Gold Coast TAFE offering flexible compliance training to the resources sector – This is the first article of a four part series by Gold Coast Institute of TAFE (GCIT), looking at the changing face of training and development and emerging options for the resources sector. Future editions will take a closer look at some of the methods for determining the skills needed in specific work environments and how these skills can be accessed through a tailored training solution.
Alongside the rapid growth of the resources sector and increasing calls from employers for more relevant and timely training, Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) across Australia have been scrambling to become more responsive and flexible than ever before.
An entirely new order is unveiling where RTOs are aligning their training to workplaces by catering for their specific skills and accreditation requirements.
Gone are the days where off-the-shelf, one-size-fi ts-all training programs can be pushed to a generic consumer. Today, it is about practical skills, delivered where and when needed. Many employers, particularly in the time-critical resources sector, will no longer accept ‘padded’ courses containing perceived ‘low-value’ or irrelevant competencies. The lingering mystique of training packages is finally now being challenged as we return to the original purpose of vocational training – to maximise the value of employees through high quality, relevant training.
Training packages have always been adaptable to meet the needs of the workplace – and in fact were designed for that purpose. So what has changed?… The conversation is now being led by employers, giving centre stage to job requirements over the training package itself – the horse is finally back in front of the cart.
Full qualifications, still highly relevant to many roles within the sector, are now being tailored via more thoughtful selection from a broader range of electives. Meanwhile, an increasingly popular option for employers is to develop their own tailored skills set comprising competencies from one or more training packages. These competencies are then heavily contextualised for training within the organisation’s own functions and work environment. GCIT has developed several skills sets such as the ‘Bolt Up Fitters’ course that was recently delivered to WDS in the Surat Basin.
Training Manager for WDS Limited, Roy Graham-Measor said, “With GCIT we have designed a tailored ‘Bolt Up Fitters’ course to the essential skills and knowledge required for bolting up pipe work flanges – steel, HDPE (poly) or a combination of both.
“The training is provided at either GCIT premises or at our worksites, using our own procedures and documentation. Training equipment in the form of pipework and flanges has been provided by WDS for use at GCIT. The same sort of equipment is also provided at worksites, so those personnel who have completed this training are ready for work as a Bolt Up Fitter.
“GCIT staff spent time with our site Safety and Quality Assurance personnel to ensure that all of our in-house standards were included in the training course.
“A Certificate of Competence and Pocket Card are issued on successful completion of the training. These can be presented to the client at the work site to show that the holder has been trained in the task they are performing,” he said.
As a result of this customised approach to training, the skills and fl exibility of trainers and AQTF auditors must also now evolve by shaving back existing systems and wellworn assessment documents, to return to the roots of endorsed skills and knowledge requirements within each training package.
GCIT is also using a fresh approach to Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and has simplified the RPL process for companies by flying our RPL specialists into the workplace across Australia and conducting skills assessments on-site. This often results in candidates receiving a qualifi cation within 10 working days of their assessment.
For further information on the flexible and tailored training that GCIT can offer you please phone (07) 5581 8788 or visit www.gcit.edu.au.
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