Posts Tagged ‘ASQA’
Budget 2012-13 – Workforce Development and Planning
Budget 2012-13 – Workforce Development and Planning
Delivered by THE HONOURABLE WAYNE SWAN MP, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND TREASURER OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA.
After listening to the budget speech, reading news and online articles, and analysing the opportunities for workforce development and planning, the following insights are provided from this perspective by Wendy Perry, Head Workforce Planner, Workforce BluePrint.
The workforce focussed features and opportunities in the budget include:
- $714 million to help companies compete, on top of the $3.7 billion in small business tax breaks – Offsetting a current year tax loss of up to $1 million against tax paid in previous years; a refund of up to $300,000.
- Funding the first stage of a National Disability Insurance Scheme – $1 billion will be provided over 4 years to roll out the first stage of an NDIS, which is expected to cover 10,000 people from 2013?14 and 20,000 people from 2014?15.
- Investing in dental services – $515 million in funding to address immediate dental care needs; $346 million over three years will target public dental waiting lists; $78 million to help dentists relocate to regional, rural and remote areas; $81 million to boost training for graduate dentists and therapists; and $10.5 million to promote better oral health.
- Strengthening the aged care system – $3.7 billion package to address pressing areas of need, and lays the foundations for future reform; $660 million over five years for incentives to invest in quality services for those who do need to enter residential care; and $1.2 billion over five years to build a better trained and better paid aged care workforce.
- Investments across the health system and across the country – 76 new health infrastructure projects to upgrade regional hospitals and support training where doctors are needed most, costing $475 million; $5 billion from the Health and Hospitals Fund; $50 million over four years to fund a phased expansion of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program; and national e?Health agenda $234 million.
- Removing barriers to work and lifting skills boosts productivity and creates wealth – $1.75 billion National Partnership on Skills Reform; another $101 million to support the Government’s skills agenda; $61 million to improve older workers training and employment services; additional $225 million for the Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance program; $1.5 billion over 5 years on a new Remote Jobs and Community program that will provide new employment services for remote Australia; $54 million to encourage maths and science studies at school and university; and $38.8 billion in higher education, with extra support for students from poorer backgrounds.
- Investing in infrastructure and clean energy – National Broadband Network and $36 billion Nation Building programs for road, rail and port networks.
Workforce development and planning gaps and issues to be addressed include:
- Small business support
- Disability service sector growth
- Dental and allied health workforce expansion
- Aged care including home and community care workforce attraction and training
- Health workforce development including e-health
- Skills reform
- Retaining older workers
- Participation of parents
- Remote worker engagement
- Maths and science based skills development
- Higher education support
- Major infrastructure projects workforce planning
- Digital literacy skills development
- Seasonal labour strategies and overseas sources of workers
For information on funding, grants, reductions, specific Vocational Education and Training (VET), employment, skills and workforce development programs go to:
Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations: Economic Potential of Senior Australians — employment assistance, Employment Service Arrangements, Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance Program, Mature Age Participation — job seeker assistance, Remote Jobs and Communities Program, Schools — Teach Remote, and Seasonal Labour Mobility Program with Pacific Island Countries and East Timor.
Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education: Australian Apprenticeships, Australian Skills Centres of Excellence, ASQA, Higher Education, More Help for Mature Age Workers, Adult and Community Education for Senior Australians (60+ years), International Education, Maths and Science, Standing Council on Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment (SCOTESE), MySkills website, National Skills Reform, National Workforce Development Fund (additional $35 million over four years), Small Business Advisory Services, VET FEE-HELP Assistance Scheme Redesign, and Workforce Innovation Program.
Funding has been redirected or moved into priority areas from a number of existing programs. This will mean that the Vocational Education and Training (VET) and Employment Services sectors including Australian Apprenticeship Centres, Disability Employment Services, Group Training Companies, Job Services Australia providers, Higher Education providers, Industry or Peak Bodies and Registered Training Organisations, with government funding, will need to carefully consider their workforce development and planning needs to position for the future.
