The key message from the Chair of the Australian Industry and Skills Committee, Mr John Pollaers, to the 2015 National VET Conference in Adelaide today was: “The VET system plays a key role in ensuring a productive Australian economy and competitive Australian businesses”.
“Australia has a strong and well respected VET system. It will continue to be strengthened by industry leadership, high quality training and flexible delivery models. But there is a need for a significant cultural shift in thinking about the ways skills are generated and deployed” Mr Pollaers said.
Mr Pollaers called on all players in the VET system to “take responsibility for the status of VET in Australia - by ensuring the quality of our training and our trainers and by placing student outcomes and industry requirements at the forefront of our thinking and planning.”
Mr Pollaers praised the commitment of conference attendees and urged immediate action to ensure that Australia’s economy has both the quality and quantity of skills in new entrants to the workforce, as well as through up-skilling existing workers, to support a future for industry to meet productivity and growth targets.”
A full transcript of the speech, together with further information about the Committee and its role in VET reform, is available at http://www.education.gov.au/AISC.
John Pollaers | email: aiscsecretariat@education.gov.au