Securing Jobs for Your Future Bulletin - Issue 1
Welcome to the first edition of the Securing Jobs for Your Future Bulletin, a regular newsletter designed to keep providers and other stakeholders informed of all skills reform implementation issues.
The reforms are designed to give Victoria a better vocational education and training system able to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. The reform package contains a number of elements, including the redesign of many administrative elements of the training system, a workforce development program, and a 21st century broadband network project.
Each of these projects is at a different stage of implementation, and this newsletter will focus on keeping you updated on their progress. We hope you find it informative.
You can subscribe to the newsletter by going to the newsletter homepage. If you have any queries about the newsletter or specific projects, please email us at securingjobsbulletin@diird.vic.gov.au.
Philip Clarke
Acting Deputy Secretary, Skills Victoria
Service providers announced for Skills for Growth
Skills for Growth, a workforce development program, was launched in April to boost the number of employees of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who undertake accredited vocational training. The aim of the program is to educate SMEs on the increased productivity and efficiency that a trained workforce can bring to their business and encourage them to purchase training courses for their employees.
Following a competitive tendering process a panel of expert service providers have been contracted to provide direct assistance to 5,500 SMEs across Victoria to place 55,000 of their employees into accredited training over three years.Members of the service provider panel came from a diverse range of backgrounds and cover a range of industries and areas, including business and HR consultants, employer associations, TAFEs, Universities and ITABs.
For more information visit the Skills for Growth website or view the list of successful providers.
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Pieces of paper attract new students
The second phase of the skills reform 'My piece of paper' advertising campaign launched in January. Continuing the jobs theme of last August's campaign, the television and radio ads feature a train driver, a nurse and an engineer using the tools of their trades to symbolise their 'piece of paper'.
The campaign has proved successful, increasing traffic to the Skills Victoria website by over 100 per cent, and prompting enquiries to the TAFE Hotline about enrolling in vocational education and training. A recent report showed that there is a high recall rate in audiences of the ad and retention of key messages.
The next phase will launch in May, targeting businesses and youth and providing a stronger link between VET training and a job to build demand for the new system.
- View the current 'My piece of paper' ads.
Skilled TAFE teachers
Securing Jobs for Your Future contains two initiatives to boost the TAFE workforce. The first is the TAFE Workforce project which aims to ensure more teachers have more skills by enhancing the expertise of existing teachers. The second initiative will assist industry experts to become teachers.
A recruitment program will encourage people with recent industry experience to make the transition to part time vocational education and training teaching while still working in the industry. Training of the first group of 97 industry expert scholarship participants has commenced at eight institutions. A wide range of industries are represented, and include health, arts, tourism, water management and conservation.
To ensure staff are skilled in reaching new learners, an accredited qualification in 'Assessment of Informal Learning' has been made available to 1,000 TAFE teaching professionals as an addition to their existing qualifications. Chisholm TAFE is running the initial courses, the first of which commenced in February and involved 18 TAFE teachers. Three further courses commenced in March (52 teachers) with further programs planned for April, May and June.
For more information on either of these courses please visit the TAFE Development Centre website.
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Productivity Places
In light of the reforms to the Victorian training system, the Victorian Government has reached an agreement with the Commonwealth Government that, rather than run a separate Productivity Places Program in Victoria, this funding will be incorporated into existing arrangements.
Under this arrangement, the Victorian Government will deliver additional training places over four years as part of its current and future training delivery arrangements. Providers who would like to register to deliver government subsidised training will have the opportunity to do so as reforms are rolled out. Further information will be made available on the Skills Victoria website as specific delivery arrangements are agreed. There will also be information about any specific tenders that arise for places posted on the Government Funded Training Program website.
Some Productivity Places for jobseekers and retrenched workers continue to be contracted directly by DEEWR on a monthly basis via the Program Information Management System (PIMS). For further information visit the Productivity Places Program website or email productivityplaces@deewr.gov.au.
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VET FEE-HELP
Securing Jobs for Your Future undertook to provide access to financial assistance for people undertaking government subsidised diplomas and advanced diplomas in Victoria.
This initiative is an extension of the Commonwealth Government’s VET FEE-HELP scheme which provides loans to eligible full fee paying students undertaking certain VET courses of study (diploma, advanced diploma, graduate certificate and graduate diploma courses). Providers who would like their students to be able to access a loan will need to be registered under the Commonwealth Government’s VET FEE-HELP scheme.
Skills Victoria has held several information sessions on VET FEE-HELP for providers in conjunction with the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). Denise Chidley from DEEWR has also been co-located at Skills Victoria in order to assist providers with their VET FEE-HELP applications. Several Victorian providers have been approved under the scheme.
For further information visit the VET FEE-HELP section of the DEEWR website or contact Denise on 9637 2654.
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Changes to the training system
Securing Jobs for Your Future – Skills for Victoria identifies key areas of change in the current training system to enable skills reform. These areas are a revised schedule of tuition fees, a new eligibility criteria and exemption process, demand driven funding, and new data collection and reporting requirements.All registered training providers are required to deliver training according to Securing Jobs for Your Future from 1 July 2009, and will therefore need to assess the impact the above key areas of change will have on their business, and implement the necessary changes to their operations, systems and processes to enable its success.
Skills Victoria has developed a series of implementation resources to assist and support the change management approach for each training provider and to ensure that a co-ordinated approach is taken.
The Implementation Framework covers 'the What' of the changes, assisting RTOs to implement them in their systems, processes and operations for the first phase of Securing Jobs for Your Future from 1 July 2009. It comprises the policy, principles and business rules that underpin the reform agenda and is designed to be used together with the Implementation Guide.
The Implementation Guide, or 'the How' has been developed to provide guidance on how to implement the operational changes by 1 July 2009. Separate Implementation Guides have been developed for TAFE and private training providers and provide a suggested method on how to introduce the operational changes in relation to business process, policies and procedures, work practices/people, data collection and reporting, and communications. A self-assessment checklist is also available.
Finally, a simple and user friendly Guide for Students is available for training providers to explain Securing Jobs for Your Future – Skills for Victoria to existing and new students.
These implementation resources were distributed to TAFE CEOs and private providers in April. RTOs will be informed when additional supplementary or updated resources are available.
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Enhancement of the State Register
The Victorian State Register is to be enhanced by the Victorian Registrations and Qualifications Authority (VRQA). The enhanced register will be available online and provides a single point for up-to-date information on courses and qualifications to help learners and their advisers better manage education planning and support their educational decisions.Phase one of the project will be completed by 30 April 2009, offering learners and parents public information about schools and providers.
Details of qualifications and courses and log in to the State Register to create and view an individual’s Learner Profile will be available from July 2009, with online application submissions scheduled for completion later this year.
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