Download 1530-C-Livock-Abstract-26-Walking-the-tigh

Reporting – an Action Research
Project at TAFE Queensland
Brisbane’s (TQB) southern
campuses: to tap available funding,
provide LLN support & up-skill teachers
in LLN & Inclusive practices.
Walking the Tightrope: Market Drivers vs.
Social Responsibility with implications for
LLN and Inclusive teaching.
TAFE Queensland Brisbane - incorporating the former Southbank Institute of Technology
( SBIT) ; Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE (MSIT) ;
Brisbane North Institute of TAFE ( BNIT).
CRICOS No. 03020E, 02444M, 02007K
RTO No 0275, 30837, 31397
BACKGROUND – social/cultural milieu of 21st C
• Heightened demand for LLN Skills in workplaces
– even those on the production floor having to fill out more complex forms,
make multiple calculations, and take greater responsibilities for
production errors
• Exponential expansion of information technology
– but young digital natives, apart from being avid facebook users &
experts in graphics, having little critical ability to assess and use
avalanche of information available in digital format.
• Phenomenon of globalisation & marketization of Education
– Education rather than being open source for society’s benefit becoming
a globalised, marketized, copyrighted entity.
• Increasing % of school leavers by- passing VET education and
going to university
– Long term VET educators anecdotally report recent lessening of LLN & Learning
skills ability of students entering VET courses, compared to 12 years ago.
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BACKGROUND – Australian skills policies & funding
2011: Commonwealth government established the National Foundation
Skills Strategy
– to improve adult language literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills and ensure that
more Australians are work ready, productive, and can participate meaningfully in
economic and social life.
2012: National Partnership Agreement on Skills Reform (NPASR) +
2014-15: Queensland’s Cert III Guarantee & Higher Skills Program policies
– targeted investment and initiatives across the Vocational Education and Training
(VET) sector to support student learning in targeted vocational areas, and
redress the foundational skills deficits that affect employment and productivity
across the workforce;
– “support services available to assist students to complete training” (HSPP, p.4)
2013: Queensland Implementation Plan – VET a contestable marketplace
– To open the VET market by “ensuring access to government funds by high quality training
providers” (p.2);
– While supporting TAFE as “the foundation of a stable and high quality training sector in
Qld” and “funding TAFE to provide services that cannot be delivered contestably” (p.4)
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BACKGROUND – ASQA requisites
• ASQA requirement for RTO’s to maintain standards … via …
• ASQA’s Standard 1, Clause 1.7 “Support Learners”, which
mandates:
– identify any support individual learners need prior to their enrolment or
commencement (whichever is the earliest)
– provide access to that support throughout their training (Australian
Government ASQA, 2015, para 3).
• Support can include:
–
–
–
–
Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) support
assistive technology
additional tutorials
other mechanisms, such as assistance in using technology for online
delivery components” (ibid., paras. 4 & 5).
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BACKGROUND – what prompted the Action Research
VET RETENTION FIGURES
– Qld VET completions under 40% (Mark & Karmel, 2010)
– ‘less than 50% of those who start an apprenticeship were actually finishing’
(Toowoomba Chronicle 2013, ¶3)
LOW LITERACY /NUMERACY OF AUSTRALIAN ADULTS
– ‘More than 7.5 million Australian adults do not have the literacy and numeracy
skills to participate fully in today’s workforce’ (Standing Council on Tertiary
Education, Skills & Employment 2012)
– 81.9% of Queenslanders aged 15-74 have only literacy at or below the level
of a Grade 9 student – ACSF Level 3 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2014,
Table 3).
HIGH LEVEL OF LLN NEEDS FOR ENROLLED NURSES
– information technology literate, critical and reflective thinking, contributing to the
formulation of care plans, interpreting patient’s charts (temperature, pulse and
respiration rates), administering and monitoring medication, and knowledge of
legislation and common law pertinent to enrolled nursing practice (Australian
Nursing Council, 2002)
HOW TO BEST SUPPORT DIPLOMA OF NURSING STUDENTS TO 13 72 48
COMPLETED THEIR COURSES?
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SUPPORTING DIVERSE STUDENTS - demography
Two participating campuses demography seemed fairly
similar (ABS, 2014) – but were they??
1. Alexandra Hills
–
–
–
–
–
–
Brisbane bayside suburb
population of 143,711
94.3% as English only speakers
26.6% being born overseas,
53.7% with post school qualifications,
28.6% as managers or professionals,
– average wage and salary income being $51,235.20.
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SUPPORTING DIVERSE STUDENTS - demography
Two participating campuses demography seemed fairly
similar (ABS, 2014) – but were they??
2. Loganlea
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
part of the city of Logan on the periphery of Brisbane,
population of 287,474
87.2% speaking only English
31.8% being born overseas,
48.6% with post school qualifications,
21.7% employed as managers or professionals,
the average wage and salary income being $42,985.40
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ACTION RESEARCH - methodology
(Crane & O’Regan 2010, p.1)
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ACTION RESEARCH - process
• Phase 1.
Embeddednes and Conversations
• Phase 2.
