their VET training in the previous year. The survey “presents information on their employment outcomes, their reasons for not continuing the training (where applicable), their satisfaction with the training and their further study patterns” (NCVER 2014, p. 4). Due to the nature and methodology of the data accumulated, the majority of the reports and publications generated by the NCVER are quantitative in nature and inherently lack any qualitative analysis. I argue that since the NCVER is a government-funded organisation, the reports do not generate conclusions and/or recommendations that criticise VET policy.

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5 Fooks (1994) argued that throughout its history, technical education in Australia has been called the “Cinderella” of education, habitually labelled banausic and inflicted with a lack of identity, image and status. I suggest that the NSW government’s policy advisers are cognisant of the general public having an equivocal understanding of TAFE’s role (Fooks 1994) and that unpopular VET policies have negligible political impact compared to those for schools or universities. 6 ASQA conducts regulation audits of RTOs at the initial registration phase to ensure they are operating (or will operate) effectively within their scope of registration or during the renewal of a registration or an application for the RTO to alter the scope of its registration (ASQA, 2015e). Compliance audits are undertaken to assess the RTOs ongoing compliance with the ASQA standards. The ASQA auditor has the authority to investigate an RTO’s management structure, the standard of its delivery strategies (to determine whether they meet the training package and/or accredited course requirements), the quality of the RTO’s facilities and equipment and the credentials of it teaching staff (ASQA 2015c).

7 When I started in TAFE NSW at St George College in 1983 there were 11,500 students enrolled, with 8 administrative staff (college principal, two deputy-principles, registrar, bursar and 3 secretaries). In 2014, there were just over 6,000 students with 12 administrative staff. The exact student numbers for 2015 are not available, but I contend that it would be less than 4,000. The reasons for the statistics not being available are discussed in the LMBR section of this chapter. As of 30 June 2016, Sydney Institute still published enrolment statistics from 2014 (SYDTAFE 2016).

8 TAFE NSW is in the process reclassifying its teaching staff. There will be three categories of teachers: x Assessor – this role includes the design, validation and implementation of assessments and moderations suited to a range of modes and locations. The assessor supports teachers and head teachers in meeting ASQA compliance functions. An assessor does not undertake training or teaching; x Education Support Officer – this role works as part of a team and engages in a range of activities which directly and indirectly support learning and enhance educational outcomes for students, as required by the teacher Head Teacher Band 3 – this role provides educational leadership for a teaching department or departments, college, campus or Institute. The position does not have specific teaching duties allocated, but may take on direct teaching from time to time as needed (TAFENSW 2015d, 2015g).

9 Jordan Belfort was fined $110m and jailed for defrauding investors in the USA. His exploits were the subject of the 2013 feature film The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese. He was played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Upon his release he pledged to repay every dollar to the investors he defrauded.

10 Under the Victorian VET funding eligibility model, students eligible for state government funded training, under the Victorian Training Guarantee (VTG) scheme, are able to choose any registered VET provider, whether a public (TAFE) or for-profit institution (VICDET 2015b)

11 I hold the two latest versions of the CertIVTAE but do not consider these qualifications worthy of listing under my name at the beginning of this thesis. When I applied to teach part-time at Sydney Institute in July 2015, after 32 years of full-time teaching, the only qualification I was asked to produce evidence of having attained was the latest version of the CertIVTAE. My three degrees in Architecture and my GradDipEd in Technical Education were no longer of any consequence for my employment in TAFE.

Chapter 8

1 In my 33 years’ experience in TAFE NSW, the socialisation and maturity of students increased exponentially in full-time (predominantly 17-18 year old) students between their completing first and second year due to the studio-based, team-centred learning environment employed at

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Sydney Institute. This is in contradiction to the VET curriculum pedagogy. The part-time students at Sydney Institute are predominantly a mature-aged cohort.

2 To demonstrate Ball’s claims regarding neoliberal professional ethics, I will recount my experience on one of my professional architectural projects. The client was a senior executive in a multi-national bank in Sydney. At the completion of the project, the client deliberately refused to pay the builder his final payment (current value $50,000) and my final fee instalment (current value $6,000) even though the project was completed satisfactorily and Woollahra Council had issued the final (occupation) certificate. The client argued that his refusal to pay was a “financial decision”. He knew that neither the builder nor I could afford to instigate legal proceedings to procure our final payments. In my experience, this neoliberal mindset is evident in the administrative practices of TAFE NSW (and the NSW Department of Education), where teachers are readily retrenched without a corresponding reduction in executive positions.

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359

Appendices

Appendix I(a) - Heasd Teachers' feedback

SYDNEY INSTITUTE i...-i,-,,.....;--t

To Debra Baxter CPSISC

Dear Debra,

RE DRAFT TRAINING PACKAGE FOR BUILDING DESIGNERS Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the above.Relevant feedback forms are attached, however in cases noted below a holistic response was considered more appropriate than Module by Module . At a state wide meeting,on 09 JUNE 10, of TAFE NSW Architectural Head Teachers it was resolved to submit the following feedback on the above Training Package (TP).

Preamble it was understood that the 13 Units provided were the new Units ONLY and that other "packaging" Units may/would be added to make up the whole TP.This feedback therefore addresses only the new Units and is limited by having NO knowledge of remainder to come.

BCA Classification and Building Types: it was unaminously agreed that: All BCA building Classes 1 to 1 0and Types of Construction A,B and C be included in the TP The inclusion of Class 2 and 3 buildings ( Residential Flats) particularly needed to be addressed. While it was understood that some States had licensing issues around certain Class 2 and 3 buildings they should not detract from the National TP.

Other issues that were canvassed :

Modules 505A to 510A were considered GENERIC skills and knowledge required for all Building Classifications and Types and NOT ONE OFF Units. That they would be more approriately incorporated into related 501A to 504A inclusive and 511A Units.

Building Design process it was considered important that the full process covered in Units 505A to 51 QA of research,compliance,sustainability brief, site anlaysis ,design construction and documentation skills and knowledge outcomes be achieved in each BCA 'building type and classification.

Electives dependant on the skill/knowledge level required Units 505A to 51 0A were considered more suitable as electives such as 51 QA Planning Approval Documents and advocacy. 514A Project Finalisation and Contract Administeration. Such elective units could achieve outcomes at a higher level than if contained within Core TP.namely TP Building Design (Specialty) The elective Units from above could also facilitate the award of a Core TPin Building Design to which could be added TP in Building Design ( Speciality) eg Design Briefs.Planning processes, Project processes Site Analysis, Information Technology, Office Management, Sustainability

Technician vs Management the new Units shift the focus of skills and knowledge more towards those of sole practictioner/manager roles. There was concern that traditional technician level skills, required by other building design professional, such as Architects.of their employees, may be lowered in such a shift.

DraftTP Building Design HTs Feedback Version 1 02/06/2014 Page 1 of 1 Disclaimer: Printed copies of this document are regarded as uncontrolled. , SY DNEY INSTITUTE ii1;t

Conclusion; it was felt that the core role of Building Designer had not been adequately defined and addressed. By focussing on Management there was a risk that core knowledge and skills of manual,CAD and BIM drafting, detailing and documentation outcomes may be downgraded.

Recommendations ; that the Training Package 1.include all BCA Building Classifications and Construction Types. 2. Maintain strong focus on core technician level manual.CAD and BIM knowledge and skills in design and documentation.

Endorsed by the following TAFE NSW Architectural Head Teachers

Graham Short, Sydney Institute- Ultimo Jeffrey Clarke, Sydney Institute - Ultimo Jacqui Watson VanEwyk, Northern Sydney Institute- Hornsby Lou Martini, Sydney Institute- St George Trevor Mullions, Western Sydney Institute - Nirimba David Russell Jones, Western Sydny Institute- OTEN Prue Gibson, Western Sydney Institute- OTEN Salwa Ishak, Western Sydney Institute- Granville Scott Beazley, lllawarra Institute- Wollongong Frank Nash, Newcastle Institute

17 JUNE 10

DraftTP Building Design HTs Feedback Version 1 02/06/2014 Page 2 of 2 Disclaimer: Printed copies of this document are regarded as uncontrolled. Building Design Unit Development

HOW TO USE THE UNIT FEEDBACK FORM • Save the file to your desktop • Name the file logically using your family name or initials and the unit code • Complete your responses, save, and email to the nominated address.

Name & Organisation TAFE NSW - Architectural Head Teachers Feedback

I am ,:,roviding feedback for the unit Draft Unit Code Draft Unit Title CPPBDX501A Research construction materials and methods for small scale residential building design projects.

Please provide your comments in the right hand column and leave blank any sections where you do not have comments to make. Unit Descriptor

Application of the Strongly urge add BCA Classes 2 and 3 and Types A, B and C Unit Construction Elements

Performance Criteria

Required Skills & Knowledge

Range Statement

Evidence Guide

Other Comments Class 2 and 3 need to be included because they are predominant form of housing and likely to become more so due to urban consolidation, land scarcity, and housing affordability issues needing to be addressed. That Class 2 and 3 buildings be included as a separate Unit. Building Design Unit Development

Name & Organisation TAFE NSW -Architectural Head Teachers Feedback

I am providing feedback for the unit Draft Unit Code Draft Unit Title CPPBDX502A Research construction materials and methods for small scale non residential buildinq desh:in oroiects.

Please provide your comments in the right hand column and leave blank any sections where vou do not have comments to make. Unit Descriptor

Application of the Strongly urge add BCA Classes 4 to 9 inclusive and Types A, B Unit and C Construction Elements

Performance Criteria

Required Skills & Knowledge

Range Statement Include up to 8 storeys plus basements

Evidence Guide

Other Comments Class 4 to 9 inclusive need to be included to allow scope to gain skills and knowledge in prevailing building classifications and types. 8 storeys ensure experience of isolated fire stairs, lifts and mechanical services. Building Design Unit Development

Name & Organisation TAFE NSW -Architectural Head Teachers Feedback

I am providing feedback for the unit Draft Unit Code Draft Unit Title CPPBDX503A Research compliance requirements for small scale residential building design projects.

Please provide your comments in the right hand column and leave blank any sections where you do not have comments to make. Unit Descriptor

Application of the Strongly urge add BCA Classes 2 and 3 and Types A, B and C Unit Construction Elements

Performance Criteria

Required Skills & Knowledge

Range Statement Include Classes 2 and 3 up to maximum 3 storey residential flats.

Evidence Guide

Name & Organisation TAFE NSW -Architectural Head Teachers Feedback

I am providing feedback for the unit Draft Unit Code Draft Unit Title CPPBDX504A Research compliance requirements for small scale non residential buildinq desiqn projects.

Please provide your comments in the right hand column and leave blank any sections where you do not have comments to make. Unit Descriptor Omit small scale from descriptor

Application of the Strongly urge add BCA Classes 4 to 9 inclusive and Types A, B Unit and C Construction Elements

Performance Criteria

Required Skills & Knowledge

Range Statement Include Up to 8 storeys plus basements

Evidence Guide

Name & Organisation TAFE NSW -Architectural Head Teachers Feedback

I am ,:,roviding feedback for the unit Draft Unit Code Draft Unit Title CPPBDX511A Produce client approved and compliant working drawings and specifications

Please provide your comments in the right hand column and leave blank any sections where you do not have comments to make. Unit Descriptor

Application of the Strongly urge include BCA Classes 4 to 9 inclusive and Type C Unit Construction buildings to a maximum of 8 storeys plus basements. Elements

Performance Criteria

Required Skills & Knowledge

Range Statement

Evidence Guide

Other Comments Class 4 to 9 inclusive need to be included to allow scope to gain skills and knowledge in prevailing building classifications and types. 8 storeys ensures experience of isolated fire stairs, lifts and mechanical services. Appendix I(b) Teachers' feedback on new Certificate IV course

George Loupis A/Head Teacher -Architectural Technology

From: James, Patricia Sent: Friday, 16 September 2011 13:54 To: @SI Ultimo ArchDraft HTs; @SI StGeorge ArchDraft HTs Subject: CPSISC Scoping Report - Cert IV Architectural Drafting Importance: High

Hi everyone

The TES is calling for comments on the attached scoping report (proposed development of a qualification to support a Certificate IV in Architectural Drafting for inclusion in CPP07).

Could you please get these back to me by COB Monday, 3 October 2011.

Many thanks

Trish James Rf Assistant Director Ultimo - Marcus Clark Architecture and Building TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute, Ultimo College, Building W, George St, Railway Square NSW 2000 Phone: (02) 9217 5252 I Mobile: 0425 245 937 I Email: [email protected]

From: Galletti, Bernard Sent: Friday, 16 September 201112:10 To: @TES-ISU-Granville - CPP07; @TES-ISU-Granville - CPC08 Cc: @TES-ISU-Orange and Granville; Szalay, Steven Subject: CPSISC Scoping Report - Cert IV Drafting - Property Services TAFE Training and Education Support Request for Advice/Key Alert TAFEi

16/09/2011 Issue: Consultation- CPSISC Scoping Report -Development of a Certificate IV in Architectural Drafting - to be included in CPP07 Contact: Bernie Galletti - EPM TES ISU Granville - (02) 98468121 - bernard. [email protected]. au

Background

The Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council (CPSISC) have recently commissioned a scoping report for stakeholder consultation. The attached scoping report (proposed development of a qualification to support a Certificate IV in Architectural drafting for inclusion in CPP07) includes background on the issues raised and proposed recommendations. CPSISC is now seeking stakeholder feedback.

The report sought a number of responses, particularly in regard to the following:

• Current demand for qualified architectural drafts people • Current supply of qualified architectural drafts people • Typical entry pathway for candidates training as architectural drafts people • Graduate career prospects • Identification of the range of major skills and knowledge required for a qualification for drafts people. • Level of qualification - Certificate IV appropriateness - architectural drafts people • Common drafting skills with other industry sectors such as civil or marine engineering • Support of the development of a national Training Package qualification for drafts people.

The request

1. Please distribute to relevant teaching sections for their information, comments and feedback. 2. Any feedback should address the items above, as per the report and TAFE NSW capacity and capability to deliver and assess such a qualification.

The TES ISU will co-ordinate a state-wide TAFE NSW response to CPSISC. Please forward any comments to me via return email by cob Wednesday 5 October 2011. My apologies for the short timeframe but only received this morning.

Thanks

1Bernie Galletti I Educational Programs Manager I I Construction & Property Services I I Training and Education Support • Industry Skills Unit Granville I

TAFE~

168 South Street, Granville NSW Australia 2142 I Tel: +61 2 9846 8121 I Fax: +61 2 9846 8177 1 I Email: [email protected] *********************************************************** arl.-,,, 1vmt1n:, rt~J« ,-.,n,uf,t //,, rm 1mnmr1d tMr(W T:•INT A,m,-t;, Tl1n rc-1~1! Jr,,/ Jny ,fq,hm,:11( fD rf iltc infcnJ,,./ .,.,,/~ I~• Iv: 1,:J,/ 01 11.) 1/,c_ ,.,mo/ .J,{1c-,,« If ri ,ant1,/cnl11I Jn./ 11~yro11litn /"!f,llfy ;w,ilr:,,,/ .,,1,;,mJlm11 f,;,. /,.(,:11 rot /1;/rf>· ,::01 f"/1·1l,:g,:,, ...,,,..,,_/ er kuf ry /fl)" mmil.cn /11111m1wa11 fr, ..-,:,. The TH I i,J/" m•I ,.-,,..,,,~J.lc /i,1 J11y 11~11fh:111><./ Jlfc1;/1D111 f.;• //,1, e--nsrl "'Jf/lChm.:11/ /c- ti it1t:I~ clpt"'1<,I 111 //111 mcs>J~ Jr« It .or !he /r.,/11'1./111/ ,-::./ct. Jnd .,., nci mx"1JJ11fy /he "'"' ,:,/(/~ TE 11ml II y,:v """''' • //," e-rrwl if/ """'· rlc.,, m,,,~..,Ju lcly ,fe/ete 1{ ham x11111 Sfl(em Jn,I n<>lify lk ,c1,/01 l ew m11,I- rwf ,!ud=. <"'/Y t'lt ,,~ Jm• r11t cl 1h11 e-,,,,,r 1f>"'" "" tll'f 11,, m/m,le.l ,,,,._1;1.:11 I Hi Trish,

I have pasted below the comments I have received to date:

I. MAX HOOGEDURE Hi George

T AFE should send these guys back to the drawing board (it would suit the backward level of this course).

I have no recollection of undertaking any survey nor have any of my co-workers, students or industry contacts. The sample seems very small for such a significant course change. The certificate level is below the current offering and doesn't align with Uni articulation. Overall it should be binned and started again with people engaged in current architectural professional practice.

All the best in getting this course scrapped (they did it at Emnore for Interior Design).

Regards Max Hoogedeure

2. HARRY STANLEY Hi George,

I find the report totally subjective without valid evidence that industry and teaching recognised reliable and experienced sources being involved in the preparation and presentation of outcomes of such a report. I believe that our industry is strong and articulates well with the workforce and higher education and I do not see the need for such a loose report to tell me what I already know. The Current Course is all encompassing but in need of fine tuning but only in the sense of Syllabus resolutions and the need for national agreement on the subject of intricacies and particular needs of each individual State addressed by their own experienced personnel. Harry

3. GEORGE LOUPIS

This report contains nothing that we already do not know.

It is also worrying that very few, if any, of the Architectural Technology teachers across NSW (especially none at St George) have been involved in any discussion about the introduction of a Cert IV level course. This indicates that the interest groups pushing for this qualification do not want anyone to delay its implementation.

I have two concerns and/or questions: 1. Will students be allowed to apply for a Cert. IV course entry directly from with year 10 at High School, since it will not be a Diploma level course? 2. Graduates in a Cert. IV qualification will not be able to progress into university, thereby eliminating that pathway.

I would support a 1 year Cert. IV qualification (with either year 10 or 12 entry) for Residential Construction, followed by a one year Diploma level course that will then allow a pathway to university, followed by a one year Advanced Diploma course for those that want to specialise (ie based on electives) or need additional skills.

