The National Skills Policy Collaboration has been formed, comprising of major industry groups and unions who are committed to lifting Australia's productivity, workforce participation and economic growth by investing wisely in education and training.
The team have put their heads together to devise an innovative, reliable, realistic and effective ten-point remedy-plan to seriously meet Australia's skills shortage problem.
The plan includes priorities such as:
- a renewed focus on apprenticeship completion rates
- a review of the traineeship program
- a national vision and consensus for the future of TAFE
- skill-infrastructure partnerships between public and private sectors
- boosting Year 12 or Certificate III completion rates
- long-term strategy to improve Australia's investment in education and training. This involves supporting teachers, trainers and their leaders to improve their qualifications and knowledge, as they are vital to bringing up and skilling our future generations.
These proposed, clear and realistic reforms aim to boost skills and productivity, enabling Australia's currently-constrained economic potential to fully flourish in the competitive global market.
Ms Heather Ridout, the Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, notes that the skills shortage is an endemic: a pressing issue which needs to be solved immediately. For example, when it comes to students completing their schooling, compared to other Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, Australia is lagging.
Ms Ridout said that "the competitive future of the Australian economy rests in large part with the development of a highly skilled and innovative workforce. This will only happen if there is a quantum leap forward in the resourcing and commitment by a range of parties to lifting the skills of Australians."
Sharan Burrow from the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) believes that working together with industry is necessary if realistic and impacting changes are to come about.
"Australia's skills shortage needs to be addressed urgently through improvements in the provision of vocational education and training. Greater industry involvement in this is essential if real improvements in delivery and outcomes are to be achieved," Burrow emphasises.
The most chronic skills shortages are in professions like health (nursing), IT, engineering and mining.
The Collaboration will work with the Rudd Federal Government to achieve the increase quality of skills and trained, productive workers that Australia needs.
On Sunday (April 20th), The Institute for Trade Skills Excellence issued its response to this Ten-Point Plan. Taking Burrow's comment into consideration - that our country's skills shortages need to be addressed urgently through greater industry involvement in the provision of vocational education and training - CEO Brian Wexham emphasised that Australia's best TAFEs are world-beaters in terms of how well they serve industry's needs.
He acknowledged that there are many areas in which major improvements could be made, but still "the best training providers are judged by industry to be very good indeed," argues Mr Wexham, who is here referring to the Institute's Star Rating Scheme, under which specific areas in a TAFE or private-training provider are rated by industry experts.
"The Star Rating Scheme has proven that industry and training providers can work very well together", says Wexham, with the reason for the Scheme being so effective being due to the fact that it was developed by industry, for industry, and the assessments are carried out by people working in the respective skills area.
"This initiative of The Institute cuts exactly to the Government's focus on productivity. It gives me great pleasure to see the announcement of the Ten-Point Plan, and The Institute looks forward to extending its contribution to a skilled Australian workforce by continuing to recognise the very best of training providers, and raising the bar on quality," Mr Wexham said.
Excellence in training is also recognised by the Institute's Australian Trade Teacher of the Year award, with industry identifying the most innovative and focused teacher in each industry area. A prestigious acknowledgment it is - with last year's national winner being invited to be one of the participant's in Rudd's 2020 Summit.
