A new South Australian training program is retaining older tradespeople to teach the next generation of apprentices. Forty-five participants including mechanics, electricians, and stevedores have already graduated from the first course and eleven of these graduates have attained teaching roles.
SA Employment and Training Minister, Paul Caica, said that The Workforce Development Mature Age Initiative retains tradespeople to become teachers once they reach the "physical limits" of working in their fields.
It has been recognised that mature-age tradies who are retired or approaching retirement still have a lot to offer the nation's workforce, and would be extremely useful in passing on their learning and expertise to younger workers, and cultivating in them much needed skills and development.
"People working in the trades are frequently faced with the dilemma in their middle-years of needing to carve out a new career that is less physically demanding, just as they are reaching the height of their knowledge and experience," Mr Caica said.
The scheme which is drawing on older tradies to teach younger tradies, hopes to address threats to the state's workforce and economy from an ageing population and a lack of skilled workers.
A pilot program is already underway by the Business Services Industry Skill Board in the construction sector. Last week, 45 participants, including mechanics, electricians and stevedores, graduated from the first training course and 11 so far have landed teaching roles. Their training was delivered by TAFE South Australia and two other training organisations, through a mix of traditional classes, self-paced study and video conferencing so participants could manage their work and personal commitments.
Michael Bertossa is one such recent graduate. The self-employed electrician has decided to "downshift" - to scale back his business in order to teach young apprentices, such as aspiring electrician Alison King from Regency TAFE.
Mr Bertossa feels that the initiative will be very rewarding to take part in, and it would help address the shortages in trades and teaching positions. "They've got a shortage of trainers and lecturers here at TAFE and they've got a big influx of apprentices but they need people to train them," he said.
"This (program) is a smart way of addressing a number of workforce challenges . . . (and of) retaining skilled people in our workforce as our population ages, while at the same time drawing on their expertise to help build our future skilled workforce," said Mr Caica.
