Community Conversation
Impact Ecosystems: Workforce & Skills Innovation
Successes & Lessons
What successes and lessons come to mind when thinking about RMIT's recent experiences in building partnerships and new collaboration models for workforce and skills innovation, and lifelong learning?
+ add commentOpportunities
What system challenges represent the most compelling opportunities for impact and scale in skills development (and lifelong learning) in 2021?
+ add commentDefragmented student support. Linking up educational and learning supports with, health, socio-econo… See more
Defragmented student support. Linking up educational and learning supports with, health, socio-economic and other types of support that different learners in their life and their circumstances may require. eg. 50-60 year olds whose sector has disappeared (manufacturing) vs early school leavers w/ socio-economic disadvantage/marginalisation. How can councils, PHNs, RTOs and industry provide holistic connected support. See less
The strongest growth in economy outside government is Technology enabled companies and they all cryi… See more
The strongest growth in economy outside government is Technology enabled companies and they all crying out for talent to fuel that growth. The specific needs in emerging tech, creativity, critical thinking, experience / user design and all of these in shorter turn around times than our traditional system dictates in three year degrees. If we can solve for this we'll be in a strong position. See less
Shift from assessment in the classroom to the workplace. Contextualised assessments that are industr… See more
Shift from assessment in the classroom to the workplace. Contextualised assessments that are industry co-designed. This alone will drive changes to coursework content and prioritisation of skills. See less
Opportunity to support more equitable skill development through access to digital learning opportuni… See more
Opportunity to support more equitable skill development through access to digital learning opportunities – can we spread our reach to outer regional and remote where lll has often been inaccessible. Can we support skilled workplaces/thriving communities away from metro areas? See less
Staff capability building is a key component to ensure skill development of students is explicitly c… See more
Staff capability building is a key component to ensure skill development of students is explicitly covered in all learning and teaching activities. Lifelong learning and employability skills have been explicitly embedded in VE curriculum and Training Packages since the Mayer Key competencies in 1992 – and yet we still struggle with this. See less
Preaching to the choir…but aligning partners and learners behind shared (impact) goals, whether th… See more
Preaching to the choir…but aligning partners and learners behind shared (impact) goals, whether that Social Entrepreneurship or Industry 4.0 – not only for students, but over employees' lifetime See less
Industry 'clusters' give us a great opportunity to create coherence and scaling by buildin… See more
Industry 'clusters' give us a great opportunity to create coherence and scaling by building new shared and network structures that can learn faster and more widely, rather than relying on org structures more traditionally found in government departments or corporate bureaucracies. See less
Hyper targeted skills development for LLL as done (or at least attempted) by e.g. Seek, comparing in demand skills to those of applicants, suggesting targeted courses.
Scale & Impact
How can we leverage our strengths and relationships to create new collaboration models for scale and impact in workforce and skills innovation across sectors? Can we be more coherent, more collaborative and more impactful?
+ add commentLastly a common barrier is 'politics' either between organisations, between departments, b… See more
Lastly a common barrier is 'politics' either between organisations, between departments, between government bodies. All this really does get in the way of authentic collaboration. I think you can get around this if it is addressed early in the relationship and collaborative project ie during planning. Putting agendas on the table unashamably and negotiating and compromising about how to develop a collaborative project and/or model that meets as well as possible all stockholder agendas. Tools such as co-design of project logic's and theory of change can assist bring these agendas to the surface and it may be that each stockholder has their own logic's and ToC attached to a central project logic and ToC and that all stakeholders are transparent about these. See less
FSSI now has quite a bit of evaluation work on collaboration I think the HAP project is a good examp… See more
FSSI now has quite a bit of evaluation work on collaboration I think the HAP project is a good example of a synergistic collaborative model. Of course there are always improvements that can be made, but it is a good demonstration of RMIT project related strengths being applied and complexity of relationships w/ industry and government. Rick and Micaela may have some reflections that could be bottled on this. See less
Again it feels here as if we really need greater relationships with other RTOs, avoiding competition… See more
Again it feels here as if we really need greater relationships with other RTOs, avoiding competition to work together on scaling up new models. As big as we are we need others on board too. See less
Implementation Science: Do we have academics in this area? If not, RMIT should. A great opportunity for thought provocation and policy influence.
