Apprenticeship Employment Network

AE News Volume 15, Issue 43

Friday, 16th December 2022
Hi Reader!

Upcoming Events

1457023190_Calendar
2023 Events to be released soon!

Merry Christmas from AEN

Merry Christmas photo
The AEN Office will close for Christmas on Friday 23rd December and re-open on Monday 9th January 2023.

Merry Christmas from the AEN Board and staff.

GAN Conference - Earlybird Closes TODAY!

2023 GAN Future of Apprenticeships Header v2
We invite you to be a part of 'The Future of Apprenticeships Perspectives from Switzerland, New Zealand and Australia striving for excellence' 2023 GAN Melbourne Conference

On behalf of the conference organising committee of 'The Future of Apprenticeships: Perspectives from Switzerland, New Zealand and Australia striving for excellence', we are pleased invite you to be a part of a leading event focused on reigniting apprenticeships in Australia and connecting like minded international collaborators, government stakeholders, industry participants, group training organisations, unions and educational institutions to build economic prosperity by working together.

The conference promises to be an excellent opportunity to network and connect with industry stake holders, participate in a range of workshops, study tours, facilitated debates and attend industry network events.

Melbourne: 5th February to 8th February 2023 (inc. travel to Aukland, NZ on 8th February)
Auckland: 9th February to 10th February 2023

The New MyGov App

The new myGov App has been launched and is now available this week.

Customers can download the myGov app for free from the App store (iPhone) and google play (Android).
My Gov App
The app will make it even easier for customers to sign in to MyGov and access Government services on their mobile devices.

It also makes managing their inbox simpler, and there is a new MyGov wallet where customers can securely access some government digital cards and certificates.

Resources, including an instructional video on YouTube, are available through myGov.

    Resources have been developed specifically for culturally and linguistically diverse people and Indigenous Australians.

    Minister O’Connor Announces 10 Jobs And Skills Councils

    This week the Minister for Skills and Training Hon Brendan O’Connor announced the federal government is investing $402 million over the next four years to establish Jobs and Skills Councils (JSCs) to help address skills shortages and broader workforce challenges.

    Formerly known as Industry Clusters, the new JSCs will have a strong connection to Jobs and Skills Australia, aligning with the Australian Government’s vision for new industry engagement arrangements.

    Led by industry, the JSCs will bring all parties to the table to find solutions to the workforce challenges and skills needs currently facing industry sectors across Australia.

    This commitment to tripartite leadership will bring together employers and unions that work in partnership with governments and the training sector.

    Minister O'Connor has confirmed 10 industry groupings, as the outcomes from Stage One of the Grant Opportunity process.

    JSCs will work in partnership with Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) to align workforce planning for their sectors.

    This is an essential first step in determining job roles, skills need and training pathways, combining industry-specific intelligence with JSA’s forecasting and modelling.

    JSCs will identify skills and workforce needs for their sectors, map career pathways across education sectors, develop VET training products, support collaboration between industry and training providers to improve training and assessment practice and act as a source of intelligence on issues affecting their industries.

    This is a fundamental shift in the way industry engagement is undertaken in the VET sector and will help us tackle one of the greatest economic challenges in decades, namely the lack of skilled workers.

    The existing arrangements of the 67 Industry Reference Committees will be wound up by the end of 2022.

    All successful applicants will now commence their establishment phase to set up their entities ahead of progressing to Stage Two of the Grant Opportunity, which will be open from December 2022.

    The Ministers Office remain committed to ensuring JSC’s are operational from January 2023.

    Fee-Free TAFE and VET places For Victorians In 2023

    The Australian and Victorian Governments are taking immediate action to address the current skills shortage to deliver more Fee-Free TAFE and vocational education places for Victorians.

    Earlier this week a landmark 12-month Skills Agreement was signed that will inject more than $250 million into the Victorian skills and training sector to support access to more than 55,000 Fee-Free TAFE and vocational education and training (VET) places in 2023.

    Training through Fee-Free TAFE will help drive enrolments in sectors with recognised skills shortages by matching training identified through the skills priority list.

    This investment will support around 26,900 places in the care sector over the next 12 months, including around 3,800 early childhood education and care places.

    This will help Victoria reach its target of 64,700 new workers in the health, education and community services sectors needed by 2025.

    It also includes support for around 6,500 places in the technology and digital sectors, 6,300 in construction, 2,000 in agriculture, 1,800 in hospitality and tourism, 200 in sovereign capability including manufacturing and 11,700 in Victorian priorities including foundation skills.

    The 12-month Skills agreement is the first stage of delivering on the skills commitments in the Australian Government’s Future Made in Australia Skills Plan.

