Innovative partnerships and evidenced-based frameworks to build gender equality in VET institutions
Authors:
Katie Yates Burgess
Our Watch
Theme: Access & Equity
Presentation:
Gender equality is critical to a thriving VET sector; it is a mandatory obligation under new positive duty legislation and improves recruitment, retention, and performance of staff and students. Gender equality is also key to the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022 - 2032. This presentation will delve into Our Watch’s innovative partnership design and management process and share practical insights from VET-NGO Primary Prevention sector partnerships which are driving whole-of-institute approaches to build gender equality, meet student expectations, and enhance the status of VET.
Our Watch are a national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women and have adopted a partnering process informed by the International Partnership Brokerage Association. This process has been used to establish and guide partnerships with VET institutions in ACT, Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. These partnerships aim to implement Respect and Equality, a framework which supports VETs to embed gender equality in their institutions. By sharing insights from Our Watch’s collaborative journey with these VET institutions, we explore how the partnering process is adaptable to a range of contexts and give light to the challenges and transformative potential of VET-Primary Prevention sector partnerships.
With practical examples, we showcase how Our Watch’s partnering process builds trust and clarity about how partners will work together and supports TAFE leadership to endorse and champion gender equality and develop an understanding of how important intersectionality is to this work. We also share case studies of how the Respect and Equality framework can create data driven decision making processes and whole-of institution action plans to embed gender equality. Our presentation will illustrate the role of effective partnerships in promoting gender equality in VET institutions. We invite the audience to consider the broader applicability of our findings and join us in this crucial effort towards building gender equality in our VET sector.