Presentation by John Guenther at 2014 NARU Seminar Series

1. Engineering employment pathways in remote communities and the (false) hope of collaborative service provision
John Guenther, Eva McRae-Williams and Claire Kilgariff
Presented to the NARU seminar series
Darwin, 19 November 2014

2. Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation
Goals:
1.
To develop new ways to build resilience and strengthen regional communities and economies across remote Australia.
2.
To build new enterprises and strengthen existing industries that, provide jobs, livelihoods and incomes in remote areas.
3.
To improve the education and training pathways in remote areas so that people have better opportunities to participate in the range of economies that exist.
http://crc-rep.com/research

3. “A place of national significance in Indigenous
education
—strengtheningidentity,achievingsuccessandtransforminglives.”
Batchelor Institute is a dual sector tertiary education
provider that services the education, training and research
needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Vocation Education and Training
Research and Higher Education
Undergraduate
ACIKE
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4. Background: key contextual issues
•
Relatively low participation in employment among Aboriginal people in the NT
•
Other social concerns in communities: safety, child protection, school attendance, housing, health
•
Service provision to remote communities
•
Limited success of past employment transition programs
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5. Qualifications and employment in two remote* contexts
2011 Census data
Alice Springs
Thamarrurr
Place of Work
Qualification levels based on
Non-Indigenous and not stated
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders
Non-Indigenous and not stated
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders
Diploma and above
3948
137
90
12
Certificate III and IV
2242
188
60
27
Up to Certificate II
4202
552
64
223
Total
10392
877
214
262
Per cent with up to Cert II*
40%
63%
30%
85%
Place of Usual Residence
Total population (POUR)
20497
4690
186
2117
Unemployed (based on POUR)
264
154
3
123
NILF (based on POUR)
2434
1462
15
874
Caring for children
450
631
Not caring for children
900
196
Populationagedunder20
2012
1062
* As defined by ABS 5

6. Numerous studies over the last decade or more on training and employment among remote students
•
A selection
•
ANTARAC 1998: Djamaand VET
•
NTCOSS 2004: Creating effective pathways
•
Young et al 2007: Growing the desert
•
Guenther et al. 2008a: NCVER Welfare to Work
•
Guenther et al. 2011: TrainingPlus(CAT)
•
Guenther et al. 2008b: NCVER Partnerships
•
Guenther et al. 2010: Nungalinya
•
Wallace and Appo2011: E-learning
•
Kral and Schwab 2012: Youth literacy and media
•
These studies point to a need for
•
Integrated, client focused, collaborative service delivery
•
Connection of training to community needs
•
Capacity building
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7. Rationale for the current approach
•
Foundation Skills
•
Skills for Education and Employment
•
Remote Jobs and Communities Program http://www.nssc.natese.gov.au/21c/foundation_skills
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8. The case for collaboration
•
Better access to external resources
•
More efficient use of shared resources
•
Better coordination of services, reduced duplication
•
Reduced risk for stakeholders
•
Shared knowledge
•
Creativity, improved problem solving
•
A more holistic approach for clients
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9. Two cases
•
Wadeye
•
Batchelor, TRAAC and TDC (RJCP)
•
Focus on foundation skills
•
Alice Springs
•
Batchelor, CAT, Tangentyere Jobs (RJCP)
•
Focus on construction
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10. What can we learn?
•
Flawed assumptions: What happens when the engineering fails?
•
Problem is not a lack of jobs
•
The Human Capital drivers are in themselves not adequate to entice people into (and stay on) the pathway
•
Pitfalls of collaboration
•
Organisational and relational challenges associated with working remotely
•
Finding common purpose
•
Time to build trusted relationships
•
But attrition remains the key challenge
•
Capacity and skills required to collaborate
•
How could remote community labour force outcomes be improved?
•
Strategies to achieve client buy in
•
Compliance driven vs community driven initiatives
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11. Conclusion
•
Rationales for engineered pathways and collaborative service delivery still hold;
•
But we can’t assume they will hold up in remote contexts to the same extent as in non-remote contexts
•
Buy in from program participants needs to be factored into the collaborative process;
•
Collaboration is not the solution for remote service delivery.
•
Even when collaboration is strong, it does not necessarily make a significant difference
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12. Contact
John Guenther, john.guenther@flinders.edu.au
0412 125 661
Eva McRae-Williams, eva.mcrae-williams@batchelor.edu.au
0400 759 153
Claire Kilgarriff, Claire.kilgarriff@batchelor.edu.au
0401 119 108
Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation
http://www.crc-rep.com
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