Get Ready for Skills for All
If you are operating in the South Australian training market then ‘get ready’ is the key message from the Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology (DFEEST). Get ready for:
- the application process to open in the last week or two of October 2011;
- the course (qualifications and skills sets/licence outcomes) list in November 2011 – could be a specialist occupation, state priority (such as Defence, Mining, Arts), foundation skills and/or meet specific industry needs; and
- the price list available in December 2011.
Prices will be detailed at a unit of competency level and will vary depending on AQF levels. The rates will be based upon an average of User Choice, Productivity Places Program and TAFESA’s recurrent funding amounts (referred to as FSI500) together with a comparison of interstate VET prices. Payments are planned on units of competency completion (RTOs will need to manage their cash flow well) paid on a monthly cycle with bonus payments for full completions.
Certificate I and II will be fully subsidised, Certificate III and IV 80% subsidised and Diploma and Advanced Diploma 70% subsidised with concessions available (Healthcare/Veterans Card) and 1 skills set/year for eligible applicants. DFEEST will publish a minimum and maximum fee to be paid to make up the difference between the subsidised % and the full costs. RPL will be fully funded.
The Quality Directorate is moving into the area of contract and purchasing quality. Applications for Skills for All will be online, no fees to apply, with no closing date and it’s recommended that the RTO’s CEO gain a log in. RTOs can work on their application over time until they are ready to ‘submit’ their submission. If providers submit in December 2o11, the Minister will make some providers an offer with contract negotiations over January – March 2012 and the first list of Skills for All providers will be made public in April 2012. Fact Sheet 2 Applying to be a Skills for All Provider procedure details the process for applications and assessments.
If you are a User Choice provider and want to continue after July 2012, you need to register as a Skills for All provider. Providers may also wish to register for VET fee help with the option of income contingent loans for students.
Now for the main game, what are the selection criteria (Fact Sheet 3) for providers? Well, it’s all about performance…
- regulatory record (information will be shared with DFEEST and the regulator, ASQA);
- contract compliance;
- financial health (of the whole organisation, not only the RTO);
- number of graduates;
- student and employer satisfaction (quality indicator reports via Training Packages); and
- graduate outcomes.
Tips for providers: focus on your strengths, where industry/client demand and your performance is high, where you have strong industry connections and excellent graduate outcomes.
DFEEST is taking an evidence based approach to Skills for All providers with data and evidence to be provided about:
- Meeting SA Guidelines for RTOs;
- Meeting student learning needs;
- the RTO;
- Training Package/s; and
- Each qualification.
Review Fact Sheet 4 Preparing to Apply to be a Skills for All Training Provider for all the details on specific evidence – if you don’t have a workforce plan for your RTO and/or a recent Training Needs Analysis then this has to be the catalyst!
A few final things..
- What RTOs put in their application will form part of the contract requirements;
- The contract will be monitored with an annual review, reporting and claims requirements, benchmarking across similar courses with triggers if you are an ‘outlier’ in terms of performance/price or receive complaints against your RTO; and
- Information on Skills in the Workplace will be available in October 2011.
Throughout 2012, the level of interest in workforce development, with RTOs building their own workforce plan’s and undertaking professional development in workforce development and planning, has significantly increased as leaders are positioning themselves to be primed for Skills for All and national reforms – are you?
Want to be the first to get the news and info? Subscribe to the Workforce Planning Tools blog and contact our Head Workforce Planner, Wendy Perry via wendy@workforceblueprint.com.au for assistance with your workforce plan.
PS. Have you seen the latest announcement from Traineeship and Apprenticeship Services about additional User Choice funding for Existing Worker Certificate III Training Contracts? For commencing contracts on or after1.9.11, all existing worker trainees under a Cert III qual will attract a User Choice subsidy in South Australia. For further info, contact Chris Pyne, Manager, Traineeship and Apprenticeship Programs.
