Queensland Government launches new skills strategy
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 6, 23 August 2024, page 25.
Queensland’s Minister for Skills and Training Development has launched Good Jobs, Great Training: Queensland Skills Strategy 2024–2028. The strategy is the culmination of more than 18 months of the Queensland Government’s tripartite review of the delivery of vocational education and training.
In 2022, as part of the Queensland Government’s Good People. Good Jobs: Queensland Workforce Strategy 2022-2032, Di Farmer, as Minister for Skills and Training Development, convened a working party of unions, including the QTU, as well as employers and training providers. The Minister’s consultative process included surveys, forums and focus groups, and stakeholder submissions, and the voices of more than 8,000 Queensland students, parents, employers, and organisations were heard.
The QTU Submission to Queensland Government’s Development of a Queensland Vocational Education and Training Strategy remains on the QTU website as a member only document, under the publications tab.
In December 2023, Lance McCallum was sworn in as Queensland’s Minister for Skills and Training Development. Minister McCallum has continued to engage with the QTU and affiliated trade unions in the development of Good Jobs, Great Training, which was launched following the release of the National Skills Agreement and prior to the Queensland State Budget.
Good Jobs, Great Training is Queensland’s roadmap to deliver on the National Skills Agreement, and it is a key action under the Good People. Good Jobs strategy.
The National Skills Agreement commits to up to $2.54 billion of Australian Government investment for Queensland, to support the state’s ongoing strong investment in skills and training, which will expand and transform access to the VET sector, support quality training, and implement reforms to address critical skills needs.
The Queensland Government has allocated additional funding of more than $200 million over two years to commence the first stage of Good Jobs, Great Training, to strengthen Queensland’s training system, to deliver skills needed to in the state’s economy, and to provide access to good jobs with better pay.
Good Jobs, Great Training delivers on five focus areas.
- Skills for good jobs through a commitment to training for one million Queenslanders. Fee-Free TAFE is welcomed, but it is contributing to workload and workforce pressures. As part of this focus area, Queensland will explore options to attract and support people with industry experience to reskill as trainers and assessors in areas of shortage, with a focus on regional Queensland.
- Training that has the power to change lives, which commits to collaboration and a staged approach from the 2026 school year, replacing the current VET in Schools (VETiS) program with a new Career Ready VET in Schools program.
- TAFE for all Queenslanders, delivering training across Queensland and skills for local economies by putting TAFE at the heart of the training system. This includes a program to revitalise and equip TAFE campuses for the future.
- A training system backing Queenslanders, which includes work as part of the National Skills Agreement to improve course completions, gender equality, greater access to foundation skills and Closing the Gap training outcomes. In response to specific stakeholder feedback, the Queensland Government will also develop a new website to help students and parents navigate career and training pathways.
- Quality and results driven, which includes a commitment to continuing to provide independent support to Queensland VET students, apprentices, and trainees through the Office of the Queensland Training Ombudsman. This is a welcome announcement. The QTU called for a training ombudsman prior to the 2015 state election.
The Queensland Government’s Good Jobs, Great Training is a welcome announcement. It is a strategy that has been achieved through rigorous consultation and is an investment in the future of our state that recognises TAFE as the heart of a future made in Queensland. The QTU knows that it is TAFE that continues to uphold high standards and access to high quality teaching and learning programs, ensuring our workforce is skilled and ready for the challenges of tomorrow.