Positive Futures: Apprenticeships and Traineeships in Queensland: Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater) Submission

Transcription

1 4/43-46 Sandgate Road Albion qld, 4006 po box 2100 fortitude valley, bc, 4006 phone fax website Positive Futures: Apprenticeships and Traineeships in Queensland: Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater) Submission The Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater) is the central advisory and advocacy body within Queensland s urban water industry. Its members currently include 73 of 75 local government or local government-owned water and sewerage businesses state-wide including all of the South-East Queensland utilities. qldwater aims to strengthen the urban water industry to maintain and improve the safety, health, wellbeing and sustainability of Queensland s communities. qldwater also operates the Queensland Water Skills Partnership which, after 5 years of operation, has established itself as the most significant industry-led skills program for the water industry in Queensland. The Partnership performs a number of functions in this role including securing skills and training funding for industry, producing reports and workforce planning documentation, coordinating industry wide skills/workforce development projects, piloting training initiatives, information sharing and collaboration opportunities and representation for Queensland on numerous national industry skills committees. There are currently 41 members of the Water Skills Partnership which includes existing qldwater members as well as bulk water providers SunWater and Seqwater. 1. Why has there been a rise in older workers entering apprenticeships and what are the benefits as a result? The water industry does not generally employ significant numbers of apprentices. The majority of water industry operations roles are covered through water operations traineeships. The industry does employ a relatively small number of electricians, plumbers and mechanical fitters although often uses Group Training Organisations to ensure that the apprentices receive the full suite of training and workplace experience required. The industry s experiences with apprenticeships are therefore limited. A graph from the 2016 Urban Water Industry Workforce Composition Snapshot Report (published by qldwater) is provided below as an indication of the breakdown of job roles across the urban water industry. 1 P a g e

2 Figure 1. Water Industry Job Families in How would you strengthen the role of apprenticeships and traineeships as a pathway to employment for young people? A number of water industry employers use traineeships to train and skill young workers. Due to the practical nature of water operations (e.g. operation of water treatment plants) onsite workplace training and experience are necessary in order to become competent. RTOs will not generally offer water operations training (from the National Water Training Package) to people not employed in the industry or able to gain workplace experience. Therefore, there are limited opportunities for young people to gain the qualifications or skills for water operations roles without undertaking a traineeship. Traineeships are the most viable option for employment in water operations roles. However, with a generally low turnover rate, and some HRM inflexibility, some employers find it difficult to retain the trainees in permanent full time positions. 3. How would you increase the diversity of people undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships? There are couple of aspects to increasing diversity of people undertaking traineeships. The first is targeting industry, perhaps non-traditional traineeship/apprenticeship industries, to ensure that employers are aware of the funding offsets and are encouraged to take on trainees and apprentices. 2 P a g e

3 The second would involve those industries undertaking recruitment and targeted advertisements. The water industry in particular is male-dominated and this is particularly evident in the operations roles that form traineeships. There has been some effort and a very small gradual change however a lot more can be undertaken to promote the industry as an employer of choice for women and encourage women to undertake traineeships. For the water industry in particular, this would likely mean industry-specific targeted programs. Overall apprenticeship or traineeship programs or campaigns may not be targeted enough. Incentives to support employers to participate in joint programs aimed at addressing these issues would be useful. There are benefits of industry collaboration in this space, and the lack of competition among utilities is a significant advantate. A fund to support regional or sector-scale planning and recruitment would benefit smaller employers to be able to look at different workforce planning and recruitment options including targeting untapped segments of the workforce. 4. How could the flexibilities of the apprenticeship and traineeship system be further explained to industry and employers? Industry bodies such as qldwater are well placed to ensure that their respective industries are aware of the traineeship and apprenticeship system and the details around it. qldwater undertakes regular communications with industry on the system and any changes and provides an information service to any industry bodies that have enquiries on the system. We receive regular enquiries from both employers and RTOs. Ensuring that the information that employers and industry receives is specific to their needs and requirements is likely a better communication method than trying to communicate generic apprenticeship/traineeship information to all industries. 5. In your opinion, what is the purpose of the apprenticeship and traineeship system? The apprenticeship and traineeship system serves more than one purpose. Firstly, it is a mechanism to provide young people or people changing careers with the workplace skills and associated qualifications in order to attain employment in the industry. In particular in today s economic climate, it is difficult to gain employment without first having some skills and qualifications. For industries such as the water industry, the only way to attain the qualification is through a traineeship or by being already employed. The system provides the incentives to employers to hire trainees and invest the effort in onsite training and qualifications. Secondly, it is a mechanism to ensure that priority high risk job roles (such as water treatment operations) receive the support to ensure that employees are appropriately trained and skilled to undertake their roles. The water industry qualifications are priority 1 under User Choice, thus many of those undertaking traineeships are 3 P a g e

