Accreditation for the future
Contents:
Please note the IARC office is closed between 23rd December and 10th January 2011.
Members Final Update December 2010
Keep up-to-date on what IARC has been doing over recent months and remain aware of your membership responsibilities.
IARC will hold our next committee meeting on Thursday 27th January on the Gold Coast, Australia. The committee will convene to discuss necessary IARC business and decide on the best way to continue the development of IARC. Please advise IARC if you have any items for the agenda.
IARC Secretary UK Visit, January 2011
IARC’s secretary, Jade Pollock, will be in the UK available to meet with members, schools, or institutions interested in accreditation or recognition during January 2011.
If you would like to meet with Jade to discuss the possibility of becoming an IARC member, or to chat about any IARC related matters, we would encourage you to take this opportunity. Please contact Jade directly at jade@iarcedu.com to make arrangements.
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Visual Skills School, South Africa - Recent Successes VSS recently announced a number of successes over the last year. IARC congratulates VSS on their continued success and wishes them good luck for their future endeavours. Here’s a few of their main achievements: · At the PSSA Annual Congress October 2009, Visual Skills School lecturers spoke at the congress and the students assisted with workshops.
· Photo Challenge Camera Club (the VSS photo club) has been awareded Gold for Photographic Excellence at the Nikon Africa Photo Awards.
· Hein and Gus Waschefort met the Dean of the Makarere University and professors from the Faculty of Art to discuss the future of using scarce visual arts skills development at satellite campuses. Hopefully this will be followed up with some interesting developments in this area.
Check them out at www.visualskillsschool.com |
Global Social Media – How to Make it Work for You
Consider what I mean by social media – blogs, online networks, social advertising. In short, we know social media to cover an array of applications such as facebook, LinkedIn, twitter, Myspace, bebo and friendster; even YouTube and Vimeo. These websites are used to communicate and therefore subsequently fall into the category of social media.
Why do we bother with these sites, what is the benefit for us and do we really know how to utilise them to meet our individual needs most effectively? Let’s briefly look at the benefits of using social media websites to your advantage.
Firstly, it is vital to create a professional online presence. People need to be able to find you, recognise you and believe you are friendly. Think about your website. Is it friendly? Do people browse and then want to read more? Is the layout effective? Warm colours tend to work well. People need to relax and become familiar with your site. You want them to visit, stay and return. Of course there is a cyclical effect here – the more visits you have, the more visits you are likely to have. Think about simply greeting your visitors and welcoming them to your site. First impressions count, even online!
Through building your online presence you will get to connect with more people. You may decide to connect with people who will only benefit you where there are immediate gains to be had, but this is foolish in the online world of networking. We are all linked in the mass of the web – it is called the World Wide Web for a reason. Your site should aid connections and communication with others now more than ever. Having connections makes it easy for business to come to you and increases your search ranking. It also helps you share your ideas and give people an insight into the unique culture of your school or college.
If you don’t yet have a webpage, get one. Join facebook – it’s easy to join and it’s free. Set up a business account for your school and start making those connections and building your profile. Facebook is a place where you can enable your customers, friends, colleagues, staff, and professional associations to connect and share. You can promote opportunities, develop rapport with customers and nurture business relationships. Use facebook to develop the culture of your business and to show the real people behind it.
Once you’re on facebook and it’s working for you (even a little), try adding facebook icons to your webpage, business cards, promotional material – this way you are seen to be current and connected. There are endless opportunities open to you using social media - you just need the creativity within your marketing strategy to use these sites to their full potential.
For more information on social media, contact a social media strategy consultant to work with your school or college. Use the internet to find an experienced and successful consultant in your locality. Some IARC members are already using social media platforms in their schools. ACS Distance Education and Warnborough Ireland have found social media to be highly beneficial. Should you decide to connect with any IARC members, please do let us know as we would love to hear stories on how social media works for you. In light of the emerging popularity of social media as marketing tool, IARC is committed to introducing this as part of increasing our exposure in the next 12 months… and we are very excited about doing so!
Recent Research Findings from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, Australian Government
Vocational education and training (VET) has again come under the spotlight in Australia recently and some interesting findings have been produced by Kath Curry, Associate Director of Quality and Capability in the Faculty of Technical and Trades Innovation at Victoria University. Ms Curry’s research findings are focused on how VET is used and its impact on staff turnover and retention in the local government sector. Throughout her report, she discusses this issue with dynamism.
Ms Curry stated “it is critical that local government maintains a well-skilled workforce to compete effectively with other governments and the private sector to attract and retain suitable staff”.
Of the varying levels of positions, from elementary base positions, through to middle and senior management, it is estimated that up to 76% of government employees have the need to undertake vocational education and training to satisfy the requirements of their role. In 2007, the Australian government identified the need for skills training and stated that skills shortages do not only affect those who work within government sectors, but the general Australian population in its entirety.
Now that training needs have been identified and certain statistics bandied about, we ask the question of how and when training can actually take place when local councils “reported very tight training budgets and most of their budget seemed to be allocated to meeting regulatory requirements?”
Undoubtedly, there is an enormous range in the availability of training for employees of different local authorities. For example, evidence shows that as little as “three in fifty employees” received training in some council authorities, with the other extreme also reported as, “an individual employee may have undertaken up to four individual training opportunities in one year”. Although councils don’t appear consistent with providing fair and equal opportunities for employees between the states, they were consistent in their approach - they tend to select a registered training provider who is also prepared to negotiate costs. This final point again emphasises how the availability of funding is crucial in the decision to offer training programs to employees or not.
Also, there is the general idea of “under-investment in employees” as there may be a risk of them leaving seeking alternative employment after the completion of a training package and this risk is too great. So it seems simple one might say, the answer is train and retain. In order to retain well trained, highly skilled staff, there needs to be opportunities, rewards, competitive pay schemes, clear goals and objectives, open communication between employees and employers and so on...
Ms Curry concluded her twenty-nine page report by stating “the ongoing need for skills is a pivotal factor of vocational education and training and compliance with legislation is also a significant factor”.
For IARC members, the majority of whom are educationalists out of the Australian government system, we willingly step back from the difficulties of staff training within a system which cannot cope with or meet it own needs. IARC’s schools and institutions will continue to fill the skills gap within the employment market by providing current and comprehensive training courses and education programs. We very much look forward to the time when there is a shift in the culture of VET training and local councils open themselves to the training opportunities which lie beyond their own money driven, dried out systems of education.
(Note: this article is written based on my understanding of the research paper produced, IARC Secretary)
If you would like further information on becoming an IARC member, please contact admin@iarcedu.com and we’ll happily send you the information pack and application form or check out our website at www.iacredu.com and click on ‘Members’ then ‘Join IARC’.
There is a straightforward application process and a non-refundable $200 AUD application fee.
We have genuinely helpful and friendly staff who can happily answer any questions you have relating to membership or the application process. Normally applications are processed in the office within 1-2 weeks and sent to and returned from the committee within 5-10 days after that. The majority of applications are quick and simple.
Come join us and become part of it…
IARC
Eastside Building, Space 209,
232 Robina Town Centre Drive,
Qld 4226, Australia
Phone: +61 7 5562 1088
