This new research insight paper published under the auspices of AVETRA and the Victorian Skills Authority (VSA) focuses on TAFE’s Centres of Excellence. It was authored by a team drawn from Monash University and Chisholm Institute’s Higher Education College.
As the paper points out, “the aim of this research project was to examine available academic and grey literature to inform the conceptualisation of centres of excellence within an Australian context.” It also provides research insights about national and international best practice in the design and implementation of ‘centres of excellence’. It cites examples of such centres drawn from international research and experiences and summarises a series of case studies.
What did the research find?
The common features of Centres of Excellence include “the pursuit of outstanding or exceptional quality in relation to a topic or area of specialisation; a requirement for collaboration and networking; and the presence of clustered networks linked to funding or accreditation mechanisms.” Often, these centres can have a basis in quality and informative research, in supporting excellence in education and in vocational excellence. The paper summarises each of these types of centres in terms of their purposes and benefits, vision and objectives, organisational structure, partnerships and impact – as well as criteria used in their assessment.
A focus on vocational and provider excellence
This can be focused in a number of areas: skills excellence – including “the examination of soft skills, technical skills, [and] whether excellence should be defined beyond competence,” VET system excellence – including the purpose of the system and its achievements and how excellence should be defined, whether through measuring or judging its effectiveness or economic outcomes such as efficiency, or through its social outcomes.
There may also be a focus on provider excellence, including through recognition processes such as awards for excellence such as the Australian Training Awards or via self-assessment tools such as the Education Training Foundation’s self-assessment tool which requires organisations to complete in order to join their Network for Excellence. And of course, regulatory processes may contribute to the recognition of excellence, or at least compliance to an agreed set of standards. Key performance indicators may also contribute to judgements about excellence. Overall, however, provider excellence describes a holistic view of success which covers a range of beneficiaries and outcomes.
Finally, and as the paper points out:
“It is not easy to define vocational excellence because there is no robust measurement for this phenomenon. Excellence can mean and refer to different things in different contexts.”
According to the European Training Foundation (ETF), “excellence can also be defined as a continuum where a system or provider could have good examples of excellence or excellent examples of excellence.” The ETF also notes “that vocational excellence generally refers to a high quality of training and education, but it can also refer to relevance to the world of work and to the attractiveness of the educational offer to learners and to employers.”
Two more AVETRA/VSA projects are in the works
The first is looking at the implications of AI for VET. A final one focuses on supporting the VET workforce to respond to the changing needs of VET learners. There are details about it here. We’ll in on the lookout for the project reports when they are completed next year.
