Setting the Standard: the Educational Quality Podcast by TAFE NSW

In recent months, many teachers and learners from across all across the education sector have made a rapid transition to online teaching and learning. While learning has been delivered online for many years now, the effects of COVID 19 have seen a renewed focus on what makes for a successful learning experience in this environment.
For this month's podcast, we thought we would invite some TAFE NSW teachers in to discuss their thoughts and experiences about what makes online learning a positive experience for both students and teachers. Beth has been delivering degree level programs online for a many years, while Maria only made her first forays into online teaching just this year. Our third guest, Renae, has extensive experience teaching in our Connected Learning Centres, which use digital technologies to provide regional communities with access to a wider range of high quality skills training.
Join Beth, Maria, Renae and I as we discuss what they have learnt from their own experiences, how online teaching is different, and what students and teachers can do to make it a positive experience.

In this two part episode, we discuss something absolutely crucial to quality outcomes in the VET sector – industry currency. It is a topic as vexed as it is important and today we hope to demystify and provide some guidance on best practice approaches.
In this podcast, the second part of our two part episode, we interview a number of TAFE NSW teachers about what they are doing to maintain their own currency, and how they work with their colleagues in maintaining their industry currency.
In the first part of the episode, available separately, we are joined by Fran Hawton from the TAFE NSW Education Standards team. We discuss why industry currency is so important, why it has been so problematic for so long, and then discuss some ways we can make it easier for all involved.

In this two part episode, we discuss something absolutely crucial to quality outcomes in the VET sector – industry currency. It is a topic as vexed as it is important and today we hope to demystify and provide some guidance on best practice approaches.
In this podcast, the first part of our two part episode, we are joined by Fran Hawton from the TAFE NSW Education Standards team. We discuss why industry currency is so important, why it has been so problematic for so long, and then discuss some ways we can make it easier for all involved.
In the second part of the episode, available separately, we interview a number of TAFE NSW teachers about what they are doing to maintain their own currency, and how they work with their colleagues in maintaining their industry currency.

For our very first episode, we will be discussing one of the hottest topics in VET, and one of the most important subjects in education – assessment. Assessment has long been recognised as a crucial component of a strong and quality VET sector, but the quality of assessment seems to have been a concern in the Australian VET sector for a long time now.
In this podcast, we are lucky enough to be joined today by Anni Yaringa, who is both a TAFE NSW educator and a nationally renowned VET assessment expert. Anni has has an incredibly eclectic industry background and has worked for TAFE NSW as a teacher and senior education officer for 31 years. She has a B.Ed., and Masters in Vocational Education. She currently has her own consultancy business in which she supports RTOs with VET assessment design, compliance, capability development and audit.

Erica Smith is one of the most well-known and respected voices in the VET sector. Erica is Professor and Personal Chair in Vocational Education and Training at Federation University Australia, having held similar roles at other universities since 2003. She is a heavily involved in academic research on VET, and widely published, having managed over 25 national research projects. Her work has been cited in government inquiries many times, and she is frequently invited to speak to practitioner audiences around the world.
Our thought-provoking discussion covers a lot of ground, including what makes a good VET teacher, the role of pedagogy and industry currency, teacher qualifications, and what Erica would do if she had the power to change VET in Australia.