CURCAT®

Capability Analysis Tool to maintain industry currency

CURCAT®  measures, across the organisation, how frequently practitioners:

  • use personal and professional networks to remain current with regard to industry standards
  • tap into industry mentors or coaches to update skills and knowledge
  • undertake industry research including using Internet searching 
  • attend industry conferences, read trade journals, attend site visits
  • undertake study tours and maintain membership of industry associations.

The tool also measures how frequently practitioners intend to use the same strategies in future.

In addition, CURCAT® measures:

  • the extent to which the organisation and industry bodies assist practitioners
  • the extent to which practitioners take a planned approach to maintaining currency
  • the extent to which 14 different barriers affect practitioners’ maintenance of their currency
  • practitioners’ level of knowledge in relation to 11 aspects of their industry
  • the level and relevance of their industry skills in relation to the training and assessing practitioners provide.​

Why use CURCAT®?

Six fundamental reasons why VET practitioners need to be creative and flexible in their approach to maintaining their industry currency are:

  • All industries are different, so approaches to maintaining currency that suit one industry may not suit another
  • All industries keep changing, for instance with the introduction of new technologies and new products
  • As industries change, new workplace practices and processes are introduced and new skills are required
  • Governments are major agents for industry change, implementing new policies and regulations
  • Market competition means that different or new companies sometimes become dominant, using novel or breakthrough approaches
  • Customer preferences change and this forces changes on different parts of the industry, such as product designers, manufacturers and retailers. 

“We’re looking at a longer term workforce development plan and we’ll definitely use the VETCAT® and CURCAT® data to draft the plan, revisit the pillars and analyse at a local level what the CATS are telling us, and all of that will get fed into that strategic mix. We’re looking at the skills in the VETCAT® and CURCAT® model and developing a workforce development plan that will better target some of those.”

Keri Bailey

Director Strategic Organisational Development, Office DVC and Director TAFE, Swinburne University

CURCAT® will help your organisation:

  • remain current with regard to training and industry standards
  • plan to remain current or ahead of industry changes
  • identify strengths and weaknesses in staff knowledge related to the current state of the industry.

Skills measured in CURCAT®

Skills measured in CURCAT®

CURCAT® provides data about

  • the existing approaches to, and levels of, industry currency
  • the barriers practitioners face and the support they receive for maintaining their currency
  • practitioners’ aspirations for professional development related to industry currency
  • the directions to take for the future development of VET practitioners’ currency 

CURCAT® components include:

  • a staff awareness strategy and a launch workshop
  • an online survey that generates immediate reports for individual respondents
  • provision of group reports and a debrief for the organisation
  • advice and direction about ongoing development
  • guidance for ongoing reflection and discussion in the organisation about future business growth directions.

The CURCAT® survey contains more than 100 questions that measure the Engager or Researcher pathways, six sets of strategies and 27 specific strategies that VET practitioners use to maintain their industry currency.

Would you like to know more?

Register for a CAT seminar

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