In the looming election campaign we’ll be hearing a lot of silly, scary and self-serving stuff. Who’s better on the ukulele, ScoMo or Albo? Who’s the more “human”? Which side “won the week”?
We’ll see the content of carefully compiled “dirt files”. Each side accusing the other of hypocrisy. The other side’s policies have been/would be absolutely frightening.
Great. I can’t wait. But last week I ran across the thoughts of someone who’s had much experience in governance, but isn’t running for office. He was on about education – a topic of direct or indirect relevance to us all – but one that won’t be heard once all the shouting starts.
He’s Professor Peter Shergold, former head of the Prime Minister’s Department under John Howard, but these days chancellor of the University of Western Sydney and writer of government reports.
At every level of education – early childhood education and care, schools, universities and vocational education and training – the polite judgement on our performance is: could do better.
Shergold had many sensible things to say in a report to federal and state education ministers that lobbed only after the plague had begun.
He starts by putting education in a broader, more balanced context. “Education must prepare young people both for active citizenship in a democratic society and for purposeful engagement with the labour force,” he writes.
“This is vital at a time when trust in democratic governance and institutions is at a low level and cognitive technologies are transforming the future of work.”
School leavers don’t just need to be employable. They need to be adaptable, flexible and confident. Education must provide students with the essential attributes they require for lifelong learning in whatever fields of endeavour they may choose, he says.
The professional and applied skills they need will change significantly over their lives. The jobs they do will be transformed. Most will switch careers.
Academic achievement is important but not the sole reason for schooling. We need to focus more on preparing the whole person, no matter what career path they choose. Many senior secondary students enjoy school. Some, for a variety of reasons, just want to leave as soon as possible. Both groups need to be supported by more flexible learning.
Education will remain the foundation of a “fair go” Australia, Shergold says. Senior secondary students from disadvantaged backgrounds should be supported to ensure they can follow the same pathways available to others.
Literacy, numeracy and digital literacy should be recognised as essential skills for every student. At a time of technological transformation, when the future of work is uncertain, these attributes are more important than ever, he says.
Students must be supported to attain capabilities in these areas before they finish school. “Every young person who leaves school without them is having their economic and social future short-changed.”
All pathways through school should be delivered to the same high standard. While university will remain an aspiration for many young people, academic pathways should no longer enjoy more privileged access to school resources than apprenticeships, traineeships or other vocational education and training.
Shergold gets more specific in a report he wrote for the NSW Education Department with someone whose name seems familiar, a David Gonski. They find that vocational education and training – VET – is plagued by problems across the nation.
Skills development hasn’t received the level of government investment required, which has helped reinforce the public perception that VET is less valuable than university education. This misconception is too often instilled in students while they’re still at school.
When they move on from high school, they enter a world bifurcated between university and vocational education. Forced to choose, many opt for a uni degree, for which there are no upfront costs, rather than paying fees for certificate-level vocational education.
Partly because career advice is so poor, many parents and students believe the demand for vocationally qualified workers is in decline. This is utterly mistaken, Shergold and Gonski say.
Federal figures on skilled occupations show shortages in many trades, including mechanics, panel beaters, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, plasterers, carpenters and cabinet-makers. A rapid rise in demand is forecast for certificate-trained workers in child care, aged care and disability care.
Get this: a “significant proportion” of uni graduates then move to VET to enhance their employability. It’s clear to me that a lot of kids who struggle through uni (with many failing to make it) would have been better going to VET.
Little wonder Shergold and Gonski want to bring universities and VET into a single system. They want much better career advice, which should be available to people throughout their working lives, including those obliged to make mid-career changes.
They want senior secondary schooling to be less obsessed with having kids direct all their efforts to maximising a single number, the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank. There are better ways for unis to select good recruits. And high schools could do more to get students started on a vocational “pathway”.
All this is worth debating in the coming weeks – but ain’t likely to be.