4 existing employees without existing qualifications. The traineeship system enables employers to ensure that both new and existing employees are trained to the required standard to meet community needs and expectations. This is particularly important for regional water service providers who without the support from the traineeship system may not be able to fund the required training. 6. What role have incentives played in your interaction with the apprenticeship and traineeship system? The incentives available from the National system have played a limited role and for the last few years there have been few incentives available to the industry. They are seen as a bonus if available however unlikely to be the major driving factor for employers. The First Start Incentives may have had some impact however this was managed by the Local Government Association of Queensland and we are unaware of the results. The funding offsets through User Choice on the other hand are heavily relied upon, particularly for regional water service providers that are potentially unable to fund the training without the added support. Certainly the availability of User Choice has had a significant impact on the uptake of water industry traineeships and encouraged employers to train both new and existing staff under the scheme. Note, complications with the wind-up of Government Skills Australia and errors made in the 2015 package revision have meant a delay to enrolments 2016 figures are not reflective of demand. 6. Have particular aspects of the incentives schemes influenced you more than others? See Q5. 7. How could the incentives available be best understood by industry and employers? As noted in Q4 industry bodies such as qldwater are well placed to ensure that their respective industries are aware of the traineeship and apprenticeship system and the details around it, including incentives. As the incentives will vary depending on the industry it is important that industry employers receive the specific information that is relevant to them. qldwater regularly communicates any changes to incentives. For the past one and a half years DET has recognised the role qldwater plays through the DET Industry Advisory Organisation program. qldwater is also active nationally through chairing and administering the national Water Industry Skills Taskforce and participating in the Water Industry Reference Committee for the National training package. Others such as Apprenticeship Advisory Bodies and RTOs are also well placed to provide information. While the Department of Education and Training website is important to maintain, the majority of industry employers would use these other channels to source the information on incentives relevant to them. 4 P a g e

5 8. In what way could incentives assist with the creation of new jobs or productivity improvements in your business or industry? While incentives may increase the employment of trainees there is the remaining issue of long-term employment for the trainee once they finish their traineeship. For Councils, the main water service providers in Queensland, adding additional permanent employees is often a difficult exercise. Anecdotal feedback from water service providers suggests that the water businesses have had to let many good trainees go once they have finished their traineeship. 9. Do you use training methods that include work based learning (e.g. apprenticeships and traineeships) or institutional pathways (e.g. Certificate 3 Guarantee)? Why? The water industry predominantly uses traineeships for water operations training because workplace learning is an essential component. While the National Water Training Package does not explicitly state that a person must be employed in the industry to undertake a qualification this is often a requirement of RTOs that deliver the training. It would be extremely difficult to demonstrate competency without access to the physical facilities of a water or sewage treatment plant for example. It is not unlike an apprenticeship in some ways. Chisholm TAFE in Victoria has a training facility set up with water treatment processes and labs etc. This arrangement enables someone not working in the industry to get the hands-on experience. There is no equivalent set-up in Queensland* and thus work based learning (as opposed to institutional pathways) are the only realistic option to train new employees. It would not be possible to demonstrate competency through classes or theory alone and a work placement or something of the sort would be required to complete a qualification. * A number of utilities have established practical on-site training facilities including civil maintenance sites at Gold Coast and mechanical/ electrical workshops at Unitywater, however a full treatment plant set up is unique to Chisolm. 10. Are there features of your business/industry which impacts on the employment of apprentices or trainees? As noted in Q8, the complexities of being managed by Councils can mean that long term employment of new trainees is difficult. Industry is keen to train new employees through apprenticeships, however it is sometimes difficult to retain these staff. Trainees are often existing workers that require qualifications, rather than new employees. 5 P a g e