Regards, Appendix II(a) - Membership Certificates TH[EROWAl AUSlRAl~AN ~NST~TUT[E Q[F ARCH~TECTS

-- - =--'---======

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT

Ge.olLge. LOUPIS

HAS BEEN ELECTED ASSOCIATE

OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS

FOUNDED IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE AS THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS AND INCORPORATED IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY AS THE ROY AL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS FOR THE ADV AN CEMENT, PROTECTION AND ELEV A TION OF ARCHITECTURE

In witness whereof the Common Seal has been hereunto affixed as required under the Articles of Association. Date: 18th Se.pte.mbe.lL, 1986

PRESIDENT

' \ ·\ SECRETARY \ J

~ .

REGISTERED NUMBER 13695 PAPUA NEW GUINEA

INSTITUTE OF

ARCHITECTS

The Committee of The Papua New Guinea Institute of Architects hereby certify that

GEORGE LOUPIS

was elected to membership of the Institute on

July 1980

chairman of committee V I

,,---,--.. ' 1.1 ',' '/I /'/',;., 11. \ J 'I , '1 '----./ \., ,, ; ~ 7 melfil5er of committee . b.Jlv4L No. 52 m'emberot committee Appendix 2(b)- Selected Projects

27 VANNY PLACE SOUTH COOGEE MARAGOUDAKIS RESIDENCE By G. LOUPIS BSclArchi.BArchlHons),MBEnv,GrodDipEd,ARAIA <.n ~

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COVER PROPERTY Stephen Nicholls

to Euro~ to sourc:e rh,· !ir.t'st buik hn~ m,ucrial, im:igin,;hlc,_ Th,- dri ...,,.•w,1y h a1, );;ra:iitl· , obhle.~101ws ,md tlwr~'~ ;, l1,::mu!u! f,:,1tun: "'':iii of !u.1!i,m mc1rbk in 1:1,• fo), ' L rh,· grc>um! 1,•\·d. with h,-1:dwl•Od tir.1ber fi,1Cr~. i.~ op.:n l-louse 4t:,,.c1 2.Sr-,r:,., ( 'lr p!;111 1,1 rri· ai, · :m ,:~;xm<1vt· l1; ·1:'.:i .u c.:1 6uilt2 0C8 Al: inform, il bmil ,1·ar,•..i kmk~ our <)\.:!r the Land5 2C.,qrr 110nh focm,11;y ,,rJ , v.11h 1r,; nlO.:'.•ffiCt!<·pool Inspect 7r,u. 11-!l.45an:,~i:c 6.15 7~,:-. The kuch t!ll. w:-:iich ab o looks u ,11 o\·,·r tb: Sa:.11·11:4=.a:-, ,.-~rd . h:is C1~·s:ffS\fJJ;~· tw: idw~. ;1 M id,: Ol'l..':L Agents Place [ <,: e1~e Aqe·,:~. u.:;:.:o ·::,41 6.C:5c- · rhat·~ not ye{ ,1,,nbbi c in 1hi:a n,urnn · :mrry on it. Coopo::r Woullahr:fs Queen Strccl an1"~ t·•·, ;.;t e:; •·e: c.,,,::t'i F ,.H ~r ; r 111c !:lunG1 Jun( l ·on ,:.1tvscc1pi:' " They then bundl ed a rchitect Georgl.' l.uup1~ o ff noub\c Bay .tJ••~· I ·hctWIOCoxorPJn.. WooA.Tl'.J • 4 beds, 2.5 baths, 4 car Auction Tut, f'/2"~0.:-ILOOI'~ 6205<,r ,. ~ a ()1r • I='· ! l •.I),' ':J ; :, h ,,, ,, ,'. Ill:',,. ::Jo· 5 ·1!• • I ·:, _,Jj Venue P a::e A.1.. t ~ R«trr C 3:,:w, l'¥.".\Sotn:1~Fbil.l DouUeS..,' • Li-.,:• Inspect IlU'dfVWlJ&,:~11 J 11.l'jfm h6:ll.l'jQA.. t,. ltL.ttvig, n 1ya.1~ Tn> • '-· ·:i.: _.;· J-:-'•j:1hJO:l,t, t,m,p .pens \0 J Contact C,h':,j He! f\ o,cy- ,n 6-Uj I 83(.- BfP 3 a l'.,<"''\!W.·;-, ,.1 i>11S1,.,.,.... o,ce88328J100f: MODEL: 39 VAUCLUSE ROAD VAUCLUSE 28 Marine Parade Maroubra

Beverley Park, 91 Harslett Crescent L;i r·ge sundrenched four bedroom home situated on a generous block capturing tranquil views over Beverley Park Golf Course. Boasting spacio us living a1-eas nowing onto a sun filled terT

Master· bedroom with walk in robe and ensuite, two guest rooms one with ensuite , large study or fourth bedroom opening onto a private courtyard. Formal dining rnom opening to private terTace, gourmet kitchen wiU1 eurnpertn nppli;rnces, IO metr·e landscaped pool and double ga 1-age with an abundance of stor-age. The palace you deser·ve.

Inspect: Saturday 11.00-11.45 & Wednesday 5.30-6J0pm Thursday 4th September at 6.30pm Novotel Brighton-Le-S;mds Contact: Aaron McLean L.J. Hooker Sans Souci 9529 3633 no~ody does it better® ~ !,,. _L_ ------Appendix III - Thank you note from the Students Association

St Georg e College of T AFE & ACTIVITIES SERVICE ft Prin~s ljighway ano President Ave , Kogarah. N.S.W. 2217

Telephone: 587 1333

Make that, "Many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many thanks!"

Lyn McG rath Studan, Actlvhlea l,;o-oFdinator $t Gaorge College of TAFC; 687 1;333 Appendix IV - UNSW Ethics Approval

Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel B Arts, Humanities & Law

Date: 13.03.14

Investigators: George Loupis

Supervisor: Dr Kalervo Gulson

School: School of Education

Re: The educational politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE NSW

Reference Number: 14 002

The Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel B for the Arts, Humanities & Law is satisfied that this project is of minimal ethical impact and meets the requirements as set out in the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research*. Having taken into account the advice of the Panel, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) has approved the project to proceed.

Your Head of School/Unit/Centre will be informed of this decision.

This approval is valid for 12 months from the date stated above.

Yours sincerely

Professor Nicolas Rasmussen Panel Co-Convenor Human Research Ethics Advisory Panel B

Cc: Professor Chris Davison Head of School School of Education

* http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/ Appendix V(a) - Interview questions

Project: The educational politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE NSW Student: George Loupis Supervisor: Dr Kalervo Gulson UNSW -

Approval No. 14 002

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Proposed Interview Questions:

1. When did you start working in TAFE NSW?

2. What was / is your position in TAFE NSW?

3. How many persons were you responsible in your position?

4. What were your initial thoughts about the VET policies relating to curriculum development that were introduced in 1987?

5. How much consultation / liaison / discussion was there with you and others in your position in TAFE before the policies were adopted?

6. How much input did you have in the formulation of these policies, before the policies were formally adopted?

7. What resources were you allocated to allow you to explain the new policies to those that you supervised or were responsible for before the policies were adopted?

8. What resources were you allocated during the transition stage before the policies were adopted?

9. Was effect, if any, was there on your staff’s morale, when the new policies were adopted?

10. What factors do you think led to the curriculum development policies in TAFE changing?

11. In your opinion, how have these policies altered the nature of VET, especially for TAFE?

12. How do think these policies reflect the wider changes in educational values in Australia?

13. How successful do you think these policies have been in your specific educational and/or professional discipline?

14. Do you know of any other education institution in Australia where the curriculum has been developed by industry rather than by the teachers of the curriculum?

15. In your opinion, has that curriculum been accepted by the teachers concerned and/or proven to be effective? Appendix V(b) - Interview participants' consent form UNSW -

Approval No. 14 002

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND CONSENT FORM

Project: The educational politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE NSW

You (i.e. the research participant) are invited to participate in a study of the educational politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE NSW. I, George Loupis, am a PhD student at the University of New South Wales. I hope to investigate why and how the curriculum development policy in TAFE NSW has changed since the introduction of VET policy initiatives, how this altered the nature of vocational education and how this change reflects wider changes in educational values. I am interested in your perceptions of the differences in the curriculum development process in TAFE NSW before and after the nationalisation and privatisation of VET curriculum. You were selected as a possible participant in this study because in your position in TAFE NSW, you were / are required to implement and administer TAFE curriculum development policy or because your research in VET curriculum policy implementation has proven invaluable to this project.

If you decide to participate, I would like to take approximately an hour of your time to have a one-on-one interview with you comprising a number of open-ended questions. With your consent, I will be tape recording the interview for transcription purposes, in order to accurately record your views, opinions and personal perceptions. You will be given the opportunity to check the transcriptions of the interviews, via email or in person, to determine if they are an accurate record of the interview and to make comments on the interview.

Your participation will be invaluable to my research and I will appreciate it if you would agree to be part of my research project.

You can be assured that any information you provide will be confidential and that your identity will not be disclosed to other parties, in any publication or the final thesis.

I cannot and do not guarantee or promise that you will receive any benefits from this study.

Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission, except as required by law. If you give me your permission by signing this document, I plan to discuss the results with my thesis supervisor, Dr Kalervo Gulson from the School of Education at the University of New South Wales. In any publication, or in my thesis, the information you give me will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified.

This research has received ethics approval (approval no. 14 002) from HREA Panel B at UNSW. Any complaints may be directed to the Ethics Secretariat, The University of New South Wales, SYDNEY 2052 AUSTRALIA (phone (2) 9385 4234, fax (02) 9385 6648, email [email protected]). Any complaint you make will be investigated promptly and you will be informed of the outcome.

After the interview, you will have the opportunity to check my interview notes to ensure they are an accurate reflection of the interview. If you wish to receive a summary of the research findings at the completion of the study, I would be pleased to forward these to you electronically or in hard copy for comment before the thesis is presented for examination.

Your decision whether or not to participate will not prejudice your future relations with the University of New South Wales. If you decide to participate, you are free to withdraw your consent and to discontinue participation at any time without prejudice.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. If you have any additional questions later, Dr Kalervo Gulson, on phone (2) 9385 3744 will be happy to answer them.

You will be given a copy of this form to keep. Page 1 of 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND CONSENT FORM (continued)

Project: The educational politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE NSW

You are making a decision whether or not to participate. Your signature indicates that, having read the information provided above, you have decided to participate.

…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Signature of Research Participant Signature of Witness

…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. (Please PRINT name) (Please PRINT name)

…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Date Nature of Witness

REVOCATION OF CONSENT

Project: The educational politics surrounding curriculum development in TAFE NSW

I hereby wish to WITHDRAW my consent to participate in the research proposal described above and understand that such withdrawal WILL NOT jeopardise any treatment or my relationship with The University of New South Wales.

…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Signature Date

…………………………………………………… Please PRINT Name

The section for Revocation of Consent should be forwarded to George Loupis c/o Dr Kalervo Gulson School of Education, Room 104, Goodsell Building, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052.

Page 2 of 2 Appendix VI - The evolution of the TAFE NSW Diploma of Architectural Technology course 1961 to present

Appendix VI

The evolution of the TAFE NSW Diploma of Architectural Technology course 1961 to present (source: TAFE NSW Student Handbook 1961 to present)

YEAR COURSE NAME QUALIFICATION DURATION MIN. ENTRY CORE SUBJECTS ARTICULATION TO REQUIREMENTS UNIVERSITY 1961 Architectural Certificate IV 4 years PT N/A (15 years min.) English and Mathematics N/A Building Construction Theory to Drafting Building Construction Drawing 1971 Descriptive Geometry Architectural & Freehand Drawing Theory of Structures Quantities and Estimating Building Practice & Regulations Building Services and Equip. Evolution of Architecture 1972 Architectural Certificate IV 4 years PT N/A As above, plus the addition of N/A Model Construction and to Draftsmen’s Photography 1977 1978 Architectural Certificate IV 4 years PT N/A Communications N/A Draftsmen’s Life Oriented Studies Construction Graphics Building Cost Evaluation Drainage & Plumbing Services Project Procedure Model Construction Electrical & Mech. Services Evolution of Architecture Advanced Construction Advanced Graphics 1979 Architectural Certificate IV 4 years PT or N/A As above N/A to Draftsmen’s 2.5 years FT 1984 1985 Architectural Associate Diploma 4 years PT or NSW School Cert. Graphics N/A Technical Drawing to Drafting 2 years FT Management 1990 Energy Systems Technology Humanities Technical Communication Architectural Work Studies 1991 Architectural Associate Diploma 4 years PT or Year 12 or equivalent Residential Construction N/A Drafting 2 years FT Drafting Skills Vocational Communication Contextual Studies Computing Skills Non Residential Construction Architectural Presentation Architectural Computing Industrial Communications 1992 Architectural Associate Diploma 4 years PT or Year 12 or equivalent As above N/A Drafting 2 years FT or year 10 and 1 year vocational studies 1993 Architectural Associate Diploma 4 years PT or Year 12 or equivalent As above When you have finished to Drafting 2 years FT or 20 years of age this course you can apply 1995 to do some courses at the University of New South Wales 1996 Architectural Associate Diploma 4 years PT or Year 12 or equivalent As above When you have finished and Drafting 2 years FT or 20 years of age the course you can apply 1997 for advanced standing in architectural course at several universities 1998 Architectural Certificate IV 2 years PT or Year 12 or equivalent Structures N/A for University, but to Technology 1 Year FT Materials Construction 2003 Architectural Technology When you have finished Surveying & Measured Drawing this course you can apply Architectural Working Drawings for advanced standing in Architectural CAD the Architectural Presentation Drawings Architectural Appreciation Technology Diploma Architectural Office Practice Architectural Computing Architectural Studio Environmentally Sustainable Buildings Electives: Writing Workplace Documents and Graphic Communication

Architectural Diploma 2 years PT or Certificate IV When you have finished Next stage of subjects listed above Technology 1 Year FT including: Services this course you can apply and Electives: for Architectural Architectural History Technology Advanced Specification Writing Diploma and you can apply Writing Technical Documents Graphic Communication for advanced standing in architectural courses at several universities

Architectural Advanced Diploma 1 year PT or Diploma When you have finished As above, including Electives: Technology 0.5 Year FT Model Making the course you can apply Interior Finishes for advanced standing in Interior Fittings architectural course at Landscape Drafting several universities. You Specification Writing Urban Design and Planning can also apply to do Major Project Construction Building Studies Major Project Presentation Residential Certificate IV Major Project CAD with advanced standing Negotiation Skills Client Interaction Presenting Reports 2004 As above As above As above Year 12 or equivalent As above As above to Your application will 2006 be assessed using the following assessment criteria: 1. Demonstrated need and motivation to undertake the course and relevance of the course to career plans and/or personal goals base on; (a) Relevance of the course to career plans or personal goals, (b) Knowledge of the relevant industry and relationship of the course to potential employment, (c) Further evidence to support the application 2. Evidence of ability to complete the course based on; (a) Education & Training (b) Work experience (c) Life and community experiences 2007 Architectural Diploma 4 years PT or NSW HSC or equiv. Residential Architectural Drafting When you have finished to Technology 2 Years FT Office Administration Documents the course you can apply Development Application Docs. 2012 Construction Certificate Docs for advanced standing in Commercial Architectural Drafting architectural course at Office Administration Documents several universities 2010 Sustainable Advanced Diploma 1 year PT or Diploma Create a detailed Building When you have finished to Building Design 0.5 Year FT Information Model (BIM) the course you can apply 2014 Prepare an environmental site for advanced standing in analysis for an alteration and addition building project architectural course at Develop a sustainable building several universities. You design brief can also apply to do Investigate current sustainable Building Studies building technologies Develop design proposals for a Residential Certificate IV sustainable alteration to an with advanced standing existing building Undertake sustainable performance assessments using environmental analysis software Electives: Develop design proposals for a sustainable multi-unit residential building project Develop architectural residential detailing Undertake a post-occupancy assessment of a residential building Develop design proposals for a sustainable commercial building project Develop architectural commercial detailing Undertake a post-occupancy assessment of a commercial building 2013 Building Design Diploma 4 years PT or No mention in 2014 TAFE 2 years FT NSW Course Handbook

Appendix VII(a) - Typical curriculum methodology

NEW SOUTH WALES TECHNICAL AND FURTHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

NSW Course Number: 6440

NSW Version Number: 1

Qualification Code: 91260NSW

Diploma of Architectural Technology

Accreditation Date: 12-0ct-2005

Expiry of Accreditation: 31-Dec-2010

MANUFACT ENG CONSTRUCT TRANSPRT

CONST MGMT & ARCHITECTURAL TECH PROGRAM AREA NEW SOUTH WALES TECHNICAL AND FURTHER EDUCATION COMMISSION UNIT GUIDE

Unit Guide

Unit Title: Produce Residential Architectural Drafting Office Administration Documents Unit Code: NSWTARCS0lA

Version Number: 1

Date: 01-Jul-2005

Unit Sponsor: Manufact Eng Construct Transport

Product Developer: 2387

Program Area: Building & Construction Management

Product Level: Available For Statewide Delivery

Last Updated: 10-Nov-2005

Nominal Student Teacher Hours: 72

Nominal Student Hours: 72

The Unit Guide supports delivery of this unit of competency. It: 1. Provides teachers with advice to facilitate learning, and to collect and assess evidence for reporting achievement of the unit of competency; 2. Supports Institute and teacher compliance with AQTF standards; 3. Informs course planning, monitoring and continuous improvement and outcome reporting; 4. Provides learning and assessment Information for students through the Student Assessment Guide(SAG). Teachers and other users may select and print one or more sections, or select and print the whole unit guide. Part Contents You will find information, such as: 1 Introduction . Unit Purpose . Grading . Nominal delivery hours . Early warning ("key alerts") of issues important for delivery of training and evidence collection

2 Unit of Competency . The complete text of the unit of competency. This may be from a training Information package or be a locally developed unit by TAFE NSW or other RTO.

