Securing Jobs for Your Future Bulletin Issue 3
Welcome to the third edition of the Securing Jobs for Your Future Bulletin. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, and thank you for your efforts and hard work over the past months as we have moved towards the commencement of the Victorian Training Guarantee, which started on 1 July 2009. It's a huge achievement that marks the start of a very exciting time, as we work towards generating more choice and more opportunities for more people to ensure that Victoria remains competitive and continues to create sustainable jobs for skilled people.
As the Victorian Training Guarantee progresses, it's important that we continue to work closely together to ensure that Securing Jobs for Your Future is a success. This newsletter is a great way to get information to you about the progress of key projects, and I encourage you to use our feedback channel to ensure the information you're receiving is useful and relevant, and that we capture everything you need to know. You can email us at securingjobsbulletin@diird.vic.gov.au.
I look forward to meeting and working with you on this landmark reform over the coming months.
Gill Callister
Deputy Secretary
Skills Victoria
The stories in this issue include:
- Commencement of the Victorian Training Guarantee and the launch of the Victorian Skills Pledge
- Launch of A Stronger ACFE - Delivering Skills to Victoria
- Nova Youth campaign spreads the word about TAFE and training
- Skills Victoria website redesign
Commencement of the Victorian Training Guarantee and the launch of the Victorian Skills Pledge
The Honourable Jacinta Allan, MP, Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation hosted an event held at CNC Design in Abbotsford on Thursday 25 June to launch the start of the Victorian Government's Victorian Training Guarantee, part of Securing Jobs for Your Future – Skills for Victoria.The Victorian Training Guarantee commenced on 1 July 2009 and will initially apply to Diploma levels and above, becoming available for all courses in 2011. Individuals accessing places through the Skills for Growth program may access the Victorian Training Guarantee for all course levels from 1 July 2009.
As well as building demand for the training system, Securing Jobs for Your Future also aims to increase industry engagement. This will be possible through the Victorian Skills Pledge, which the Minister also launched at the event.
The Pledge offers companies who are signatories recognition of their commitment to skills development and acknowledgement that this investment is integral to their business success.
Businesses that are small to medium sized (employing 1 to 200 staff) will also have access to Skills for Growth: the Workforce Development Program, which will assist them to identify their strategic business aims and objectives, assess staff skills, and place staff into training.
For more information or to sign up for the Pledge, visit the Skills Victoria website.
Launch of A Stronger ACFE – Delivering Skills for Victoria
Minister Allan launched the Government's A Stronger ACFE – Delivering Skills for Victoria policy on Thursday 11 June 2009 at Workforce Plus, an adult community education provider in Moonee Ponds.
The policy will strengthen Adult Community Education (ACE) and details initiatives across four key areas of action identified through consultation with providers, communities, industry and government, including:
- maximising access to quality ACE services and programs
- promoting the ACE sector
- supporting sustainable ACE organisations and a sustainable ACE sector
- positioning ACE as a partner in achieving solutions to wider problems through community-based learning.
For more information on Adult Community and Further Education, or to download a copy of the policy, please visit the ACFE website.
Nova Youth campaign spreads the word about TAFE and training
The recent four week radio campaign aimed at the youth market has now finished on Nova, and winners were notified at the end of June.
The first two weeks of the campaign involved a competition called Skills to Pay the Bills, where listeners could go in the running to win one of ten packages worth $5,000 to help them start and keep training. Almost 300 entries were received for the competition.
A second competition, called Skill Set, attracted 70 entries from school students eager to win a laptop to support their studies, a day's work experience in their dream field, and a visit to their school by popular Melbourne band, The Galvatrons. The band will perform at the winner's school at the end of July, and will be introduced at the event by a past TAFE student who will share their training success story with the students.
The Nova campaign aimed to raise awareness among young people of the significant number of TAFE and training courses which lead to diverse careers and listeners were encouraged to visit www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/skills to find out more information about the great careers that TAFE and training can lead to.
Skills Victoria website redesign
On 1 July 2009 Skills Victoria launched its redesigned website, aimed at the general public and business users of the VET system.
The site will make information available to VET users in a more task oriented and user-centric way, allowing them to quickly locate what they need. New tools include a scrolling news display and an interactive Google Maps feature to enable users to locate TAFEs and training providers across the state, and regular video updates from the Minister.
The website will offer a Skills and Jobs Outlook, which will provide information about the Victorian labour market for key industries and occupations. Changes are also being made to Industry Training Advisory Body (ITAB) websites to ensure consistency and accuracy in the information available about jobs in various industries.
To see the new features in action visit the Skills Victoria website.