Micro-Credentials 2024 - Round one complete
Date: 02-Oct-2024
This week qldwater successfully wrapped up the delivery of the first round of the Micro-Credential courses that were supported by the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training in the 2023 project funding round. The funding was part of the Queensland Workforce Strategy 2022-2032.
A total of 81 water industry workers enrolled in the four course topics which included:
- Operational implications of the Drinking Water Quality Management Plan
- Making sense of water quality data
- Fluoridation of water supplies in Queensland – for non-operators
- An introduction to SCADA
A big shout out to James Howey from Viridis Consultants and Murray Thompson from Murray Thompson Water Services Pty Ltd who developed and delivered the courses.
We received some great feedback from organisations whose staff completed the courses. The SCADA course was delivered over two days, with one participating organisation now considering adding the SCADA MC as supplementary training to their Certificate III in Water Industry Operations program. Attendees also rated highly the opportunity to network with staff from other organisations.
Queensland Health enrolled 45 of their staff in the water fluoridation training. We thank Seqwater for hosting the three training sessions with a cohort of 15 participants each at the Mount Crosby Water Treatment Plant. The training included a site tour of the treatment plant which services Brisbane City.
The Operational implications of the DWQMP and Making sense of water quality data courses were delivered in Cairns with most participants completing both courses over consecutive days. Feedback of the course highlighted that the knowledge of data use provided ideas to implement new procedures into daily duties and to assist in risk analysis.
After running the initial Micro-Credential May webinars to introduce the course topics, we were approached by a migrant worker who arrived in Queensland only three months prior. Having worked in the Peruvian water industry for the previous 10 years, he was looking for opportunities to connect with the Queensland Water Industry. Completing the SCADA course provided him with more than just a Certificate and his feedback acknowledged the great opportunity to learn new skills and to build his local networks. We look forward to further supporting him in his quest to find suitable employment in the sector.
While the first round focused on face-to-face delivery of the courses, we are now wrapping up the online versions of these courses to launch them on our dedicated training website at watertraining.com.au. This will be a great addition to our existing Aqua Card, Brown Card and Green Card induction courses as well as a series of Trility introductory courses on the topics of calculations, chemistry, fluid flow, isolation and monitoring. The cost for the online courses will be confirmed once they are ready to launch.
Over the coming weeks, the qldwater team will discuss strategy for future deliveries utilising both face to face and online delivery models to suit audience needs and ensure maximum outreach. It is safe to say that there is significant interest in more deliveries and we will align our strategy to best achieve that.