policy matters

1. Skills Australia Workforce Strategy
Skills Australia has released a paper that outlines the Australian Workforce Futures Strategy. The vision of Skills Australia is:

“Australia has the workforce capability required for a productive, sustainable and inclusive future. Australian enterprises have the capacity to develop and use the skills of their workforce to maximum advantage for industry and community benefit. “

This vision will underpin the policy direction for Australia’s workforce strategy for the Commonwealth and State Governments investment in tertiary education, both for VET and Higher Education over the next decade and beyond.

In order to achieve this vision a number of objectives have been set, which in summary are:

• Sustain economic growth and raise productivity.
• Lift the work force participation.
• Lift the level of adult language, literacy and numeracy.
• Increase productivity in the workplace.
• Position the tertiary education sector to deliver skills for the new economy.
• Lead a new partnership approach to workforce development at government, industry and enterprise level.

To achieve these objectives Skills Australia recommends a considerable increase in funding to boost enrollments in tertiary education. This funding increase will include substantial funding for language, literacy and numeracy programs and groups with low participation rates.

ACPET Members will be at the forefront of delivering the Workforce Futures Strategy and significant opportunities will be available for Members to access government funding to deliver education and training. However it must be noted that workforce development will be the ‘corner stone’ of funding arrangements and increased participation will be the measure of success. Accordingly strong and relevant partnerships with industry and business that deliver sustained employment to job seekers and additional relevant skills to employees will be the yardstick in which providers of tertiary education are measured.

ACPET will continue to keep Members advised of policy development regarding Australia’s workforce development.
 

2. Review of the Diploma of Training and Assessment
Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) has released a discussion paper as part of its review of the Diploma of Training and Assessment.

The discussion paper (click here to access the discussion paper) is part of the IBSA consultations that will be used as a basis for the drafting of a new diploma of Training and Assessment. In summary the discussion paper is seeking views from stakeholders on:

• What are the list of skill, competencies, knowledge and attributes required by advanced VET practitioners?
• Is there a core set of skills/competencies/knowledge that all advanced VET practitioners need or could there be just a set of specializations because of the diversity of work that advanced VET practitioners undertake?
• How important is it that knowledge be covered in standalone competencies for trainers and assessors, rather than embedded in units?
• How important is it that whatever is developed for the future Diploma of Training and Assessment be made available as skill sets?
• How important is it that articulation arrangements with higher level qualifications be part of any new diploma qualification?

Members should contact ACPET’s Manager of Policy and Research, Ben Vivekanandan by ben [dot] vivekanandan [at] acpet [dot] edu [dot] au (email) or phone (03 9412 5912) in order to discuss the consultation paper and to put forward views and recommendations on the new Diploma of Training and Assessment.