Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Trades and Innovation: Understanding Skills Needs for Jobs of the FutureDr Karen O’Reilly-BriggsLa Trobe University, Melbourne

Dr Mike BrownDr Karen O’Reilly-BriggsProfessor Terri Seddon

Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Trades and Innovation: Understanding Skills Needs for Jobs of the Future

Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Trades and Innovation: Understanding Skills Needs for Jobs of the Future

From industry to teaching trades … … to University and conferences at Parliament house!

Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Trades and Innovation: Understanding Skills Needs for Jobs of the Future

Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering Trades and Innovation: Understanding Skills Needs for Jobs of the Future

Fast forward 30 years …

So what were the consequences of sidelining trade teachers from informing curriculum and pedagogy?

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‘Thinning’ or ‘erosion’ of engineering trade apprenticeship skills and knowledge over the past three decades.

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-+We need …‘… a highly capable and adaptable workforce’ (Siekmann & Fowler, 2017)

But there is …‘… growing concern that apprentices are achieving a much lower level of skill than … industry needs’ (Productivity Commission, 2017)

Further that …‘…lower-level skills [make] Australians vulnerable to global competition (Productivity Commission, 2017).

Skilled trade roles will remain important to manufacturing, but the workforce will also need … ‘STEM skills [and] non-technical skills including leadership, management and entrepreneurial skills and the ability to be adaptable, network, communicate and negotiate’. (Willox, 2014).

-+Manufacturing Skills Australia state that

Skill needs are changing and people who can adapt, problem solve, think creatively, and work across traditional skill boundaries are needed … [P]riorities … include innovation/design skills, multi-skilled, broad-based capabilities, IT digital skills and higher-level interpersonal/organisational skills (MSA, 2015, p. 4).

-+Disturbingly …

At the threshold of Industry 4.0―the technology and innovation industrial revolution―we are only beginning to notice a profound shift taking place. The magnitude of this industrial revolution, according to the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum is unlike anything that humankind has experienced, and in terms of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential peril (Schwab, 2016, p. 2).

Reinforcing …

‘Technological change has been linked to inequality … which in turn may result in social unrest [leading] to economic decline and a decrease in social cohesion (Roos, 2017).

-+Business Council of Australia

…this transition is one of the most important moments in history that will make or break the potential of this nation (BCA, 2017).

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The literature tells us that we are in the midst of an industrial revolution and we are in urgent need of a highly skilled

workforce with greater skills and capabilities than in the past, that is capable of resourcing industry and stabilising the

national economy. If we can’t achieve this, there is potential for greater levels of inequality, economic decline and social

unrest.

To summarise

The conundrum

Is Australia’s Vocational Education and Training system able to meet the changing needs of industry?

What attributes and capabilities will be/are required of metal engineering

workers to resource advanced manufacturing industries and the

innovation economy?

About the study

This study was designed to take initial steps to help address the significant challenge of aligning vocational education and training (VET) provision with the ‘future ready’ skills needed by engineering tradespeople to maintain relevance in the shift to Industry 4.0 and advanced manufacturing within the Innovation economy.

About the study

This study is a pilot study – it is relatively small scale. Its intention has always been to determine whether a larger scale, nation wide, study is warranted.

Seed funding received from the Engagement Income Growth Scheme, La Trobe University

To date:

• We have interviewed ‘key players’ in the advanced manufacturing industry

• Analysis is still underway

• Some preliminary findings

Preliminary findings show that key players in advanced manufacturing are wanting particular attributes and capabilities more so than discrete skills.

This will pose a dilemma for the VET sector.

CBT is not widely regarded by educators as suitable for producing the qualities and capabilities being described by industry leaders in manufacturing.

About the study

Challenges

The study is still in progress and a report is expected early next year.

About the study

Launch of the Advanced Welder centre Box Hill Institute, Melbourne 2018

Thank you!

Any questions?

Email: k.oreilly-briggs@latrobe.edu.au

Telephone: +61 3 9479 1325

-+ReferencesBCA. (2017) Future-proof: protecting Australia through education and skills. Business Council of Australia

Beddie, F., Hargreaves, J., & Atkinson, G. (2017). Evolution not revolution: views on training products reform. Adelaide: NCVER

MSA. (2015). Manufacturing advancing the conversation: MSA environmental scan 2015: Manufacturing Skills Australia

O’Reilly-Briggs, K. (2016). National training reform and the impact on vocational education for engineering trades in Victoria. Melbourne: La Trobe University

Productivity Commission. (2017) Shifting the dial: 5 year productivity review, inquiry report no. 84. Canberra

Roos, G. (2017). Technology-driven productivity improvements and the future of work: emerging research and opportunities. USA: IGI Global.

Schwab, K. (2016). The fourth industrial revolution: World Economic Forum.

Siekmann, G. & Fowler, C. (2017). Identifying work skills: international approaches. Adelaide: NCVER

Toner, P. (2018a). How economics explains failure of the publicly funded privately delivered training market. University of Melbourne

Toner, P. (2018b). A tale of mandarins and lemons: creating the market for vocational education and training. In Wrong way: how privatisation & economic reform backfired (Eds: Cahill, D., & Toner, P.) Melbourne: La Trobe University Press

Wheelahan, L. (2013). The future of Australian vocational education qualifications depends on a new social settlement. Journal of Education and Work. 28:2 pp. 126-146, DOI: 10.1080/13639080.2014.1001333

Willox (2014). Advanced manufacturing: a smarter approach for Australia. In Advanced manufacturing: beyond the production line. Melbourne: Committee for Economic Development

World Economic Forum. (2016) executive summary. The future of jobs: employment, skills and workforce strategy for the fourth industrial revolution. Switzerland