Microcredentials Research
This research project will explore the role of short form courses, including microcredentials, in the delivery of vocational education.
Overview
The research will focus on the role of microcredentials in the aged care and disability services, childhood education and care, health, human (community) services and sport and recreation sectors.
Final Report
Findings and Recommendations
Consultation
We are looking at how microcredentials are being used and how access to programs can be improved to meet workforce needs.
In particular, we are mapping existing microcredentials and priorities for the early childhood education and care and sport and recreation sectors, but we are also looking at other sectors to ensure any findings are relevant and transferable.
As part of this research, we are undertaking a microcredential survey for people from all sectors. We invite you to complete the survey, remembering that a microcredential is short form course, accredited or unaccredited, that certifies specific skills or knowledge. It is not a full qualification, but may be additional, complementary or part of a broader qualification.
The survey will take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete, and your responses will be confidential and used to inform the initial mapping of the project.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Your feedback will help us understand how microcredentials are being used and where we can improve access to programs that meet workforce needs.
Additional Consultation
We are undertaking specific stakeholder consultations on current and emerging skills, knowledge gaps and the suitability of microcredentials for early childhood education and care and sports and recreation.
Following consultation, we will review all our findings and identify how skills and knowledge gaps in the sectors could be addressed by microcredentials, including as short term solutions until relevant training is reviewed.
Project Overview
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.