Ai Group Queensland welcomes the release of the State Government’s Skills for Queensland plan as a promising step towards ensuring an appropriately qualified, productive, and agile future workforce for this State’s businesses.
Acting Ai Group Queensland head Maurice Swan said it was vital the State had a skills strategy that was tailored to respond to the evolving needs of industry.
“Among the initiatives we applaud is the commitment to a higher-level apprenticeship pilot, which will create an enhanced pathway for employees to build the higher level specialist skills needed by industry into apprenticeship models,” Mr Swan said.
“The allocation of $5.5million for a three-year micro-credentialing pilot is also welcomed as a timely response to the need of providing employees with the relevant skills in a timeframe which matches the pace of change and innovation in businesses.
“It is also pleasing to see a reduction in financial barriers for employers training apprentices and when viewed alongside the work being done at a Federal level on the VET sector, it is clear there is positive intent on many fronts which needs to be encouraged and continually moved forward.
“We agree with the strategy document emphasis that anticipating future skills needs requires continuous effort by Government, industry and stakeholders to plan ahead and translate modern thinking about skills and workforce needs into market settings and we look forward to helping to deliver on this ambition,” Mr Swan said.