Putting skills at the heart of the economy 2011 conference – tipping point
Anticipated by leaders in skills and workforce development and coming at a crucial time, the Putting skills at the heart of the economy 2011 conference held on 21 July 2011 at The Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne, was very well attended with a great line up of speakers.
Philip Bullock, Chair of Skills Australia, outlined two aspirations in his opening addresses – help those most at risk; and a resilient workforce. Participation focussing on people on the margins of the workforce with 2.5-3 million wanting work is seen as a major opportunity. Innovation skills are needed to address a lagging innovation culture as well as “…an overhaul of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector.” Much also seems to be pinned on the upcoming commonwealth – state/territory negotiations – which will be implemented from 1st July 2012 [will this negotiation mean that Victoria and WA will pass over powers to ASQA??]. Quality across the board is a priority with the National VET Regulator setting the bar, mandatory external validation, funding that rewards quality providers, and the goal of people achieving a full qualification and then a plus – such as skills sets or another [higher] qualification. The new South Australian Skills for All reform was cited as aligning to national directions and a key interest is extra requirements to be certified as a Skills for All provider [I’ll have a go at forecasting these soon as I think the National Workforce Development Agency will be looking at similar guidelines].
Chris Richardson, Director Deloitte Access Economics, Head of Macroeconomic Policy and Forecasting Group talking on It’s all about the economy says“…the world is begging Australia to grow faster…demand is strong…supply is weak… and there is a gap between slow vs. strong sectors.” With the boom in “twins” mining and construction and significant exports with demand for coal and minerals, “…the world has given us a pay rise.” When looking at sectoral growth and contribution to GDP, Chris stated that the majority of the workforce is on the wrong side of the growth areas. He thinks the question is, “…not where the next job will come from, but where the next worker will come from?”… and he advocates for higher migration as a share of population to support Australia’s growth. “The working age population is about to grow recession like, but it’s not a recession!” Big statements posed as questions included, “Can we know what skills we need into the future? [yes we can do some forecasting out especially in core and leadership skills and the alternative of not doing any forecasting is not acceptable] Do policy makers get that Australia’s future lies in skills? And Australians are good at managing adversity but not prosperity.”
Linda Nicholls, AO, Corporate Advisor and Director of a number of leading Australian companies, on It’s all about the real world, began with the reality of needing a workforce with “evidence of skills in use[I really like this term – great for assessment including RPL], that fit into our organisation, and match our customer tastes.” How do you get access to a skilled workforce? – “you can make, buy, rent, hoard or poach” and you want employees who are “retrainable.”
Andrew Stevens, Managing Director of IBM Australia and New Zealand, on Improving participation and productivity, emphasised that the, “…services generate the greatest share of value add i.e. ¾ of Australian employment, 70% of economic activity.” He outlined a new wave of high value services jobs and a number of IBM programs that are focussed on the potential employee pipeline.
The Q and A panel before lunch was our chance to ask the questions and hear responses from a panel of experts… Skills for prosperity – are they in shortage or just underutilised? and facilitated by MC for the day Michael Pascoe, Finance and Economic Commentator. Panel members included Chris Richardson, Linda Nicholls AO, Mick Mahon CEO of Skilled Group, Prof Barbara Pocock Director Centre for Work + Life University of SA, Mary Thompson Managing Director and Owner McLeod Rail and Ged Kearney President Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Mick talked from the practical perspective with an example of his clients putting years into planning and sourcing the supply of truck tyres vs. limited effort into workforce planning. Discussion moved to the management of job roles, the job itself and conditions, and the design, regarding the structure of the job, was seen as important although the direct supervisor/manager is the number 1 reason why people leave organisations. Skills development was seen as a retention strategy not so much as a workforce attraction strategy. “Prosperity is the size of the pie and fairness is how it’s chopped up.” Prof Pocock asked, “Should we all work from very young to very late over the lifecycle?”
