Government Skills Australia

The 2006 Australian Training Awards were held at the Adelaide Convention Center on Thursday 16 November in recognition of the outstanding contribution made by businesses, individuals and training providers to the Vocational and Technical Education sector in Australia.

The Review of the Water Industry Training Package has completed the development stage and is now in the process of endorsement.

Drafts of the new Training Package can be viewed and downloaded from

New Water Industry Training Package 

For feedback on the drafts please send an email to:

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Creating synergies: Local government facilitating learning and development through partnerships

Peter Waterhouse, Crina Virgona, Richard Brown

This report documents the evolution and development of four learning communities in Victoria, which are involved in local government. It investigates the challenges and complexities involved in getting these communities off the ground and what roles, if any, vocational education and training (VET) institutions have played. Key principles emerging from the study include the importance of recognising different stakeholders' values and perspectives, appreciating multiple outcomes and proactively managing the relationships between various groups of stakeholders. Key findings include that local government has enormous potential and resources to contribute to the community and that VET is a necessary part of the system but has not been particularly proactive in the four cases described in this study.

http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1685.html

Employability Skills will replace Key Competencies in Training Packages from the end of 2006. Government Skills Australia is in the process of preparing reports for the Public Sector. Public Safety and Local Government Training Packages for industry consultation and endorsement. The conversion to Employability Skills for the Correctional Services and Water Training Packages will take place as part of their review and redevelopment.

For more information read about Employability Skills.

For an example of Employability Skills in the Public Sector Training Package

For an example of Example of Employability Skills in unit of competency

Government Skills Australia has contracted the Local Government Association Queensland to develop an e-learning resource for training in statutory planning. The deamnd for this resource comes from the serious shortage of qualified planners in Local Government and the dispersed localation of worksites which makes traditional training costly and logistically difficult.

The NSW Unilities ITAB held its annual Conference on 24-25 July. The Conference was attended by just over 100 delegates with a small group from the water industry. The main focus of the Conference was the latest developments in training associated with the Training Packages and apprenticeships and the predicted workforce and skill shortages.

For information about the Conference and papers delivered at the Conference check the website NSW U&E ITAB.

A synthesis of the main report "Lessons from Abroad" by Professor David Ashton, highlights the need for the UK to study techniques used in countries such as Australia, Canada, France and Germany as well as The Netherlands and New Zealand.    Several countries, including the UK, have in recent years developed sector-based approaches to raising employer demand for skills.  The report findings conclude that the UK could go further in establishing an employer-led system of skills development and the way to do this -  in the light of best practice abroad -  is for employers to be even more at the centre of education and skills policy, with support from employees. 

Read more about the Report

GSA has successfully contracted to manage the provision of careers information and support for its industry sectors. This is a significant Commonwealth Government initiative to address the importance of more effective and accurate matching of young people and their career options.

Read more...

The consultants have developed a draft Qualifications Framework and have distributed a large number of units of competency for industry feedback. The Project Steering Committee will meet on 15-16 August, 2006 to finalise the drafts and agree on the Qualifications Framework. This will be the final industry consultation before the production of the final draft of the Training Package for endorsement.

Go to Water Industry News for more details.