VET middle managers work for and against reform

Frontline managers in the VET sector have been found to conform to reform processes while simultaneously opposing them, according to an award-winning thesis. Dr Annette Foley, a lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Ballarat, spent six years studying how middle managers in VET in Victoria saw their professional identity and how they dealt with change processes. “The findings of the thesis showed that managers at that level conformed to reform. At the same time, how they negotiated change and how they negotiated with individuals on a daily basis was actually opposed to the reform process,” Foley said. “They were working with reform to the extent they had to but pushing against it where they felt they needed to.” Foley’s research covered managers in TAFEs, private RTOs, group training organisations and the adult and community education sector in Victoria. Managers worked against reform by finding creative ways to describe outcomes, manage funding and engineer the curriculum to include units that would otherwise be excluded, such as first-step enhancement subjects. Foley said the most disgruntled managers were in the ACE sector, which she included in her study when it became apparent that it was being included under the rubric of VET in terms of the reform process. She said it was quickly apparent they had a particular view of their role in the community which was informed by a “welfarist” position while the rest of the VET sector comes from a professional background. “ACE managers felt change had been imposed without any discussion and they had a very different philosophical and cultural background. Their role was first-step preparatory programs,” said Foley. “On the macro level they were doing everything they needed to do to get their funding, but they were being very creative in the ways in which they were speaking back to government about their outcomes and so on.” Foley, who was a frontline manager in TAFE at the time of starting her research, says managers across all sectors were found to be struggling with their sense of identity. A large cohort, particularly in TAFE, identified themselves as belonging to their former profession rather than being a VET manager. A former nurse, for example, would still identify as being a nurse. Most came to middle management in VET by default and rarely by choice. This, in turn, led to resentment against reform. “If they felt their professional area was being compromised, they were more likely to work against reform,” said Foley. Middle managers tended to be fully aware of the reform process and were integral to channelling the reform to their staff in a way that was palatable. At the time of Foley’s research, training packages were particularly contentious, having been in the TAFE sector for only a couple of years. “There was resentment that TAFE middle managers weren’t consulted at any level on training packages,” said Foley. “They were also resentful about Australian Quality Training Framework processes. They felt they were ticking boxes and providing outcomes rather than education and training.” Foley was awarded the 2009 best doctoral thesis award from the British Educational Leadership and Management Society for its contribution to understanding educational leadership, management and policy. Foley’s thesis was titled ‘Unravelling management practices in vocational education and training: Identity at the frontline’.