For the breakout session, The global dimension of skills and implications for Australia, shared international perspectives from Annie Koh, Associate Professor of Finance Dean, Office of Executive and Professional Education Financial Training Institute, Academic Director, International Trading Institute at Singapore Management University and Julian Gravatt, Assistant Chief Executive Association of Colleges UK. Singapore has 1.9% unemployment and the economy is split 75% services and 25% manufacturing. An interesting example of how Singapore managed the numbers of retrenched professionals from the Global Financial Crisis was to pair people with small – medium sized enterprises as mentors and advisors. Julian talked about the differences between Australia and the UK and the high (81%) success rate and incredibly low numbers of apprentices interested me [something to follow up on].
A debate and discussion on skilled migration moderated by Tim Colebatch the Economics Editor at The Age Newspaper saw Dr Bob Birrell, Co-Director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University teamed with Prof Sue Richardson AM, Principal Research Fellow, National Institute of Labour Studies Flinders University for the negative and Bernard Salt, Business Advisor, Author and Columnist partnered with Cr Nicole Lockwood, President, Shire of Roebourne, WA, for the positive i.e. we should increase skilled migration. The negative team argued that we should focus on those people who could be in the workforce and aren’t as well as opportunities for young Australians, with the positive team showing striking graphs where the gap between the workforce size we need to maintain our economy was overlaid with a massive drop in as the first baby boomers turn 65 this year by Bernard and practical examples of workforce supply and skills demand in places like Karratha. The positive team won although important points were made on both sides – a bit of both sides of the argument is what I would conclude.
I saw the final wrap up by Philip Bullock as a call to action and I finished the conference day with a firm belief that we have reached a tipping point for workforce development and planning in Australia – hopefully the minds of policy makers, definitely in the minds of economists and industry leaders, and increasingly in the minds of people working with the VET sector. Excellent networking where I knew about 1 in 3 or 4 people, with many people who attended the NCVER Conference, a catch up with Dominic at CITT and Secretary for the Australian Digital Television Industry Association at the conference drinks and dinner with a lovely bunch of people including Stephanie Tchan from Central Institute of Technology, Linda and Pierre from TAFENSW, and Kylie Furnell from RESA, topped off a conference that I thoroughly enjoyed – and now onto tipping the workforce development and planning ‘tipping point’ even further!
Wendy Perry, Head Workforce Planner, Workforce BluePrint, Managing Director Wendy Perry and Associates Pty Ltd.
Skills for Prosperity and the 2011 Federal Budget
On the 3rd May 2011, Skills Australia launched their most significant paper to date on workforce development titled Skills for Prosperity A roadmap for Vocational Education and Training.
This paper puts forward 9 themes for the evolution of the VET sector as I have summarised below plus I’ve added in some comments (my opinion in italics):
- Putting learners and enterprises at the forefront of service – whilst a focus on clients isn’t new, what is different here is that the individual would hold the funding entitlement and a 100% subsidy would apply for qualifications up to Certificate III including all foundation skills courses. As the qualification level increases the subsidy would reduce and become a co-funding arrangement with the individual.
- Enabling skills use and productivity in enterprises – with the introduction of an Enterprise Skills Investment Fund (managed by Skills Australia) where funding from Productivity Places Program, Critical Skills Investment Fund, Workplace English Language and Literacy, Workforce Innovation Program, Apprenticeship incentives and possibly Enterprise Connect to be tipped in to this 1 fund and enterprises will make a scaled contribution for workforce development. The role of (redesigned) Australian Apprenticeship Centres is suggested as a single point for enterprise-linked program [what are the implications for capability and capacity, would contracts need to be readvertised or will existing services morph into workforce development advisors?]
- Supporting communities – better targeted and coordinated effort – joint program planning with Vocational Education and Training, employment service and community providers and a much higher profile for Regional Development Australia in regional workforce development – RDA should be in your partnership map!
