A considerable number of managers in VET (particularly TAFE) had once been teachers and trainers when a different system had operated, or when circumstances were quite different. With the introduction of competency-based training, and more recently training packages, the context had changed and many VET practitioners considered that managers did not understand some of the difficulties being encountered by teachers. It was felt that management often did not appreciate the stress that teachers experienced as they tried to perform their work well. For example, respondents drew attention to the tensions between managers, who have to be very aware of finances and providing best-quality service, and teachers/trainers who want to provide best possible service, but perhaps do not understand the financial environment as well as their managers.
Others believed that changes in the relationship between teachers and managers were less related to training packages than to the constant change in management every year and the formation of semi- autonomous work teams. This constant change and move towards team-based work arrangements, which invariably resulted in changed relationships with managers, has made staff more discerning about managers, so that they do not just accept the decisions that managers make.
A view from a regional area was that remoteness of managers in the capital city does not help relationships and neither does the short-term contract nature of many of the management positions. Teachers make day-to-day decisions, but long-term planning is a real problem. Again, constant change in directors implies that directors are often more concerned with ‘building empires’ than looking for alliances and collaborative partnerships in a broader environment. Yet others, again particularly in a regional area, considered that relationships have not really changed, and have always been good. They believed that because their institute is small and relatively new, the relationship between staff and management is ‘fairly good’.
Some practitioners believed that an important change was that they now see little of the senior management, probably due to the nature of their work. There is generally a ‘lack of presence’ as they are not around quite as much. In fact, one practitioner claimed that a vast number of sessional staff would not even know who their director was. Other comments highlighted the situation where people at the delivery level have now taken on more of a management role, and that there are fewer people in management.
Respondents from private providers believed that managers had more paperwork to deal with, because their role also involved interacting with their trainers to ensure that the trainers were aware of the work and its importance. The suggestion was that managers in these private organisations often played a significant ‘oversighting’ role, and this sometimes created barriers between these two groups of staff.
Managers also have to monitor teachers to ensure that they understand the differences in
approaches between classroom and workplace-based training and assessment, and also to ensure a balance, because all teachers and trainers do things differently. In other words, monitoring to ensure that goals are achieved. Managers, while not getting in the way of individuality, also act as coaches and mentors for trainers to ensure that ‘they bring themselves up to an acceptable level’. They help them to manage their expectations and their time, and provide ‘customer service’ to them,
delivering the same service as if they were students. One practitioner highlighted that working as a contractor—and therefore relatively independently—was very different from being located in a workplace.
A small number of interviewees referred to a perceived increase in the formality of relationships, particularly with their managers, which they attributed largely to the growing need for
Summary
Relationships within organisations have clearly altered in recent years. The VET practitioners described significant changes in their dealings with students, with other teachers/trainers and with management. Almost two-thirds of those interviewed claimed that their relationships in these areas had changed ‘a lot’ or ‘to some extent’.
With regard to students, these changes were perceived to be partly the consequence of students being different from those of previous times and who were experiencing increasing social pressures of their own. As a result, their expectations were higher and more demanding, particularly with respect to assessment processes and outcomes. Competency-based training had also greatly affected learning climate and processes, and altered the power balance between teachers and students. In terms of other teachers and trainers, relationships were perceived to be increasingly fewer as a result of being even busier, extra travelling and low morale. They were perceived as having changed because of staff ageing and pressures to meet targets, and more formalised. Increasing casualisation has greatly affected relationships and contributed to a declining team environment in VET. Relationships with management were being affected by the changing policy context. Competency- based training, training packages and the pressure for management to be continually aware of finances were all contributing to the perceived gulf between teachers/trainers and managers. This divide was accentuated by teachers feeling that managers were becoming less visible, with teachers having to assume more and more responsibility themselves, and managers feeling that teachers did not always comprehend the whole picture and therefore required closer monitoring for