The Commonwealth Government’s recent initiatives indicate that industry will have a much higher profile in VET decision-making. While industry obviously needs and deserves a prominent role in VET, an ideal arrangement is that all the stakeholders have a voice, as VET is like an ecological system containing many interdependent components. Interdependence means that we need each other.

The interdependence of industry clients and training providers is one of the key issues which emerged from research I am currently completing. The research project was funded by the Applied Research Program of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, and the report’s title is ‘Implementing flexible learning in workplaces’. This 2004 research study set out to identify the strategies used by a registered training organisation (RTO), the Central West Community College (CWCC), to implement flexible learning in the workplaces of two enterprises, a prominent food processing plant in Bathurst and a large abattoir in Wagga Wagga. The study also set out to identify the collaborative partnership model between the RTO and the enterprises and how that model assisted the implementation of flexible learning.

The report describes the multiple contexts in this VET study, including the regional context, the industry context, the enterprise context and the training provider context. The report demonstrates that the different bodies involved in these contexts – such as regional industries, local enterprises, local training providers and regional development organisations – are inter-dependent: that is, if learning is to contribute to a stronger regional economy, these different parties need to work together. A potential benefit of such collaboration is the design and support of learning activities that address industry skill needs and can be provided at times and in locations that suit local enterprises.

I develop this story further in the issue of the Campus Review to be published on 10 November. The full report will be available later this year at http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au