JWGecko’s Training Sector Confidence Survey is an independent initiative by JWGecko for Australian VET Leaders.
2014 has been a tumultuous year for our sector; the VET Reform Agenda, Total VET Activity Reporting, the USI and more negative comment in the media about our sector than there has been in a long time, if ever. Click Here or on the document to download the report summary. The complete summary is only available to Survey Respondents.
HOW CONFIDENT ARE RTOs?
Introduction: Overall we were very pleased with the response to the initiative and the level of commitment from participants. In the next iteration of the survey we will include a ‘Forward to a Friend’ function and we are currently recruiting VET leaders to be a part of our advisory panel. The ‘Forward to a Friend’ feature will increase the penetration of the survey and the advisory panel will assist us in adding to the poignancy of the data.
Who completed the survey: All states and territories were represented, in the future we will look to weight the responses based on the relative number of RTOs between States. 61% of the responses came from CEO or General Managers, while Compliance, Curriculum and Operations Managers made up 31% of responses. We believe this is an excellent cross section of the sector. There was also a broad cross section of RTO business models; interestingly 38% of the responding RTOs were ‘Fee for Service’.
In summary: Our survey respondents felt that while enrolments were currently down on last year, business is OK at the moment and a little more than half felt that things would improve in the next six months. Most concerning is that fact that 11% more RTOs believe they will laying off staff than those who will be hiring.
WHAT DO RTOS THINK?
- Factors are limiting your ability to increase your RTO’s business activity:
Rogue operators are thought to be creating the main barrier to increased activity. Confidence index: Frustrated!
Most survey respondents (62%) felt that “Rogue Operators driving prices and quality downward” is the major limiting factor in terms of business activity; the Cost of compliance also rated at 51% while confusion about, and changes to, funding schemes came in at 41%. - Confident about the Federal Government’s and Minister Macfarlane’s VET Reform agenda: Confidence index: Not that confident
Sad to say 41% of RTOs surveyed said “Not very confident” or “Not at all confident”. 31% were “Confident”, no one was “Extremely Confident”.