!The definitive source of training package units is the National Training Information Service database IWW\A -LI. -- ~LI 3 Assessment Information . Web links to generic "Policy & Guidelines" . Guidelines for the collection of sufficient evidence for the learner's achievement of the unit of competency . Suggested tools for evidence collection in different training and assessment contexts • How to record and report the outcomes of assessment of a learner's evidence

4 Delivery Information . Web links to generic "Policy & Guidelines" . Strategies for learning facilitation for students in different training contexts, including strategies for integrated delivery . OH & S and Environmental protection issues NEW SOUTH WALES TECHNICAL AND FURTHER EDUCATION COMMISSION UNIT GUIDE

. Delivery In specific contexts

5 Resources . Teaching and learning resources: books, electronic media; Internet and Intranet resources . Teacher and assessor requirements . Physical resources . Student purchases

6 Administrative data . Data for program planning, monitoring and outcomes reporting . Copyright

)

7. Accreditation authority

TAFE NSW under delegation from VETAB

8. Classification information

ASCO Code: 3121-13 Architectural Associate ANZSIC Code: 7821 Architectural Services Field of Education: 040199 Architecture and Urban Environment NSW Course Number: 6440 Diploma of Architectural Technology NSW Version Number: 1

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 3 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

1. COURSE NAME AND QUALIFICATION

1.1 Course qualification and name

Diploma of Architectural Technology

1.2 Nominal duration: 1584 hours

2. COURSE DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Industry and market needs

While ACTRAC funded the previous national project in the early 1990s, ANTA (now Department of Education, Science and Training [DEST]) has not funded an Industry Skills Council to produce architectural technology qualifications . No training package is available for this industry sector, and consultation with ANTA (DEST) confirmed that no Architectural Technology Training Package was on t priority list for development. However, the existing course structure is considered by the Industry to be dated and needs to be replaced .

The project involved considerable consultation with peak Industry Associations in Australia. Industry workshops were conducted to determine the broad parameters for the competencies, and detail was confirmed qualitatively with members of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) NSW Chapter Education Committee and the Building Designers Association (BDA) NSW Chapter.

The NSW Units in the course were developed using ANTA (DEST) guidelines in order for consistency with the national format.

2.2 Review for re-accreditation

The previous course underwent a formal review each year by the National Advanced Building Studies management team. Each state and territory had representation on the team. National ITAB Construction Training Australia (now Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council [CPSISC]) and ANTA (now part of Department of Education, Science and Training [DEST]) generally provided input into the yearly review process. In NSW there was yearly consultation with the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and the Building Designers Association Each year TAFE NSW has incorporated changes into the syllabus as a result of national developments.

Transition Arrangements

Due to the new course being competency based and the old course being subject based, there is no smooth transition between the two. The different program designs, respectively competency and subject, means that students enrolled in the previous Diploma (1294) should complete that course and not transfer to the new course. Students who have completed the Certficate IV in Architectural Technology (1293) may enrol in the second year of the new Diploma (6440).

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 4 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

3. COURSE OUTCOMES

3.1 Course outcomes

On completion of this course people wanting to work in the construction industry will have obtained the theoretical and practical skills that will enable them to work effectively as archit'ectural draftspersons in the residential sector in accordance with SEPP 65, as well as the industrial and commercial building sectors, CAD Technician or Building Information Modeller.

Skills include: Drafting, Building Information Modelling. Building Construction Theory including the BCA, Computer Aided Drafting, Environment Awareness, Sustainable Building Theory and Administration. The course also provides students with a range of skills in graphics and building construction theory required to prepare sketches and working drawings by manual and CAD techniques. These skills are achieved in two learning streams: Development Applications and Construction Certificates.

3.2 Competency standards

No nationally endorsed competency standards exist for this industry sector. TAFE NSW has developed competency standards using ANTA (DEST) guidelines in consultation with the Royal Australian Institute of Architects NSW Chapter Education Committee and the Building Designers Association NSW Chapter.

3.3 General competencies

The following outlines performance levels criteria for each of the Mayer Key Competencies. Specific information is detailed in each unit in the course.

Level 1 describes the competence needed to: - carry out established processes - make judgements of quality using given criteria.

Level 2 describes the competence needed to : - manage processes - select criteria to evaluate a process.

Level 3 describes the competence needed to: - establish principles and processes - evaluate and reshape processes - establish criteria for the evaluation of a process .

The key competencies are addressed throughout the course and are achieved in the context of achieving technical competencies as indicated in the elements and performance criteria of the relevant units.

KCl Collecting, analysing and organising information

The execution of the competencies required for the diploma always requires the collection, analysis and organisation of data/information. A typical application would be a team leader who would need to clarify the information

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt- Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 5 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information needs of the team and the purposes of the information, and access and record information from a variety of sources. The person would be assessing information for relevance, accuracy and completeness in terms of the needs of his/her team and immediate supervisors. This competency is specifically dealt with in units NSWTARC501A Produce residential architectural drafting office administration documents and NSWTARC508A Produce commercial architectural drafting office administration documents. This competency is incorporated into all other core modules.

KC2 Communicating ideas and information

Architectural Drafting Offices Predominantly utilise teamwork as the primary organisation structure and require high levels of communication by team leaders and team members with all stakeholders. The team leader is required to adapt modes and styles of communication to suit the clients and team members and the purpose of the documentation being produced. Communication of ideas and information underpins all core units.

KC3 Planning and organising activities

Self planning and organising is required from Architectural Techniciansion They also may have some responsibility for the planning of work and for the organisation of other Team Members' work. They will have responsibility for achieving objectives and maximising the quality of outcomes or processes consistent with their level of responsibility. Planning and organising activities on a short and longer term basis will be covered in units. NSWTARC501A Produce residential architectural drafting office administration documents and NSWTARC508A Produce commercial architectural drafting office administration documents. This competency is incorporated into all other core modules.

KC4 Working with others and in teams

Working in teams is fundamental to the way most most Architectural Drafting Offices operate. Teams may be single level work area teams, multidisciplinary, multi-level teams, permanent teams, ad hoc teams or any other combination of people may be termed a 'team'. Teams may also be form with external consultants.

At the Diploma level a person will usually have responsibility for interpreting purposes and objectives to be achieved by working with others and organising procedures and timeframes to take account of different roles and perspectives, and working with others to achieve agreed objectives. The work in teams will be in accordance with procedures at this level. All units and the delivery strategies incorporate teamwork.

KCS Solving problems

In a Architectural Drafing Office the skill to solve problems is fundamental to the design and detailing processes required in the production of development application documents and construction certificate documentation. At the Diploma level problems will typically be related to the process in some way, but may also be interpersonal or other problems such as conflict resolution.

KC6 Using mathematical ideas and techniques

Most units require some mathematical competence with a level of numeracy sufficient to extract data from charts or spreadsheet and understand numbers for

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 6 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information the purposes of measured drawings, geometric setout and dimensioning and basic quality surveying. This is done in accordance with workplace procedures.

Kc7 Using Technology

All draftspersons will be required to interact with CAD technology and building information modelling as well as digital databases, internet and basic computing. Draftspersons may also be involved with the operation of surveying equipment and other measuring devices. The specification of technologies for the procurement of buildings is fundamental to the role of a draftsperson.

3.4 Recognition given to course

The qualification has been designed to meet the academic requirements for membership of the following professional bodies:

The Building Designers Association recognises student members immediately after they enrol in the course. Students remain in that membership capacity throughout the remainder of the course. On completion of their studies, graduates can apply for "Affiliate" or "Associate" status depending on the Membership Committee's assessment, based on the particulars provided on the Application Form. Full Membership can not be applied for until the applicant has commenced their own business and has a minimum of three years practical experience in this profession.

The Royal Australian Institute of Architects recognises this course as producing architectural draftspersons at a technician/para-professional level. Student membership of the RAIA is under consideration.

3.5 Licensing and regulatory requirements

Currently licensing is not required in NSW for the drafting industry .

~ COURSESTRUCTURE

4.1 Outline of course structure

Group 1 are core competency units and all must be completed. Group 2 are communication units/modules and are optional enrichment units/modules Group 3 contains tutorial support modules/units The course structure and additional course information is summarised and available from the TAFENSW Curriculum Centres intranet.

Group 1 CORE COMPETENCY UNITS All module/units must be completed

National Module/Unit Module Module/Unit Name Norn Code Code Hrs NSWTARCS0JA Produce Residential Architectural Drafting Office 72 Administration Documents

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt- Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 7 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

National Module/Unit Module Module/Unit Name Norn Code Code Hrs NSWTARC502A Produce Development Application Documents for Class I & 10 63 Single Storey Buildings NSWTARC503A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 1 & 10 99 Single Storey Buildings NSWT ARC504A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 1 & 10 63 Multi-Level Buildings NSWT ARC505A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 1 & IO 99 Multi-Level Buildings NSWT ARC506A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 1 & 10 144 Medium-Density Buildings NSWT ARC507 A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class I & 10 252 Medium-Density Buildings NSWT ARC508A Produce Commercial Architectural Draft Office Administration 72 Documents NSWTARC509A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 2-9 108 Low Rise Structures NSWTARC510A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 2-9 Low 252 Rise Structures NSWTARC51 IA Produce Development Application Documents for Class 2-9 l08 Medium Rise Structures NSWT ARC512A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 2-9 252 Medium Rise Structures

Group 2 COMMUNICATION MODULES These are enrichment modules/units and do not count towards course completion

National Module/Unit Module Module/Unit Name Norn Code Code Hrs BSBCMN420A Write complex documents 54 BSBFLM510B Facilitate and capitalise on change and innovation 40 BSBFLM512A Ensure Team Effectiveness 40

Group 998 These are tutorial modules and do not count towards completion.

National Module/Unit Module Module/Unit Name Norn Code Code Hrs 89998 !Tutorial support (optional) 36

4.2 Requirements to receive the qualification

To receive the award of Diploma in Architectural Technology the student must:

- Complete all Core Units in Group 1

4.3 Exit points

4.4 On-job requirements

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 8 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

There are no specific on the job requirements .

4.5 Customisation

Customisation is the tailoring of a course to meet the specific needs of a group or individuals associated with the course while maintaining the integrity of the course.

The course has been developed, with industry consultation, to meet the needs of a wide range of employment outcomes. Units may be customised to meet specific regional employer needs by varying portfolio exercises.

4.6 Entry requirements

NSW Higher School Certificate or equivalent.

PLEASE NOTE

Entry requirements are the minimum qualifications, attributes, skills and /or experience that students must have to enter a course.

Selection criteria should be applied if demand exceeds the supply of places.

4.7 Recognition of prior learning

Students may apply for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Assessment of competencies may take the form of one or more of the following:

Documentary evidence of formal study Work reports Written or oral challenge testing

In all cases, the method used for assessing the RPL will reflect the skills and knowledge for which the RPL is being sought and students must demonstrate that they have achieved the purpose of the Unit(s) for which they are applying for RPL.

5. ASSESSMENT

5.1 Assessment strategy

The elements detailed in each unit are assessed holistically in accordance with the stated assessment criteria.

Each unit contains suggested assessment methods to follow and it is expected that the assessors will be required to exercise their professional judgement when making overall assessment of the student at completion of a unit. Types of evidence appropriate for most of the units are:

- performance in a workplace (collected generally via a portfolio, logbook

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt- Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 9 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information and/or documentation)

- performance in practical exercises in a TAFE college (collected by direct observation of the process and the product)

- demonstration of underpinning knowledge and/ or the ability to apply this knowledge (collected by questioning, interview, assignment)

Sufficient evidence will generally require performance in a workplace or practical exercises/ projects in a college and demonstration of underpinning knowledge. Evidence about underpinning knowledge should generally explore the learner's ability to apply knowledge especially in problem solving contexts rather than their ability to memorise it in the form it was presented. Generally where there is substantial work experience across many contexts, the level of underpinning knowledge required will be considerably less than for learners who rely largely on educational institution based learning. In the case of learners with substantial work experience, short oral questioning can be employed.

Sufficiency of evidence also demands that the following dimensions are satisfied in respect of each unit of competency:

Task skills

This is the ability to perform work tasks. As these are not clearly specified in each unit of competency, assessors must ensure that evidence of successful performance of each task in the learning is obtained from practical exercises or job experience.

Task management skills

This means that the student is able to manage a number of different tasks in achieving a specific work outcome. Practical exercises should be developed that engage students in planning and integrating a number of different tasks towards work outcomes .

Contingency management skills

This means that the student is able to deal with irregularity,imperfections and the unknown. This links to the key competency of problem solving . This can be assessed through:

* providing practical projects that press students into non-routine (higher order) problem solving. * determining the level of problem solving experienced in work situations * focusing questioning on the ability to apply knowledge in a range of contexts including the non-routine.

Job/role environment skills.

These are skills used in dealing with the responsibilities and expectations of the work environment and in working with others. These skills link to the key competencies of communicating ideas and information and working with others in teams. Evidence for these skills can come from:

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt- Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 10 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

* practical exercises that closely simulate a workplace situation.

* on job documentation of students' overall ability to effectively deal with a job/role environment.

Grading

This course is graded. A pass in a unit means that the requirements of the unit have been satisfied. This will also mean that the specifications of the related units of competency have been achieved.

A grade beyond pass level will mean that the student has achieved a performance level beyond the specifications of the unit of competency. Criteria for this will be established by teaching staff and communicated to students. This will be reviewed and refined under the validation process.

Assessment Validation

Under the Australian Quality Training Framework Evidence Guide for Registered Training Organisations and Auditors standard 9.2 (effective July 1, 2005), each RTO must validate its assessment strategies for each unit of competency at least annually. The standard requires evidence be provided that the RTO has validated its assessment strategies through "review, comparison and evaluation at least annually. Evidence must also include the documentation of actions taken to improve the quality and consistency of assessment".

Meetings should be held at least annually in each college with TAFE NSW teaching staff engaged in making judgements about the attainment of units of competency in this course. The meeting should involve assessors from other colleges. The meeting should involve assessors exchanging and discussing evidence provided and judgements they have made on the attainment and grading of groups of units of competency. The discussion should be supported by comments from industry on the performance of students (i.e. are students who have deemed to have achieved units of competency able to perform in the workplace to the standards detailed in the units of competency).

Minutes should be made of the meetings along with recommendations for overall improvement of the assessment process to give greater consistency across and within centres . Measures to improve assessment need to be documented. Such measures can include the following: modification and development of processes and tools; and, adjustment to judgements about the evidence required for achievement of the units of competency. Issues about the strategic advice provided in this document and the associated documents relating to the units of competency should be conveyed to the Program Manager, MECAT Curriculum Centre.

All documentation relating to the process of validation and improvement (including minutes) should be held in a location at each centre that is easily accessible for auditing purposes.

Teachers are strongly advised to read the following documents to develop a validation process: ANTA. (2005). Australian Quality Training Framework Evidence Guide for Registered Training Organisations and Auditors standard 9.2 available:

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 11 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

http://165.l2.253.219/publications/images/publications/AQTF_ _2005 _ Evidence_ Guide .jpg

Vocational Education Assessment Centre. (2002). On Track Moving towards Assessment Validation available:

http://www.veac.org.au/publish/index.html

Any required assessment methods are set out in the unit and/or must be stated at the commencement of the unit. It is recommended that an annual industry showcase of students work be curated for review by industry and universities.

Equity Issues

Assessment methods should reflect workplace demands (eg literacy) and the needs of particular target groups (eg people with disabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, people with a language background other than English).

An individual's access to the assessment process should not be adversely affected by restrictions placed on the location or context of assessment beyond the requirements specified in the assessment criteria.

Reasonable adjustments can be made to ensure equity in assessment for people with disabilities. Adjustments include any changes to the assessment process or context that meet the individual needs of the person with a disability, but do not change competency outcomes.

Such adjustments are considered 'reasonable' if they do not impose an unjustifiable hardship on a training provider or employer. When assessing people with disabilities, assessors are encouraged to apply good practice assessment methods with sensitivity and flexibility.

The following guidelines will support good assessment for all learners, including those with a disability. ) Identify the issues - building a rapport with the learner will help you to identify and particular needs they may have and help you to meet those needs.

Create a climate of support - successful assessment will not be possible in a climate of hostility or ignorance . As an assessor it is your role to create and foster a climate of tolerance, acceptance and support.

Ensure access - for people with disabilities access can sometimes pose a problem and it is the trainer, assessor and employer who can provide assistance to ensure access is achieved. Access needs are based on the individual's needs and abilities and can include the provision of: * Ramps, height adjustable desks * Enlarged material, braille translations * Technology such as audio tapes and speech synthesisers * An AUSLAN interpreter, s scribe to take dictated responses to questions

Appropriately structure assessment - it must be stressed that it is the structure of the assessment that is being altered, not the outcomes. Appropriate changes might include breaking the assessment into smaller, more manageable segments Kit to support assessor training and allowing more time to complete an

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 12 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information assessment task. It may mean altering the assessment task; for example not including multiple choice assessments for people with certain learning difficulties.

Use other expertise. Provided permission from the learner has been received, assessors may use existing expertise in the relevant field. For further information on equity principles see: - the relevant Training Package assessment guidelines -AQTF Standards for RTOs-Standard 2 and Standard 9 -Legislative policies, including the following, which require that all government departments ensure that social and physical barriers are removed:

Disability Discrimination Act (1992), http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/standards/www_ 3/www_3.html

Racial Discrimination Act (1975) http://www.humanrights.gov . au/racial_discrimination/guide_law/

Sex Discrimination Act (1984) http://www.hreoc.gov.au/sex_ discrimination/

Where RTOs have specialised equity staff (for example Disabilities Teacher Consultants, Aboriginal Coordinators, Women's Strategy Coordinators, Harassment Officers, Multicultural Coordinators) they may be consulted for further advice.

6. DELIVERY OF COURSE

6.1 Delivery modes

The delivery requirements are detailed in each Unit. Restrictions on the mode of delivery are only made when it is essential that the nature of the task requires some elements to be demonstrated under special conditions, e.g. using Computers, reading surveying equipment, constructing a model.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

TAFE NSW is committed to providing and maintaining a safe working environment for all its employees, students and visitors.

