2013 Environmental Scan - Community Services & Health Industry ...

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
OF TRAINING PACKAGES
THE CARE INDUSTRY – A TIME FOR ACTION
Three forces are driving rapid change
to the workforce requirements of the
Community Services and Health industry:
1. New funding models, developed
around client centred care.
2. Resource constraints that prompt
new thinking around job roles.
3. A changing mix of service providers,
from public to not for profit and
private sector.
Additionally, technology continues to
create new work roles and change
existing roles, particularly in health care.
Both of the Community Services and
Health Training Packages must become
more responsive to these changes. This
responsiveness must be facilitated by
additional resources and by industry
acceptance of new processes. In
November 2012, The Standing Council
on Tertiary Education, Skills and
Employment (SCOTESE) endorsed new
Standards for Training Packages. The new
Standards retain units of competency as
the foundation for training packages and
now include assessment requirements
which will mandate work placement and
workplace based assessments.
Over the next 12 months the CS&HISC
will continue to work with industry
to revise the Health and Community
Services Training Packages in line
with the new standards to ensure that
units of competency and qualifications
complement the identified workforce
development priorities:
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Providing community services and
health workers with the competencies
to work in autonomous environments
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Promoting skills portability
across aligned sectors for example
Aged Care, Mental Health and
Disability services
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Assisting to improve management
and leadership capability across
the industry.
To respond, CS&HISC will:
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Increase the ‘speed to market’ for new
training packages, units of competency
and qualifications by working to
shorten the implementation process
Our success will be dependent upon
agreement with key stakeholders and
ensuring that appropriate industry
consultations are undertaken and
responsibilities for helping facilitate
‘speed to market’ are shared quicker
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Reduce duplication in units of
competency and promote common
elements between aligned sectors
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Build the workforce development
capacity of managers in the industry
through recognised training and other
forms of support.
At the VET system level, meeting the
workforce needs of the Community
Services and Health industry requires:
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Qualifications that are flexible and
allow for the particular context of
different workplaces
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Greater attention to the regulation of
providers, especially around delivery
of training and assessment
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Sustainable models for funding
work placements
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Better pathways between VET
and higher education and vice
versa across all areas of
community services and health.
A QUICKER
‘SPEED TO MARKET’
The increasing pace of change in the
industry means that the process for
reviewing Training Packages and its
endorsed components must be quicker
and more streamlined than it has been
in the past. A more efficient process
and commitment to implementation from
all stakeholders is required along with
greater leadership to ensure quicker
‘speed to market’ is achieved. Progress on
implementation would also be facilitated by
enhancing the capability and capacity of
RTO’s to meet industry needs. The process
for registration and accreditation also
needs review to ensure they are optimised
for greater ‘speed to market’.
The mismatch between new workforce
priorities and training package components
is experienced across the different
community services and health sectors
and comes about because of time lags
as well as changes to the policy settings
beyond the VET system. Reducing the
period spent developing and implementing
new training packages, new units of
competency and new qualifications will
reduce this mismatch but will require a
change in approach.
To reduce the speed bumps CS&HISC
will consider ways to increase ‘speed to
market’ for the part of the process for
which it has control. But it is clear this is
only one part of the process and CS&HISC
does not have sole responsibility for
ensuring quicker ‘speed to market’.
Getting national consensus across a range
of stakeholders will require a strong policy
direction and leadership beyond that
which can be solely provided by CS&HISC.
Greater traction would assist RTOs to
develop quality curriculum products and
hence respond to stakeholders’ needs in
a timely manner. CS&HISC in pursuing
the issue of quicker ‘speed to market’ is
hopeful that this will generate action that
leads to more market reflexive practices.
DIRECTIONS FOR
TRAINING PACKAGES
The first workforce priority, providing
workers with the competencies to work in
client led care environments, is beginning
to be addressed. Training Packages
are being reviewed to ensure they are
addressing issues of occupational health
and safety, supervision, financial advice
and legal obligations to clients including
the inclusion of negotiation competencies
as part of more generic skill sets.
In relation to the second identified
workforce priority, the CS&HISC will
continue to work closely with stakeholders
across the service sectors to develop
a greater shared understanding and
approach to aligning career pathways.
CS&HISC is responding to this need in
its current review and has established a
consultation strategy to ensure consensus
on the commonality across sectors.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN 2013 : SECTION FOUR FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF TRAINING PACKAGES
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