Throughout this project we consulted with stakeholders to identify the opportunities and challenges facing the textiles, clothing and footwear workforce and to assess if the national qualifications meet their needs. Real-world insights from industry, training providers and other stakeholders have been essential to gaining a full picture of workforce challenges and opportunities.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the consultation processes. Your input has helped to:
Recommendations
Stakeholder consultations, including face-to-face and online meetings, online forums and surveys, along with input from the Subject Matter Expert Working Group have led to ten recommendations included in the final project report. These will help inform potential JSC projects.
Conduct an industry-wide skills and occupational mapping project to identify current and future skills needed by the textiles, clothing and footwear industry. This proposed mapping project should:
- present a national industry training profile
- provide a framework of current and emerging job roles and associated skills
- map vertical and lateral career pathways in the industry
- identify gaps in training provision
- identify industry skills that are transferrable across job roles and sectors.
Ongoing developments in the textiles, clothing and footwear industry drive the need for updates and improvements to the content and design of the training package. The results of the proposed skills and occupational mapping project will guide the development of the training package, taking into account industry demand for more flexible and accessible qualifications and the VET Qualification Reform, Opens in new tab design principles. The flexibility and accessibility of the package could be enhanced by reassessing the volume/complexity of existing qualifications and providing skill sets and micro-credentials that deliver in-demand skills.
- Design a high integrity, cost and time-effective Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process to enable existing workers to gain national recognition for their skills.
- Pilot the new RPL process across a range of the industry sectors, occupations and work settings.
- Roll out the RPL process across the industry workforce.
- Consistent with the National Workforce Strategy 2022-2027, Principle 3 Remove Barriers and Disincentives to Work, design and roll out short, intensive and nationally recognised training programs, including any required training and assessment materials, for women, migrants, First Nations people and those located in regional, rural and remote communities to ensure that they have the foundation and technical skills to access employment in the industry.
- Design and roll out short, flexible, nationally recognised skills upgrading programs for existing workers. These programs, including any necessary training and assessment materials, will equip existing workers with new in-demand skills focused on emerging technologies, updated materials, new work practices and industrial processes, and strengthened environmental regulations in the industry.
- Examine the current and potential use of alternative training delivery methods, including workplace training, work-integrated learning, customisable enterprise-based training, multi-industry/sector qualifications, adult apprenticeships/traineeships, and online learning, to facilitate the rollout of nationally recognised training to existing workers and new entrants in the industry.
- Develop and support the rollout of an industry-specific apprenticeship/traineeship model that incorporates pre-apprenticeship programs focused on the production and construction job roles needed to sustain Australian textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing capabilities.
- Pilot a range of group training initiatives to support the expansion of apprenticeship/traineeship programs.
Due to human capital deficiencies, shortages of skilled people in critical occupations can threaten organisational goals, strategic programs, supply chains, and businesses. The research will focus on defining critical occupations, identifying critical occupations in the industry, and designing ways to build sustainable capability in critical occupations rapidly.
Use the outcomes of the proposed skills and occupational mapping project to inform future discussions about the classification of textiles, clothing and footwear occupations under the Occupational Standard Classification of Australia.
- Pilot a research project on attracting and retaining high-quality industry trainers and assessors.
- Develop an industry trainer and assessor capability-building strategy.
Establish pilot programs for industry-led Hubs as a strategic initiative to enhance the uptake and completion of qualifications, micro credentials and skill sets in key regions. The industry-led Hubs will engage with industry, government entities, RTOs, schools, community organisations and other key stakeholders to promote networking and support partnerships between industry and RTOs. The Hubs will focus on introducing innovative approaches to improve the uptake of the training package and provide new training initiatives for new entrants and existing workers across the industry.
- Develop pathways linking VET in School, pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship/traineeship programs aligned with industry skill needs.
- Develop a campaign to drive awareness of the breadth of jobs in textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing and increase the uptake of nationally recognised manufacturing qualifications amongst school leavers and other young people.