The NSW OHS Act 2000 and the NSW OHS Regulation 2001 require that any person delivering this course should take reasonable steps to develop and maintain a proactive risk management culture for a workplace environment. Teachers should seek management advice on their obligations for the control of risks in the classroom, workshop or workplace.

Teachers should incorporate in their delivery methods, an awareness of safety and security issues in the classroom, workshop or workplace. This should provide some of the essential underpinning knowledge required by learners to develop competencies in this course. Care should be taken to refer to suitable workplace texts for integration into delivery and assessment strategies.

Strategies to identify, eliminate, control and monitor risks may include :

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 13 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

1 Follow OHS guidelines issued by DET, Institute, College, campus and/or teaching section 2 Participate in hazard identification, risk assessment and control 3 Inform management through their supervisor of any risks to health and safety including the effectiveness of risk control systems 4 Participate in the development of Safe Work Method Statements for all hazardous activities 5 Ensure that Material Safety Data Sheets are readily available 6 Ensure that equipment operating instructions are readily available 7 Cooperate with their Supervisor to meet any requirement under the Act or Regulation

Resources for full or part time teachers

Before generating new resources consult with your Supervisor to obtain any existing resources and refer to curriculum centres gateway under the MECAT CC Construction Management & Architectural Technology program area: http://esd.tafensw.edu.au

For more information and details of the OHS Act, OHS Regulation, OHS Act & Regulation Summary booklets, Codes of Practice, Safety Guidelines and Safety Alerts refer to the Work Cover website on http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au or your college library.

For specific OHS statement and advice, refer to the Unit OHS statement.

6.2 Resources

NOTE: For the minimum educational requirements please consult the 2005 Revised AQTF Standards for RTOs (Standards 7.3 and 7.4).

Note: for the minimum educational requirements please consult the Revised AQTF Standards 7.3 and 7.4, effective from July 2005.

6.2.1 ESSENTIAL TEACHER/TRAINER QUALIFICATIONS

Under the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF), Registered Training ) Organisations (RTOs) must ensure that delivery and assessment personnel have appropriate qualifications and experience. It is the responsibility of the RTO to verify that its employees have the required qualifications or their equivalent.

Teachers/trainers must have a combination of: - Educational qualifications, to ensure competence in educational delivery and in competency based assessment - Vocational qualifications, to ensure knowledge of the occupation or vocation in the vocational education is being provided - Industry or related experience, to ensure the currency and relevance of the vocational program to the learner and the industry or community.

The qualifications and experience required by teachers/trainers to deliver and conduct assessments in this course may vary between units and are specified in each unit. All requirements comprise educational qualifications, vocational qualifications and relevant experience.

Educational Qualifications

As a minimum all TAFE NSW trainers/assessors must meet the qualification

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 14 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information requirements detailed in AQTF Standards 7.3 and 7.4 or equivalent .

TAFE NSW Requirements RTOs may require qualifications in addition to those specified in the AQTF, to enhance the quality of their delivery and assessment practice, eg TAFE NSW may specify a degree or diploma in educational or vocational areas .

Teachers, trainers and assessors who are involved in on-line delivery and assessment should be competent on-line facilitators.

Teachers, trainers and assessors should have current knowledge and awareness of access and equity issues relevant to learners needs arising from a variety of factors including socio-economic status, disability status, ethnic background, race, family differences, sexual preferences and gender specific differences. Teachers, trainers and assessors should also be aware of the available sources of additional expert advice.

The qualifications and experience required by teachers/trainers to deliver and conduct assessments in this course may vary between units. Refer to the individual unit guide documents for details specified in each unit . The requirements comprise vocational qualifications, educational qualifications and relevant experience.

For specific qualifications and other requirements for appointment of full-time and part-time teaching staff, consult your Staff Services Unit for the relevant Teacher Designation requirements.

Vocational Qualifications

Teachers/trainers must be able to demonstrate current competence related to the unit(s) that they are delivering. In most cases, this will require completion of a relevant degree, diploma or other vocational qualification. AQTF requires, vocational qualifications should be at least the same level as the qualification being delivered and/or assessed to ensure that the teacher/trainer has a broad perspective and depth of understanding of the vocational area.

Appropriate vocational qualifications include:

A Bachelor Degree in Architecture

Or equivalent

An acceptable qualification is registration with the Board of Architects, NSW, or qualifications in architecture acceptable to the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia for registration as a Chartered Architect.

Teachers/trainers must be able to demonstrate current and relevant experience in the industry or community sector. Usually, this will be a minimum of three years experience gained no longer than five years previously, as endorsed by the RAIA. It may have been gained through employment, professional development, industry or community liaison, return to industry programs, community service or a combination of these and other relevant methods.

ACCOMMODATION

An architectural room is required for each unit. The room needs fitting out to enable theory, manual drawing, CAD and electronic document teaching

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 15 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information methodologies to occur. Minimum and maximum student accommodation is 15 and 30 students respectively. A work station needs to accommodate Al drawing equipment, high end computer, task light and side table.

Exhibition/Display space is required for Teacher to display drawings and models. The same space is used by students for progressive and end of project presentations.

Access to specialised facilities and equipment

Plan printing/photocopying/reproduction facilities for students Model Making Workshop/Tool Store Technical Building Sample Store Technical Product Information Library

ARCHITECTURAL DRAFTING ROOM EQUIPMENT (FOR 15 STUDENTS) Access to: General Equipment (As of 2005 and to be revised annually in June by MECAT for availability in the following year)

1 . Photocopier A3 (enlarge and reduce) 1 2 . Plan cabinet 1

Theory and Drawing Room

3. Overhead projector and screen 1 4. Slide projector 1 5. Video player, TV monitor and trolley 1 6. Data Projector and smart board 1

Surveying

7 . Automatic levels and staffs 5 8. 30m tapes 5 9 . 8m tapes 10

Computer, Plan Printing/Reproduction and Model Making Equipment and Software to reflect current minimum industry practice.

10. Pentium, 80Gb hard disk, 2G RAM, 256Mb Video card, CD-R, DVD, 19" monitor and Internet connection. 16 11. A3 Colour Scanner 1 12. Al Colour plotter/printer (networked) 1 13. A3 Laser printer (networked) 1 14. Software Wordprocessing 16 Spreadsheet 16 Database 16 CAD package 2D/3D image and graphic production software 16 3D Rendering/Animation package 16 Specification package 16 Building Code package 16 Technical Building Reference package 16 Timber Sizing package 16 Desktop Publishing 16

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 16 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

Cost Estimating package 16 15. Al Plain paper plan copier 1 16. Laminating machine 1 17. Guillotine 1 18. Al Light table 1 19. Binding Machine 1 20. Digital Camera 1 21. Hot wire cutter 1 22. Scroll Saw 1 23. Belt sander 1 24 Hand tools 25. Power drill 1 26. Jigsaw 1

Resource Material

27. Plans and specifications 60 sets 28. Reference notes 30 sets

Reference Material

Acceptable Standards of Construction Committee - NSW, Acceptable Standards of Domestic Construction. ISBN O 7313 1583 9 PO Box 11, Engadine NSW 2233 Phone (02) 9548 2815 Fax (02) 9548 2815

Allen, E. (1993). Fundamentals of building construction. 2nd ed. U.S., John Wiley. ISBN 0471041408

Apperly, R. [et al] (1994, cl989). Pictorial guide to identifying Australian architecture : styles and terms from 1788 to the present. Sydney, A & R. ISBN 020718562x

A practical guide to design. (1992). Nth Sydney, Concrete Masonry Association of Australia. ISBN 0909407274

Ashurst, J. and Ashurst, N. (1988). Practical building conservation. 5 vols. U.K., Gower Technical Press Ltd. ISBN 0291397778

Baggs, S. [et al]. (1991). Australian earth-covered building. [new ed.] Kensington, NSW., NSW Uni Press. ISBN 0868400602

Ballinger, J.A. [et al]. (1992). Energy efficient Australian housing. 2nd ed. Kingston, ACT., AGPS. ISBN 0644125640

Ballinger, J.A. [et al]. (1992) .Energy efficient housing in New South Wales. Kensington, N.S.W., SOLARCH, National Solar Architecture Research Unit, UNSW . ISBN 0730569551

Barry, R. (1993). The Construction of buildings. Vols. 1 - 5. 4th ed. Cambridge, MA, Blackwell Science. ISBN 0632041072 vol. 1 1996 6th ed ISBN 0632032898 vol. 2 1995 4th ed ISBN 0632037423 vol. 3 1993 4th ed ISBN 0632039116 vol. 4 [n.d.] 4th ed

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 17 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

ISBN 0632022485 vol. 5 1995 2nd ed

Bayerstock, G. and Paolino, S. (1986). Low energy buildings in Australia : a design manual for architects and builders. Vol. 1. Residential buildings. Western Australia, Graphic Systems. ISBN 0958977720

Bootle, K. R. (1983). Wood in Australia. Roseville, N.S.W., McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0074510479

Boyd, R. (1987). Australia's home : its origins, builders and occupiers. Carlton, Vic., Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522843581

Building code of Australia. 2 vols. (2005) Nth Ryde, CCH . ISBN 1862648735

Burden, E. (1992). Architectural delineation: photographic approach to presentation. 3rd ed. Maidenhead, Berkshire, McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070089396

Burden, E. (1992). Design presentation: techniques for marketing and presentation of project proposals . 2nd ed. Maidenhead, Berks., McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070089388

Burden, E. (1992). Architectural delineation: a photographic approach to presentation. N.Y., McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070089396

Buehrens, C. (1990). DataCAD for the architect. Blue Ridge Summit, PA., TAB Books, Div. of McGraw Hill. ISBN 083063746x

Burden, E . (1995). Entourage: a tracing file for architects and interior designers . 3rd ed . Maidenhead, Berks., McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070089442

Ching, F. and Adams, C. (1991). Building construction illustrated. 2nd ed. N.Y., Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0442234988

Ching, F. (1995). Architecture: form, space and order. 2nd ed. London, Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0442017928

Ching, F.D. (1995). A visual dictionary of architecture . N.Y., Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0442009046

Chitham, R. (1980). Measured drawing for architects. London, Architectural Press ISBN 0851393918

Concrete masonry design details - commercial and industrial buildings (1996) . Qld., Qld. Promotion Committee/Concrete Masonry Association of Australia.

CSIRO. (1963-1996) . Notes in the science of building . [Melbourne?] CSIRO .

CSIRO Building, Construction & Engineering. Highett, Vic. Bulletin No. 10. Design of sunshading devices Information sheets: 10-38 Keeping cool in summer - windows (rev. 1995) 10-63 Keeping outside noise outside (rev. 1995) 10-64 Low energy houses - orientation and eaves design (rev. 1995)

Cuffley, P. (1993, cl989). Australian houses of the twenties and thirties. Knoxfield, Vic., Five Mile Press. ISBN 0867886676

Cuffley. P. (1993). Australian houses of the forties and fifties. Knoxfield,

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 18 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

Vic., Five Mile Press. ISBN 0867885785

Drew, P. (1991). Leaves of iron: Glenn Murcutt, pioneer of an Australian architectural form. Nth Ryde, NSW., Collins/A.& R. ISBN 0207173273

Drpic, I. (1988). Architectural delineation: professional shortcuts. N.Y., Van Nostrand Reinhold (International) University & College. ISBN 0442013523

Dual occupancy : design solutions manual. (1994). [Sydney] N.S.W. Government Dept. of Planning. ISBN 0731030559

Dunbar, D. [et al.] (1990) . Measure for measure : a practical guide for recording buildings and landscapes. Red Hill, ACT . , Royal Australian Institute of Architects. National Education Div.) ISBN 1863180141

Eissen, K. (1990). Presenting architectural designs: three-dimensional visualisation techniques. London, Architecture Design and Technology Press Ltd. ISBN 1854547011

Evans, I. (1985). Australian home. Yeronga, Qld., Flannel Flower Press. ISBN 0959492364

Farrelly, E . M. (1993). Three houses: New South Wales, Australia 1974-84 Glen Murcutt. London, Chronicle Books (Phaidon Press UK). ISBN 0714828750

Environmental Protection Authority (2000) Environmental Information for Builders ISBN 07313 0188 9. For orders phone the EPA at 131555

Freeman, P. and Vulker, J. [eds.] (1991). Australian dwelling. Red Hill, ACT., Royal Australian Institute of Architects Education Publications . ISBN 1863180184

Full brick manual. (Design manual 3.) (1996). Wentworthville, N. S.W., Clay Brick & Paver Institute.

Greenland, J. and Szokolay, S.V. (1985). Passive solar design in Australia . Red Hill, A.C.T., Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Education Division. ISBN 0909724644 ) Jacobs, S. (1991). The CAD design studio: 3d modelling as a fundamental design skill. Maidenhead, Berkshire, McGraw Hill Europe. ISBN 0070322287

Johnson, D. (1980) . Australian architecture 1901-51: sources of modernism. [Sydney] Sydney Uni. Press. ISBN 0424000717

Hayashi Studio Staff. (1995). Watercolor rendering. Carson, CA. , Books Nippon . ISBN 4766106431

Luscombe, D. and Peden, A. (1992) . Picturing architecture: graphic presentation techniques in Australian architectural practice. Roseville, N.S.W., Craftsman House. ISBN 9768097205

Karsai, T. (1989) . The Airbrush in architectural illustration. N.Y., Van Nostrand Reinhold . ISBN 0442246900

Knox, A. (1985). Living in the environment. Leura, Second Back Row Press. ISBN 0909325464

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 19 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

Koplar, R. (c1993). Architectural studies: a step-by-step guide to rendering and drawing techniques. N.Y., McGraw Hill ISBN 0070358680

Krier, R. (1988). Architectural composition. London, Academy Editions. ISBN 0856708038

Laseau, P. (1989). Graphic thinking for architects and designers. 2nd ed. N.Y., Van Nostrand Reinhold (International). ISBN 0442258445

Metz, D. (ed.). (1988). Compact house book: thirty-three prize winning designs one thousand square feet or less. 2nd ed. Pownal VT, Garden Way Publishing. ISBN 0882663232

Middleton, G.F. and Schneider, L.M. (1992). Earth-wall construction. 4th ed. North Ryde, CSIRO Division of Building, Construction and Engineering. ISBN 0643054499

NATSPEC Pty Ltd. (1993). NATSPEC basic reference. Sydney, Suppliers Index. ISBN 064613633x

NATSPEC Pty Ltd. (1993). NATSPEC building reference. Sydney, Suppliers Index. ISBN 0646136321

NATSPEC Pty Ltd. (c1994). NATSPEC domestic. Milson s Point, N.S.W., Natspec and Master Builders Aust. ISBN 0646206613

Mindham, C.N. (1994). Roof construction and loft conversion. Oxford, Blackwell Science. ISBN 0632035951

Nolan, J. (1990). Common walls - private homes : multi-residential design. Maidenhead, Berkshire, McGraw Hill Europe. ISBN 0070168199

Pearson, D. (1989). Natural house book. Pymble, N.S.W., Harper Collins. ISBN0207162018

Pearson, D. (1994). Earth to spirit natural architecture. Pymble, Harper Collins. ISBN 020717735x

Pearson, D. (1996). Natural house catalogue : everything you need to create an environmentally friendly home. N.Y., Simon & Schuster Trade. ISBN 0684801981

Pegrum, R. (1987). Details in Australian architecture. Vol. 2. red Hill, ACT, Royal Australian Institute of Architects. ISBN 0909724776

Phillips, R. (1992). Sunshine and shade in Australasia. [Canberra] CSIRO Division of Building, Construction & Engineering. 6th ed. ISBN 064450451x

Porter, T. and Goodman, S. (1991). Design drawing techniques: a reference book for architects, graphic designers and artists. N.Y., Simon & Schuster. (Collier books paperback) ISBN 0684190451

Ogg, A. (1987). Architecture in steel : Australian context. Red Hill, ACT., Royal Australian Institute of Architects. ISBN 0909724768

Tasker, H.E., Sorenson, C.P. and [CSIRO] Experimental Building Station, Australia. (1983). Pier-and-beam footings for single-storey domestic construction. Canberra, A.C.T., AGPS. ISBN 0644017447

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 20 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

NSW TAFE Commission (2000) Stormwater Management on Construction and Demolition Sites. ISBN 0731 007 644 For orders phone the Manufacturing, Engineering, Construction and Transport Curriculum Centre.

Standen, D. (1993). Construction industry terminology. Melbourne, Royal Australian Institute of Architects Practice Services. 3rd ed. ISBN 0909825289

Stapleton, M. (1981). Identifying Australian houses. Sydney, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. ISBN 094975305x

Stapleton, I. (1991). How to restore the old Aussie house. Yeronga, Qld., Flannel Flower Press. ISBN 1875253025

State Forests of New South Wales. (1966). New South Wales timber framing manual. 5th ed. [Pennant Hills, N.S.W.], State Forests of New South Wales. ISBN 1875432337

Szokolay, S. (1992). Architecture and climate change. Red Hill, ACT., Royal Australian Institute of Architects Education Publications. ISBN 1863180192

Taylor, J. (1990). Australian architecture since 1960. Red Hill, ACT., Royal Australian Institute of Architects National Education Division. ISBN 0455203512 Pegrum, R. (1984). Details in Australian architecture. Vol. 1. Red Hill, ACT, Royal Australian Institute of Architects. ISBN 0909724563

Towards an ecologically sustainable architecture: Tasmanian seminar papers . (1994). Rozelle, N.S.W., Projects and Systems. [02 9555 1752) ISBN 0646185357

Tutt, P. and Adler, D. [eds.] New metric handbook. rev . and expanded ed. London, Butterworth Architecture. ISBN 085139468x

University of Technology Sydney (2001) Your Home: Design for Lifestyle and the future, Canberra, Australian Greenhouse Office/

Ward-Harvey, K. (1989). Fundamental building materials. 2nd ed. Red Hill, ACT, Royal Australian Institute of Architects. ISBN 0909724555

) Wilkie, G. and Arden, S. (1992). Building your own home. Sydney, Lansdowne Publishing. ISBN 1863020551

The following web sites may be found useful in the delivery of this unit of competency.