- Aspiring to excellence – resourcing the new national VET regulator (ASQA); reform of the AQTF to mandate independent validation of an annual sample of students assessments; reduction in the number of VET practitioners working under supervision (nil under supervision by 2013); high-quality deliver of the Training and Education Training Package including a demonstrated track record, evidence of expertise, professional development of staff, external validation by an expert panel, TAE trainers/assessors holding high level quals, supervised training sessions and independent assessments for those undertaking the qualification ; a national VET workforce development strategy ($40 million over 6 years); and introduction of nationally agreed criteria (over and above the AQTF it seems – interested to know what they will be!) for RTO’s to be eligible as providers of publicly funded entitlement places.
- Delivering outcomes and understanding the sector’s contribution – outcomes based funding to improve the completion of qualifications (but underlying this is the assumption that clients of the VET system want whole qualifications and I wonder how RTOs will be able to manage cash flow?); incentives for RTOs for completion of qualifications (Quality Skills Incentive) above Certificate III by low SES and disadvantaged students; AQTF indicators on learner engagement, employer satisfaction and competency completion (already in place) and full course completions (new) plus a heap more info (see Section 6, recommendation 16 in the full paper); publication on the My Skills website of RTOs assessment validation results; and new indicators for industry, education and community partnerships .
- Providing agile and adaptive products and services – optimising the use of digital media, ICT and the national broadband network; a national bank of foundation skills units and qualifications managed by Innovation & Business Skills Australia; and publicly funding skill sets (finally!!! but this shouldn’t be in the format of a ‘mini qualification’ rather skill sets based upon enterprise, licencing and job role needs)
- Ensuring better pathways across education sectors – specialist degrees with a vocational focus; income-contingent loans for those undertaking Certificate IV+ courses; a national review of VET in schools (well overdue and I’d like to see VET in school provide a taster across a range of options rather than completely locking into 1 position).
- Securing prosperity through sustained and balanced investment – additional $310 million per annum accumulating, from $8,286 million in 2008 and rising to an estimated $12,000 million in 2020; co-contribution financing framework to share the costs of training with government; performance incentives for disadvantaged students ; changes to indexation mechanisms to better reflect real costs (sounds like they could use the VET Business Analysis tool we developed to cover all the inputs and outputs and the return).
- Creating a simpler system – working out Commonwealth, state and territory responsibilities; streamlining the apprenticeship/traineeship system; consistent nominal hours required for qualifications (for me nominal hours flies in the face of competency based training and whilst I understand the desire for national consistency I don’t see how hours will do it – we should be able to come up with a more sophisticated way of paying for training [workforce development] aside from nominal hours).
I’d suggest that providers and agencies ramp up their relationships with each other to get ready for further reform – this includes Vocational Education and Training with Employment Service (Job Services Australia and Disability Employment Service) with Adult and Community Education (ACE) and community service providers with Australian Apprenticeship Centres – and all with Regional Development Australia, Industry Skill Councils, industry and professional associations – all taking a proactive approach to educating their clients about the opportunities.
The 2011 Federal budget, released 1 week after the Skills Australia paper, leaves little evidence that they aren’t the most important agency in workforce development [now becoming synonymous with the term VET but covers a heap more than training and assessment] and demonstrates that our political leaders are listening to what Skills Australia has recommended. Parts of the budget papers and facts sheets are reflections of whole components of the Skills Australia paper with small tweaks or slight word and title changes. For example (extract from A new partnership with industry):
The Building Australia’s Future Workforce package provides a $3.02 billion investment over six years for a new approach to deliver the skilled workers the economy needs and ensure more Australians have the opportunity to share in the nation’s prosperity. This is on top of new funding of more than $2 billion over the next four years for Australia’s university sector.
The package has four components:
- Putting industry at the heart of the training system
- Skills to support increased participation
- Modernising apprenticeships
- Reforming the national training system
A National Workforce and Productivity Agency will be established from 1 July 2012 to administer a new industry driven National Workforce Development Fund. The independent Agency will be an expansion of the role and functions of Skills Australia, through high level industry and union leadership and collaboration. It will be recognised as an authority on workforce development policy and advice and will direct skills funding to industry needs.
