As we venture out of lockdowns, we are seeing the push toward digitalisation of the workforce more than ever. For many, this means the way we work and learn is changing, and new skills are required.

Vocational training is practical, career-informed learning that is required for students to harness 21st-century capabilities that can’t be learnt from a textbook – or a screen, in isolation. The future of learning requires spaces that can facilitate the transition from traditional learning modalities to technological capabilities that are only continuing to advance. It is imperative that our next generations are equipped with new-age skills that meet the needs of current and future industry demands.

There is a need for mixed-mode learning pathways, which incorporate university style programs combined with the practical skills that vocational training can offer.

Workers today, and workers in the future will now need to be prepared to deal with the emerging shifts with technology, cyber-space, growing automation industries and artificial intelligence – and it is coming sooner than we think. The National Skills Commission recently revealed that more than 90 percent of new jobs set to come into fruition in the next five years will require post-school qualifications.

As architects, we have a responsibility to appropriately design and deliver functional facilities that solve issues, predict trends and that cater to the needs for current and future generations.

Years of planning, research and stakeholder-informed strategies have informed Gray Puksand’s approach to designing for education precincts – mixed-mode hubs for integrated learning experiences that suit a range of capabilities and skillsets.

Key learnings over many years have led us to understand that the solution for re-skilling our nation needs to be a collaborative approach, and one that priorities new-age infrastructure that creates environments that are liveable, sustainable and agile in nature.

Through an integrated and planned approach, this new chapter in Australia’s history can be a chance to create exemplar educational precincts for the future of learning and work.

Mixed-mode and flexible education pathways

Equipping our children for practical pathways should occur early in their education journey. Educational precincts need to be designed to complement and meet the needs of all age levels, and their specific curriculums, in the one place with exposure to multiple streams of learning styles.

Our Education Precinct Masterplan for the TAFE NSW Meadowbank Campus integrates with the adjoining early learning, primary and secondary school environment and incorporates tertiary learning environments with vocational training at the forefront. This will be a first-of-its-kind precinct in Australia, offering courses informed by leading institutions that are comparable to those offered by universities but with a practical edge.

These programs, and their holistic environments, are designed to prime students to learn new skills, visually and collaboratively in direct response to industry skill demand. A large focus of educational precinct design should also cater toward social interaction, student engagement areas, centred around biophilic design principles, green spaces and amenities that promote human connection. Weaved into the landscape, infrastructure and building design itself, students should feel encouraged to connect with others while inspired and confident to express ideas, which in turn facilitates healthy attitudes for learning.

The design approach for multidisciplinary education precincts must also be sympathetic to location. Facilitating a thriving school community requires design that is strongly tied to local community, with the design of school buildings, and the spaces in between, equally important in enabling students to feel connected with their learning experiences and environments. The design of these buildings and spaces should encourage collaboration and drive curiosity. They should also appropriately reflect the values of the broader community, which is connected to industry and the workplace.

Practice, Action, Perfect

Key industry and business partnerships aligned with the programs offered by TAFE NSW Education precincts can equip Australia’s many and varied communities with the necessary skills required for continued occupational expertise and development.

Allowing space and collaboration for industry to be a central part of the make-up of education curriculums can drive interest from young people and mature-aged students looking to skill and reskill themselves for the future. The key is to drive interest from the ground up, which will fill the gaps and answer the demand for skilled workers in key areas of construction, technology and transport and manufacturing.

This can start with the building design itself, ensuring visibility and transparency of educational activities, clearly defined throughout the campus. Fostering an inviting environment for students, staff, and industry partners should be paramount. This needs to be implemented through design that is centred around mental and physical health and wellbeing. Creating spaces where students enjoy learning is important and should include healthy environments with adequate air-flow and cross-ventilation, light-filled indoor and outdoor areas, as well as complimentary materials and colour palettes to promote a sense of calm.

Designed with a vast range of amenities and space for extra-curricular activity, education precincts can offer much more than just typical learning outcomes. They can offer students are chance to grow and connect to space, connect with likeminded individuals and work alongside leading industry peers in world-class facilities that enable A-grade capabilities for the workforce.

These mixed-mode hubs are designed with learning in mind, with an understanding that accommodation, practical work and study all contribute to a student’s vocational journey, which should set them up with the end-to-end requirements for an exemplary skills-based career.

A digitalised, but connected, economy

The rise of the digital age is well and truly upon us, though the pandemic has fast-tracked many businesses embracing it for most of their processes. Being technology-savvy is no longer an appealing attribute, it is a prerequisite for the future of work. Our next generations will need to understand digital concepts with a great deal of importance, as every major industry shifts further online, with a quarter of jobs between now and 2023 set to require skills in the digital space.

The digitalisation of our economy can be a benefit, though it can also segregate communities and create gaps in the social development of young people. It also doesn’t cater to the many styles of learning – especially kinaesthetic and practical forms. This is something that education precincts can solve, combining digital technology with practical instruction with people, and the built environment itself.

To fully equip a broad spectrum of people with skills for the future of work, education environments need to showcase and deliver practical pathways, with connection to industry and community. Understanding that people often make sense of things through relationships and through interpersonal learning, a variety of student, educator and industry spaces should be designed and devoted to promoting social interactions and collaboration.

The world is already starting to see the importance and need for specialised skills in areas of cyber security and artificial intelligence. The NSW TAFE Meadowbank Precinct has been designed to facilitate the emergence of big-data, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence driving NSW’s first Institute of Applied Technology for Digital Technology, a specialised technology hub. Functionally, it will be organised around a series of learning spaces of varying size and complexity combined with the logistics required for multi-disciplinary operations.

A final note

Vocational training provided by state governments competes with market forces, funding pressures and competition from private providers, though post-pandemic there is a need for skills based training to be brought to the forefront. It is known that school-based vocational learning has a positive impact on the retention and employment outcomes of our young people – something that should be of note, a driving factor for TAFE NSW’s role in reskilling Australia’s workforce.

Addressing our critical need for rebuilding as a nation of skilled-workers needs to be top of mind, where school-aged to mature-aged students have opportunities to learn new skills, procure apprenticeships and where businesses can dedicate investment into the research and development of new-age skillsets for staff and systems themselves.

Education precincts offer this all in the one space, with integrated mixed-mode learning environments designed to equip our next generations for success on both a professional and personal level. Merging skillsets across all forms of learning pathways can benefit any industry – not just the ones you typically first think of. At some point, all organisations will deal with big-data, cloud-based processes and problem-solving which requires efficiency of new-age skills only vocational training can provide.

Gray Puksand is currently delivering a significant number of vocational training projects across Australia, including TAFE NSW’s Meadowbank and Kingswood campuses, Chisholm TAFE in Frankston and The Gordon Culinary School in Geelong.

As featured in Architecture & Design – 09.03.2022