Skills for All, the Strategic Direction for Vocational Education and Training in South Australia 2011-2014 has been published and was great weekend reading with the pink highlighter pen out!
What does Skills for All offer?
- extra $194 million over the next 6 years for an additional 100 000 places
- transition to a National VET Regulator in 2011
- income contingent loans and concession fees for low income earners
- Skills in the Workplace initiative to upskill employees in support of their workforce development – sharing the costs with government where more than 200 employees – at least 50%; 100-199 employees at least 25%; less than 100 employees at least 10%
- independent and endorsed workforce development advisors
- subsidies – full for Cert I and II; 80% for Cert III and IV; 70% for Dip and Adv Dip; up to 100% for priority qualifications, critical skills and specialised occupations
- designated skills set training once/year based upon advice from industry
- move towards fully contestable training market
- from 1.7.11 the Office of TAFE SA will be formed
- training information portal
- plain language document on provider services and outcomes for students, awareness of opportunities to feedback concerns or complaints from students and regular info campaigns
- $6.4 million in additional funding for foundation skills and Adult and Community Education (ACE)
- reduction in VET cost per hour closer to the national VET average
- Skills for All providers will receive subsidies for delivery in rural locations that reflect additional costs with thin markets
- targeted professional development initiatives that address contemporary education and training and workforce development practice
- nominated capability building initiatives to ensure good practice for providers
- a new Employer Recognition Program initially recognising employers of apprentices and expanding over time for employers who are committed to developing the skills of their workforce
- employers co-investment with Government in integrate workforce development plans, encourage industry uptake of workforce development, industry investment and skill development for new and emerging industries and technologies
- workforce development support including toolkits, workshops and resources
So here’s some ideas on what to consider now so you are ready for the roll out:
- training providers must demonstrate the demand for skills and jobs, links to industry and funding required – this means taking an evidence based approach and analysing workforce, industry and regional demand
- registration and qualification requirements as a Skills for All training provider – this is additional to the minimum AQTF standards and you’ll need to be on the look out for when DFEEST releases the requirements
- increased focus on recognition of prior learning and identifying student learning needs – think about RPL as opt out of not op in and who you can tap into for learner support
- at enrolment students and their provider will develop a customised training plan – do you already have this in place or will you need to develop a template and tools?
- the subsidy price will be paid monthly to qualified providers based upon module completions – how will your cash flow work and what systems will you need to put in place for reporting?
- one website will have information about Skills for All providers – how will you keep this up to date and what about your own website, maybe time for review and some advice?
- DFEEST will provide information to students – how could you maximise this promotional opportunity and do you need to rethink your marketing strategy?
- ACE partners – who do you know? who can you work with? do/can/will you deliver foundation skills?
- VET costing – do you know all the inputs, all the outputs and the return on the investment?
- Delivery in rural locations – get familiar with the Accessibility Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) to determine regional loadings and classify your target markets based upon industries, student cohorts and regions – locality, SLA and postcode are important data sets here
- need to better engage and support SME’s – facilitate a workforce development style conversation and identify all their needs
- employer recognition – what about the commitment of your own organisation to workforce development? are you leading the way?
- focus on workforce development – this is moving beyond training and assessment and workforce skills development towards a workforce planning approach
What’s next – have a look at the key implementation milestones with the Skills in the Workplace program due for August 2011 with most activities kicking off publicly from June 2011 through until 2012-13.
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