Nerada Stern is an early-career educator and emerging researcher specialising in business risk management, hospitality management, tourism, event management, and marketing communications across tertiary and vocational sectors. With experience as a commercial lawyer and former e-commerce agency owner supporting major brands at iconic events, she brings multidisciplinary expertise in Australian business and contract law. She teaches Business Law, Compliance, Marketing, Sustainability, and Event Management to diverse cohorts, applying innovative, inclusive, and playful pedagogical strategies that leverage digital tools to enhance engagement. Beyond the classroom, she mentors entrepreneurs and connects students with industry opportunities.

This research investigates the financial and operational impacts of 'churn' on Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) in Australia's VET sector. Churn refers to the constant changes in VET qualification products (Australian Industry and Skills Committee 2022, 12). Through case studies from three states and territories, the project quantifies the costs RTOs incur while converting wholesale VET products into qualifications for students. It also highlights the challenges churn imposes on public institutions, the VET workforce, and student learning. The research has developed a ubiquitous tool that RTOs can use to measure the cost of shifting products from markets to retail and the impacts of ongoing churn on their viability. The research provides insight for comparing Hospitality RTO financial practices in a year of difficult financial viability. In the early 1990s Australia transitioned to a national Vocational Education and Training (VET) marketplace of consumer driven demand. It was argued that the existing Technical And Further Education (TAFE) system of vocational training had become over reliant on Commonwealth government funding, and as the primary beneficiaries of future changes, industry and individuals should bear the cost of any increased expenditure attached to the new systemic changes (Dawkins, 1988; Smith and Keating, 2003). This shift in Commonwealth policy thinking would herald significant structural changes to the Australian system of Vocational Education and Training (VET). Many in vocational research saw the policy changes as primarily focused on reducing Commonwealth government expenditure rather than learning focused educational reform (Billett, 2011; Hodge, 2016). As stated succinctly by vocational researcher Lisa Wheelahan, "The question that policy asked was 'how can we create a market?', and not 'how can we create a system of high- quality, trusted qualifications?" (Wheelahan, 2016. p.190). Since the policy's introduction, a surfeit of evidence has emerged which identifies the widespread abuse of public funding (Marginson, 2013; Toner, 2018a). The nascent evidence demonstrates a VET system based on a poorly regulated training market and widespread financial rorting (DET, 2016; Senate Standing Committees on Education and Employment [SSCEE], 2015). Since that time, State and Commonwealth governments have been focused on eradicating 'dodgy' RTOs from the training market system. The introduction of 'Standards' by which RTOs must operate and the increased specification in the Assessment Requirements of Units of Competency (UoC) are examples of Commonwealth intervention to restrict unethical practices and provide quality assurance to the national qualification training market. However, while the rorting has reduced, this research identifies areas where Commonwealth and State government funding is arguably still wasteful with significant impacts on RTO viability. This research examines the process of 'churn' and the money extracted to facilitate a system of unaccountable change. Anonymised case studies are drawn from TAFEs in three state and territory jurisdictions using their policy and process documents. These specify compliance- driven activities providers undertake to convert three ubiquitous wholesale products into standards conforming, teachable and assessable retail qualifications. The expenditure incurred for each step is calculated. This specifies the RTO's outlay to place a qualification on the national register and prepare it for delivery to students. Differential expenses are incurred every time the training product is changed depending on the type of alteration and churn's expenses can be calculated at the unit of competence level. The results are seldom observed at the system's highest levels - a characteristic of loose coupling and differential costs experienced when all providers are expected to meet the same standards. Requiring multiple RTOs to repeat the same processes for every qualification alteration suggests systemic inefficiency. Specifying providers' costs of churn has major implications for funding policy and practice. Arguing that contemporary regulated VET markets represent successful public policy implementation, characterised by a simplistic wholesale/retail structure, the theoretical perspectives concerning loosely coupled systems (Orton and Weick, 1988) and the impacts of standards (Fischhoff, 1984) can describe responses of registered training organisations (RTOs) to policy and funding imperatives. These dual theoretical frameworks are used to examine the logic that perpetuates a system of waste and inefficiency. The findings demonstrate significance in two important ways. Firstly, a tool has been developed for quantifying churn that can be applied to the operations of public and private RTOs that will allow them to benchmark and better understand their comparative costs within a competitive education market. Secondly, systemic inefficiency and wastage is quantified and demonstrated at a national level, with impacts on the VET workforce retention and the student learning experience.

This workshop will develop your knowledge and skills for designing education programs for falls prevention research. It will include enhancing your skills in how to critique, develop, implement, measure and report educational interventions and outcomes.

This is a presentation that was given at a VATL LIT Workshop, sharing the experiences of Holmesglen Library in setting up an Institutional Repository.