The fifteenth meeting of the Australian Industry and Skills Committee (AISC) Emergency Response Sub‑Committee (the sub-committee) was held on Friday 2 October 2020.
Mandatory Work Requirements
The sub-committee considered an update from the Secretariat regarding ongoing consultations with stakeholders on barriers and solutions to issues associated with the completion of mandatory workplace requirements.
In this context, the sub-committee welcomed the participation of representatives of the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA), TAFE Directors Australia (TDA) as well as the Tourism, Travel & Hospitality, and Sports and Recreation Industry Reference Committees (IRCs) who shared their views on the issues around mandatory work placements during the COVID-19 pandemic. This discussion highlighted the significant complexity of the issue, including the variability of student experiences across industry sectors and jurisdictions, the desire to keep students engaged and connected with their education and training, and the concern to ensure that the VET system does not lose its focus on applied skills and knowledge.
The sub-committee will take this feedback into account before finalising advice to skills ministers on potential options and next steps.
Certificate III in Individual Support – strengthened infection control training
The sub-committee supports the need to strengthen the quality of infection control training for students undertaking the Ageing and Disability specialisations of CHC33015 Certificate III in Individual Support.
The sub-committee agreed to an extraordinary minor change to add unit HLTINF001 Comply with infection prevention and control policies and procedures to the required units for the Ageing and Disability specialisations of CHC33015 Certificate III in Individual Support.
The change applies to all newly enrolled students from 9 September 2020. This is the date that the changes were made by the Industry Reference Committee on training.gov.au.
Following further discussion at this meeting, the sub-committee determined that for students enrolled prior to 9 September, an extraordinary transition period will apply with changes to take effect from 28 February 2021.
Given the ongoing uncertainty as to when clinical placements in aged care will be available again in Victoria, this transition period is to be reviewed specifically for students in that jurisdiction within 3 months.
All currently enrolled students and graduates are strongly encouraged to undertake the unit HLTINF001.
Critical Skills for Recovery – Update and Phase One projects for endorsement
The sub-committee discussed and endorsed two proposed skill sets developed to support workers develop critical skills needed to support economic recovery. In endorsing the proposals, the sub‑committee acknowledged the significant efforts of IRCs in developing high quality, targeted training products that will benefit job seekers, workers and businesses within a very short time frame.
| Title | Scope |
| Manage Disrespectful, Aggressive or Abusive Customers Skill Set | A new skill set that covers the skills and knowledge required by front-line retail workers to deal with aggressive and potentially violent customers.
In developing this as a cross-sector unit, the scope of the skill set has retained a retail focus but designed so that it can support workers in other, retail like, customer facing occupations. Contextual information to support the delivery of the unit across multiple sectors is being developed to support the skill set, covering: retail; community pharmacy; hair and beauty; hospitality; aged care; local government; public transport; and transport and logistics. |
| Upskilling Trainers for Virtual Delivery | Creation of a new skill set to support workers in VET and industry to design, develop and coordinate online and virtual learning. |
Each of the products endorsed by the sub-committee will be made available on training.gov.au shortly and will be in-scope for funding through the JobTrainer fund, subject to the discretion of individual state and territory jurisdictions.
Terms of Reference
The Chair formally advised the sub-committee that the Skills Ministers had extended the sub-committee to 31 December 2020. The Terms of Reference will be updated accordingly and published on the AISC website.
Next Meeting
The next sub-committee meeting will be held on 8 October 2020.