For early childhood education and care (ECEC), this research will deliver on endorsed actions from Education Ministers in the implementation of the National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy 2022–2032, specifically responding to Focus Area 3.2 – Improve access to increasing range of microcredentials.
Microcredentials can be used as tools to support pathways into learning such as taster courses or stackable credits towards course entry; pathways during learning, such as short courses counting towards an in-progress qualification; and instruments for lifelong learning, such as easily-accessible instruments for professional development and upskilling holders of existing qualifications. This project will focus on the professional development or upskilling pathway in the context of microcredentials complementing full VET qualifications.
For the ECEC sector, where minimum mandatory qualification requirements are in place, microcredentials present a particular opportunity for professional development and upskilling. We will explore this opportunity and other potential impacts of microcredentials on improved workforce attraction and retention by providing upskilling and career development opportunities for experienced workers in the ECEC sector and other care and support sectors.
Our microcredentials research will be driven by stakeholder insights and research into comparable offerings in other sectors and jurisdictions. It has and will deliver on several objectives and outputs, including:
- HumanAbility’s commitment to the Australian Government’s Department of Education’s ECEC Workforce Working Group Microcredentials Advisory Group to conduct targeted research on microcredentials in the ECEC sector by the end of 2027
- identify, categorise, and quantify current microcredentials in the care and support sectors for professional development. This stocktake will identify providers, course content, definitional features, who is paying and get a sense of the impact of current initiatives
- analyse knowledge gaps in each of our sectors and develop evidence-based recommendations for where microcredentials could be used to fill knowledge and skills gaps in areas without mandated pathways
- identify the catalysts, enablers and barriers for accessing microcredentials in our sectors
- develop a definition, framework and guiding principles around the use of microcredentials to upskill in the care and support sectors, taking enablers and barriers into account.
We are currently undertaking a review of literature on existing microcredential offerings, initiatives and usage with a focus on professional development contexts. An Issues Paper outlining this background context will be distributed to stakeholders prior to consultations.
During the consultation phase, we will invite stakeholders to share their insights which will help us to develop a detailed analysis of the actual and potential roles of microcredentials in our sectors,
Feedback mechanisms will a short survey and a series of sector-specific online workshops.
Findings from our consultations will help shape the development of sector-specific frameworks for how microcredentials could be used to support professional development and upskilling, particularly to address skills gaps and emerging systemic trends. Deliverables from this phase will outline the structure, content, definitions, needs and usage of microcredentials across each of our sectors, which will be tested and iterated by further consultations.