Government Skills Australia

Features of the new site include:

• industry specific news, events and project updates
• training products and service information
• industry career case studies
• a re-developed Training Package Feedback Register
• workforce development services information
• a re-developed online store containing publications and products
• a new and streamlined process to simplify website registration and personal information management for users.

Prior to the release of our new website, we will be conducting a number of tests to ensure that our transition to the new website will be seamless.  During this testing phase, you may find that our existing website is not available for short periods of time.  We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

It is anticipated that Version 8 of the Public Safety Training Package will be submitted for endorsement in mid 2010.  Release of new and reviewed material for external validation by all stakeholders is progressively being added to the Feedback Register.

Please note you will need to have registered with GSA to use the Feedback Register.  If you have not previously registered, please click here.

To view this material as it is added, please click here.

Industry Skills Councils are playing an important role in addressing sustainability issues within the training sector. In response to the COAG Green Skills Agreement, GSA will have a plan for embedding skills for sustainability into Training Packages by the end of March.

The agreement will result in:

• national standards of sustainability practice and teaching in vocational training
• the re-writing of Training Packages to include sustainability principles and competencies; and
• the up-skilling of VET instructors and teachers in delivering sustainability skills.

In response to requests from industry, employers and learners for greater flexibility in training, the NQC has introduced some changes to qualification packaging rules. A more flexible approach to the development of each qualification framework will increase the portability of skills, and reduce narrow skills specialisations. As a result, Training Package qualifications will have an increased proportion of elective units of competency for each qualification, and will also increase the ratio of imported units of competency in the total number required for the qualification. In other words, qualifications with a large proportion of core units will be reviewed to identify a more flexible packaging arrangement with a greater allowance for electives.

Government Skills Australia (GSA) is funded to promote career and employment opportunities in water as part of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations' pathfinders program.

In the coming months, GSA will develop materials to highlight the many and varied pathways into and within the sector with a focus on providing recruitment strategies targeting indigenous people and women who have traditionally been less well represented. The high media profile issue of sustainability will feature strongly in the material and provide a compelling argument for why environmentally conscious people may wish to join the sector.

Government Skills Australia (GSA) is pleased to announce the release of a new career guide and industry resource designed to attract recruits and promote career development in the government and community safety sector.

The national career resource, “Career Opportunities – What’s your plan?” highlights the many and  varied career options, pathways and jobs available in the Correctional Services, Local Government, Public Sector, Public Safety and Water industries. The resource also provides helpful information to assist with career planning and presents profiles of people in successful careers who are working within the sector.

Elizabeth Herbert, TAFE Training Partnership Manager, Armidale Dumaresq Council and Fiona Hogarth, Learning and Development Manager, Power and Water Coorporation presented on their experience of accessing GSA’s Get Smart, Get Skilled workforce development services in an open forum at the GSA annual conference in Melbourne, last week.

Both clients highlighted the benefits of accessing GSA’s services and spoke openly about their reasons for doing so. At the same time they spoke candidly about what aspects of the service could benefit from improvement. As GSA has a small team of workforce development advisors available to conduct skills audits nationally, we need to act strategically to ensure clients have fair and equitable access to the service and we are happy to take on board suggestions for improvement.

Early in the new year GSA will launch a fully reviewed, redesigned and rebranded website at our existing domain name. 

The website has a vibrant new look, new content, significant layout updates and seamlessly integrates GSA’s careers website and skill gap analysis tool.

The recommendations of the report Training Packages for the 21st Century, commissioned by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), are now undergoing more detailed development through workshops with industry and training stakeholders. The recommendation to simplify Training Packages by introducing companion volumes has been given a longer time frame, but the move to ensure that qualifications are more flexible and portable is a priority and will require action by Industry Skills Councils by March 2010. Government Skills Australia will undertake a review of its Training Packages to identify those qualifications which need modification to meet the requirement that one third of units of competency in each qualification are electives, and one sixth of the units are imported units. Imported units may now be drawn from accredited courses.