Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the dairy industry interested in having more involvement in Vocational Education and Training (VET)?
How was NCDEA established?
Why was the NCDEA formed?
What is GOTAFE and what does it do?
Why dairy farming and dairy processing?
Why should l support NCDEA when my local TAFE or RTO offers the same program?
Who will deliver the education and training?
Will dairy processing programs be delivered at the Werribee campus?
How can you be sure that the courses/programs delivered will be relevant?
Why is the dairy industry interested in having more involvement in Vocational Education and Training (VET)?
The dairy industry has recognised for some time the need to further develop the capacity of the people within the industry to improve the industry’s competitiveness and profitability. Education is a key driver, world wide, of profitability, innovation and productivity.
This was reinforced in 2005 when:
- The Australian Dairy Farmers /Dairy Australia National Priority Setting Process clearly identified education and skills development as a key investment priority and recommended that the industry must “…clearly lift the bar on extension and learning systems as the top priority…”
- On May 13th ADF and Dairy Australia hosted a workshop of dairy farmer and education industry leaders to discuss the future of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the dairy industry. The workshop was convened in response to recently announced reviews (Commonwealth Government and University of Melbourne) and the need for renewed industry direction in this area.
The principles emanating from the May 13th 2005 meeting, and the principles on which the NCDEA was founded, are:
1. Learning should be seen and promoted by the dairy industry, government and education providers as the foundation of farm success, industry progress, regional prosperity and national wealth.
2. Government should support and the dairy industry should drive the dairy learning system to achieve those outcomes.
3. An industry-driven body to act as broker: to identify needs, set standards, recruit providers, monitor outputs and outcomes, accredit programs, and develop and oversee a national framework of competencies and awards onto which all education and extension programs are mapped. The broker to consist of industry people and education providers so as to facilitate communication.
4. The dairy learning system should be easily understood and accessed by dairy people.
5 All providers should be seen as interacting parts of the dairy learning system, and be supported in their continuing development as dairy educators.
6. Extension programs should be seen as just as much a part of the dairy learning system as formal education programs.
7 Learning programs should be placed within the context of the whole dairy supply chain.
8. Dairy learning programs should be designed and run on adult education principles.
9 Dairy learning programs should attract people from outside the industry.
10. Competencies, certificates, diplomas and degrees should be recognised in all states as providing assurance of the level of work that may be expected, and;
11. Government should maintain an accessible national database of course offerings, participation and outcomes to allow continuous improvement.
How was NCDEA established?
The Australian Dairy Farmers, Australian Dairy Products Federation and the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, together with Dairy Australia, had identified education and training, and the increased involvement with VET, as a key priority.
The decision by the University of Melbourne to withdraw from the provision VET in Victoria at the end of 2005 provided an opportunity for the dairy industry to become strongly engaged with the VET sector.
The industry commissioned a report to investigate options on how best to move forward. The report considered two principal options:
- The industry commence negotiations with one major registered training organisation (RTO)
- Industry head down the path of being its own registered training organisation (RTO)
The report recommended the establishment of a partnership between an existing RTO, and Dairy Australia, acting on behalf of industry,
The list of guiding principles was used to assess the likely success of partnering with various major RTOs acting in the dairy arena within Victoria.
Other requirements apart from the guidelines were also considered by Dairy Australia.
- The State Government had made it clear to the dairy industry that the RTO partner would need to be large, successful, and with a strong track record of VET achievement and entrepreneurial success. The Government stipulated that the re-allocation of the University of Melbourne funding (student contact hours) would go to a tender that clearly had a very strong likelihood of success.
The RTO partner would need to be willing to cede, to industry, a considerable level of control, within established training constraints and quality compliance criteria set by government.
Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE (GOTAFE) was selected as the RTO.
- A successful application was then made to OTTE (Office of Training and Tertiary Education) by the Dairy Australia GOTAFE partnership to have the dairy industry component (dairy farming and processing sectors) of the University of Melbourne VET funding allocated to GOTAFE in 2006.
Why was the NCDEA formed?
The application to OTTE was from the DA GOTAFE partnership. The NCDEA concept arose soon after as the industry recognised it needed a vehicle and structure that was not defined solely by the DA GOTAFE partnership. This vehicle was needed to provide the presence and vision required to move nationally. It was important to have a name and concept that separated the past from the future and would allow people to act differently.
What is GOTAFE and what does it do?
GOTAFE was formed in 1996 through an amalgamation of the Wangaratta and Goulburn Valley Institutes of TAFE.
- GOTAFE is now one of the largest Technical and Further Education Institutes in regional Victoria, with in excess of 15,000 students currently enrolled. It is a multi campus Institute with major campuses in Benalla, Seymour, Shepparton and Wangaratta. It also operates farms and prison education centres and also has open learning centres.
- The predominant focus of TAFE is the delivery of quality training and assessment services in vocation and further education, ultimately benefiting the economy with a better skilled and productive workforce. In addition, a range of pre-vocational and adult literacy/basic education (ALBE) programs, adult VCE and hobby and personal development courses are conducted to assist individuals and community groups enhance their educational and employment skills.
- Wealth creation in the dairy industry from a farm, service provider and processing company perspective relies on the performance of the whole production chain.
- Education and training opportunities will provide career pathways in the dairy farming and processing sectors as well as contributing to individual wealth creation and industry profitability.
Why should l support NCDEA when my local TAFE or RTO offers the same program?
- The industry is supporting the NCDEA as the preferred industry trainer.
- An advantage the NCDEA will have against other training organisations is that it is specialising in dairy industry training.
- A founding principle is that “competencies, certificates, diplomas and degrees endorsed by the NCDEA should be recognised in all states as providing assurance of the level of work that may be expected”.
- The integration of VET with other dairy industry education streams eg Learning Packages, Dairy Moving Forward, Target 10 is going to create huge opportunities in improving VET relevance and delivery while the VET component of dairy education will bring benefits such as the recognition of prior learning and assessment and accreditation skills to the other education streams.
- Although the NCDEA is new, with the level of industry support it has, it is reasonable to think that at some time in the future, having a qualification from such a recognisable source as the NCDEA will be a significant advantage to having a qualification from a lesser known deliverer.
Who will deliver the education and training?
The NCDEA has appointed staff according to requirements for the delivery of education and training hours as allocated by OTTE. Staff have been appointed based on skills and experience.
Teaching staff with specific skills will be used across multiple NCDEA regions. An example of this for farming is the Farm Business Management teaching position which for practical reasons is based in Gippsland but whose expertise will be used widely across all areas.
The aim is to operate with a base level of teaching staff and to use outside expertise where it is applicable.
Will dairy processing programs be delivered at the Werribee campus?
Depending on the customer’s needs, NCDEA programs may be delivered in the factory, on the job, at Werribee through flexible delivery mode (Diploma and Certificate IV) requiring block release attendance at the campus or from any of the other sites that the NCDEA operate from.
How can you be sure that the courses/programs delivered will be relevant?
- Key leaders of the dairy industry have recognised that the industry now has unprecedented ability to impact the quality of training offered through its advisory group structure and the expertise within industry at their disposal.
- The advisory group structures in each geographic region and another for dairy processing will have input into determining what the specific education and training needs are in each region/area and how they feel those needs will be best met. The DA VET executive position together with the IESC will take that input and then develop the measures, which they will use to determine the effectiveness of the NCDEA.
- They will then feedback on how well they feel delivery is meeting the target audiences’ needs.