Towards a more inclusive VET system

Work health and safety (WHS) risks for construction workers are well documented. Growing evidence also highlights just how impactful psychosocial hazards and harm are for everyone in the industry. Safe Work Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics report that the Australian construction industry is among the three highest sectors for deaths at work and represents over half of all serious claims for workers compensation.

Young people in the industry are at particular risk of physical and psychological harm. Of extreme concern is that younger construction workers are at higher risk of death from suicide compared with older cohorts.

The industry is also trailing behind other sectors in gender equity and remains almost entirely dominated by men. Labour market data from the National Skills Commission shows that women make up only 13.3% of the construction workforce. In trade occupations like carpentry, plumbing and electrical, men account for 98-99% of workers.

Bullying, harassment, and gender-based violence on site is also a known problem. Last year, Rio Tinto released an external review that identified systemic sexual harassment, bullying and racism across the company. These psychosocial harms disproportionately affect young men, women, people of diverse ethnicities, First Nations and Torres Strait Islanders, and LGBTQIA+ workers. Women are repeatedly treated as outsiders within a culture of silence that excuses men’s harmful behaviours.

What’s VET got to do with it?

The link between Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions and gender inequality in the construction workplace is well established.

The outdated masculine culture and associated harms of the construction industry are learnt and reproduced in the VET system. Educators can have the same outdated values and behaviours as those working on site.

They might perpetuate the stigma associated with help-seeking and caring. They might ignore or not know how to deal with conduct and attitudes that lead to sexism or racism. Our research also found some VET educators engage in and encourage sexual harassment and harmful behaviours towards women in the classroom.

We and other researchers working on gender inequality and gender-based violence in construction have therefore called for reforms to VET curriculum and teaching to support whole-of-industry change.

The missing link

Training on psychosocial wellbeing, interpersonal skills, and respectful conduct

In their current form, construction training packages only cover WHS related to the physical worksite, plant machinery and tools, and industry safety requirements (e.g., the White Card). There is no content on so-called ‘soft skills’ like empathy, emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, and respectful conduct.

Given the current suite of changes to WHS laws and regulations, there is a critical gap in VET content on rights and responsibilities for managing psychosocial WHS hazards. Construction training packages are out of step with the WHS landscape in Australia.

The Australian VET system is changing too. In response to the 2019 Joyce review, the federal government has proposed far-reaching reforms to VET qualifications and skills packages. We believe this marks a key opportunity to address the gendered harms of the construction industry.

The national skills reform priorities acknowledge the role of VET in developing professional skills for workers in all industries. However, the proposed ‘Foundation Skills’ should be expanded to include psychosocial skills and respectful conduct as core components of employability skills.

These proposed changes to VET curriculum must be accompanied by support for teaching staff to access professional development  to address gender inequality and harmful behaviours within the VET classroom.

Building on existing momentum

This vital curriculum change reflects broader recognition of the need to address psychosocial WHS and gender-based violence in Australian workplaces.

Laws and regulations in Australia are changing to provide stronger protections for workers’ psychosocial wellbeing. These changes follow international efforts like the ISO 45003 global standard and guidelines from WHO and the ILO, and the ILO’s convention on Eliminating Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. They also respond to findings from the Respect@Work report, which documented high rates and impacts of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.

Industry and government are already pushing for change on psychosocial wellbeing and gender-based violence. MATES provide suicide prevention training and advocacy across Australia, the Victorian Trades Hall Council offer Safe and Respectful Workplace training, and WorkSafe Victoria have guidance for workers and employers on gendered violence and sexual harassment.

Researchers from RMIT and ANU are working with industry in NSW to create a gamified tool to support apprentices and supervisors to have safer and more respectful conversations. The RMIT Gender Equity and Justice team are piloting a module on psychosocial skills and professional conduct with construction students in Victoria.

But there needs to be system-wide change to bring VET for construction up to speed with WHS legislation and industry standards.

The national VET reform is a critical opportunity to address this missing link and establish psychosocial WHS as foundational skills and knowledge for the construction industry—and all other industries. These proposed curriculum changes are imperative and urgent for creating safer VET classrooms and construction worksites for everybody, regardless of gender.

This article was written by Sarah McCook (RMIT), Donna Bridges (CSU), Shelley Hewson-Munro (RMIT) and Elizabeth Wulff (CSU).