Newbery Consulting VET News – 13th October 2020

Hello and welcome to VET News,

The federal budget handed down by the government last week looks broadly positive for the VET sector. The increase in funded training places as well as wages subsidised for apprentices and trainees is likely to give the sector a solid boost. There is also the opportunity to hire a trainee under the JobMaker program to help out with the likely growth in administration and upgrade training related equipment whilst benefiting from the generous instant asset write-off arrangements. Overall, it seems to be very positive which is exactly what the sector needs right now. More details provided on the budget below.

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Good training,

Joe Newbery

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Compliance & Regulatory News

Federal Budget 20-2021 

The Morrison Government has released the 2020‑21 Budget, an economic recovery plan for Australia.

The Government is investing in education, skills and apprenticeships as part of its JobMaker Plan, committing to support people getting into jobs and ensuring that Australians have the right skills for the jobs of the future. In summary: 

  • JobTrainer – $6.9 billion in 2020‑21 investment, supporting up to 340,700 additional free or low-fee training places.
  • New apprenticeships – an additional $1.2 billion through the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements Wage Subsidy by paying a 50 percent wage subsidy for commencing apprentices and trainees. 
  • Support for job seekers – investing $62.8 million to establish the new Local Jobs Program to connect job seekers to local employment opportunities, as well as $296 million to deliver a new Digital Employment Services platform that will assist job seekers in managing their own way into employment and training.
  • More job-ready graduates – investing $299 million to provide an additional 12,000 undergraduate Commonwealth Supported Places in 2021, as well as up to 30,000 additional university places available next year.
  • Short courses to reskill and upskill Australians – committing $252 million to support the delivery of 50,000 higher education short courses to provide opportunities for students and the recently unemployed to retrain in areas of high demand and national priority.

The new JobMaker Hiring Credit will also help to accelerate growth in employment by giving businesses incentives to take on additional employees that are young job seekers aged 16 to 35 years old, estimated to support around 450,000 positions for young people and cost $4 billion from 2020-21 to 2022‑23. 

Read more.

ASQA welcomes conviction against misleading advertising

An ASQA investigation into misrepresentation of vocational education training (VET) courses has led to a conviction and $10,000 fine for Qualify Me! Pty Ltd in the NSW Local Court. Qualify Me! Pty Ltd was found by the Downing Centre Local Court to have contravened section 123A of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (the NVR Act) by advertising a VET course without identifying the issuer of the VET qualification.

Read more.

Extended transition period for CPP30115 Certificate III in Urban Pest Management

ASQA has recently approved a further extended transition period for CPP30115 Certificate III in Urban Pest Management. The extended training, assessment and certification issuance period for this qualification ends on 29 September 2021. ASQA had previously extended this qualification for all learners until 29 March 2021 and for Western Australian cohorts until 29 September 2021.

Read more.

Other VET News

Consultation on amendments to the ESOS Act

The Australian Government is proposing changes to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) to make it easier for education providers to deliver a wider range of short courses to international students outside their primary course of study. The changes aim to improve international students’ employability and enhance their experience while studying in Australia.  The department is accepting feedback on these proposed changes to the ESOS Act until 5pm AEST Friday 9 October 2020.

For further information, click here.

Free training for the Horticulture Industry

As part of the Skills Ready program, the McGowan Government has released another fee-free short course as part of the $229.2 million investment in TAFE and training to build a pipeline of skilled workers and support the State’s economic recovery. The new Introduction to Production Horticulture skill set will prepare workers for entry level roles in horticulture, covering safe work practice in the horticultural industry; as well as the skills and knowledge to either plant or harvest horticultural crops, depending on the season and location.

Read more.

AgSkilled 2.0 Program

The AgSkilled 2.0 program is a $15 million investment by the NSW Government to upskill and better prepare the agricultural workforce for fast-moving change driven by industry innovation, research and technology through vocational education and training (VET), particularly in the plant-based fibre (e.g. cotton), grains, production horticulture, viticulture and rice growing agricultural industry sectors across rural and regional NSW. The program runs till 30 June 2023.

Read more.

ACT submissions due – AVETMISS quarterly reporting

Registered training organisations (RTOs) are reminded that the submission window for reporting September quarter ACT-funded training activity is open from 1 to 15 October 2020. This requirement applies to RTOs with a Training Initiative Funding Agreement, and those that have approved teach-out arrangements under the previous ACT Funding Agreement.

For further information, click here.

Articles and Papers

Rationalising VET qualifications: selected international approaches

This report adds international evidence to recent research that proposes reorganising Australian VET qualifications into occupational or vocational clusters will provide extra benefits, including more career mobility for learners and more workers for industry in times of demand. This report examines international examples from countries that rationalised their VET qualifications so they could respond more effectively to emerging skill needs and highlights a series of considerations for the Australian VET system.

Read more.

Labour Market Trend Updates

Quarterly ABS industry data for August 2020

The Australian workforce is employed across 19 broad industries as defined in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006. In total, there are approximately 12,577,100 employed people in Australia according to ABS trend data. Over the past five years, employment across all industries has increased by 6.7 per cent. The median age for workers in Australia is 39 years and median weekly earnings are around $1,100 per week. Education and Training employs approximately 1,084,800 persons, which accounts for 8.6 per cent of the total workforce.

Read more.
 

Training Package & Qualification Updates

Training Package Update

The following training packages have been updated on training.gov.au:

  • UEE11: Electrotechnology Training Package
    Revised 5th October 2020.
  • ICT: Information and Communications Technology
    Revised 2nd October 2020. 

Upcoming Events

Assessment in Practice – Designing and Using Assessment Tools
Webinar: Tuesday, 20 October 2020
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM AEDT

This session provides both practical and specific information on the design and development of assessment tools to gather evidence that can be used to make judgements of competence. Links to the recording and materials of Part 1 and 3 of the series can be found on the TAC website under recordings.

Read more.

An Introduction to VET and Australian Apprenticeships Data
Webinar: Wednesday 28 October
2:00PM – 3:00PM AEDT

AATIS and NCVER will focus on data from NCVER, the National Skills Commission, the Labour Market Information Portal, and other sources. Australian Apprenticeships and VET data. This online webinar will discuss key data sets, what terms mean and how to interpret the data.

Read more.

Notices

RTO Data Cloud

Newbery Consulting has been supplying student management software for over 10 years. A cloud based RTO student management system that provides RTOs the capability to manage their training operation and meet all national and State reporting and compliance obligations. It would be our pleasure to offer you access as a trial user and you can evaluate the system capabilities for yourself.

Don’t continue to pay too much for cloud based AVETMISS software. Have the flexibility to only paying for your additional users as you need them on a flat daily cost of only $2.00 per day. Set up your online enrolments and customise your certificates at no extra cost. Need to manage your CRICOS and State funded enrolments, no problems. Get in contact with the team at Newbery Consulting today and request to be set up as a trial user.

Read more.

Life Charity Focus 

Newbery Consulting proudly supports Life Charity Focus.

Life Charity Focus is a community based, non-profit organisation operating in Eastern Uganda in the Budaka district, providing private quality education for over 1000 children, as well as free medical care for the whole family, access to unlimited clean water and 2-3 nutritious meals per day. Life Charity Focus is making a difference for these families and children. You can as well by sponsoring a child for as little as $42 per month. 

If you want to get involved click here.

Copyright © Newbery Consulting 2020, All rights reserved.

This publication was researched and prepared by Newbery Consulting.

Our emailing address is:
enquiries@newberyconsulting.com.au


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