Supporting industry and employers
South Australia’s workforce continues to be shaped by the development and deployment of new technologies, such as those being used in advanced manufacturing or renewable energy.
These technologies will continue to increase the demand for highly skilled workers. We will continue monitoring and exploring emerging technologies to ensure the skills of our learners allow them to be successful in jobs for today, and into the future.
Our focus is to see employers and industry actively engage and partner to build an adaptable workforce, informed by need and evidence.
Government and industry will work in partnership to meet skills needs based on evidence and data.
Economic growth is strongly linked to the skills of workers, and is supported by an education, skills and training system that can equip businesses with the skills they need to innovate, grow, and succeed.
We will work with industry and across Government to better understand South Australia’s workforce needs and support the development and delivery of the workforce the state needs now and into the future.
The South Australian Skills Commission and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) are central to understanding industry and workforce perspectives and informing Government policy and delivery in response to need.
Thriving South Australia - Areas of reform
Planning for economic and social priorities
Our investment in priority skills will be targeted to achieve social and economic priorities, and to ensure South Australia can deliver skilled workers in key industry areas to deliver major projects.
Our long-term planning approach will have a strong quantitative and qualitative evidence base, augmented by new data sets, the latest technology, and innovative approaches.
Each year, Skills SA, and the South Australian Skills Commission, informed by the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science and the CITB, will release a Jobs and Skills Outlook which will provide a focus on current and emerging skills needs across a 5-year period. This is one way of informing South Australians about the state's future skills needs for a smart, sustainable, and inclusive economy. The Jobs and Skills Outlook will inform our Skills Investment Plan.
Partnership approach
Skilled. Thriving. Connected. has been developed based on engagement and partnerships with stakeholders across industry, community and government, and the voices of learners.
To implement Skilled. Thriving. Connected. we will:
- partner with industry to facilitate mutual benefit and obligation in recognition of the shared investment in skills,
- build capability and capacity of training providers to deliver high quality training in areas of need,
- proactively lead opportunities across government and with the broader community to identify and respond to learner and industry needs, and
- develop new approaches to engaging with learners to ensure their experiences inform our future policy development and service delivery approaches.
Supporting employers, unions, and industry
Employer, unions, and industry engagement in skills development ensures that training products and delivery approaches are fit for purpose, and workforce needs are met, as employees have the skills required to contribute to their industry.
We will build on providing opportunities to support employers and partnering with industry to engage in skills development in areas crucial for South Australia through:
- development of training products and programs to support skill development,
- training delivery,
- providing safe and high-quality apprenticeships and traineeships,
- provision of work placements, and
- engagement with training providers to inform quality training delivery and learner outcomes.
Place-based approaches
South Australia’s regions play a crucial role in contributing to the future prosperity of the state.
We will work with local communities across South Australia to develop skills and training approaches that:
- recognise local stakeholders are best placed to co-design training approaches, programs and services that affect them,
- include industry and/or community-based partnerships that respond to local skill needs and improve outcomes, and
TAFE SA must play a central role in regions to ensure these communities get the skills they need.
VET data and evidence
Timely access to better-quality VET data and regular engagement with stakeholders and customers supports decision making and will lead to more effective responses to industry skill needs in the transition to a smart, sustainable, and inclusive economy.
Through Skilled. Thriving. Connected., we will work to deepen insights and intelligence through stakeholder engagement and data, to help inform evidence to measure our impact.
Through the National Skills Agreement, we are partnering with the Australian Government and other states and territories to improve the accessibility of accurate, timely and quality VET data. This will provide stakeholders with a richer understanding of VET activity to inform evidence-based decision making.
Skills Centres
CASE STUDY
To help shape this policy, Skills SA reached out to its network of key stakeholders for valuable input. A common theme was the need for better connections between learners, training providers and employers, particularly in regional areas.
As a result, Skills SA established the Skills Centres pilot, that will run over the 2023-24 financial year in five regional South Australia locations; Cleve, Mount Gambier, Port Augusta, Berri, and the Murraylands.
The Skills Centres aim to connect learners, training providers and employers and get more people into local jobs. Each Skills Centre responds to local needs through delivery of a physical space that will promote connection in an innovative and proactive way and respond to regional challenges such as addressing acute skills shortages across multiple industries, attracting training providers to deliver locally and improving VET completion rates.
The Port Augusta Skill Centre, which was officially opened in November 2023, is just one example of how these Skills Centres are providing support and addressing skill shortages in the local community, with outreach to Ceduna and the APY Lands. Focusing on the local community care sector the Port Augusta Skills Centre fosters partnerships that leverage services, resources, and expertise to directly benefit the region.
Learners and job seekers can access tailored learning programs, formal qualifications, career advice, work placements and intensive support to assist them in completing their studies and finding employment while existing workers can upskill to support their career progression, contributing to retention in the care sector.