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A group of VET personnel
recently met in Sydney to prepare for their new role as National
Training Change Agents.
Eleven VET personnel were selected
for this role on the basis of their previously demonstrated capabilities
for managing change related to the implementation of the national
training system. Their capabilities include the ability to assist
groups of teachers to change their cultures from one focused on
teacher-dominant curriculum to a one focused on client needs, in
order to customise and implement Training Packages.
The National Training Change Agent
pilot forms part of one sub-program of the 2003 Reframing the Future
program, the Strategic Management and Change Management sub-program.
Reframing the Future is the national staff development and change
management program funded by the Australian National Training Authority
and designed to assist with the implementation of the national training
system.
Research by Reframing the Future has
uncovered a range of cultural and structural changes needed within
VET organisations if they are to become high-performing. To bring
about these changes, Reframing the Future now funds two different,
but equally valid, methodologies: the previously implemented approach,
involving collaborative workbased learning groups of managers working
through cycles of strategic management and/or change management,
and this newly launched approach, the use of skilled individuals
as change agents.
Susan Young, the National Director
of Reframing the Future, points out that there is strong support
in the literature for the role of the individual change agent:
One of the key theorists
finds that, whatever approach is taken to change, it has to be
managed; someone has to take responsibility for ensuring that
change takes place. Usually one individual bears the responsibility
for being the change agent.
The one-day workshop in Sydney introduced
participants to the rationale for this pilot program; set out the
theory which underpins change management and change agents in Reframing
the Future; assisted the National Training Change Agents to identify
their individual strengths and capabilities as change agents; and
discussed the Change Agents’ initial plans.
The workshop involved activities that
will assist with the achievement of the following three objectives
of the Change Agents’ sub-program. Firstly, the sub-program
will build the capacity of individual change agents within the VET
sector to bring about change required to implement the national
training system. Secondly, the sub-program will enable individual
change agents to assist colleagues in their own and other VET organisations
to implement the national training system. Thirdly, the change agents
will address the need for an increased client focus in VET practitioners
implementing the national training system.
Each of the change agents brings to
their work in 2003 an identifiable strength with regard to implementing
the national training system, and these strengths will be promoted
to the sector. Examples of their strengths include an advanced understanding
of Training Packages, assessment, on-the-job training or Recognition
of Current Competencies.
Susan Young added that the 2003 change
agents have strengths in being client-focused:
For instance, they commonly
have strengths in understanding the training market; in being
able to analyse and act on client feedback; and in being able
to use client feedback to influence the strategic directions of
their own organisation.
Reframing the Future’s research
shows that managing change is complex and change agents require
advanced knowledge and skills. Knowledge needed by change agents
includes an understanding of the common reasons for resistance to
change and appropriate ways to respond to resistance. Sample skills
include diagnostic and prognosis skills to translate information
into intervention strategies and a proposed plan of action.
With the support of the participative
evaluator John Mitchell, the participants at the workshop reviewed
their own skills and knowledge as change agents and committed to
expanding their skill base as a result of undertaking this project.
The 2003 program will be evaluated and the findings used to inform
any ongoing Change Agent activity.
The 2003 National Training Change
Agents are Chris Cooper, Challenger Institute, WA; Chris Steele,
SA Public Service; Sharon Johnson, TAFE NSW South Sydney Institute
of TAFE; Kaaren Blom, CIT; Sandra Lawrence, Brisbane & North
Point Institute of TAFE, QLD: Laurie Miller, Institute of TAFE Tasmania;
Cinthia Del Grosso, TDT Australia; Gillian Robertson, Gordon Institute
of TAFE, VIC; Greg Stuart, TAFE NSW North Coast Institute; Wendy
Morrow, ACPET SA; and Wendy Davies, Manufacturing Learning Australia.
Reflecting the diversity of VET, the
change agents represent a wide range of industries, including horticulture,
transport, hospitality, public service, business services and metals.
The change agents are also drawn from a mix of metropolitan and
regional providers and from a range of TAFE and non-TAFE RTOs.
A typical activity for a change agent
in 2003 might be to work within his/her own RTO or with a cluster
of RTOs to review current training activities and plan for different
training approaches in the future. Another change agent might work
with a regional RTO or an interstate RTO to bring about changes
related to a particular aspect of the national training system –
for example, assessment or recognition of current competencies.
Susan Young adds that the program
will have benefits for the participants and the sector:
Our aim is not just to bring about change
in 2003 but also to assist highly-skilled VET professionals to
model the acquisition and implementation of a wider range of change
management skills. There is a role for specialist change agents
in our system and we want to foster their growth.
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Innovation in Teaching and Learning