have your say on the draft national green skills agreement implementation plan

The Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP has assembled a Green Skills Implementation Group to assist in the achievement of the Green Skills Agreement.

The initiative was endorsed by COAG in December last year.  ACPET is represented by SA Executive Officer Joy de Leo.

The Agreement would ensure that skills for sustainability become an integral part of all vocational education and training (VET), enabling individuals to contribute to a sustainable, low-carbon economy in their workplaces and communities.

The four areas of implementation of the Green Skills Agreement are:

1. Embedding skills for sustainability practice and teaching in VET, within the requirements of the national regulatory framework;
2. Upskilling VET instructors and teachers to deliver skills for sustainability;
3. Strategic review of Training packages to embed sustainability knowledge, skills and principles; and
4. Implementing a transition strategy to reskill vulnerable workers

Some work has already commenced on these four areas respectively as follows:

1. Australian Quality Training Framework Review
The National Quality Council is currently reviewing the Australian Quality Training Framework to consider adding voluntary criteria and standards to reflect sustainability practice and teaching in vocational education.

2. Upskilling VET instructors and teachers
Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) are conducting the Teacher Training and Assessment Project to assist the VET sector and workforce to examine all qualifications, skills sets and units of competency or training products, to help VET practitioners deliver and assess sustainability training.

The Australian College of Educators (ACE) is conducting a study on the quality of teaching in VET to assess the adequacy and quality of VET teacher preparation, including:

• assessment of preparation and qualifications of VET teachers;
• evaluation of teacher quality; and
• assessment of technology uses in teaching and training delivery,

in the context of the preparation of VET teachers to meet future workforce requirements.

3. Review of Training Packages
Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) have been identifying gaps in sustainability knowledge and skills in Training Packages, complemented by two other projects commissioned by the National Quality Council Skills for Sustainability Action Group, namely:

• the Sustainability Skills Stocktake and Gap Analysis, which details existing sustainability coverage in units of competency/qualifications, identifies gaps and recommends further development required within and across industries.
• Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) Standards Framework for Green Skills Providers, which develops environmental sustainability standards and recognition arrangements (for voluntary certification) that could be considered alongside AQTF Excellence Criteria.

4. Upskilling Vulnerable Workers
Two research projects are planned to inform the development of a transition strategy to reskill vulnerable workers, including an audit of relevant Australian Government programs for their effectiveness in supporting vulnerable workers, and a comparison of regional responses to climate change and sustainability.

The National Green Skills Agreement Implementation Group has developed a Draft Implementation Plan for carrying forward the Agreement to be endorsed by MCTEE in June.

Please click here to see the Green Skills Consultation Draft and contact joy [dot] deleo [at] acpet [dot] edu [dot] au (Joy de Leo) with your feedback or call her on Ph 08 8221 5190 by no later than 5 May 2010.