ANTA Toolboxes http://toolbox.flexiblelearning.net.au/search.asp Australian Training Products http://www.atpl.net.au/

Cement and Concrete Association of Australia

WorkCover http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/index.asp

Environmental Protection Authority http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/index/html

Flexible Learning Resourceshttp://aflr.flexiblelearning.net.au/resource.htm

NSW Wasteboards (2002) Construction and Demolition waste Stream, http://www.wasteboards.nsw.gov.au/construction/main.htm

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 21 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

National Training Information Service (NTIS) http://ntis.gov.au/cgi-bin/waxhtml/-ntis/pgr.wxh?page=l

Sustainable Measures (2002) Everything you wanted to know about indicators . http://www.sustainablemeasures.com./Indicators/index.html

GUIDELINES

Guidelines for photographic recording of heritage sites, building and structures

How to carry out work on heritage buildings and sites: a practical guide

Infill: guidelines for the design of infill buildings

Principles of conservation work on heritage places

Street trees in NSW: guidelines for conservation and management

TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS

Masonry renovation Old houses

GENERAL PUBLICATIONS

Common terms and abbreviations used in heritage conservation. Directory of conservation suppliers and services Record of commercial buildings constructed in the Victorian era in NSW

(The above publications : Guidelines, technical publications and general publications are from the Heritage Publications List. NSW Govt. Heritage Office, order from Information Branch, Dept. of Urban Affairs & Planning)

ACTS ) New South Wales. Local Government Act. 1993. Sydney, Govt. Printer

STANDARDS

AS HBS0 - 1994. Glossary of building terms. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726284505

AS HB44 - 1993. Understanding the timber framing code. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726282278

AS HB60.2 - 1993. Australian domestic construction manual. N.S.W. edition . Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN0726287482)

AS HB61 - 1994. The Natspec standards handbook. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726292079

AS HB64 - 1994. Guide to construction. (Cement and Concrete Association of Australia Document No. T41) Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726292834

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 22 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

AS HB70.l - 1994. Quality policy manual. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726295248

AS 1100.301 - 1985. Architectural drawing. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726238422

AS 1170.1 - 1989. Dead and live loads and load combinations. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726255017

AS 1684 (set). National timber framing code. (Complete set in binder). Homebush, Standards Association of Australia.

AS 1720.1 - 1988. Design methods. Homebush , Standards Association of Australia . ISBN 0726250902

AS 1720.2 - 1990. Timber properties. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia . ISBN 072626427x

AS 2050 - 1995. Installation of roof tiles. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726294071

AS 2180 - 1986. Metal rainwater goods - selection and installation. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 072624046x

AS 2870 - 1996. Residential slabs and footings. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 073370560x

AS 3660 - 1993. Protection of buildings from subterranean termites - prevention, detection and treatment of infestation.). Homebush, Standards Association of Australia.

AS 3660.1 - 1995. New buildings . Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. (To run concurrently with AS 3660 - 1993 for two years) ISBN 0726299359

AS 3623 - 1993. Domestic metal framing. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726283169 ) AS 3700 - 1988. Masonry in small buildings (known as the SAA masonry code) . Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726253596

AS 3740 - 1994. Waterproofing of wet areas within residential buildings . Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726291978

AS 4055 - 1992. Wind loads for housing. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726277061

AS/NZ ISO 9001 - 1994. Guidelines for selection and use. Homebush, Standards Association of Australia. ISBN 0726292028

Graham P. (2003 Building Ecology: First Principles for a Sustainable Built Environment Blackwell Publishing

A clearly written introduction to sustainability for the built environment crossing disciplinary boundaries and well suited to Architectural Technology.

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission· Manufact Eng Construct Transprt • Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 23 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

Szokolay, S (2004) Introduction to Architectural Science: The Basis of Sustainable Design Architectural Press Oxford.

A Practical Guide for climatic design - includes all the quantitative information on thermal comfort, sun-paths etc. Can get a bit technical - language-wise but has everything a beginning student needs, and a teacher can use to develop - efficient and bioclimatic design

Birkland, Jed (2003) Designing for Sustainability Earthscan, UK. Landscape planning and 'construction ecology'. A general studies book that includes reflective activities.

Lawson, B (1996) Building materials energy & the environment: towards ecologically sustainable development. Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Red Hill Australia.

A concise summary of the life-cycle environmental performance of common building materials - includes case studies.

Willis, A.M. & Tonkin, C (1998) Timber in context, a guide to sustainable use Construction Information Systems Australia, Sydney

- A good overview of the timber industry in Australia and the issues the effect sustainable use of timber in buildings. In my opinion singling out timber for special treatment/study is important because it is a renewable resource and allows an easy link to the study of eco-systems and natural resource management, and to understanding bio-diversity issues. Timber use is also an emotive social issue.

7. ARTICULATION AND CREDIT TRANSFER

7.1 Articulation and credit transfer

) N/A

NON TAFE

Universities that offer undergraduate degrees in Architecture have pathways for TAFE graduates with varying recognition of prior learning. Students should contact their university of choice for further information.

7.2 Training, education and career pathways

This course provides technician training in the building design/drafting industry. The course provides a platform for graduates to specialise in one of several areas or be broad based.

The anticipated occupation of graduates would be Architectural Drafters, Building Designers, CAD Operators and building information modelers in the low rise residential, medium rise residential, industrial and commercial building sectors.

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 24 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 In part A Diploma of Architectural Technology B. Course information

TAFE graduates after 10 years experience, may do the Architect's Practice Examination in order to apply for registration as an architect .

8. ONGOING MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Ongoing monitoring in NSW will be by means of feedback from students and teachers.

It is recommended that an annual industry showcase of student work be curated for review by industry and universitites.

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 25 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology C. TAFE NSW implementation requirements

1. TAFE NSW course(s) replaced by this course

Course qualification and name: Diploma of Architectural Technology Course number: 1294 Duration: 1584 hours Approval Date: 20-Dec-2001 Expiry Date: 31-Dec-2006

2. Handbook description

This course is for people who want to acquire architectural drafting and building information modelling skills.

You will learn how to present and document building projects using both manual and computer-aided drafting (CAD) techniques. The course covers building materials, construction methods and the social and environmental aspects of residential construction projects.

The course has two streams: Development Application documents and Construction Certificate documents.

CAREER OPPORTUNITY: Architectural draftsperson, CAD technician, building information modeller.

ARTICULATION: When you finish this course you can apply for entry into undergraduate degrees in architecture at universities.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS NSW Higher School Certificate or equivalent.

3. Student selection

) SELECTION CRITERIA Your application will be assessed using the following selection criteria:

Evidence of ability to complete the course, based on: Cl your previous education and training (Part C in application form-up to 20 points) C2 Your paid or unpaid work experience (up to 20 points) C3 Your life and community (up to 20 points).

Demonstrated relevance of the course: Dl Relevance of course to your career plans and goals (part Din application form-up to 15 points); D2 Knowledge of the career area (up to 15 points).

Other factors relating to any previous disadvantages that may be taken into account in the selection process (Part E in application form-up to 10 points)

SELECTION METHOD Your selection into this course will be based on the information provided on the TAFE Course Application Form.

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 26 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology C. TAFE NSW implementation requirements

PLEASE NOTE

Selection criteria are considerations which are applied where demand for a course exceeds available places. All students must meet entry requirements to be eligible for entry in a course BEFORE selection criteria are applied (see Section B, Course information, 4.6 Entry requirements).

Selection methods are the tools used to evaluate students against the selection criteria.

4. Procedures for student selection

Applicants will be each given a score according to each criterion and ranked according to the highest score gained. Places will be offered to those receiving the highest ranking.

For further information on selection refer to the following web site : http://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/directorates/edudevel/resource/recognition/ InformationPackagesCSS.htm

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt- Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 27 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology C. TAFE NSW implementation requirements

5. Course grading

This qualification is graded

The following modules/units contribute to the grading of the qualification

NSWT ARC501 A Produce Residential Architectural Drafting Office Administration Documents NSWT ARC502A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 1 & 10 Single Storey Buildings NSWT ARC503A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 1 & 10 Single Storey Buildings NSWT ARC504A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 1 & 10 Multi-Level Buildings NSWT ARC505A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 1 & 1 O Multi-Level Buildings NSWT ARC506A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 1 & 10 Medium-Density Buildings NSWT ARC507 A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 1 & 1 O Medium-Density Buildings NSWT ARC508A Produce Commercial Architectural Draft Office Administration Documents NSWT ARC509A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 2-9 Low Rise Structures NSWTARC510A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 2-9 Low Rise Structures NSWTARC511A Produce Development Application Documents for Class 2-9 Medium Rise Structures NSWTARC512A Produce Construction Certificate Documents for Class 2-9 Medium Rise Structures

6. NSW recognition of prior learning

Please refer to Part B section 4.7.

TAFE Advanced Standing Arrangements and/or Standard Exemptions which have been created in respect of units/ modules in this course are shown in Part B of the syllabus of each unit/ module. The unit/ module syllabus also provides information about appropriate evidence for assessing recognition applications.

7. Employer report

Not applicable

8. Minimum essential course resources

For details of teaching and learning resources and major texts and references refer to each unit/module.

8.1. Physical resources comments

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt - Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 28 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology C. TAFE NSW implementation requirements

Details of Physical Resources requirements are provided in each unit. A summary of physical resources for this course is provided in Section B, 6.2 of this course document.

8.2. Human resources comments

The teacher qualifications stated in Part B: 6.2.1 Human Resources are a guide to the minimum qualifications required by all teachers to deliver and conduct assessments in this course.

For qualifications required to deliver and conduct assessments in individual unit/ modules in this course, consult individual unit/ module syllabuses.

For specific qualifications and other requirements for appointment of full-time teaching staff, consult the relevant Teacher Designation requirements on LATTICE, through your Staff Services Unit.

Vocational Qualifications

Teachers/trainers/assessors must be able to demonstrate current vocational competence . Usually this requires completion of a relevant degree, diploma or other vocational qualification. The vocational competencies must be at least at the level of the competencies being delivered and/or assessed.

Note - A person with a qualification in a vocational area that is different from the course in which the unit is delivered may meet the requirements to deliver the unit.

For appropriate vocational qualifications see Part B 6.2.1

A Bachelor Degree in Architecture

Or equivalent

Equivalency must be documented detailing the ground upon how an individual has been granted equivalency. The documentation for equivalency should be available for audit.

Teachers/trainers must be able to demonstrate a broad perspective and depth of understanding of the vocational area based on current and relevant experience in the industry or community sector. Usually, this will be a minimum of three years experience gained no longer than five years previously. It may have been gained through employment, professional development, industry or community liaison, return to industry programs, community service or a combination of these and other relevant methods.

Educational Qualifications

As a minimum all TAFE NSW trainers/assessors must meet the qualification requirements detailed in the AQTF Standards 7.3 and 7.4 or equivalent.

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt- Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 29 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Diploma of Architectural Technology C. TAFE NSW implementation requirements

Specialist Areas

Notwithstanding the above requirements, within any particular single discipline area, a part time Teacher may have a tertiary qualification relevant to that discipline, one level above the qualification being taught and a minimum 5 years relevant post-graduate industry experience.

9. Additional information

22/01/2007 Status: Approved (C)2007 NSW TAFE Commission - Manufact Eng Construct Transprt- Const Mgmt & Architectural Tech Program Area 30 unless otherwise indicated in point 5 in part A Appendix VII(b) - Typical Training Package

Australian Government Depa11ment of Education. Employment and \\"orkplace Relations

CPPBDN5002A Research construction materials and methods for small-scale non residential building .de-sign projects

Release: 1

INDUSTRY SKILLS COUNCIL.$ C:r€-ar.,.,.g ,°J.1.Js.~r,1!1n ~ ~ur:.i't'! CPPBDN5002A Research construction materials and methods for small-scale non-residential building design projects Date this document was generated: 5 October 2012

CPPBDN5002A Research construction materials and methods for small scale non-residential building design projects

Modification History New unit

Unit Descriptor This unit of competency specifies the outcomes required to research and evaluate existing, new and emerging construction materials and methods for all commercial and industrial building design projects covered by the Building Code of Australia (BCA), except construction Type A buildings.

It also covers the development of an understanding of the range of construction materials and methods available and their application, performance and interaction.

Application of the Unit This unit of competency supports building designers and other personnel, such as home sustainability assessors, who recommend construction materials and methods to clients for small-scale commercial and industrial building design projects.

Licensing/Regulatory Information Work in this area must be completed according to relevant legislative, industry and organisational requirements, including occupational health and safety (OHS) policies and procedures.

Different states and territories may have regulatory mechanisms that apply to this unit. Users are advised to check for regulatmy limitations.

Pre-Requisites Not applicable.

Employability Skills Information This unit contains employability skills.

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© Commonwealth of Austi:alia, 2012 Construction & Property Services lndus!ty Skills Council C'PPBDN5002A Research constmction materials and methods for small-scale non-residential building design projects Date this document was generated: 5 October 2012

Elements and Performance Criteria Pre-Content

Elements describe the Performance criteria describe the perforn1ance needed to essential outcomes of a demonstrate achievement of the element. Where bold italicised unit of competency. text is used, further info1mation is detailed in the required skills and knowledge section and the range statement. Assessment of perf01mance is to be consistent with the evidence guide.

Elements and Performance Criteria

Research materials 1.1 Characteristics and applications of materials used for and methods for structural elements are researched and evaluated in stmctural elements relation to different types of small-scale commercial and industrial building design projects.

1.2 Compliance requirements for materials used for structural elements are researched and interpreted.

1.3 Constmction methods and systems for stmctural elements are researched and evaluated.

1.4 Research is recorded, filed and regularly updated according to workplace procedures.

2 Research materials 2.1 Characteristics and applicatio11s of materials used for and methods for building envelope are researched and evaluated. building envelope 2.2 Compliance requirements for materials used for building envelope are researched and interpreted.

2.3 Construction methods and systems for building envelope are researched and evaluated in relation to different types of materials and commercial and industrial building design projects.

2.4 Research is recorded, filed and regularly updated according to workplace procedures.

3 Research systems 3 .1 Components and systems for services are researched and components and evaluated. for services. 3.2 Broad compliance requirements for services are researched and interpreted for different types of commercial and industrial building design projects.

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© Commonwealth of Australia, 2012 Consb-uction & Property Services Industry Skills Council CPPBDN5002A Research construction materials and methods for small-scale non-residential building design projects Date this document was generated: 5 October 2012

3 .3 Installation methods for services are researched in relation to different types of components, systems, and commercial and industrial building design projects.

3.4 Research is recorded, filed and regularly updated according to workplace procedures.

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Required Skills and Knowledge This section describes the skills and lmowledge required for this unit.

Required skills • administration and management skills to: manage documents manage time, including planning and prioritising work plan and a1rnnge professional development activities to update own knowledge base analytical and problem-solving skills to: evaluate cost-effectiveness of construction materials and methods • research construction materials and methods interpersonal skills to: interact with builders, manufacturers, representatives of regulatory authorities, and suppliers • network with other professionals • language, literacy and numeracy skills to: assess cost-effectiveness of materials and components • communicate with colleagues and contacts, including writing repo1ts • interpret complex information technology skills to use infmmation technology and relevant software

Required knowledge • building designers' duty of care to ensure quality and safety of designs • basic principles of structural engineering • compliance requirements, including: Australian standards applicable to constrnction materials and methods BCA deemed-to-satisfy requirements • environmental and sustainability requirements, including: energy efficiency • fire resistance, including resistance to bushfire attack • legislation applicable to construction materials and methods hazards of construction materials and methods organisational scope of business and client demographics, including: • geographic areas of operation trends in clients' design preferences • types of building design projects that form the core business of the organisation

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• sources of reliable infonnation on past, cunent and emerging uses of construction materials and methods sustainable construction materials and methods

Evidence Guide The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Critical aspects for A person should demonstrate the ability to: assessment and evidence • develop a body of current research findings suitable for required to demonstrate application to a range of small-scale commercial and industrial competency in this unit buildings, including: • characteristics and applications of materials suitable for structural elements and building envelope • construction methods and systems applicable to structural elements and building envelope • components and systems for services, including: compliance requirements installation methods • evaluate suitability of materials, construction methods and services for at least three specific projects, covering different types of buildings • systematically document and store research findings. Context of and specific Assessment of this unit: resources for assessment must be in the context of the work environment may be conducted in an off-site context, provided it is realistic and sufficiently rigorous to cover all aspects of workplace performance, including task skills, task management skills, contingency management skills and job role environment skills • must meet relevant compliance requirements. Resource implications for assessment include: • access to: • suitable assessment venue and equipment • suitable simulated or real opportunities and resources to demonstrate competence assessment instruments. Method of assessment Assessment for this unit must verify the practical application of the required skills and knowledge, using one or more of the

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following methods: written and/or oral assessment of the candidates required knowledge for the unit observed, documented and/or firsthand testimonial evidence of the candidates • implementation of appropriate procedures and techniques for the safe, effective and efficient achievement of the required outcomes • identification of the relevant information and scope of the work required to meet the required outcomes • identification of viable options and the selection of options that best meet the required outcomes consistently achieving the required outcomes.

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Guidance info1mation for This unit could be assessed on its own or in combination with assessment other units relevant to the job function. Where applicable, physical resources should include equipment modified for people with disabilities. Access must be provided to appropriate learning and/or assessment suppo1i when required. Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and appropriate to the language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being perfo1med.

Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect perfo1mance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Characteristics of . acoustic properties materials may include: . aesthetic prope1iies • availability • cost . defects • durability . fire resistance properties . health and safety issues . interaction with other materials . limitations due to manufacturing process . structural safety • sustainability features, such as energy efficiency • the1mal prope1iies . tolerance . transp01i, storage and handling requirements . Applications of materials • aesthetic properties used for structural . coatings required elements may include: . compatibility with other elements • fixings required • structural application • substmctural application . use in specific construction methods or systems . Materials used for . bricks

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19 Commonwealth of Australia, 2012 Construction & Property Services Industry Skills Council CPPBDN5002A Research construction materials and methods for small-scale non-residential building design projects Date this document was generated: 5 October 2012 structural elements may • clay include: • composite materials concrete • glass • masonry • metals • new and emerging materials • stone • timber and timber products .

