Training places just one piece of the ‘skills puzzle’ – Skills DMC

The comment comes following media reports that the Productivity Places Program (PPP) “neglects vital skills” and falls short of employers' needs.
Des Caulfield, CEO of SkillsDMC says as a new program, the PPP requires a collaborative and long-term approach from industry to establish a talent pipeline for now and the future.
“There is no doubt that due to the higher cost of training, the resources and infrastructure industry requires more funds and training places to replace an ageing workforce and meet projected growth beyond 2010,” said Caulfield.
“However, with the global financial crisis hitting just four-to-five months after the PPP was implemented in April last year, it has been a major distraction for industry and skills development providers."
Caulfield said that while a number of people in the resources and infrastructure industry lost their jobs; many more did not due to organisations focusing efforts to retain highly-skilled, valuable employees.
The evident upsurge in global demand for energy, and other resources provided by Australia, will require a concerted effort by all the stakeholders to attract, train and retain an appropriate workforce.
He pointed out that the mining industry spends more of its own money than any other sector on training; and the sector's employees spend more time training in an exclusive working environment than any other sector. The majority of employees are trained on-the-job through formal instructional programs.
“For the PPP to be a successful and revolutionary training initiative, it needs to be truly industry-demand-driven,” said Caulfield.
“Providing a clear picture of the current workforce and skills gaps is an important part of this process. It ensures critical areas can be identified and prioritised for the delivery of training places."
Under the PPP funding arrangements, SkillsDMC is conducting a project to upskill and credential more than 150 existing workers across the mining, civil construction, drilling and quarrying sectors.
Training 'places' are just one piece of the puzzle, said Caulfield. Just last month, SkillsDMC received National Quality Council endorsement for its new Training Package 'RII09'; increasing the recognition of skills (credentials) across Australia. The resources and infrastructure sectors are the first industry to collapse five individual sector packages into one national competency recognition system.
The new package will increase the portability and recognition of skills across all five sectors (coal mining, civil infrastructure, construction materials, drilling and metalliferous sectors).