I really wish we could reimagine the term WIL – and break free of the traditional approaches this im… See more
I really wish we could reimagine the term WIL – and break free of the traditional approaches this implies. This should be the transition from impact creation in the wider world – the term "work" has shifted so much we must better reflect this See less
Community Member
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyPartnering with tech companies, who are implementing daily new ways new knowledge is applied, is essential.
Matt S.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyEmbed and connected internal collaboration (RMIT cross department) bodes a project well for complex … See more
Embed and connected internal collaboration (RMIT cross department) bodes a project well for complex stakeholder projects that branch to outside stakeholders. The RMIT 'ecosystem' ensures greater expertise is involved where it is needed rather than using (a strange analogy) a flat head screwdriver where a Phillips head is needed. You would be surprised though how from department, college and school siloing so many projects utilise a 'fast head' screwdriver. Never-less not surprising that industry and other stakeholders walk away from collaborative projects underwhelmed by 'RMIT' in these scenarios. See less
Shefton P.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyFSSI’s leadership initiatives and programs have grown and attracted significant interest from gove… See more
FSSI’s leadership initiatives and programs have grown and attracted significant interest from government and industry. We’ve been talking with COBL and RMIT Online about scaling, adapting for other parts of the industry and others – and building into accredited scaffolding. At its core its co-created with both industry and government as founder at a macro level and participants at practical level. See less
Micaela C.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyIndustry don't neccessarily have VE and HE delivery expertise so what they want from VE and HE … See more
Industry don't neccessarily have VE and HE delivery expertise so what they want from VE and HE may not be actually what they need. Up-skilling frontline staff in industry I think also requires industry general up-skilling in VE and HE operations. Each employer should have someone in their Exec w/ Learning and Development expertise the organisation will benefit from this and still will its relationships w/ RTOs. See less
Shefton P.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyA critical part of the success of the Higher Apprenticeships project was getting full alignment betw… See more
A critical part of the success of the Higher Apprenticeships project was getting full alignment between the industry partners, DET and FSSI/RMIT on what the workforce development challenge actually was – i.e. we all ended up working on a shared and commonly understood problem. Gaining alignment of all the parties on the problem/opportunuity definition involved in a collective impact exercise is vital to ensure we all remain focussed on the same 'prize'. See less
Rick E.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyIndustry is busy. They want to be involved in change to ensure it fits their needs but involving the… See more
Industry is busy. They want to be involved in change to ensure it fits their needs but involving them in co-design takes time and skin in the game if this is built into a project up front and into MOUs and contracts they just won't prioritise it around their other service delivery and business as usual requirements. See less
Shefton P.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyMany other RTOs face the same systems, regulatory and funding restrictions as RMIT and each RTO is t… See more
Many other RTOs face the same systems, regulatory and funding restrictions as RMIT and each RTO is trying to flex their systems to work around them. There is opportunity to work together more to shift policy, funding and regulation to shift large walls rather than building all these snakes and ladders independently wasting resources and undergoing similar frustrations.
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Shefton P.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyCollaboration takes time to build relationships you can't force stakeholders together and just … See more
Collaboration takes time to build relationships you can't force stakeholders together and just expect things to work out. There needs to be complimenting skills, interests and clarity around shared and different goals for collaboration to be successful. Some partners are more suitable than others and trialling and testing collaboration is better than biting off more than you can chew on a massive project together. Piloting is important and leveraging off existing relationships where trust and understanding is already established is best. See less
Shefton P.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply ReplyAnother lesson, repeated several times by RMIT, is that creating good dialogue with governments can … See more
Another lesson, repeated several times by RMIT, is that creating good dialogue with governments can lead into real partnership for experimentation, and sometimes to scaling. See less
Tom B.
19 Nov, 2020 Report Report Reply Reply