(introduction...)

An important aspect of the new national training system is the promotion of closer linkages between the institutional providers of vocational education and training and the industry sector. The national goals for vocational education and training stress the need for publicly funded, private and industry providers to work together collaboratively, and for vocational education and training to be responsive to the needs of industry.

Competency-Based Training is intended to operate in a way that integrates the workplace and off-the-job components of training. This approach necessitates close involvement between colleges and industry in a collaborative approach to training delivery. Some programs are college-based but involve periods of work experience in which structured training is provided. Others comprise approximately equal amounts of work-based and college-based learning. Still others are industry-based but some (or all) components of the training are provided in consultation with or directly by college staff at the workplace.

Flexible delivery methods extend the range of ways in which workplace training may be supported by public institutions, incorporating communication technologies, provision of training materials in a range of media, direct tutoring services or the establishment of structures in which support is provided on a regular basis by workplace mentors with occasional visits from college teaching staff.

Assessment in the workplace under workplace conditions is now a requirement of many accredited programs. Again the arrangements vary. However they frequently involve college staff in either conducting the assessment or in providing training for workplace personnel to act as assessors. Records of assessment conducted by workplace personnel may be incorporated as part of the requirements for a credential offered by a college.

Apprenticeships and traineeships have always combined off-the-job learning with workplace experience. The Australian Vocational Training System extends this focus by proposing a range of flexible pathways moving between the workplace and formal education settings. Structured workplace training is a key part of this system.

While many of these collaborative arrangements are fully or partially government funded, increasingly training services are provided to industry on a fee-for-service basis from the colleges. Award restructuring and its training implications have encouraged industry to seek the services of the institutional providers. The Training Guarantee legislation has increased this trend with the requirement for industries to spend 1.5 per cent of the amount paid in staff salaries on training programs.

A best practice example which follows, describes the way in which one company used the services of a number of TAFE colleges in the development of successful training programs.