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0 Commonwealth of Australia, 2012 Construction & Property Services Industry Skills Cowicil C'PPBDN5002A Research constrnction materials and methods for small-scale non-residential building design projects Date this document was generated: 5 October 20 I 2 . Structural elements may . floors include: • footings • roof structures and roofing . slabs . walls . Research may be: . consultation with: . builders . clients . manufacturers . representatives of regulatory authorities . suppliers . data analysis and comparison, including: . manufacturer specifications . performance test information • literature review, including peer assessments . Small-scale commercial . include all commercial and industrial building design projects and industrial building covered by the BCA, except construction Type A buildings design projects: . maybe: . factories . motels . offices • restaurants • retail and service outlets . warehouses . Compliance . Australian standards (AS) requirements may . BCA include: . legislation . performance requirements specified by client • quality standards specified by client. Applications ofmaterials . cladding used for building • flashing envelope may include: . lining . roofing . waterproofing . Materials used for . composite materials building envelope may . masonry, such as: include: . bricks . clay • concrete . glass blocks

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{) Co1mnonwealth of Australia, 2012 Construction & Property Services Industry Skills Council CPPBDN5002A Research construction materials and methods for small-scale non-residential building design projects Date this document was generated: 5 October 2012

• slate . stone • terracotta • new and emerging materials . plaster and plasterboard • timber and timber products . Services may include: • electricity . environmentally sustainable design (ESD) energy systems • fire suppression • gas, including: • natural gas • liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) • heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) • telecommunications • water.

Unit Sector(s) Building design

Custom Content Section Not applicable.

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CPPBDN5006A Consult with clients to produce approved small-scale building project design briefs

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INDUSTRY SKlll.S COUNCILS C'PPBDN5006A C'onsull with clients to produce app10,·ed small-scale building project df.'sign briefs Date this document was generated: .'i October 2012

CPPBDN5006A Consult with clients to produce approved small-scale building project design briefs

Modification History New unit

Unit Descriptor This unit of competency specifies the outcomes required to consult with clients to identify and clarify parameters, such as their vision for service level and requirements, preferences and budget for new building design projects covered by the Building Code of Australia (BCA), except construction Type A buildings.

It also covers researching and presenting information that may affect the clients' requirements, preferences and budget; applying knowledge of construction materials and methods; offering and negotiating creative design solutions; and developing a client-approved design brief for the new building design project.

Application of the Unit This unit of competency supports building designers who consult with clients to prepare finalised and approved design briefs for small-scale commercial, industrial and residential building design projects.

Different states and territories may have regulatory mechanisms that apply to this unit. Users are advised to check for regulatory limitations.

Pre-Requisites Not applicable.

Employability Skills Information This unit contains employability skills.

Approved Page2 of9 © Commonwealth of Australia, 2012 Construction & Property Services Industry Skills Council C'PPBDNS006A Consult with clients to produce approved small-scale building project design b1iefs Date this document was geneiated: 5 October 2012

Elements and Performance Criteria Pre-Content

Elements describe the Perf01mance criteria describe the performance needed to essential outcomes of a demonstrate achievement of the element. Where bold italicised unit of competency. text is used, further information is detailed in the required skills and knowledge section and the range statement. Assessment of perf01mance is to be consistent with the evidence guide.

Elements and Performance Criteria

Prepare for design 1.1 Prelimi11a1y data for small-scale building design brief consultations projects is gathered and documentation and files are created according to workplace procedures.

1.2 Preliminary data is reviewed to identify broad project parameters.

1.3 Parameters are considered and information is gathered to assist communications in design brief consultations with client.

1.4 Individuals to be involved in deciding and approving the project design brief are clarified with client and consultations are scheduled.

1.5 Strategies to establish and maintain client trust and respect are developed.

1.6 Files and organisational marketing material for consultations are prepared.

2 Consult clients to 2.1 Basic understanding of building design project develop draft objectives and ability of own organisation to fulfil design brief design role are demonstrated to client.

2.2 Client is encouraged to give details about vision, preferences and budget for building design projects and notes are taken to inform next stage of consultation.

2.3 Questioning techniques and sketching skills are used to expand notes and clarify details of client's design requirements.

2.4 Budgetary constraints are explored with client and innovative design ideas are proposed.

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2.5 Details of draft design brief are reviewed with client and level of service and associated fees are discussed.

2.6 Approval to proceed with finalisation of design brief is obtained from client, or defe1rnl or termination of services is confirmed.

3 Finalise design 3.1 Design consultation notes are reviewed and brief requirements challenged in relation to design constraints specific to location of project.

3.2 Design brief is formally documented according to workplace procedures.

3.3 Details of design brief are presented to and negotiated with client, and modifications are accurately documented.

3.4 Approval of final design brief is obtained from client.

3.5 Fee structure and terms and conditions ofservice are established according to workplace procedures.

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Required Skills and Knowledge

This section describes the skills and knowledge required for this unit.

Required skills administration and management skills to: • manage documents manage time, including planning and prioritising work • analytical and problem-solving skills to: evaluate cost-effectiveness of construction materials and methods research construction materials and methods • interpersonal skills to build trust and rapport with clients and other project stakeholders • language, literacy and numeracy skills to: • communicate with colleagues and contacts, including: • marketing • negotiating • note taking • writing formal design briefs • explain budgetary constraints • interpret complex information • present information to clients self-management skills to behave with professional integrity in dealings with clients technical skills to: • apply creative, practical and sustainable design principles to clients' design visions • interpret verbal descriptions and visualise clients' concepts to inform production of sketches • use fine hand drawing to produce preliminary concept sketches technology skills to use information technology and relevant software

Required knowledge

• building designers' duty of care to ensure quality and safety of designs • basic principles of structural engineering • construction materials and methods applicable to clients' projects • creative, practical and sustainable design principles • design constraints and opportunities relating to particular types of building design projects and locations • information to be elicited from clients in order to produce comprehensive design briefs

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• organisational protocols and procedures for interaction and negotiation with clients range of organisational services and nominal fees

Evidence Guide

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Critical aspects for A person should demonstrate the ability to: assessment and evidence prepare for client consultations, including: required to demonstrate • competency in this unit . gathering and reviewing relevant information . confirming stakeholders to be consulted . consult successfully with clients, including: . establishing rapport with clients . explaining budgetary constraints . obtaining sufficient information to produce design briefs that clients approve . explaining service fees • winning contracts for design work . develop and finalise design briefs . complete client service agreements . Context of and specific Assessment of this unit: resources for assessment . must be in the context of the work environment • may be conducted in an off-site context, provided it is realistic and sufficiently rigorous to cover all aspects of workplace performance, including task skills, task management skills, contingency management skills and job role environment skills . must meet relevant compliance requirements . Resource implications for assessment include: . access to: . suitable assessment venue and equipment . suitable simulated or real opportunities and resources to demonstrate competence . assessment instruments . Method of assessment Assessment for this unit must verify the practical application of the required skills and knowledge, using one or more of the following methods:

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• written and/or oral assessment of the candidates required knowledge for the unit • observed, documented and/or firsthand testimonial evidence of the candidates • implementation of appropriate procedures and techniques for the safe, effective and efficient achievement of the required outcomes • identification of the relevant infonnation and scope of the work required to meet the required outcomes • identification of viable options and the selection of options that best meet the required outcomes • consistently achieving the required outcomes.

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© Commonwealth of Australia, 2012 Construction & Property Services Industry Skills Council CPPBDN5006A Con.suit with clients to produce approved small-scale building project design bt~efs Date this document was generated: 5 October 2012

Guidance infmmation for This unit could be assessed on its own or in combination with assessment other units relevant to the job function. Where applicable, physical resources should include equipment modified for people with disabilities. Access must be provided to appropriate learning and/or assessment support when required. Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and appropriate to the language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being perfonned.

Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect perfmmance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the perfmmance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Preliminary data may . brief prepared by clients prior to consultation include: • communications with clients . documentation from past projects for same client . information relating to location of project. Small-scale building • include buildings covered by the BCA, except construction design projects: Type A buildings • may be residential projects, such as: • additions and renovations . heritage restoration • new buildings . may be commercial or industrial projects, such as: . factories • motels . offices . restaurants • retail and service outlets . warehouses . Parameters may include: . budget • functional analysis of building use . level of service requested, for example: • concept sketches only • design drawings for planning approval . working drawings for construction approval

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• contract administration . location . size and type of project • timelines . Information may include . budgetary opp01tunities and constraints basic details of: . environmental requirements • planning limitations . Clients may be • active listening encouraged to give . attentiveness details by: • enthusiasm • note taking . questioning . Fee structure and terms . building designer and conditions of service • building designer in consultation with principal designer may be established by: • principal designer .

Unit Sector(s) Building design

Custom Content Section Not applicable.

Approved Page 9 of9 © Commonwealth of Australia, 2012 Construction & Property Services Industry Skills Council Appendix VIII - Advance standing - UNSW WALES ... ' ..... SOUTH W~kinr..on , '• U;a \ . , > l l - " j , ar-d ~· ·i..' - ..... NEW / ~ l , · .,,,_ •• · ~~ • ·: . ·\. ~ I, : Carril1o ~ /1.. OF l.. l Alex~i 9raduales, I UNIVERSITY Draftng AT ArctliteciuraJ In 19'93 25, Diploma .. February Asrociate ARCHITECTURE __.,;·1.. Thursday. TAFE --- INTO Lt'oder, Ge c said • ACCEPTED w~ T - ~,m; um. liNSW )'('.tr n <:{1111111:: :inrl high e one IO lo snicl coor.:e tui, old cxcmpLion~. N::tl'lmt could lll :u wt,:11 Jcfc:r Georg~ manJ1g<1r. yror .n lhii. Ln11pi~. cour~c e tart go TAPE t_ from clie l Ilk! he now draning_) St: · o Georg<' n:c:o,:ni.-.cd n C.nITillo l do optiom< ,1i1' : Mark «ime o of s 11:Chool d lhc i.~ 1hi!t ctur hlcn Lo11p1:o. cC"uJd ,.ln ··1..n.,1 ,rnr1 ST o Mr sc e i who J,.e1ing been wn., m;hkving ~'ersilie,;. Ms <.he rn .ind :-tutkut., 1111r,, that 1liml frum: did ,gudem., lo cKk.-d 1·w ycnr. year pc,;:1 mer l studvi11g d tu - :r i• d 111 ts or ite !tO in in- de ~he Dl . nnd a will rin;.1 s ye.ir ;"111 Sci wu<. ,aid year .' tis11 19'94 en thl'ir lht.'TC Am I 11.fark Lo hclor would :111 m11jor or grad11 yc.,r t or c 1 in \ICO~C w,n has cn1cri11p. 20, George diplom a~ of lJnivcr course. she S 1nd11d1is lw0-yc;ir thi.~ Archilcc ii aml GRADUATES stud into b<:cM'!C - rul when Bn ch course Wilkin,011 st.1rt, ycM Design u ~1:1r1 f\•h l>f IAm~)nlh~· he SI and 1992 :

• I~

Entry options for 1997 /98 TAFE Diploma in Applied Science (Architectural Drafting) Applicants

) Bachelor of Architecture ) Bachelor of Science (Architecture) ) Bachelor of Interior Architecture

f n t r Y Op t ; 0 n S The School of Architecture, UNSW offers special Advanced Standing entry conditic;ms to graduates of NSW TAFE Associate Diploma in Applied Science (Architectural Drafting) or equivalent interstate qualifications. In some cases other TAFE qualifications may be considered.

Applications may be made for any of the School's three undergraduate degrees:

Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) Bachelor of Interior Architecture (BIA) Bachelor of Science (Architecture) (BSc{Arch})

The first year of the three degree courses is common. Successful applicants to any of the three degree programs will be granted exemption from all first year subjects. Applicants to the BIA and the BSc(Arch) will enter directly into Year 2 of the relevant standard degree program(see separate brochure). Applicants for the BArch will have two entry options:

0 pt ion I: Enrol in a fourteen weeks Bridging Program commencing in November of the year the offer is made, finishing in February. On successful completion of the Bridging Program enrol directly into Year 3 of the standard Bachelor of Architecture course commencing in March. This option has the advantage of permitting successful applicants to work for nine months following acceptance of their offer but before commencing studies. This work experience may also fulfil the course's six months practical experience requirement.

0 pt ion 2: Enrol directly into Year 2 of the standard Bachelor of Architecture course commencing in March of the year the offer is made.

The course is a full-time program requiring students to undertake intensive studies over a fourteen week Summer Session. Studies will cover the areas of Architectural Design, History, Theory and Technology. The technology component includes aspects of structures, construction, solar/thermal control, acoustics and lighting.

Entry to all courses is highly competitive. Applicants will need to have a strong 'B' average for all their associate Diploma subjects to have a reasonable chance of being offered a place.

Intending applicants for any of the three degrees need to: lodge an application with the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC). Application forms are available directly from the UAC office from August. Closing date is generally the final Friday of September: and contact the School in August/ September to obtain a copy of a questionnaire. The questionnaire is to be returned to the School by end of September. It is important the applicants respond to the questionnaire as it is considered in the ranking of applicants for places. The school reserves the rfgflt to call for portfolios of worlc: and to request applicants to present for an interYiew. Applicants will be contacted In early December If either of these options Is to be requested. OpUon l Year 5.2 Cone session) 3 Elective Subjects* 30 Entry to BArch with completed Bridging Program: and Subjects to be completed following completion of the ARCH6137 Design Studio 7 } Bridging Program. ARCH6147 Design Seminar 4 30 ARCH6547 Technology Seminar 4 Year 3 (two sessions) or subject to special permission Project 30 ARCH6303 Theory of Architecture 3 6 ARCH6127 Major Design ARCH6403 History of Architecture 12 or subject to special permission ARCH6907 Major Research Project 30 ARCH6503 Architectural Construction 3 12 ----- ARCH6603 Architectural Structures 3 6 Total Credit Points for session 60 ARCH6703 Environment 3 ° 12 ARCH6103 Design Studio 3 30 • Elective Subjects ARCH6213 Communication Seminar 3 12 A full list is available upon request from the School Office. ARCH6313 Theory Seminar 3 9 Electives fall into the following broad categories: ARCH6513 Construction Seminar 3 9 Acoustics History ARCH6613 Structures Seminar 3 6 Architectural Practice Information Technology Design ARCH6713 Environment Seminar 3 6 Art Landscape Lighting General Education Elective/ s 15 Building Conservation Computing Painting and Drawing 3 135 Total Credit Points for Year Construction Structures Dissertation Theory Year 4.1 Cone session! ... Energy Efficiency Urban Design ARCH6214 Architectural Computing 2 10 Environmental Psychology ARCH6924 Research Methodology 10 1 Elective Subject* 10 • • (Students who have not completed their w~rl< experience 4 are required to enrol in ARCH6904 ARCH6134 Design Studio 4 20 by the start of Year Practical Experience for either the first or second half of Design Seminar 1 5 ARCH6144 Year 4, postponing their studies for one session.) ARCH6544 Technology Seminar 1 5 General Education Elective 7.5 Total Credit Points for session 67.5 Entry into BArch without completing Bridging Program: Subjects to be completed in addition to those listed for Year 4.2 Cone Session> Option 1. ARCH6815 Architectural Practice A 10 2 Elective Subjects* or Dissertation 20 Year 2 ARCH6135 Design Studio 5 20 ARCH6302 Theory of Architecture 2 6 ARCH6145 Design Seminar 2 5 ARCH6402 History of Architecture 2 12 ARCH6545 Technology Seminar 2 5 ARCH6502 Architectural Construction 2 12 General Education Elective 7.5 ARCH6602 Architectural Structures 2 6 ARCH6702 Environment 2 12 Total Credit Points for session 67.5 ARCH6102 Design Studio 2 30 ARCH6212 Communication Seminar 2 12 Year 5.1 (one session) ARCH6312 Theory Seminar 2 9 ARCH6816 Architectural Practice B 10 ARCH6512 Construction Seminar 2 9 2 Elective Subjects* or Dissertation 20 ARCH6612 Structures Seminar 2 6 _ARCH6136 Design Studio 6 20 ARCH6712 Environment Seminar 2 6 ARCH6146 Design Seminar 3 5 General Education Elective/s Cat A (56 hours) 15 -'----- ARCH6546 Technology Seminar 3 5 Total Credit Points for Year 2 135 General Education GSBE0002 10 (GE subjects completed in Total Credit Points for session 70 Year 2 replace GE requirements listed for Year 4)

For further Information please contact: Peter Murray Director of Student Affairs School of Architecture University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia Telephone: (61 2) 9385 4789 (61 2) 9385 4792 Fax: (61 2) 9662 1378 Email: [email protected]

6 J The School of Architecture keeps its program under constant review. Applicants are advised to confirm ... with the School the latest course conditions and subject content before accepting the offer of a place. Architecture Faculty of the Built Environment University of New South Wales BACHELOR of ARCHITECTURE - Entry 1999 Information for holders of the TAFE Diploma of Architectural Technology

ADVANCED STANDING Applicants holding a completed Diploma of Architectural Technology or Associate Diploma in Applied Science [Architectural Drafting] from TAFE, who successfully apply for a place in the Bachelor of Architecture course will be granted Advanced Standing to enter the second half of Year 2 of the program.

Applicants holding both one of the qualifications listed above and an Advanced Diploma in Architectural Technology may be eligible for further Advanced Standing.

EXEMPTIONS The Diploma in Architectural Technology entitles applicants to the following standard set of exemptions, equal to one and a half years of the Bachelor of Architecture course: • All Year 1 ARCH and BENV core subjects = 120 credit points • All Year 2 session 1 ARCH core subjects = 55 credit points • Unspecified ARCH electives = 7.5 credit points

Applicants holding the Advanced Diploma in Architectural Technology may apply for up to a maximum of 30 credit points of additional ARCH elective exemptions. The granting of these exemptions will be considered on a case by case basis and at the discretion of the Head of Program for Architecture. Applicants will need to supply full subject descriptions and assessment details and results for the TAFE subjects that are the basis for the exemptions.

