The public service is crying out for tech talent, and it’s not universities but TAFE that will pick up the training load needed to prepare departments for the future.
Technology and workplace consultant ReadyTech’s fifth annual Voice of VET report shows digital transformation is a high priority for the vocational education sector.
It highlights not only the way that vocational education and training (VET) can help address existing skills shortages but also the way it can prepare the Australian economy for a more equitable future.
Sixty-one percent of VET providers are prioritising digital transformation, aiming to enhance the student experience, boost employee productivity, and improve digital service delivery.
TAFE is an important part of this puzzle, turning over basic IT qualifications in a fraction of the time at a fraction of the cost of a university placement. It is also more financially and culturally accessible for people who grow up away from university centres.
The universities accord acknowledges the vital role TAFE will play in supplying skilled graduates, saying will make up at least 80% of the workforce by 2050. It recommends increasing fee-free places to help address these kinds of shortages in the future.
ReadyTech general manager of education business Trevor Fairweather said COVID-19 had slowed the training pipelines for registered training organisations (RTOs), but the sector was recovering.
“It was quite hard, particularly for vocational providers because it’s very practical, you know, hands-on skills that they’re trying to enable people to acquire that require placement … when you can’t leave your house, it’s pretty hard to do some of that stuff,” he said.
“I think there is a catch-up, and governments are recognising there needs to be some flexibility in terms of the way that training occurs. [RTOs need] [t]he ability to innovate as part of the training process, giving flexibility to training organisations to be able to deliver in more innovative ways.
“Traditionally, that doesn’t get reviewed for a long period of time, then the needs of industry change … students could be being taught something 18 months old from a currency perspective.”
IT and technology projects within the APS have a long track record of going belly-up due to insufficient resourcing, unclear project briefs, or oversight.
Departments and agencies lost their core internal information communications technology (ICT) workers’ development capacity in the 1990s and early 2000s under the policy of whole-of-government technology outsourcing that was later recognised as having forfeited strategic capability to suppliers. Most have yet to recover.
Last year, 76% of government agencies reported a shortage of ICT workers.
Cyber security is one of the areas of greatest shortage, with the private and public sectors alike struggling to attract talent.
These skills were deprioritised at almost exactly the wrong time, when Web 2.0 was transforming the internet from a niche interest to the most important technological development of the past century.
Now, as artificial intelligence similarly revolutionises the way people use computers in the workplace, IT skills are more sorely needed in the public service than ever.
Fairweather has echoed statements by a number of other technology specialists that misunderstanding AI is making people more reluctant to learn about and use it than they might be otherwise.
“AI is already used in so many different aspects of everyday life; sometimes you don’t even realise you’re using it,” he said.
“I think there’s a lack of understanding, and I think there needs to be a little more education. There’s obviously a lot of publicity, some good, some bad.
“Leveraging technology to help us be more productive can only be helpful, but we should do that in a controlled way so it isn’t abused.”
Greater funding for TAFE could, in this way, provide a triple dividend for government — more ICT workers, greater access to high-demand qualifications for low-SES students, and reducing the costs of attaining a qualification for both individuals and the government.
While this is not explicitly stated in the government’s National Skills Agreement, turbocharging TAFE and creating the ICT workforce of the future is high on their priority list.
But whether these graduates will be attracted to public service rather than the private sector remains an open question. A reported six-figure disparity between public and private sector pay makes it an unattractive option for most tech graduates.
While some public service small-network and interface hiccups can create big bottlenecks, and without the staff on board to prevent and repair them, productivity is being lost.
At the State of the Service roadshow, Veterans’ Affairs secretary Alison Frame said there was an understandable scepticism about ICT funding, and secretaries needed to make a better case for why investment was needed.
“I think there’s also a public exhaustion with big investments in ICT infrastructure. The veteran groups will say, ‘Well, when are you going to stop spending money on ICT systems and you still tell us that they’re rubbish?’” Frame said.
“You know, we’re how-many-years-along, and you’re still saying that there’s big challenges with them and they’re not connected?”
“I think we just need to bring our constituent groups along with us as well in departments around why that ICT investment is indeed the best expenditure for scarce government resources, and what it’s going to deliver to them.”
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