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Speaker 2: Government appears to have answered calls from those in the
Speaker 2: trade industry. An overhaul of apprenticeships and in training are
Speaker 2: on the way, effectively letting experts run things their own way.
Speaker 2: A new independent industry lead model will be introduced early
Speaker 2: next year, taking responsibility awale from the failed to perking
Speaker 2: a polytechnic kind of trouble, saying that to perking of Polytechnic,
Speaker 2: there we go. Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmons joins me.
Speaker 3: Good morning, good morning.
Speaker 2: So industries have been crying out for this, haven't they?
Speaker 2: Why was the system not working?
Speaker 3: Lookis industry have been crying out for it, and it's
Speaker 3: been about getting industry back in the driver's seat. So
Speaker 3: it wasn't working because industry voice had been taken away.
Speaker 3: The old industry training organizations had been centralized into the
Speaker 3: Combined Polytechnics Entity Pooking, which took industry away from being
Speaker 3: able to control the sort of training that went on
Speaker 3: for their apprentices.
Speaker 2: How big a job is the one you've got ahead
Speaker 2: of you?
Speaker 3: Then, look, it's quite big. It's taken quite a long time,
Speaker 3: which has been frustrating for me and frustrating for industry.
Speaker 3: But we're getting now to the sharp end of it
Speaker 3: and we're looking at having a lot of things set
Speaker 3: up by one January next year. So certainly the Industry
Speaker 3: Skills Boards will be set up by one January next year.
Speaker 3: The work based learning units, the old itos, they will
Speaker 3: come out of the Taputina and they will sit for
Speaker 3: a transition period with the Industry Skills Boards while industry
Speaker 3: decides whether they want to have a private training provider
Speaker 3: and industry training provider, and they can then set up
Speaker 3: the private training provider if they wish to.
Speaker 2: There's criticism that the plan lacks detailents a lot to
Speaker 2: get done by January. What's your response to that.
Speaker 3: Look, No, there is a lot of d tail behind it,
Speaker 3: and it's about getting the legislation in place. So the
Speaker 3: legislation will be introduced to the House soon that will
Speaker 3: certainly have all the detail in it, and then there'll
Speaker 3: be the period of the Select Committee where people will
Speaker 3: be able to have a say in if they see
Speaker 3: some of the detail that needs changed.
Speaker 2: Okay, have some sectors been putting their plans together already.
Speaker 3: Yes, certainly they have. Yes, I think there will be
Speaker 3: some industries that will be ready straight away to set
Speaker 3: up a private training provider as soon as they're able
Speaker 3: to in the beginning of next year, So poking is.
Speaker 2: Out of the picture. Now, are you confident that most importantly,
Speaker 2: new apprentices are going to get the skills they need.
Speaker 3: Yes, Look, taputing will be in the scene still until
Speaker 3: the end of next year. We have to leave it
Speaker 3: there to mop up a few things. But yes, Really
Speaker 3: this is about industry having control. So industry will set
Speaker 3: the standards. Industry will develop the qualifications. Industry will do
Speaker 3: the endorsement of who can deliver programs to meet those qualifications.
Speaker 3: They will then have the quality assurance role as well.
Speaker 3: So industry every step of the way are going to
Speaker 3: be in control of ensuring that apprentices are learning what
Speaker 3: they need to learn for their industry. And it really
Speaker 3: does then put the responsibility onto industry to list those
Speaker 3: completion rates, because at the moment we have under fifty
Speaker 3: percent completion rates for our apprentices and we only have
Speaker 3: between ten and twenty percent of employers taking on apprentices.
Speaker 3: So industry now will have control and will have the
Speaker 3: responsibility of lifting those rates also.
Speaker 2: Excellent lots to keep you busy. Their Penny that is
Speaker 2: a vocational educational minister. Sorry, what did I say, vocational
Speaker 2: education minister. There we go Penny Simmons.
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