“There is not to be found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned good sense, education and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves”.
David Hume (Scottish Philosopher 1711-1776)

The sophistication of fire and emergency service training across Australasian agencies is higher than it ever has been before. So, why are operational reviews still identifying training shortfalls, and why is the cost of training being questioned, particularly by economic rationalists?

Over the past two decades the training and professional development journey for Australasian agencies has seen a deliberate move from lesser structured and locally designed training content and delivery, to a complex national-based standardised training and development environment. The benefits gained from this transition are broad and comprehensive, but the cost and impost required of agencies to stay in the training game are great.

This paper explores the complexities that are now apparent in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) environment and seeks to identify the key factors that must be addressed for agencies to continue to derive value from the investment that structured training and development requires. Items of note include:

• When it comes to training matters, what should we expect of our people (paid and volunteer), and what might they expect of us as training leaders?

• The critical linkage between operations, training and organisational capability.

• Is technology a key answer for training delivery, or is it one part of the solution?

• The suitability of the current VET regulatory environment. Is it value adding?

• So - where to from here, and what are the likely challenges?