Most staff of tertiary institutions have a love-hate relationship with institutional policy: there’s too much of it, it’s hard to read, but it’s handy when you get into a dispute – unless it’s out of date.
Done well, policy improves institutional communication, enriching both the staff experience and the student experience. The Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) publishes a guide to good practice in institutional policy.
But is good practice in policy for VET institutions the same as for higher education institutions, or are there subtle differences?
To explore this question, a workshop on best practice in VET institutional policy will be held in Melbourne on 24 April.
Dr Kai Jensen of PolicyTrain will lead the workshop. Kai is the lead author of the ATEM policy guide, and also managed education policy for a dual sector university for seven years.
Kai is currently leading work to develop the policy guide third edition, and wants to ensure it captures good practice in policy for VET institutions as well as for universities.
‘I’ll explain our model of institutional policy best practice,’ Kai says, ‘and my thoughts on how this can be adapted for VET institutions. Participants will bring their current policy challenges, and we’ll test the model against these – so it will also be a good opportunity to share experience.’
For more details and to register for the half-day workshop, go to www.policytrain.com.au/workshops .