    It also confirms TAFE’s central role in the VET sector, increasing opportunities and workforce participation of priority groups, while addressing critical skills gaps in the economy.

    Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System Guidelines And an updated Australian Apprenticeship Priority List

    The Department of Education and Workplace Relations earlier this week updated the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System Guidelines and prepared a new Australian Apprenticeship Priority List which will come into effect on 1 January 2023.

    Key items include the New Energy Training Support Payment; with new occupations within the clean energy sector added to the skills shortage list and providing employers/GTOs.

    With the option to claim the 12 month Hiring Incentive payment for a school-based apprentice that completes their apprenticeship early and remains in employment at the 12-month mark.

    A big thank you to Apprenticeship Support Australia – Jarrod Cartwright for presenting these updates to members on Wednesday this week.

    AEN will continue to follow up with further clarification over the coming weeks on questions raised during the meeting.

    NCVER Update

    NCVER
    Adding value to competency-based training

    The latest NCVER research compared Australia’s approach to competency-based training with those of other developed countries and identified its benefits and drawbacks.

    Findings show that non-technical skills and interpersonal attributes such as critical thinking, innovation, self-direction, ethics, and integrity – which are included in other countries’ approach to CBT – are often not covered, explicitly taught, assessed, and recognised in Australia.

    The emphasis on technical skills strictly narrows the definition of what it means to be competent in the workplace.

    While it enables clear and consistent specification of what a VET student needs to learn to be deemed competent, there are industries and sectors where personal capabilities are critical.

    These include healthcare and early childhood education which are facing skills shortages.

    The research also highlighted that it may be time to move on from applying a single training approach for all types of vocational qualifications to a differentiated training and assessment paradigm.

    In addition, further consideration could be given to the use of graded or proficiency-based assessment.

    However, shifting to this would need further debate to ensure that it does not become burdensome for VET teachers and students, and thus make an already complex VET system more complicated.

    VET student outcomes 2022

    The latest NCVER report shows that in 2022, 65.0% of VET qualification completers had an improved employment status after completing their training, up by 4.4 percentage points from 2021.

    Among the qualification completers who were not employed before training, 49.6% got a job after their training (up 6.3 percentage points from 2021).

    For qualification completers employed before training, 17.3% were employed at a higher skill level (up by 0.8 percentage points from 2021) and 37.1% were in a better job (down 1.7 percentage points from 2021) after training.

    ‘To get a job’ and ‘gain extra skills for my current job’ were the main reasons cited by qualification completers for undertaking VET training, with 87.2% reporting that they have achieved their main reason for training.

    For further information please visit NCVER.

    WGEA – Annual Report

    WEGA - Annual Report
    This week WGEA released its 9th Gender Equality Scorecard.

    Based on its biggest ever dataset of 4,795 employer reports, the Scorecard shows that gender equality in Australian workplaces has stagnated.

    Australia’s gender pay gap remains at 22.8% - exactly the same as last year.

    While there have been improvements in access to flexible work, availability of parental leave, and employers implementing gender equality targets, the message of the Scorecard is clear - employers need to pick up the pace on workplace gender equality.
    For further information please visit Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

    Retrenched Apprentices and Trainees Program

    Retrenched Apprentices and Trainees Program Logo
    Out of Trade Banner
    Since the program commenced in May 2020, a total of 920 participants have been supported to date.
    • 83.8% Male
    • 15.9% Female
    For Individuals
    Apprentices and trainees who have lost employment are encouraged to register.

    Once registered, apprentices and trainees will be assisted by one of our program officers until placed with a host employer through a Group Training Organisation (GTO), or directly with an employer.
    For Businesses
    If you have an apprenticeship position you would like to fill, please contact the AEN Office so we can forward potential candidates that meet your criteria.

    For further information or to register for the program, please visit Apprenticeship Employment Network.
    Do you want to be kept up to date with everything that’s happening with GAN Australia and the wider VET sector?

    Head on over to GAN Australia and subscribe now.
    GAN-Subscribe-to-Newsletter-New-Logo

    Thanks to our Industry Partners

    aatis
    ApprenticeshipSupportAustralia
    AustralianApprenticeshipsPathways
    Aus-Super_Logo_Horiz_Pos_CMYK (002)
    VictorianChamberOfCommerceAndIndustry
    WorkSight
    GAN Australia Logo Landscape
    Gallagher_wTAG_StackedLarge-3D
    SafetyFirst

    Follow us

    facebook twitter youtube linkedin 
    newsletter-footer
    Email Marketing Powered by MailPoet