6 11. Can you describe any initiatives introduced to address them? The ability to provide or encourage more certainty and stability around ongoing employment would be beneficial. The rules for incentives and funding change often and therefore it is sometimes difficult for organisations to plan ahead. If there was greater stability an organisation might establish a small vacancy pool or similar to help keep trainees after they complete their training. Incentives for employing trainees once the traineeships expire may be more valuable than completion incentives if the intention is to promote greater employment. 12. What would make apprenticeships and traineeships more attractive to your industry? The uptake of traineeships across the industry is quite high. There are however issues in uptake which related to the National Water Training Package and the manner in which User Choice funding is allocated. For example, some operators work across both water and wastewater treatment plants but can only attain one traineeship/user Choice funded qualification from the National Water Training package when they may need to undertake both a Certificate III Water Treatment Wastewater and Certificate III Water Treatment Drinking Water. As these are seen as the same qualification, the trainee can only undertake one. Further, operators may move from operating a water treatment plant to then operating a wastewater treatment plant or vice versa. There are no offsets available to support the second Certificate III Water Treatment qualification as it is deemed the same as the previous. The training, relative to other non-operations qualifications, is invariably expensive. In addition, due to increasing technology and complexity of both water and wastewater treatment plants operators may require more units than the standard 11 units that makes up the qualification and is funded through User Choice. This is particularly important if operators want to apply to be formally certified under either the Certification Framework for Operators of Drinking Water Systems or the Sewage Treatment Plant Operator Certification Framework which both require that operators attain all the units of competency that are relevant to the treatment plant processes that they operate. Funding support to enable trainees to undertake additional units (in addition to the standard 11) that are relevant and necessary to apply for Certification would be valuable. 13. What are the key success factors in the completion of apprenticeships and traineeships? The completion rate for water industry traineeships is anticipated to be quite high. Based on qldwater s own reports on particular (coordinated) training programs it is in the vicinity of 90% or higher. While the effective requirement for employment can be a barrier to entry, it does assist significantly with completion. One of the key factors in success is adequate onsite support through the workplace to undertake the requirements of the traineeship. This is perhaps the most crucial and insufficient support can undermine the ability of the trainee to complete. Secondly, a quality training provider that engages the trainee is essential to 6 P a g e

7 ensure that they are invested in their learning. Even existing workers are keen to learn new skills through their traineeship and access to a skilled and qualified trainer is therefore essential. 14. What support is important in assisting small to medium businesses participate successfully in the apprenticeship and traineeship system? Small to medium businesses may require additional assistance in terms of accessing the traineeship funding and being made aware of opportunities and processes. Some smaller businesses may not have dedicated HR teams that can interpret and provide advice. qldwater offers support to small water service providers to ensure that they are aware of the opportunities and incentives available. As these small providers are often regional and remote and only need to employ one or two trainees qldwater coordinates opportunities for regional collaboration for training so that onsite training can be provided in a cost effective manner. Access to face to face training for regional employers is limited to their ability to either coordinate a regional group with other employers in order to make up minimum numbers or to pay excessively high fees in order to get an RTO onsite to train small numbers of staff. qldwater has been promoting and coordinating regional hub style models for some time however there is limited funding available to support this work. For example, funding for trainees to attend a location nearby for face to face training or funding to book training facilities may encourage further participation in both the traineeship system and this style of training delivery. 16. What would be needed for larger employers to increase engagement with the system? Larger employers may not have the same impediments to ensuring face to face training delivery however quality of training delivery is sometimes raised as an issue. The perception of the traineeship system and the training must be that the training is robust and provides employees/trainees with additional skills and knowledge to undertake their role. There may be a perception issue amongst some employers that the quality of training provided through the VET system is limited. Some employers view specific short course practical training by industry experts as more valuable than VET qualifications due to a perceived lack of rigour in training and assessment. Improvements to the training and assessment of trainees is necessary to improve the perception and increase engagement. Further, streamlining of the process for getting changes through the national training package system would assist in ensuring that the current training is the most up to date. For example, significant delays in getting changes to the Diploma of Water Operations (to correct the problem of units which were in use being deleted) mean that enrolments are unlikely in the short term. 7 P a g e

