Skills eFlash #102
Date: 27-Oct-2021
In this edition: Queensland Training Award Winner!| Promoting Careers in Water| November Micro-Credentials and New SCADA Workshop| Fundamentals Webinars| qldwater Staff Announcement| Skills Advocacy| Upcoming Events
1. Queensland Training Award Winner!
For those who may not have heard the news, the Queensland Water Skills Partnership was recently announced as the winner of the 2021 Premier’s Industry Collaboration Training Award! And since then, the Partnership has been selected as a finalist for the Industry Collaboration Award in the Australian Training Awards. The winner will be announced on Thursday 18 November 2021.
You can read more about the Queensland award and watch a replay of the virtual announcement.
These awards are great recognition of the strong collaboration across the industry to ensure there are people with the right skills to deliver safe, secure and sustainable urban water services to Queensland communities. Thank you to all those who have been involved in the Skills Partnership over the past decade.
We will let you know the outcome of the next round of announcements!
2. Promoting Careers in Water
On behalf of the Water Skills Partnership, qldwater is pleased to launch its new dedicated careers website www.qldwatercareers.com.au to promote the variety of job opportunities and value of a career in the water industry!
We are keen to hear your feedback about the site and if you have any suggestions for additional content that would be useful. You’ll notice that we haven’t completed the details for all job roles on the site and invite you to send us any information you have about those roles to skills@qldwater.com.au.
There are some great video testimonials and career stories and a PowerPoint presentation describing career opportunities and training pathways. This presentation was developed for an industry event hosted by the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training that Carlie Sargent attended along with Kathryn Turner from Urban Utilities, to talk to High School Principals and Career Advisors about working in water. Read more and view photos here.
We will continue adding more useful resources to the site over time and encourage you to review and share it!
3. November Micro-Credentials and New SCADA Workshop
There are just a couple of spaces available in the next round of Water Industry Foundation Skills Micro-Credentials Virtual Workshops being held in November and December.
Virtual courses for the Water Treatment Micro-Credential will be held from 8am to 12pm on Tuesday 23 November, Wednesday 24 November, Tuesday 7 December and Wednesday 8 December. The Wastewater Treatment Micro-Credential will be delivered from 8am to 12pm on Thursday 25 November, Friday 26 November, Thursday 9 December and Friday 10 December. Contact Carlie Sargent to secure your place before these are booked out. Future course dates will be scheduled on an as needs basis when there are a minimum of 6 participants before our funding subsidy from the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training ends in June 2022.
We have received approval to offer a SCADA Micro-Credential and these will be delivered by Murray Thompson from February to June 2022. The SCADA workshop is intended as an introduction and overview of SCADA and telemetry systems utilised within the water and sewerage industry and to also provide practical workplace examples of how these systems operate on a day to day basis. It is designed for field and operations staff to ensure these staff are able to confidently monitor, operate and report upon the performance of their water and sewerage assets and also response appropriately to events and alarms. Registrations will be open for this course soon, in the meantime, please email skills@qldwater.com.au to express interest in your staff participating to secure your place in the first round of courses in the new year.
4. Fundamentals Webinars
Register now for our next Fundamentals Webinar on Tuesday, 16 November, 10am-11am, AEST with the topic ‘Seasonal Disaster Readiness’, presented by industry expert, Trevor Harvey.
More sessions will be hosted in 2022, with details coming soon. Keep an eye on our Upcoming Events page for details.
Recordings of all previous webinars are available to download on the qldwater website. Please contact webinar@qldwater.com.au with any queries about previous or future webinars or to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
5. qldwater Staff Announcement
Carlie Sargent is moving on from her role as Skills Manager with qldwater to take up the position of Member Engagement Manager with the Australian Water Association. We thank Carlie for her contribution over the past three and a half years and look forward to continuing to work with her in her new role! Carlie’s last day will be Thursday 18 November.
6. Skills Advocacy
qldwater through the Water Skills Partnership and in our role as an Industry Skills Advisor to the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training (DESBT) and as a member of the Water Industry Reference Committee, is regularly asked to provide input to policy and investment decisions to support the skilling and training needs of the Queensland water industry workforce. The following is an overview of recent and other related activities:
Higher Level Skills Subsidies
Following feedback from Water Skills Partners, qldwater submitted a business case to DESBT earlier this year, seeking an increase to the Higher Level Skills subsidy for enrolments in the Certificate IV and Diploma as a means to encourage more enrolments into those courses. The request was considered as part of the Department’s annual pricing review in May but no changes were approved to the subsidies. We are continuing to field interest from a number of locations for operators to undertake the Certificate IV and we have made a further request to the Department to consider an increase in the subsidy for the Certificate IV. We will advise if any changes are approved.
Jobs Queensland Engagement
qldwater recently met with Joshua Rayner, Executive Director of Jobs Queensland, to discuss a proposal to support the Far North Queensland Region of Councils (FNQROC) with development of a workforce plan for operators in the region. qldwater will be submitting a formal proposal for a Jobs Queensland Officer to work with the region to use the Jobs Queensland Workforce Planning Toolkit to develop a plan which will could then be used as a case study/guide for other regions to adopt for future resource planning.
Water Skills Partnership Meeting
The next meeting of the Water Skills Partnership along with the Water Industry Worker Technical Group is being held on Thursday 28 October, 10am-12pm. Skills Partners can participate via the following MS Teams link: Skills Partnership Teams Meeting or contact Carlie Sargent on 3632 6853 or skills@qldwater.com.au to be sent the agenda papers.
7. Upcoming Events
- Foundation Skills Micro-Credentials, self-paced, online workshops and face to face workshops available. Enrol Now!
- Fundamentals Webinar, 10am, Tuesday 16 November, “Seasonal Disaster Readiness” presented by Trevor Harvey. Register now
For more upcoming events, visit: https://qldwater.com.au/upcoming-events.
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