ENROLMENT Successful applicants will enrol in February on the date specified in the University's letter of offer. Applicants will commence their formal studies in session 2 of the year in which their offer is made. Applicants may use the period up until the commencement of their studies to complete all or part of their Practical Experience requirement. Applicants wishing to take up this option will be enrolled in Practical Experience for session 1 of the year they are to commence their studies. It is essential that the requirements for Practical Experience be discuss with the Architecture program representative at the time of enrolment.

ENTRY STANDARD Entry to the Architecture course is highly competitive. Applicant with an average 'B' result for all subjects from their TAFE course or a Credit pass for the course as a whole will have a strong chance of being offered a place.

APPLICATIONS All intending applicants must lodge an application with the Universities Admissions Centre and complete a Questionnaire available from the Faculty Student Centre.

FURTHER INFORMATION For further information please contact the Faculty Student Centre on 9385 4799 or 9385 4780.

murray:tjob:TAFE.doc 03/09lll8 Appendix IX - Advanced standing - UTS

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY

UTS INTERNATIONAL

Letter of Recognition - External Articulation (for TAFE) Professor Peter Booth Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor 1 28 H AUGUST 2014 and SenrorVice-President CrtyCampus PO Box 123 Broadway NSW 2007 Australia Sylvia Arthur T +61 2 9514 1355 Acting Associate Institute Director, People Planning & Performance F +61 2 9514 1351 TAFE NSW- South Western Sydney Institute [email protected] www.uts.edu.au PO Box 3035 urs CRIC05 PRO'liDER CODE 00099, BANKSTOWN SQUARE NSW 2200

Dear Sylvia,

Credit Recognition Arrangement between TAFE NSW and Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building for UTS Course: C10004 Bachelor of Design in Architecture

It is with pleasure that r write to you to confirm that the following course offered by TAFE NSW has been granted credit recognition to the respective UTS course as detailed below:

TAFE course UTS course and Admission requirements Remaining course Course Code and Description of Credit duration after Credit Recognition Recognition has been granted Diploma of C10004 Bachelor of Admission requirements 3 years Building Design Design in Architecture As per admissions selection criteria approved by Academic Board.

Credit recognition (CR)

Students attaining an overall Credit average or above will receive 24cp of CR: - 11206 Introduction to Construction and Structural Synthesis (Gcp) - 11207 Architectural Design and Construction (6cp) -12cp of general electives from CBl<9D246

Students attaining an overall Poss overage will receive 12cp of CR: - 12cp of general electives from CBK90246 This letter confirms that TAFE NSW ("TAFE'') students who successfully complete the TAFE course listed above and who are successful in gaining acceptance to UTS (ie. meet the UTS admissions requirements including English language requirements for the UTS course), will be entitled to receive the specified credit recognition as indicated in the above table.

Under these arrangements:

(a) a TAFE student who has completed the above TAFE course(s) is guaranteed the number of credit points towards the UTS course(s) as specified above. TAFE students must have completed any of the courses as listed above and have done so no longer than two years prior to admission into the UTS course as listed above;

(b) credit recognition does not guarantee or imply automatic admission into the UTS course(s). Credit recognition indicates what exemptions may apply if a TAFE applicant is successful in obtaining a place, by meeting the relevant selection criteria for a UTS course as approved by UTS Academic Board. Domestic/local students should apply through the Universities Admissions Centre and international students should apply through UTS International at http://www.uts.edu.au/international/;

(c) these credit recognition arrangements will lapse/expire at the end of 2017 and all arrangements between UTS and TAFE will be reviewed during 2016; and

(d) if any changes occur to the TAFE courses, TAFE must notify the UTS contact (details below) of the changes immediately in the event that these changes may impact on the credit recognition arrangements.

UTS reserves the right to cancel or vary this credit recognition arrangement and will inform TAFE accordingly with six months notice. Students who have lodged their applications to UTS prior the date of notice will not be affected.

UTS welcomes the opportunity to receive graduates from your institution and, to facilitate this, you may wish to include the above credit recognition details in any of your Institution's promotional materials. We shall provide you with our logo upon request.

Please confirm your acceptance of these arrangements by signing and returning to me the enclosed duplicate letter.

For further enquiries or if notifying of changes to TAFE's courses, please contact: Diane Yelavic, Secretariat Manager Email: [email protected] Phone: +61 2 9514 8981 Fax: +61 2 9514 8966

Profes Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Appendix X - Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) email

Loupis, George

From: Martha Liew < [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, 20 December 2011 15:39 To: Loupis, George Subject: RE: CPSISC steering committee

Hi George

Thanks for your email. I have received your email back in Nov, and have been waiting to hear from our National Education Committee for comment.

Flavia did confirm with us that she never attended the CPSISC meetings, and to the best of our knowledge, she never published anything regarding the new building designer courses.

The Institute National Education Committee has not been involved in the discussion with the TAFE courses, though we have been receiving update from our State committees (e.g. NSW and TAS). We understand the new urban design program will certainly provide a new career choice for TAFE students, but it is really up to the student to make this decision. Some students may find urban designers courses meeting their needs, while others might want to become an architect.

An architect, unlike urban designer, is the fact that their educational qualification is transportable in the international context and they do get higher wages. This is because, as you are aware, that archiectural education has to undergo a rigorous accreditation process, and the Australian process has a very high reputation internationally.

In addition, I must stress that the architectural profession have been very supportive to universities, many high profile architects devote their time to train the next gerenation of architects addressing global issues such as climate change, housing etc etc. I am not sure ifTAFE courses can provide this level of quality of training and engagement - it is certainly known that architecutural education in university setting does provide far more opportunities for personal advancement and engaging environment for students. For instance, the Institute not only look after members but also invested a lot into student members and graduates members - we have been extremely successful in creating an intellectually stimulating environment.

IfTAFE students is only looking for job opportunities, perhaps urban design courses is the right choice... but if they want to be the leaders of the future, arcitectural education can certainly prepare them to meet any new challenges.

Hope I have answered your query.

Kind regards Martha

Martha Liew National Education Manager Australian Institute of Architects

From: Loupis, George [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, 20 December 2011 3:06 PM To: Martha Liew Subject: CPSISC steering committee Appendix XI(a) - Arnold Wang

Sheet List Sheet List Sheet Sheet Sheet Sheet Number Sheet Name Issue Date Number Sheet Name 01 COMMUNITY MAP 17/07/15 08 PLAN - 2ND FLOOR 02 SITE ANALYSIS PLAN 17/07/15- 09 PLAN - 3RD FLOOR 03 PLAN - SITE PLAN 17/07/15 10 PLAN-ROOF 17/07/15 04 PLAN - BASEMENT 2 17/07/15 11 ELEVATION - NORTH 17/07/15 05 PLAN - BASEMENT 1 17/07/15 ELEVATION - SOUTH 17/07/15 06 PLAN - GROUND FLOOR 17/07/15 ELEVATION - EAST 17/07/15 07 PLAN - 1ST FLOOR 17/07/15 ELEVATION -WEST 17/07/15 15 SECTION - LONG SECTION 17/07/15 16 SECTION - CROSS SECTION 17/07/15 17 SECTION3 17/07/1 5 18 CALL OUT - BUILDING CORE 1 17/07/1 5 19 CALL OUT - BUILDING CORE 2 17/07/15 17/07/15 17/07/15 22 3DVIEW3 17/07/15

FACULTY BUILDING

750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW

For: Harry

Arnold Wang

S&J ARCH ITECTS1c1

110 GeorgeSt.Sydney, NSW TEL:02 9511 1111 FAX:02 95 11 11 12

(CJ Date :19/111201511:44:58 PRESIDENT AVE

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3 Storey double brick TAFE building

750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW Community Map 201504- 01 FACULTY BUILDING ARCH ITECTS(C) Amendment: SC Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&J For: Harry A3 Commencement Date: 17/0712015 Drawing Name D:\my documentlbuilding design\St Georgesls4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt 110GeorgeSt.Sydney,NSW TEL:0295111111 FAX:0295111112 17l111201517:24:57 Plants Schedule PRESIDENT AVENUE SYMBLE NAME COMMON NAME MATURE HEIGHT

EX Sloaneaaustralis Maiden's Blush 30m efaeocarpaceae

Leptospermum Mat Rush 1.2m multicaule

Lomandralongifolia SiNerTea- 1m 00 tcee

Existing Eucalyptus os·oi EXISTING SINGLE ® STOREY RESIDENCE Demolish Existing Tree

Dianellacaerulea Paroolily <0.5m

Lawn 3STORE YTAFE Concrete Paving BUILDING Floor Tiles SWIMMING POOL

EXISTING • SINGLE STOREY RESIDENCE -..__,

RL 13.007

750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW PLAN - SITE PLAN 201504 - 03 FACULTY BUILDING Amendment: Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&J ARCH !TECTS,c} SC For: Harry As A3 110 George Commencement Date: 1710712015 Drawing Name: O:\my documentlbuilding design\St Georges\s4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt St, Sydney, NSW TEL:02 9511 1111 FAX:02 9511 1112 t1/11J2S,s 11:2s:04 Floor finish Legend I i"' ! I D CARPET • PVC D CONCRETE D TERRAZZO D OUTDOOR TILES D TILES I I I I I I I D PLANTS O VOID -- - --..------...... +- ...... -- ...... -----"i"','!i!'"R - - -- (D I I I Ii I I ;~ ~;..,~ ---l =-= ff -1- I= =i= =- ~=- -== =-85 ~;..,--~_Lth l_ ~ I_J~ -~ ,:::., ""'""'1 I JJ_ /,J\.. ® -1~,--1-1--1 = -~-li----0 - __j - - . t ~:' -k;',':" -----l - ~ ---- © --!---= rt f= =1--= --+,- - ~~ I I I II I I I' (!1) -=-i=-tl I 1'-=---=---, -:=l.=-"11·_::------(!3)

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750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW PLAN - 1ST FLOOR 201504- 07 FACULTY BUILDING ARCH ITECTSc1 Amendment: SC Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&) For: Harry 1 :200 A3 Commencement Date: 17/07/2015 Drawing Name: D:\my document\building design\St Georgesls4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16 rvt 110 GeorgeSt, Sydn ey,NSW TEL:02951 1 1111 FAX:0295111112 17111/201517:25:23 Floor Finish Legend

D CARPET • PVC D CONCRETE D TERRAZZO 0 OUTDOOR TILES O TILES O PLANTS O VOID ---0

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750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW PLAN - 2ND FLOOR 201504-08 FACULTY BUILDING Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&J ARCH ITECTS1ci Amendment: SC For: Harry 1 :200 A3 Commencement Date: 17107/2015 Drawing Name: D:\my documentlbuilding design\St Georges\s4\Faculty 110 George St, Sydney, NSW TEL:02 9511 1111 FAX:0 Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt 2 95111 112 17/11/201517:25:31 Floor Flnlsh Legend

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750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW PLAN - 3RD FLOOR 201504 - 09 FACULTY BUILDING Arnendment:sc Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&J ARCH ITECTS (C) For: Harry 1: 200 A3 110 GeorgeSt.Sydney, NSW TEL:02 95111111 FAX:0295111112 CommencementDate 17/0712015 Drawing Name D:\my document\building design\St Georges\54\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt 17111/201517:25:51 Floor Finish Legend

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750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW PLAN - ROOF 201504 - 10 FACULTY BUILDING Amendment: SC Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&) ARCH lTECTSc1 For: Harry 1: 200 A3 110GeorgeSt,Sydney.NSW CommencementDate 17/0712015 Drawing Name: D:\my document\building design\St Georgesls4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt TEL:0295111111 FAX:0295111112 171111201517:26:12 1 15

...YRL35.900 OS ROOFTOP SIS FRAME ------e<

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750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW ELEVATION - NORTH 201504-11 FACULTY BUILDING Amendment: SC Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&J ARCH ITECTSic1 For: Hany 1: 200 A3 110 GeorgeSt. Sydney,NSW TEL:0295111111 FAX:0295111112 Commencement Date : 17/0712015 Drawing Name : D:lmy documentlbuilding design\St Georgesls4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt 17/11/201517:26:20 .YA.L35.900 08ROOFTOP COLORBOND CLADDING II/ROY WJTHSIS CABLE DECORATION ______J I" SIS SUPPORT POLE 8 'I' PROFILED COLORBOND IVORY

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~ L16.500 04FIRSTFLOOR

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CONCRETE FORMWORK COLUMN

LAWN COVER

CLEAR GLASS CURTAIN PANEL CLEAR GLASS DOUBLE SWING DOOR

750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW ELEVATION - SOUTH 201504-12 FACULTY BUILDING Amendment: SC Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&J ARCH ITECTS1c1 For: Hany 1 :200 A3 110 George St, Sydney, NSW TEL:02 Commencement Date: 17/07/2015 Drawing Name D:lmy documentlbuilding design\St Georges\s4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt 95111111 FAX:02 95111112 17/11/201517:26:28 ~ _ _ --.YRL 35.900 OB ROOF TOP LOW-E TINTED GLAZE PANEL ------FROST GLASS ON CONCRETE BLCOK WITH VERTICAL REVEAL

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REFLECTIVE TINTED SPANDRAL PANEL

~L26.700 06THIRDFLOOR

--.Y.Rl 22.100 05SECONDFLOOR

-.YRL 16.500 04 FIRST FLOOR

~L10.900 OJGROUNDFLOOR

PROFILED COLORBOND BROWN

FIRE DOOR 1 16 PLYWOOD FORMWORK CONCRETE WALL

750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW ELEVATION - EAST 201504-13 FACULTY BUILDING Amendment: Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&J ARCH !TECTS(C) SC For: Harry 1: 200 A3 110 George Commencement Date: 17/07/2015 Drawing Name D:\my documentlbuilding design\St Georgesls4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt St, Sydney, NSW TEL:02 95111111 FAX:02 95111112 17111/201517:26:36 - ~ L 35.900 08 ROOF TOP

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1 1 T 16 1 1 1 1

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.Y_RL 16.500 0-HIRSTFLOOR PRECAST CONCRETE STAIRS WITH TERRAZZO FINISH ----,

.YRL 10.900 03 GROUND FLOOR

SPRAYED CONCRETE RATAINING WALL .YRL 7.700 02 BASEMENT 1 R.C BEAM

YRL 4.500 DI BASEMENT 2

NOTE: 1. FLOOR TO FLOOR, CEILING HEIGHT MAY VARY DEPENDS ON DEPTH OF TRANSFER BEAM AND SIZE Of PLUMBING

750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW SECTION - LONG SECTION 201504-15 FACULTY BUILDING Amendment: Designed By: ARNOLD WANG S&) ARCH ITECTSc, SC For: Harry 1 :200 A3 Commencement Date 17/07/2015 Drawing Name O:\my documenllbuilding design\St Georges\s4\Faculty 11 0 George St, Sydney, NSW TEL:02 95111111 FAX.02 95111112 Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt 17/111201517:2£:46 1 15

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~ CERAMIC WALL TILE ~ PLASTK: TOILET PARTITION ---- ~L16.500 ~FIRSTFLOOR

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750 Princes Highway, Kogarah, NSW SECTION - CROSS SECTION 201504 - 16 FACULTY BUILDING ARCH ITECTS(C) Amend"~"' ' SC Designed By ARNOLD WANG S&) For: Harry 1 : 200 AJ 110 George St, Sydney, NSW TEL:02 951 1 1111 FAX:02 9511 1112 Commencement Date: 17/0712015 Dra.ving Name: D :\my doct1ment\building design\St Georges\s4\Faculty Building\Faculty Building 16.rvt 17/11/201517:26:49 o1 0 ~ ., =11 5 ·

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Appendix XI(c) - Minh Nhut Pham

~) ~~ :ite Plan SCHEMATIC 0

ONE ALL Date : 13/05/201511 :47:09 8~~~~Nl~~ COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE PHAM For MR HARRY STANLEY Scale 1 : 300 ! Sydney ::::Ib,, (C) Commencement Date: Issue Date Drawing Name D:\Dip Building Design\2nd Yr Building Design\Harry \Corrvnunily Centre\Site Analysis\Comumnity Centre\Site Sheet Name : Site Plan 2013 02 A3 ~------~----;;,._rmys~ MNF'_Schemalics01-05-2015_SCHEME1(Flnall)..,r~---~ --~------North Elevation SCHEMATIC (j)2 e------1:200

01 1------~-~------East Elevation SCHEMATIC , : 200

Date :13/05/201511:47:34 8N~)>,'f.filN~ COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT ONE ALL ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE PHAM For : MR HARRY STANLEY Sydney Scale 1:200 ! ::::~~ecker (CJ Commencement Date : Issue Date Dr11wing Name : O:\Dip Building Design\2nd Yr Bu~ OtlliOf\\Hilrl\' ~ Centre\Site Anatysis\Comumnity Centre\Site Sheet Name : Elevation - North and East 2013 03 A3 ~------'---;Ana~ls\MNP_Schematics01.05.ZOt5_SCHEME 11.Final> .....--'-----'----'------'==--'-'-==--"-===--...... ::c:....;.;:___;:..:..___ _c; South Elevation SCHEMATIC 01 1------1:200

( 2) West Elevation SCHEMAT IC ...._ 1 :200

~~WA~f1\~~ COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT ONE ALL ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE ~~:_;;,::,no"""" f,~AMMR HA RRYSTANLEY ~ Sydney Checker Scale 1 : 200 liZ.'D3J Drawing Number .=_____ ...; c..;.o=.;.;..;;•...;ore...;m...;'°...;' ;;.;D•...;I•.;..' ...;'"...;"°;...D-'"ala..• ------'-D,;..aw_io"-g N_a_m,__,: g m~,o-"1ty-C_eo_tra...;IS..;.ite;...A...;oa.;:.fys...;i•..;;IC.;..om..;;, _mo...;ify...;C..;.eo..;.tra...;IS...;ite'------'S;;;h•;;,;•.;..I N;;;;,m...;'..;.'..: E;;;;l'".;;;''cc"";...-_;:_So;;.;,t;;;.h .;..'™'.;..W...;';;.;'''-----=2;.;;Q...;1 ;:_3 ...;Q:._4c.__ _:_A3= =~::.~= ;;_~~~g~n15~;~~~1~~7(~i~~~ 0 Section 1 SCHEMATIC 0 1:200

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~~~~t1\~~ COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT ONE ALL ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE ~~:;;:::2015114801 fo~AMMRHARRYSTANLEY ~ Sydney Checker Scale 1 : 200 lilJrn Drawing Number {C) Commencement Date : Issue Date Drawing Name D:\Oip Building Design\2nd Yr Bulldlng ~ \Conimunltf Centre\Sile Analysis\Comumnity Cenlre\Sile Sheet Name: Sections 2013 05 AJ =------'-'--'--"..;_--...;.;;.....;,;______'-_ ,AMlyst~\MNP_Schematics Ol~J&_SOieME I(~ ...... ~---'---~ ------, e,

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Versoleil™ Sunshade - Single WINTER Blade System - for Curtain SUSTAINABILITY Wall_Vertical Model The whole structure is made of structural steel framing, glass panels and concrete blocks. The concrete blocks will be used as heat collector during winter days. The building is purposefully designed in a way that no airconditoners woulb be used. Passive solar design is the ultimate goal for this building. The morning sun will heat up these walls during the day and release desireable The ONE ALL ONE community Design Excellence and Innovation is a exxample of green heat to warm up the interior spaces. architecture, a statement of respect to Mother Nature. ROOF SYSTEMS

SUMMER Due to the unconventional shapes of the roof, lighweight but durable metal roof panels are employed to protect direct sunlight heat up the internal spaces. The concrete bloacks are used as shading devices to protect the interior from excessive heat from the sun in summer for the Computer Lab. INTERIOR WALLS AND CEILINGS.