Classroom observations
• Phase 3.
LLN and Inclusive Practices PD for Teachers
• Phase 4.
Responding to teacher requests for assistance
• Phase 5.
Facilitating greater staff collaboration-
[library, learning skills staff and nursing teachers – consistent Literacy testing across
campuses + additional Numeracy testing]
• Phase 6.
Collaborating with Medication teachers and learning
support staff to develop a 2 day Numeracy Workshop.
• Phase 7.
Collaborating with teachers and learning support staff to
develop an initial 14 day Literacy & Learning Skills
Program.
• Phase 8.
Collecting and analysing DATA from the above two
programs.
• Phase 9.
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Continuing the cycle in the Health faculty –
and
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recommencing the process in other faculties.
Developing a Nursing Medication Calculations program
Use Foundation Skills (FSK) Training Package unit:
– FSKNUM14 Calculate with whole numbers and familiar fractions,
decimals and percentages for work
Assessing all students’ Numeracy skills at ACSF Level 4
– to determine skills gaps;
– build a maths program that addresses high frequency skills gaps;
Gain feedback from Nursing and Learning Support
teachers
– to ensure program supports the numeracy needs of HLTEN507C
Implement 2 day program /record attendance &
assessment results /compare with nursing calculations
exam results
Access available foundation skills funding
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Example of a Spikey Profile – Course and Student
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Determine areas of highest need
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DATA re LLN LEVELS & STUDENT COMPLETIONS
A LIMITATION has
been although data
was collected for
Loganlea – it was
collected for the entire
HLTEN507C course –
a combined result for
theory and
calculations. So
information regarding
the impact of the
purely calculations
workshop is not
available for Loganlea.
Alexandra Hills Data
re Calculations Workshop participation & successful
HLTEN507C Calculations Exam results
Alexandra Hills - one
HLTEN507C class
No students No. of passing
% Pass Rate
attending
students
Students attending Medications
Calculations Workshop
7
6
86%
Students not attending Meds Calcs
workshop
22
9
41%
TOTAL number of students attending
HLTEN507C
29
15
52%
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Developing a Literacy & Learning skills Program
Classroom observations
– almost no students were taking notes;
– few students were answering questions in class;
– in theory classrooms teacher in front of the class lecture style predominated.
Conversations with Nursing/Support teachers
Review of Curriculum workbooks/powerpoints
–
–
–
–
nursing diploma has a high level of complex terminology;
nursing has a dense compacted curriculum;
teachers reported many students struggled with terminology & dense content;
teachers reported many students had poor critical reading/thinking strategies
resulting in plagiarism.
Use Foundation Skills (FSK) Training Package units:
FSK DIG 03
FSK RDG 07
FSK LRG 11
FSK WTG 09
Use digital technology for routine workplace tasks
Read and respond to simple workplace information
Use routine strategies for work-related learning
Write routine workplace texts
FSK RDG10
Read and respond to routine workplace information
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Developing a Literacy & Learning skills Program
• Connect FSK units to Nursing Diploma units:
– Anatomy units, HLTAP401B, & HLTAP501C;
– Infection control unit HLTIN301C
• Assess students Literacy skills at ACSF Level 4
• Implement 14 day program /record attendance &
assessment results
• Compare with completion results of 1st studied Nursing
Diploma Unit HLTAP401B
• Access available foundation skills funding
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DATA re LLN LEVELS and STUDENT COMPLETIONS
LLN LEVELS – Average
scores & Range
Students at Alexandra
Hills achieved an average
of 46% literacy and 43%
numeracy with scores
ranging for literacy from
29% to 66%, and for
numeracy from 29% to
77%. Interestingly all of
the four students who
achieved either the lowest
or highest scores
successfully completed
their HLTAP401B unit.
Also all four students
attended the 123
Program.
Completion of 1st Nursing Unit
HLTAP401B
No.
Students
attending
No. of
passing
students
% Pass
Rate
Students attending 123 Program
33
31
94%
Students NOT attending 123 Program
11
6
55%
TOTAL number of students in
HLTAP401B
44
37
84%
Alexandra Hills
& 123 Program Participation
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DATA re LLN LEVELS and STUDENT COMPLETIONS
LLN LEVELS – Average
scores & Range
Students at Loganlea
achieved an average of
39% literacy and 44%
numeracy with a
scores ranging for
literacy from 14% to
66%, and for numeracy
from 14% to 87% evidencing a wider
disparity in LLN
acquisition than at
Alexandra Hills campus.
Two students scoring
14% in literacy. One of
these did not complete
the numeracy
Completion of 1st Nursing Unit
HLTAP401B
No.
Students
attending
No. of
passing
students
% Pass
Rate
Students attending 123 Program
75
52
69%
Students NOT attending 123 Program
21
7
33%
TOTAL number of students in
HLTAP401B
96
59
61%
LOGANLEA
& 123 Program Participation
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DATA re LLN LEVELS and STUDENT COMPLETIONS
assessment, yet went on
the successfully complete
the first nursing unit; the
other student scored
23% numeracy and had
not completed
HLTAP401B.
