Jobs and Skills Councils (JSCs) have been established to provide industry with a stronger voice to ensure Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) sector delivers better outcomes for learners and employers.
They bring together employers, unions and governments in a tripartite arrangement to find solutions to skills and workforce challenges.
On this page:
What is a Jobs and Skills Council?
A Jobs and Skills Council (JSC) is a not-for-profit company that is industry-owned and industry-led. They are part of a national network of 10 JSCs that provide leadership to address skills and workforce challenges for their industry. They:
- align effort across industries to improve VET system responsiveness
- build stakeholder confidence
- drive high-quality outcomes for the VET sector, learners and business.
JSCs will identify skills and workforce needs for their sectors, map career pathways across education sectors, develop contemporary VET training products, support collaboration between industry and training providers to improve training and assessment practice, and act as a source of intelligence on issues affecting their industries.
Each JSC works closely with Jobs and Skills Australia, drawing on its workforce analysis and projections to plan for their industry sector and creating a consistent approach to addressing skill gaps.
Discover the JSC operating environment.
JSC Functions
JSCs are responsible for the following four core functions:
- Workforce Planning
Workforce Planning is the strategic centrepiece for JSCs and informs the other functions. Workforce planning will underpin intelligence-gathering for strategic priorities and will be a critical focus to guide strategic planning. - Training Product Development
Training product development requires JSCs to develop training products in line with standards set by Skills Ministers to improve the quality, speed to market and responsiveness of training products. - Implementation, Promotion and Monitoring
JSCs will partner with training providers and organisations to align workforce planning objectives and national training products with career advice and ‘on the ground’ training delivery. - Industry Stewardship
JSCs will act as a source of intelligence on workforce issues affecting their industries and provide advice on national training system policies.
Meet the JSCs
As part of the functions listed above, JSCs are responsible for the following industry sectors and training packages as indicated in the following table.
| Jobs and Skills Council | Related Training Packages |
|---|---|
| Skills Insight Agribusiness, Fibre, Furnishing, Food, Animal and Environment Care Covering industries of primary production — plants and animals — as well as textiles, clothing and footwear, forestry, timber and furnishing. Emerging industries include natural resources security and environmental management. | |
| Service and Creative Skills Australia (formerly SkillsEQuipped) Arts, Personal Services, Retail, Tourism and Hospitality Covering ‘high street’ human services such as hairdressing, floristry, travel, hospitality as well as the creative economy with fine art, ceramics, music, dance, theatre and screen. Wholesale and retail services, including emerging industries such as online sales. | |
| Powering Skills Organisation Ltd Energy, Gas and Renewables Covering the industries of electricity, gas, renewable energy and storage or the use of resources in the production of energy. Emerging industries include hydrogen. | |
| Future Skills Organisation Finance, Technology and Business Covering professional services or otherwise supporting the needs of a successful business including marketing, accounting, human resources, digital literacy, and information and communication technologies. Emerging industries include cyber security, financial technologies, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. | |
| Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance Manufacturing Covering industries of manufacturing and engineering, light manufacturing including pharmaceuticals, print, food and advanced manufacturing. Emerging industries include defence and space technologies. |
|
| Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance Mining and Automotive Covering industries involved in mineral exploration and extraction operations, and automotive. Emerging industries include driverless automotive technologies. |
|
| Industry Skills Australia Transport and Logistics Covering industries involved in warehousing and distribution operations as well as transport, including rail, maritime, aviation, and logistical support and supply chains. Emerging industries include omnichannel logistics and distribution and air and space transport and logistics. | |
| Public Skills Australia Public Safety and Government Covering industries directly involved in public service (e.g., local government, police, corrective services, public safety). | |
| HumanAbility Aged and Disability, Children’s Education and Care, Health, Human Services, Sport and Recreation Covering industries that offer community services and support such as aged care, disability services, mental health, early childhood education and health, and sport and recreation services. | |
| BuildSkills Australia Building, Construction, Property and Water Covering industries that provide property services, small or large scale construction services, traditional building as well as large scale civil infrastructure services and water infrastructure operations. |
Training Package Enquiries
Training providers are expected to employ trainers and assessors who are competent practitioners that have skills and knowledge in their industry and in delivering vocational education and training. Training providers should also have processes in place to ensure all trainers and assessors will undertake relevant professional development.
Training providers with questions regarding current training products that cannot be answered by drawing on the expertise of their training and assessment staff, should refer their enquiries to the relevant JSC.
Questions that relate to regulatory matters should be raised with the relevant VET regulatory authority:
- Australian Skills Quality Authority via this contact form
- Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority via this contact form
- Training Accreditation Council (WA) via tac@dtwd.wa.gov.au.
Interim Arrangements for the Training and Education, and Foundation Skills Training Packages
The Skills and Workforce Ministerial Council agreed that the Commonwealth Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the department) will have temporary oversight of the Training and Education (TAE) and Foundation Skills (FSK) training packages.
Given the Education industry sector is of critical importance in underpinning the entire VET sector, particularly in supporting foundation skills and the VET workforce more broadly, the department is considering alternative arrangements to best serve the Education industry sector in the short and longer-term.
In the interim, the department has established a small time-limited TAE/FSK Training Package Technical Reference Group (TRG) to assist the department in responding to enquiries about the TAE and FSK training packages.
The TAE/FSK Training Package TRG will assist the department with any urgent work associated with these training packages, support implementation of the TAE training package updated in 2022, and clarify interpretations relating to training product content and associated regulatory requirements. The TRG is not seeking any redevelopment of the TAE/FSK training packages.
FAQs on the interim arrangements
Technical queries regarding the TAE and FSK training packages can be sent to TrainingProductQueries@dewr.gov.au until longer-term arrangements are settled.
Training Package Companion Volumes
Quality assurance for training products
The Training Package Assurance function is located in the department. The Training Package Assurance team is independent from the management of JSCs and is led by a non-statutory appointed Executive Director.
The role of the function is to ensure training packages developed by JSCs meet the requirements of national standards and policies.
For more information, see the Training Package Assurance page.
Related information
- Australian Skills and Quality Authority
- Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority
- Training and Accreditation Council Western Australia
- Jobs and Skills Australia
- National Careers Institute
- National Training Register
- Your Career
Frequently Asked Questions
A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document has been developed, and will be updated for questions raised about the JSCs and the industry engagements arrangements.
Contact Us
We welcome feedback on the JSC Program. Please send enquiries and comments to JSC-NetworksandEngagement@dewr.gov.au.