External lourves There are two choices for the internal walls: 100mm Timber stud framing or 100mm Versoteil Sunshade-Single Blade System for Curtain Wall are also used as shading devices Internal Conrete Blocks to protect heat build up from the morning sun for the Hall and the area of Permanent Display, to divide up the interior spaces. Confrence Room and Tea Room are also protected from the afternoon Sun. These lourves will be installe directed in the external face of the galss curtain wall panels . The ceilings would be used to cover up most of the rooms so they have privacy and Versoleil™ Sunshade - Single noise protecetion. Blade System - for Curtain The glass panels are designed in a way so they could be opened to let air ccme in for ventilation. Wall_Horizontal Model The Hall would have no "interior" ceiling to increase the sense of monumentality since t will host 200 to 250 people. It will enjoy the full height of 16 m and the light and shade created by the glass ceiling penetrated by the sun.

Date:13105/201511:50:04 8~~\'f_fi\~~ COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT ONE ALL ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE PHAM For: MR HARRY STANLEY Scale !i Sydney ::::~~m~.~cker ______c_,m _m_,oc_,_m_ea_tD_a_te _,1_,- _ o_,1e_____ ;_Dca ;;;w'-'in11:..;N..;;am.;;;•"--: ~~~~s:;~i~:;~,~~tr~;;;:;,..:C;;;'"cc're;;;\S;;;;ite;;.A;;;;"';;.:c'";;;;''..:'Como=..:m•;:,·0c:"""="':c"'::'';______: Sh=":::IN::amc,•;;;;'_:V::iew:::1ro::m=K•c,"':::"9,:lon=St__:__ _!2:_:Q:..!1.::'.3_:0:::8::._ _ _;A3::;: 0) 3D View the Cafe on Montgomery St

Date:13105/20151 1:5 1:38 B~~'Alffil~~ COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT ONE ALL ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE PHAM For MR HARRY STANLEY Sydney Scale ! :::~s~.~cker (C) Commencement Date: Issue Date Drawing Name· D:\Oip Building Design\2nd Yr Building Design\Harry \Community Centre\Site Analysis\Comumnity Centre\Site Sheet Name : The CAie from Montgomery St 2013 09 AJ =-----...;.;._.;.-"'-.;..;._.;.______'----. rl!tfy!lfs\M NP_Schematics01--(J5-2015_SCHEM E 1(Fina ll) .~~---~--~------'==-"-----'--'---''--'--'-'-'==-"'----""-'-;._;"'-----"' ~ ds Eye View From Corner of Kensington & Montgomery~ S_t______

0 Birds eye view from Kensington St

Date :13/051201511:52:01 8~~7,fff1\~i COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT ONE ALL ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE Am,od-al . :.AMMRHARRYSTAtrn ~ Sydney Drnwiog~~~cker (C) Commencement Date : lss11e Date DrawmQ Name : O:\Oip Building Design\2nd Yr Build~ Design\Harry .- \Community Cenlre\Site Aflalysis\Comumnity Centre\Site Sheet Name : Unnamed 2013 1Q A3 Analysis\MNP_Schematics01--05-2015_5CHEME1(Finall).Nf"""----~--~------(D The ONE ALL ONE CENTRE Montgomery St View

ONE ALL ONE COMMUNITY CENTRE Date :13/05/2015 11 :52:32 ~N~7ti1.Nl~~ COMMUNITY CENTRE by MINH NHUT Amendment : PHAM For : MR HARRY STANLEY *-Sydney Checker SGale illml Drawing Number (C) Commencement Date : Issue Date Drawing Name : 0 :\0~ Building Design\2nd Yr 81111dlnQ ~I'( ~it,, Centre\Site Analysis'IComumrily Cen!re\Si!e Shee!Narne: VVhole View 2013 12 A3 ------~--Afl,aiysis\MNP_Schematics 01~015_SCHE:MEl(Flnd) ,..--~---~--~ ------Appendix XII - MOU Sydney Institute and BDA SYDNEY INSTITUTE -11·t·..,··@"'"#1~

TAFE NSW - SYDNEY INSTITUTE

Submission to the Institute Dire ctor

BUILDING DESIGNERS ASSOCIATION MEETING - DOC XX/ TRIM NUMBER

ISSUE

Meeting with Building Designers Association (BOA) and Sydney Institute - Built Environment & Transport Faculty.

BACKGROUND

Sydney Institute Architectural Technology currently does not offer any training package qualifications, only accredited courses. Sydney Institute is not meeting the demand from the marketplace for qualifications in architectural courses. To date, a small range of commercial programs have been available.

The new training package for Building Design opens up a range of opportunities ranging from Certificate IV to Graduate Certificate as well as commercial programs. Sydney Institute is currently developing an Associate Degree in Architectural Studies which is due to commence delivery in July 2014.

The BOA has significant influence over the building designers industry and advocates for the capability development of their members and in the development of the Building Design training package.

CURRENT SITUATION

To position, Sydney Institute for future business opportunities, the Built Environment and Transport Faculty has invited the Building Design Association, NSW President, John Hatch and senior people to meet, followed by a tour of the facilities at Ultimo. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss BOA membership needs and outline Si's capability in providing training.

Sydney Institute has an informal relationship with the BOA through the Head Teachers from Ultimo and St. George.

Key messages for the meeting are to • demonstrate interest in working with the BOA, • convey a message of support for the introduction of the training package in light of the development of the Associate Degree in Architectural Studies, • reinforce our ability to provide pathways for students to meet the needs of their industry by delivering a range of products for new and existing workers.

Attendees:

John Hatch, NSW President, Building Design Association, Ian Bassett, National President, Building Design Association, Jim Demetriou, NSW Vice President, Building Design Association, Les Dickson, NSW Secretary Building Design Association, Submission to the Institute Director Version 7 Page 1 of 2

Disclaimer: Printed copies of this document are regarded as uncontrolled. Please check http://sitwww.tafensw.edu.au/ to ensure this is the latest version. SYDNEY INSTITUTE ..~ ..a,--@·4--1

David Riordan, Institute Director Diane Craven, Faculty Director - BE&T Janet Hewson, Assistant Director -Architecture and Building, BE&T Faculty Alison Taylor, Associate Director - Business Strategy and Services Cam Jobbins, Director, National Business Lou Martini, Head Teacher, Architecture, St George Jeff Clarke, HT Architecture Technology, Ultimo Carole Hardwick, HT, Architecture Technology, Ultimo

COMMENT

This meeting is to strengthen BDA's knowledge of our capacity to meet their membership needs and not go down the path of the Master Builders' Association and form their own RTO. BOA have had some discussions with the Master Builders Association regarding their set up, but would prefer to work with TAFE NSW and more importantly Sydney Institute.

The desired outcome of the meeting is a commitment from the BOA to formalise the relationship with the Sydney Institute to work together and have BOA confirm TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute as a preferred provider. This relationship will increase business potential through access to the BOA network and potential endorsement and promotion by the BOA for our expanded product range which meets their industry needs for new and existing workers.

FUNDING IMPLICATIONS

New funding entitlements and contingency loans will require significant levels of student numbers to sustain Sydney Institute Architectural Technology sections.

$250 funding for the meeting hosted in the Ultimate will be met from Sutherland College budget.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Acceptable level of risk.

CONSULTATION (OPTIONAL)

Janet Hewson -Assistant Director-Architecture and Building, BE&T Faculty Head Teachers - Architectural Technology at St George and Ultimo Alison Taylor, Associate Director - BS&S Cam Jobbins - Director, National Business

RECOMMENDATION

Institute Director attend and host the meeting on 29 November 2012.

Diane Craven Faculty Director - Built Environment and Transport

Submission to the Institute Director Version 7 Page 2 of 2

Disclaimer: Printed copies of this document are regarded as uncontrolled. Please check http://sitwww.tafensw.edu.au/ to ensure this is the latest version. Appendix XIII TES Unit and BDA

-From: ------Sent: Thursdav, 1a July 201 3 11 :11 AM To: Subject: FW: T AFE E-mail Chain

Good morning

Please find below for your reference.

Kind Regards

BUILDING DESIGNERS AUSTRALIA:

This email and any liles 1ronsmllted wi1h it ore confiden11al ond in1ended solely ior lhe vse of the lndividval or en!ily lo whom they are addressed. This communica1ion may con1oln confidenlial material. If you are nol lhe inlended recipient or the person respQnsible for detiverlng the email to the Intended recipient, be advised that you have received this emaa In error and lhot any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing. or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. If you hove received 1his email in error please notify the sender. lhe drawings (If onyl contained herein ore subject lo copyright and ore supplied to assist consultants ln preparing documentation for 11-.e protect referred to In those drawings. Any other use of this material is not permit led unless specifically authorised.

From: Sent: Thursday, 18 July 2013 11:01 AM To: Subject: TAFE E-mail Chain

The following is the e-mail chain you referred to. Initially I commented that if TAFE wanted to retain the Advd Dip Sustainable Building Design we would have no real objection even though this topic Is now a Unit of Competency In the Building design Diploma but I was asked to be more specific as Indicated In the request from Bernie Galletti. I accede to this request but it would now appear that there was some internal politicking at play that we were not aware of at the time and as I mentioned to you, It would be great if this topic could be expandea upon somehow while maintaining the integrity of the Building Design training package.

Please feel free to pass this on to Lou martini

Cheers

-From: Sen~ 12.:33 PM To:~ Cc: Subject: FW: Advd Dip Sustalnable Bulldlng Design 6441

-I've reworded as suggested for your consideration and any further Input. Once happy with the wording can you send through to me in a new email. Thanks.

As the only national Industry association for buflding designers, the BOA has considered the issue of supporting the reaccredltlng of the Advanced Diploma of Sustainabfe Building Design and although we supported the initial outcomes and Intent of the course we are of the opinion that the Inclusion of the Unit of competency CPCCSV5013A Apply prindples of energy efficient design to buildings - as an elective within the CPP5091 Diploma of Building Design adequately covers this subject for buildlng designers.

Further we would rather see sustainability Included within the training package, as It is, rather than it be a 'standalone', accredited course of study as the prlndples of sustainable building design are now embedded In practically all buildings and this fs evidenced by the continuing adoption of many councils and approval authorities of BIM as a prerequisite of building design. The new training package pathwQy for Building Designers provides for the progressfon of Diploma students to the Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma of Building Design In which sustainability Is further explored.

We appreciate the desire of TAFE NSW to maintain the Advanced Diploma of Sustainable Building Design, but It Is BDA's position that it cannot support any further accreditation/extension beyond 2013.

Thanks Ian and as you can appreciate It may not be the last we hear.

Regards

onstruct on & Property Services ~ TAFE Training and Education Support, Industry Sldlls Unit TAFE~

Grnd Fil·, 68 Soul:h Street (PO Sox 3S7), Granvil le NSW 2142 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 98468121 I Fax: +61 2 98468177 I [email protected] www.tafensw.edu.au

The contents of this e-mall and Its attachments ere confldentlal and Intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Please consider the environment before printing this e-maU

2 Sent:From:-!\IJ u ay 2 May 2013 11:11 AM To: 1 Subject~ RE: Advd Dip Sustainable Building Design 6441

Hi Kerry

The BDA has considered the issue of retaining the Advanced Diploma of Sustainable Building Design and although we understand the benefits of the course we are of the opinion that the Inclusion of the Unit of competency - CPCCSV5013A Apply principles of energy efficient design to buildings - as an elective within the CPP5091 Diploma of Building Design Training Package adequately covers this subject for building designers.

We would rather see this subject included within the training package rather than it be a 'stand alone' course of study as the principles of sustainable building design are now embedded in practlcally all buildings and this is evidenced by the continuing adoption of many councils and approval authorities of BIM as a prerequisite of building design. As a student progresses to the Vocational Graduate Certificate and Diploma of Bulldlng Design these subjects are further explored.

We appreciate the desire of the college to maintain the Advanced Diploma of Sustainable Building Design, and would have no objection should that be the case, but we believe lt would be difficult to promote this course when there Is already a similar UoC included in the Diploma of Building Design.

Regards

BDANS

BUILDING DESIGNERS AUSTRALIA

Website:

Postal: PO Box 592 HRMC NSW 2310 Phone: (02) 4968 9985 Email: nswadmin@bdansw,com.au

Direct Phone: Mobile: Direct Email:

From: Sent: Thursday, 2 May 2013 8:24 AM To: ...... Sub~lnable Building Design 6441

3 This is the email I spoke to you about. SI has requested that this course be reaccredlted.

for Industry Since then we submitted a course reaccreditation application to CPStSC. Joan Whelan responded asking Support. A response, from you, as the key industry stakeholder, would be appreciated.

Regards

-From: [ Sen~il 2013 12:48 PM To: ...... Subject: Advd Dip sustainable Building Design

of Following our discussion on Friday about the continuing accreditation of the TAFENSW Advanced Diploma that as Sustainable Building Design (644l)could you please provide me with a letter/email from the BOA confirming the BDA the content of this qualification is embedded in the CPP07 Training Package Building Design Qualifications would not be providing support to reaccredit the course.

6441 will not be - and I, with your confirmation, as well as advice, will inform the Institutes that with teachers reaccredited. We expect that this advice will generate resistance that wlll have to be worked through -Many thanks

Construction & Proper ervices - Industry Skills Unit TAFE Training and Education Support

.. TAFE~

Ground Floor, 68 South Street (PO Box 357), Granville NSW 2142 AUSTRALlA Tel: +61 2 98468147 I Fax: +61 2 98468177 I Kerry,[email protected]

of the lndlvldual or entity to whom they The contents of this e-mail and its attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use ere addressed. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

******•*************************************************************** This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain privileged information or confidential information or both. IE you are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender. **********************************************************************

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Appendix XIV - Letter from Master Plumbers Association of NSW

Master Plumbers Association of NSW "SfRVINII THE NATIGN FOR 01IR 100 YlARS"

A PLUMBER MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PLUMBING

The Hon. John Aquilina, MP Minister for Education and Training Level 2, 35 Bridge Street SYDNEY NSW 2000

14 August 2001

Dear Mr Aquilina

RE: The Plumbing Program Manager in the Construction and Transport Educational Services Division of TAFE NSW

We of the Plumbing Industry have noted that following the amalgamation of The Transport and Building & Construction Training Divisions, there was an attrition of the technical educators who managed the building and construction areas. We would like to express our extreme concern of this action.

The Plumbing Industry Regulatory Committee does not accept that a qualified, industry experienced, educational manager cannot be appointed to represent the Plumbing Sector with TAFE. It is absolutely critical that the highest level of training be provided for the plumbing industry.

The reason that the various aspects of plumbing are licensed is to ensure that the health of the community is maintained at the highest level. A responsible, informed educational authority would never undermine the high standards of health that our State currently enjoys.

Should our standards be compromised, we will no doubt return to the appalling health problems that existed in Sydney in the nineteenth century.

The position of an educational manager for the plumbing sector is the key to maintaining this standard, as this position provides the focus that is essential for the maintenance and future development of this vital industry.

The Committee's educational agenda is to ensure that the following issues are addressed:

• That a Plumbing Program Manager be appointed, who has both educational and plumbing qualifications with appropriate industry experience. • That high quality teaching facilities and resources be available statewide. • That fully trained plumbing teachers are available to deliver high quality educational programs.

This Committee has a responsibility to ensure that the current high standards are maintained and as a result of our commitment, we are prepared to discuss the

http://202.139 .229 .215/archives/plumber_responsible 18090 l .htm 11/09/2015 Archives - A PLUMBER MUST BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PLUMBING Page 2 of2

implementation of these issues.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm K Pettinger General Manager, Master Plumbers Association of NSW On behalf of the Plumbing Industry Regulation Committee CC: Ken Boston, Director of DET

MEMBER ORGANISATIONS OF PIRC: Air Conditioning & Mechanical Contractors Association of NSW, Association of Hydraulic Services Consultants (NSW) Inc, AUST AP Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union NSW, Fire Contractors NSW LTD, Institute of Plumbing, Master Plumbers Association NSW, Metal Roofing and Cladding Association of Australia Limited

http://202.139.229.215/archives/plumber_responsible180901.htm 11/09/2015