8 17. How would you define quality in an apprenticeship and traineeship system? Quality in the apprenticeship and traineeship system relates both to the quality of training and assessment services provided by the PQS as well as the quality of the overall system in its ability to target funding and initiatives where they derive the most value and are most necessary. The system needs to be flexible in order to deliver work ready skills and adapt to changing job roles. The current rules and restrictions impose conditions that may not generate the best outcomes for industry. 18. Are you satisfied with the current apprenticeship and traineeship system? Why? The current apprenticeship and traineeship systems generally meets the needs of the water industry. There are some issues around edibility and ability to undertake additional units of competency as mentioned in Q12. The quality of the training provided is perhaps the biggest issue. The training quality can be highly variable depending on individual trainers and each organisation has different expectations. 19. What strategies could further improve the quality of the current system? As noted, further flexibility in the system to be able to respond to the changing needs of industry is required. Standard VET outcomes as set through a Certificate II or III qualification may not always be the most valuable for the trainee or the employer. The system needs to look at the job requirement and position funding to support that. This may include making available exceptions to current User Choice rules where a case can be made. For example, enabling an operator to undertake more than the 11 units of competency in a Certificate III Water Treatment qualification because the standard 11 units of competency does not meet the needs of the processes that the student operate and require in order to apply for formal Certification as an operator through an independent body. 20. What is your awareness of, or experience with, pre-employment apprenticeship and traineeship programs? The industry has had limited experience with pre-employment programs. 21. Do you value these programs as a pre-employment pathway? Why? N/A 22. What would enhance the value of pre-employment apprenticeship and traineeship programs for both employers and participants? N/A 8 P a g e

9 23. What has been your experience with school-based apprenticeships and traineeships? The water industry does not have a high uptake of school based traineeships. 24. How has the school-based apprenticeship and traineeship system met your needs? N/A 25. Please provide examples of school- based apprenticeships and traineeships proving to be a valuable employment pathway. N/A 26. What enhancements would you suggest to school-based apprenticeships and traineeships? N/A 27. To what extent is increased specialisation a feature of your industry? Increased specialisation is a key feature of the industry as new technology continues to have a significant impact. The water industry employees are evolving to require a wide range of skill sets in order to perform their roles, this includes requirements for dual trades and dual qualifications. Employees need to be both multi-skilled and also skilled in specialised pieces of equipment or processes. 28. How is this affecting your participation in the apprenticeship and traineeship system? A this stage the impact on traineeship participant is likely minimal however it will present a growing issue in future are employers require training that may not be covered trough the National Water Training package and thus not available under traditional traineeships. Employers will increasingly need to look outside of the traineeship system if the system does not respond to this growing need. 29. What is the tolerance of industry to the use of simulation within the apprenticeship and traineeship system? The water industry generally states a preference for face to face onsite training. There are however younger employees that are increasingly interested in online training (particularly to take advantage of its self-paced nature) and simulation could form a part of that training. Employers report something of a stigma associated with online training - there is a perception that many past offerings have not ultimately delivered employees with work-ready skills. There has been some previous work in developing simulation tools for the water industry however the impediments include the large cost to develop the materials and the cost and commitment to ongoing updating of 9 P a g e

10 resources that may become quickly out of date. One university developed two full simulations (gaming-style environment) based on units from the training package. The instability in the package has further discouraged this type of ongoing investment. Certainly for regional employers simulation may be an option however it is yet to be fully explored. 30. How is technology changing the training requirements of apprentices and trainees in your industry? The water industry is technologically advancing at a rate that the National Water Training package and VET system do not appear to be keeping up with. The requirements to be competent in a range of technologies are increasing, however where these are not covered through the training package there is no opportunity for including the training in traineeship training requirements. Employers generally use additional non-accredited training in order to ensure that water industry operators are trained and skilled in new technologies. 31. What changes could assist apprenticeships and traineeships continue to meet the challenges of technological change? The reliance on the national training packages as providing all the necessary content for a traineeship may need to change. Often, there are other industry courses that would meet the needs of the trainee much better than a particular unit in the national training package however there are no opportunities for these courses to be recognised through traineeships. 10 P a g e