VET News

The National Skills Commission - Improving Confidence in Australia's VET System

The National Skills Commission (NSC) undertook an extensive co-design with over 500 people from all parts of the skills and labour market sector. The result of that design showed that, to provide a robust analysis of Australia’s current skills needs and those likely to be needed in the future, the sector wants a strong, independent voice, not just for the vocational education and training system, but for the whole labour market.

The NSC’s aim is to develop robust intelligence on Australia’s labour market, workforce, and current and emerging skills needs. Over the rest of 2020 the NSC will look to release reports that outline the likely skills needs of the economy as it continues to recover from COVID-19.

In this transcript, Commissioner Boynton discusses:

• labour market statistics and structural shifts that have and will continue to occur
• avoiding mismatches between what businesses want and the skills people have, and
• how, as the economy recovers and businesses start hiring again, people with the right skills are found.

The Explanatory Memorandum for the National Skills Commissioner Bill notes that the Commissioner would develop and maintain a set of efficient prices for VET courses, examine the cost drivers for courses, the different public and private returns for courses, and develop a list of efficient prices for courses.

The Commissioner stated that the NSC has come into being at a critical time and that the real value of the NSC comes from the inter-linkage of all these elements.  All of this work is about improving confidence in the system, particularly from the perspective of students, thinking about the outcomes of the VET system with reference to the labour market, and thinking holistically about skill needs, training, quality, pricing and outcomes.

You can read the full transcript from Commissioner Boynton here.

Date posted Jul 16, 2020