Skills eFlash #105
Date: 02-Mar-2022
In this edition: Postponement of Skills Forum 2022| Welcome Anna Mehonoshen| Operator Competency Meeting| HR Connect: Employability Skills| SCADA Micro Credentials Update| Skills Advocacy| Upcoming Events
1. Postponement of Skills Forum 2022
Regrettably the Skills Forum planned for 3 March can’t proceed given the flooding issues in SEQ. We will consult with our stakeholders later in the week as things start to settle down with a possible rescheduling to 3 June.
2. Welcome Anna Mehonoshen
We are pleased to welcome Anna Mehonoshen as our new Water Skills Partnership Coordinator.
Hopefully you’ll all get the chance to meet her soon, it’s been an interesting induction process this week. Carlie Sargent is kindly helping out with the handover to Anna so we should be back to normal with our skills programs very soon.
3. Operator Competency Meeting
The workshop with the DRDMW policy team to discuss the Queensland Operator Competency Project has also been postponed and we will advise as soon as a suitable replacement date is organized.
4. HR Connect: Employability Skills - 1 little thing
Following a recent HR Connect meeting, DESBT released some handy resources to assist with recruitment, foundation skills and traineeships. The document can be downloaded here.
5. SCADA Micro-Credentials Update
The first cohort of students completed the SCADA Micro-Credential this month with excellent feedback from participants. All spots for the upcoming course dates have now been filled.
It has been great to see so much interest in the topic, and we again thank DESBT for funding the Micro-Credentials program and DRDMW for providing additional support for extra places for the SCADA course.
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:
Workforce Summit
The Queensland Government will host the Queensland Workforce Summit on Friday 11 March and is seeking input from businesses to identify the needs and opportunities that should be addressed.
The theme for this event is ‘Building our Future, Together’ and aims to foster collaboration and develop innovative solutions to current, emerging and future workforce challenges.
To help set the scene for the summit and provide a snapshot of the current environment, DESBT is conducting a short survey of Queensland businesses. We would appreciate it if you would share this link with businesses in your network.
QUEENSLAND WORKFORCE SUMMIT SURVEY
The survey will close ahead of the summit on Friday, 4 March 2022 so responses can be analysed and a summary shared with attendees. This will guide the discussion towards the greatest needs for our economy and to develop proposals with the best opportunities for success going forward.
Attendance at the Summit is by invitation only, and Dave Cameron will be attending on behalf of qldwater.
VET Reforms
We are not in a good position yet to provide an update on broader VET reforms – the water industry through the water industry Reference Committee has been placed in an industry cluster which has raised some concerns around being “lost” amongst bigger sectors and there are a number of different negotiations which need to be resolved before we can be clear about what the future model might look like.
The Australian Government is also hosting a series of virtual Industry Roundtables to gain industry and employer views on the delivery and value of VET for Secondary Students. The Industry Roundtables will be facilitated by The Social Deck and insights gained from the workshops will inform the development of the National VET for Secondary Students Strategy.
In conjunction with the Industry Roundtables, online feedback forms are also available for you to provide your thoughts on how to improve the quality and industry relevance of VET delivered to secondary students in the context of the development of a National Strategy. You can complete the feedback forms regardless of whether or not you are attending the Industry Roundtables. You can access the feedback form here: Industry Feedback Form
Please consult the Skills Reform Hub at VET for Secondary Students Reforms - Skills Reform to find out more and register for one of the Industry Roundtables Sessions.
Finally, the department is seeking stakeholder views on the delivery of VET for secondary students in rural regional and remote localities. If you would be interested in completing a survey on delivery in these locations, you can access the survey here: Regional, Rural and Remote Delivery Feedback Form.
Ozwater workshop/ panel
One of our submissions for an Ozwater panel session in May has been accepted and if you are heading to the event, “Developing solutions to the water industry’s training supply market crisis” will happen on 11 May, 4pm – 5:30pm.
We are still recruiting topic leaders but have agreement for participation from WIOA, Taswater, NSW Water Directorate, WSAA, DPI NSW, Vicwater, and Water Corp (WA) at this stage.
The aim is to produce a workshop report to aid in planning for ways to stimulate the training supply market, considering a full range of challenges including access to subject matter experts for training and assessment, delivery methods, quality, learning resources and the best way to invest limited resources.
7. SCADA Micro-Credentials Update
The next Fundamentals Webinar will be hold on March 15 with Terry Fagg from Western Downs Regional Council presenting on “Presence/ Absence E.coli Testing”. Register Here
For more upcoming events, visit: https://qldwater.com.au/upcoming-events.