One student who scored
14% in numeracy with a
38% score in literacy also
failed to complete the
first unit.
These very low LLN
scoring students had also
participated in the 123
Program.
Completion of 1st Nursing Unit
HLTAP401B
No.
Students
attending
No. of
passing
students
% Pass
Rate
Students attending 123 Program
75
52
69%
Students NOT attending 123 Program
21
7
33%
TOTAL number of students in
HLTAP401B
96
59
61%
LOGANLEA
& 123 Program Participation
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ANALYSIS
• As noted in the analysis of the literacy levels, at
Loganlea there was a greater range of literacy
levels.
• At Alexandra Hills the lowest literacy score was
29% whereas at Loganlea the lowest literacy
score was 14%.
• Thus an assumption could be made that when
students’ literacy drops significantly below 30% at
ACSF Level 4, in spite of receiving intensive
literacy and learning skills support, this support
in the majority of cases is not sufficient to enable
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success in a diploma level vocational unit.
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DATA LEARNING SUPPORT – students access
• Loganlea nursing students – 2nd sem 2014
[All cohorts of Nursing
Students – commencing
2nd sem 2013, 1st sem
2014, 2nd sem 2014]
• Alexandra Hills 1st Sem 2014 nursing students
STUDENTS ATTENDING
LEARNING SUPPORT
DURING SEMESTER 1,
2014
1st Sem 2014 Nursing
students
1ST Sem 2014 Nursing
students who also
attended the 123
Program
No.
25
24
No. Passed 1st Nursing
Unit HLTAP401B
COMMENT
1 student did not attend the 123 Program
23
96%
That is when compared
among themselves
students doing the 123
Program, followed up
with learning support had
a pass rate of 96%
NOTE: All students attending the
123 Program were actively
encouraged to attend Learning
Support [rooms at both campuses were
pointed out to them + one Learning Planning
assessment item was to write the opening
hours of learning support in a Learning Plan
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Calendar. Students were also13
introduced
the learning supporttafebrisbane.edu.au
teachers who conducted
the BKSB LLN diagnostic assessments].
FUNDING CUTS – affecting TAFEs in Qld.
• Some examples of VET funding cuts in Qld
– 2012,Mar to 2013,Dec: TAFEs across Queensland
lost “1,610 full time positions and 1,889 positions by
headcount” (Terauds & McCollow, 2014, p.10)
– 2012, Sep: $78.8 million reported cut from
Queensland Training, Tertiary Education and
Employment budgets (Wheelahan & Sheehan, 2012).
– 2015, July: $4.1 million for increased ‘rental’ to
QTAMA of buildings for TAFE Qld South West … an
example of just one QLD TAFE entity’s increased
facilities costs.
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FUNDING CUTS – effecting research campuses
Learning support provision
prior to 2015
Negative effects on Learning
Support in 2015
•
•
•
Alexandra Hills campus a support
teacher was available four days a
week and she was able to arrange
her time to flexibly fit in with
student timetabling.
Loganlea campus had a support
team: lead vocational teacher,
LLN teacher, tutor and casual LLN
teacher who provided one on one
support as well as workshops.
Hours to suit class timetables:
7.30am-4pm Mon-Thurs & Fri
finishing at 3pm.
•
•
Alexandra Hills, learning support
is only available once a week - for
the entire campus – and at a time
when nursing students are
attending class.
Loganlea, [Jan 2015] one tutor
available daily with curtailed hours
for the entire campus of 1,959
enrolled students
Loganlea, [Mar 2015] an
additional LLN teacher for basic
skills + Library skills advisor for
academic skills one day a week
[Southbank & online support available
– not accessed to date - teachers
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stressed importance of local face-toface initial support ]. tafebrisbane.edu.au
FUNDING CUTS – effecting research campuses
• Negative effects on Learning Support
– Because of extremely decreased budgets TAFE has had
to find ways to economize;
– Provision of Learning Support has been one of these
areas, particularly for students with basic LLN skills
gaps;
– This action research has revealed
• although fully meeting ASQA requirements, with TAFE having
a legal requirement to admit such students to their courses
• a significant number of students coming to Diploma courses only
have LLN skills at ACSF level 2 (Cert I)
• GOVERNMENTS NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE NEED
TO FUND FOUNDATION SKILLS FOR HIGHER LEVEL
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SKILLS – THIS IS A PRESENT AND PRESSING
NEED
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Walking the Tightrope - social responsibility
It seems government policies and legislation regarding VET have
steadily moved away from a social justice framework, a framework
which values building social capital in individual citizens and thereby
enhancing society as a whole, to a marketized view of society.
Therefore it is heartening to hear the new Queensland government
advocating for a more social justice approach to funding vocational
education provided by TAFE institutes. (Rescuing TAFE. Brisbane: Queensland ALP)
LAST WORD
2013: Queensland Implementation Plan
“Confirming TAFE’s role as the foundation of a stable and
high quality training sector in Qld”
“funding TAFE to provide services that cannot be delivered contestably” (p.4)
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ADEQUATE FUNDING IS NEEDED TO MAKE THIS A REALITY
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