Nick Howie is Director of the Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education and Care tasked with establishing the Centre.

In the longer term, we want to see a range of different ways of delivering and assessing training, particularly focusing on accessibility, using workplace-based delivery and assessment and also looking at different traineeship and apprenticeship models through different qualification levels.

So, the long term vision, is about developing the sort of learning and assessment resources that support a workforce that needs to grow, including looking at the applied research space, new trends that are coming on to address emerging workforce needs and how the Centre of Excellence can build training product to meet that need before that need is realised within the sector itself.

How do you see the role of TAFEs evolving in response to national skills priorities, especially in early childhood education? 

Australia is experiencing skill shortages across many sectors of our economy. Early childhood education and care has significant workforce challenges that will continue into the near future.

TAFEs have a really critical role in looking at the future workforce and providing baseline training initially, but also a career taster programs so that potential students have better knowledge of what it is like to work in a particular sector and what they may need to know.

Increasingly we’ll see the role TAFEs have in higher level qualifications beyond the diploma and into the new vocational degree pathways. This presents a real opportunity for the delivery of critical professionalised training for the ECEC sector.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities for collaboration across the VET and ECEC sectors? 

There are many opportunities to collaborate, it’s what Centres of Excellence are set up to do. But one I’d like to call out is the opportunity to work with universities to improve pathways for workers in the sector. It’s something that TAFEs and the VET sector haven’t done as much of in the past. Universities, for example may be doing some academic research, the Centre can then look at what that means for the workforce and build training programs to support their research and university qualifications. 

There could also be opportunities to give TAFE students studying the Cert III or the Diploma the opportunity to participate in university research programs, helping to inform tertiary education responses and build high level capability across the sector.

How is the Centre helping to bridge the gap between training and real-world practice in early childhood settings? 

The early childhood education and care qualifications already have significant workplace demonstration requirements within them, but there are issues with accessibility for placements and, skills labs and different training environments.

This is where the value of the Centre really comes into its own with the ability to create simulated learning environments within its initiatives. The opportunity is there to explore how technology can support people in remote and regional communities to access workplace-like training, to explore different models that are used globally that we could then implement here to make that workplace demonstration aspect of the qualification more accessible, particularly in areas where there aren't a sufficient number of regulated or accredited early childhood services that meet the requirements of those placement hours.

I am hopeful we can work with regulators to support learners in remote and regional communities meet those requirements and confidently demonstrate the necessary skills to look after the wellbeing and safety of children in their care.

How is the Centre ensuring that VET is accessible, particularly for rural, regional, and remote learners? 

So, I’ve spoken about delivery methodologies and how these can support people in regional or remote setting, but importantly we’re also looking at accessibility from a First Nations community perspective as well. How can language be incorporated into learning product design? Looking at the different ways of learning that First Nations communities use and exploring what adjustments can be made to an educational programme to support that learning style. We see a lot of scope for First Nations voice within our programs.  Co design is something that we’re very keen to do to address the specific challenges for cohorts and communities.

So, while simulated learning environments is one part of our work, we’ll continue to look at the content and delivery methodology and content to make sure that is accessible for all learners. 

View Nick's LinkedIn profile.