The Agency will engage directly with industry on workforce development issues and address sectoral and regional industry needs as well as
- administer the new National Workforce Development Fund
- conduct skills and workforce research, including into the quality of jobs and future working life in Australia
- drive engagement between industry, training providers and government on workforce development, apprenticeships and VET reform
- develop and monitor sectoral skills and workforce development plans in conjunction with Industry Skills Councils and industry
- provide independent advice on sectoral and regional skills needs to support workforce planning and productivity, including in small business
- promote workforce productivity by leading initiatives for the improvement of productivity, management innovation and skills utilisation within Australian workplaces
Skills Australia will be transitioned into the new Agency through 2011-12, with the Agency beginning operation from 1 July 2012.
Through the National Workforce Development Fund (the Fund) the Government will provide $558 million over four years to support training and workforce development in areas of current and future skills need. Government funding will be supplemented by a co-contribution from industry with government contributing at higher levels for small businesses.
Under the Fund, enterprises will identify their current and future business and workforce development needs. The enterprise would then apply for funding to support the training of existing workers and new workers in the area of need. Both the Government and the employer will provide funding to support this training. Large enterprises will contribute 66 per cent of the cost of training, medium enterprises 50 per cent and small enterprises 33 per cent.
Industry Skills Councils will play a key role in assisting enterprises to identify their training needs, facilitate the selection of a training provider to meet these needs and in monitoring the implementation of successful proposals.
Under the Fund businesses, national professional associations and industry bodies will be eligible to apply for funding. This will ensure that training is driven by the workforce development and business needs of enterprises. Employers will be able to purchase the training they need in the format that suits their business to deliver valuable qualifications to their employees.
Enterprises will be eligible to apply for funding if they operate in a high priority sector or if the occupations in which they are seeking to train their workforce are in local or national demand. The priority sectors to be targeted in 2011-12 will be construction and aged care in addition to the sectors currently targeted under the CSIF.
The Fund will incorporate funding from the Critical Skills Investment Fund (CSIF).
Employers and workers will also benefit from a new partnership with peak employer and union organisations through the Productivity Education and Training Fund. These key bodies will be supported to ensure that the productivity benefits that can be achieved through the Fair Work framework are well understood. The Fund will support union enterprise representatives and employers to use the enterprise bargaining process to introduce productivity improvements in the workplace.
A series of fact sheets covers:
- A new partnership with industry
- Apprenticeship reform
- Better futures for jobless families
- Future arrangements for DES purchasing
- Future arrangements for Job Service Australia
- Greater participation in Higher Education
- Helping indigenous Australians
- Investing in our young people
- Investing in regional productivity and participation
- Opportunities for people with disability
- Place-based initiatives
- Reform of the National Training System
- Skills to promote increased participation
- Strengthening job seeker compliance
- Support small business to drive economic growth
- Very long term unemployed people
We’ve already seen the new tender for Local Employment Coordinators [and Jobs Expos]
A total of $45.2 million will be allocated to the extension of this measure. This will include access to a flexible funding pool of $20 million over two years. The measure will take effect from 1 July 2011 and run until 30 June 2013.
My advice, get your organisation and your own workforce ready now, review your strategic directions, consider how the changes will impact on you, develop or update your workforce plan and I have 3 final words to say to you [Kimmy - Kath n Kim reference - sorry] – “communication, partnerships and relationships”!
For upcoming national tenders keep an eye on www.tenders.gov.au, for further reform DEEWR website and Skills Australia website, and let me know if you are planning on attending the Putting skills at the heart of the economy conference in July 2011 in Melbourne.
Wendy Perry, Head Workforce Planner, Workforce BluePrint and Managing Director, Wendy Perry and Associates Pty Ltd