Generic Skills: Understanding vocational education and training teacher and student attitudes

The aim of the project reported here was to find out the attitudes of students undertaking vocational education and training (VET) courses and their teachers about generic skills. Specifically, the project investigated the extent to which generic skills are valued by students and VET teachers and why, as well as how, generic skills are being facilitated through VET subjects and courses and in traineeships and apprenticeships. Data were collected through interviews with a sample of 25 TAFE senior managers and teachers, focus groups and surveys of teachers and students from nine TAFE institutes. The project found that there was considerable recognition among teachers and students of the term 'generic skills' and considerable awareness of the importance of these skills. The surveyed students and teachers generally agreed that the generic skills that were taught well included the ability to solve problems, to collect and analyse information, to speak and communicate well with other people, to work in teams and to plan and organise. The skills that were taught poorly were reading, spelling and writing, using mathematical ideas, communicating with persons from other cultures, building and managing a team, resolving conflict, being able to change, dealing with incomplete information and challenging how things are done. From the teachers came the view that the following four factors facilitated the learning of generic skills: the learning strategies used with students; access to highly experienced teachers; training packages; and the assessment. Students revealed the importance of having teachers with real life experience who inspired them to get a job in their chosen field and that they believed that good teachers helped them develop their technical as well as broader generic skills. There was strong agreement that generic skills need to be more widely promoted within the VET sector, with a planned and strategic approach needed toward embedding the development of generic skills in training packages.