Turner, Harry - AusIMM

Response:

Background on this submission - 

AusIMM is the peak body and trusted voice for the 65,000 resources professionals working across the Australasian region. Established under Royal Charter in 1893, we represent professionals across all levels of the mining industry, working from exploration though to delivery, and in disciplines ranging from mining engineering to geoscience, health and safety, finance, government and academia.

AusIMM protect and promote the highest standards of professionalism, ethical conduct and technical excellence in the resources sector. We believe the professional and technical excellence of the Australian resources workforce is key to our industry’s future. 

Indeed, the Australian resources sector has transformed dramatically over recent decades and this trend of innovation will only accelerate as we move into the future. The nature of work is changing, as are the skills demanded across all parts of the resources industry, making the sustainable supply of a skilled workforce a challenge of paramount importance. 

We emphasise in this response that we do not represent mining industry employers, employees (in their capacity as employees) or VET providers. Rather, we are the professional body for resources professionals, and represent people in resources as a collective whole, striving to ensure that the frameworks in place to develop skills and equip our workforce for the future are fit-for-purpose and responsive to the fast-evolving nature of the industry.

Many resources professionals access the workforce, in the first instance, through Vocational Education and Training. Likewise, many of our members (who have for the most part progressed to tertiary and other qualifications) have direct experience engaging with the VET system, working with and supporting the career development of VET graduates, and playing a role in the identification and fulfillment of operational workforce requirements.

With this, we have undertaken to share the Skills Reform Discussion Paper with our members and invited them to provide their responses both to us, and directly to the Government through this online submission form.

In this submission, we offer an overview of some of the insights shared directly with us in relation to the adequacy of the current VET scheme.

Response:

Yes

Response:

Members have suggested that industry reference groups currently charged with developing and designing VET qualifications should have the responsibility (clearly articulated in relevant governance documents) to ensure that qualifications can be delivered economically by RTO providers and in a way that balances the needs of both students and employers. 

Members emphasise that students, providers and employers must be deeply involved in the design of qualifications. We add here that industry reference groups might consider sharing draft qualifications with the industry broadly through the channels of their respective membership and a formal government channel such as the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and with professional bodies such as AusIMM. This will create the opportunity for individuals, such as our members, with specific technical knowledge and the organisations who represent them to provide feedback on the ‘fitness for purpose’ of specific qualifications, as appropriate.

Response:

As noted in the responses provided by our members to the previous question - 

Members emphasise that students, providers and employers must be deeply engaged in the design of qualifications. We add here that industry reference groups might consider sharing draft qualifications with the industry broadly, through the channels of their respective membership, as well as a formal government channel such as the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and with professional bodies such as AusIMM. This will create the opportunity for individuals, such as our members, with specific technical knowledge, and the organisations who represent them, to provide feedback on the ‘fitness for purpose’ of specific qualifications, as appropriate.

Response:

AusIMM see that the skills and training system must be flexible, high-quality and responsive to the increasingly diverse, distributed and digitally connected nature of the workforce. As the demand for skilled workers grows across the workforce, a fit-for-purpose training system is one that equips students with skills that are adaptable and transferable, and that will be relevant throughout the entirety of their working life

The resources sector continues to demand a range of ‘traditional’ skillsets, such as geology and mining engineering. There is also an increasing demand for people with skills that correspond to the rapid development and adoption of new technology in the sector, such as data science, virtual operations, drone technology and artificial intelligence. People in resources must also have the skills to ensure the sector meets the highest social responsibility standards. These trends are as relevant for the mining sector as they are for the broader economy. They are likewise borne out in trends around ‘upskilling’ for both established professionals and employers' key capability demands when recruiting entry-level individuals.

With this, our members have cited trends that suggest the current design of resources-relevant qualifications may not be fit-for-purpose. More specifically, members have pointed to trends in the coverage of current resources-relevant qualifications across all vocational education tiers, from Certificate 1 through Advanced Diploma. Members have provided feedback to suggest that the number of available mining-related courses has reduced in recent years.

For example, our members have cited figures indicating a close to 40% reduction in the number of RTO providers offering Certificate IV and Diploma mining courses (across surface extraction, surface coal, underground coal, metalliferous and resources processing) since 2014. Members have also shared data indicating relatively low nation-wide enrolment numbers for existing mining-related Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma qualifications, and average completion rates between 25% and 50%.

Members indicate several potential contributing factors to this trend, including the high cost of delivering current mining vocational courses and the lack of courses that focus on emerging skillsets for the mining workforce (such as mining technology and sustainability). 

Members suggest course design should, particularly at the lower levels of qualification, focus on core technological, environmental and social-community skillsets. These will help students progress to higher, industry-specific qualifications that build on these critical capabilities and ensure both career-long adaptability (for the student) and fitness-for-purpose (for the employer). 

Response:

No response provided.