E-learning funding for power equipment apprentices

The Outdoor Power Equipment Association (OPEA) has been funded by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework) to partner with six TAFE institutes from around Australia to integrate e-learning into workforce development for their industry sector.

This announcement comes as COAG (Council of Australian Governments) is looking to maximise the number of people who commence and complete apprenticeships to ensure there is an appropriately skilled workforce as the economy recovers from global economic crisis.

The majority of workers are based in rural locations and in line with COAG’s Fair Deal for Australia’s Regions, the funding will provide increased access to regional and remote training for mechanics. The industry sector also has an ageing workforce that has an urgent need to attract young people and develop the skills of its workforce.

As part of their workforce development strategy, the outdoor power equipment industry sector plans to develop a suite of high quality learning and assessment resources. These resources will be shared by all registered training organisations (RTOs) offering the Certificate II and III in Outdoor Power Equipment (OPE) for remote learners.

Each TAFE will contribute their existing learning and assessment resources and Kangan Institute, as the lead RTO, will develop prototypes for the national e-learning material.

The outdoor power equipment industry sector are also looking to improve:

• the e-learning facilitation skills of RTO trainers delivering qualifications
   
• coaching and mentoring skills of supervisors and employers of apprentices
   
• employer satisfaction in the quality of training and assessment delivered by RTOs, which will lead to the employment of more apprentices
   
• OPE apprentice satisfaction in the quality of the training they receive, which will in turn improve their retention rate
   
• relations between employers and RTOs
   
• cooperation between RTOs who train OPE apprentices, which will in turn lead to greater sharing of resources in the future and hence further improvements to the quality of apprentice training.

Bruce Butt, Chair of the OPEA training advisory committee, said that a recent survey conducted by OPEA indicated that 75% of the employers would employ an apprentice if they were available.

“We know that employers want to take on apprentices, but until we improve the quality of training resources and access to training we’re unlikely to see a big change in the attraction and retention of apprentices in the industry.

“The flexibility and regional reach of e-learning makes it a perfect fit to encourage mechanics to get involved and stay in the industry.”

Outdoor power equipment is the tenth industry sector to receive the Framework’s Industry Integration of E-learning funding. For more information about the other industry sectors, visit: http://industry.flexiblelearning.net.au. This website provides rich resources, such as the online Practical guide to e-learning for industry where employers can discover how to make e-learning work in their business. You can also access the Guidelines for supporting learners using e-learning in workplaces report which investigates a range of e-learning strategies used by businesses that have received Framework funding over the past few years.

» Click here to comment on this article
Published on 18/03/2010