Edition 41, December 2006

Australias skills future

A new body of research from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research has outlined what needs to be done to anticipate and plan for the skills of the future.

A well-skilled future: Tailoring vocational education and training to the emerging labour market investigates how to get a better match between the skill needs of employers and the offerings of the national training system. It examines future labour demand and supply, the changing nature of work organisation, the participation of existing and new workers in vocational education and training, and the sector's current and adaptive capacity.

A clear message from the research is that addressing skill shortages into the future requires a sophisticated understanding of their causes and possible remedies.

For training policy-makers and providers, the research identifies a number of ways forward. These include:

  • concentrating training effort on the skills that are difficult to learn and are likely to grow in demand or where replacement vacancies are large
  • learning from successful regions, which combine local networks and positive community attitudes, and seeking creative ways to work with employers
  • investing more resources in teaching higher-level qualifications-Associate professional and professional occupations have shown the fastest rates of growth in recent years

Dr Tom Karmel of the National Centre of Vocational Education Research notes 'It is difficult to forecast with accuracy what jobs of the future will look like. It will, therefore, be challenging to coordinate and organise the VET system to respond to these needs.'

The research was undertaken by a consortium of researchers from the National Institute of Labour Studies and the Centre for Post-Compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning.

Copies of A well-skilled future: Tailoring VET to the emerging labour market-Research overviews can be downloaded from the National Centre of Vocational Education Research website at www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1721.html

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