As part of the vocational education and training (VET) sector reforms and new industry engagement arrangements, 10 Jobs and Skills Councils (JSCs) have now been established. This is a significant milestone in the reform work to effectively respond to Australia’s skills and workforce challenges and deliver better outcomes for learners and employers.
JSCs are empowered to lead skills and workforce solutions for their industries, bringing together employers and unions to work in partnership with governments and training providers.
With a broader remit than previous arrangements, JSCs 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.
The first year of operations sees a significant effort by JSCs to undertake workforce planning, build partnerships with key stakeholders and establish their governance and operational structures including strategic taskforces and technical sub-committees.
The JSC CEO Network Forum, which provides an opportunity to bring CEOs together to support ongoing collaboration in delivering the JSC Program, are also meeting regularly and have identified priorities for future cross-JSC collaboration. These priorities are:
- A diverse and inclusive workforce
- Ensuring ANZSCO codes accurately reflect the workforce
- Supporting teachers and trainer capacity and skills development
- Digital capability
- Workforce transition.
You can find more information about the JSC Program and each of the JSCs via the DEWR JSC web page
