Murat Dizdar

Hello everyone, it's Murat Dizdar here, Secretary for the NSW Department of Education. I'd like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, our traditional custodians of the land that we are filming on today, and I want to pay my deep respects to Aboriginal Elders past and present. I'm delighted to release the NSW Skills Plan: Building Skills and Shaping Success.

It sets out our vision for reforming vocational education and training to support all learners across NSW. At the department, we are stewards of lifelong learners. It's through vocational education and training that we are reskilling the state and supporting every learner to find a meaningful career.

I'm proud that the plan clearly sets out how, along with our plan for NSW public education, we will continue to create an outstanding and equitable system designed to support every individual at each stage of their life to succeed. Importantly, the NSW Skills Plan outlines actions to build and strengthen our VET teaching workforce.

Focusing on teacher recruitment and retention, particularly in those critical skills areas such as STEM and the trades, strengthening our vocational education training system means an equitable education and training system that supports all learners to succeed. This plan is a product of extensive consultation across the sector.

It responds to areas of critical skills needs identified in the recent independent review of vocational education and training in NSW, while supporting our ongoing commitments under the National Skills Agreement. We do want to make sure the right skills are in the right places and we want to remove barriers for learners to access pathways to training and jobs. I invite you to read the plan.

As we work together across the department and sector to support a future-ready workforce for NSW.

Focus: Shift to more outcomes-driven funding focused on students, government skills priorities and industry needs, and supported by a network of high-quality public, private and community providers.

Focus: Rebuild a strong, resilient and future-focused TAFE NSW as a strategic asset and trusted industry partner to set the benchmark for quality across the system.

Focus: Establish a new regional skills planning model that embeds stronger community-based decisions and supports collaboration, connection and innovation within local communities.

Focus: Driving targeted skill investment and improving skills planning to better support critical skills areas in NSW Government priority sectors and industries with chronic and persistent shortages.

Priority actions:

• Prioritise the development of industry, workforce and place-based skilling responses for Critical Skills Areas in:
  • Construction - infrastructure and housing

  • Net Zero and energy transition

  • Digital and cyber

  • Care and support economy

  • Agriculture and agrifood.

• Establish new skills insight data assets as public resources to support future-focused planning and system stewardship.
• Deliver and support 2,300 new apprenticeships and traineeships across the NSW public and local government sectors to enhance capacity and support diverse and equitable pathways.
• Establish 3 TAFE NSW Centres of Excellence supported by Australian Government funding, to provide high-quality and responsive training in Critical Skills Areas.
• Collaborate with the Australian Government to better coordinate migration intake in line with NSW skills shortages.

Focus: Prioritise programs and initiatives that remove barriers to access and support all students to succeed in diverse education pathways. This includes improved wrap-around support and a renewed focus on student outcomes and completions.

Action:

• Review and enhance equity and learner support programs to embed a learner-centred approach that prioritises individual needs across TAFE NSW and other providers.

• Improve the availability of wrap-around support to priority cohorts across the NSW VET system.

• Build Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations, Aboriginal-owned and broader RTO capacity to engage Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander learners.

• Provide funding flexibility to providers to offer more foundation skills and other core skills to meet the needs of individuals where and when they need it in line with National Skills Agreement.
  

• Improve credit recognition across NSW education providers to support learner-centred aspirational pathways and attainment.

• Provide fee-free training, concessions and enabling supports to remove financial barriers for priority cohorts.

• Strengthen VET pathways, transitions and career support for secondary learners aligning with Our Plan for Public Education to increase the number of young people developing skills in key and local industries.

Focus: Establish a strong foundation of industry partnerships and governance, including a focus on industry compacts and engagement models that embed shared accountability and co-investment approaches.

Action:

• Establish industry compacts around government skill priorities to enhance industry role in NSW skills system.
• Partner with industry to establish a Hydrogen Centre of Excellence to support the pipeline of jobs in the growing NSW renewables sector.
• Support employers to build capacity and quality as well as increase the uptake and retention of apprentices and trainees.
• Reform skills and industry governance to provide expert and representative advice to the NSW Government on emerging challenges.
• Pilot a new regional skills governance model to improve community decision-making and address local needs.
• Leverage government's role as an employer, purchaser and partner to enhance the NSW skills base and drive industry's contribution to skills development and diversity.

Focus: Build and support the NSW VET teaching workforce by addressing training, industrial and broader career attractiveness factors that currently limit workforce supply.

Action:

• Expand successful workforce attraction approaches to target areas of critical skills needs and teacher shortage.
• Expand and convert permanent roles for TAFE NSW to provide security to the teaching workforce.
• Reduce unnecessary VET teacher administrative and compliance workloads.
• Collaborate with the Australian Government on VET Workforce Blueprint initiatives to support the sustainability and diversity of the VET sector.
• Develop workforce pilots to enable collaboration across public schools and TAFE NSW and enhance educational provision.
• Promote transitions into the VET teaching workforce from industry to support the teaching pipeline.

Focus: Support a more responsive and innovative NSW skills system through a range of collaborative actions including national qualification reform, tertiary sector integration and precinct planning.

Action:

• Collaborate with the Australian Government on VET qualifications reform to increase flexibility and responsiveness to industry needs.
• Lead the future development of integrated tertiary sector models to provide greater opportunities to students.
• Prioritise and coordinate collaborative precinct planning across secondary and tertiary education systems to support student outcomes and industry needs.
• Provide strategic guidance on using quality microcredentials to support further skill development and address emerging student, industry and government needs.
• Review the NSW Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act 2001 under the Apprenticeship and Traineeship Roadmap to support system flexibility and develop innovative training models.
• Network TAFE NSW nationally in line with National Skills Agreement initiatives, to better respond to industry needs through shared workforce and education practice.