Aged Services Industry Reference Committee

Aged Services Industry Reference Committee – Call for nominations

The AISC is pleased to call for nominations from industry stakeholders for membership of the Aged Services Industry Reference Committee (IRC). Nominations close COB Tuesday, 24 July 2018 and instructions on how to nominate are detailed below.

The Aged Services IRC will assist in responding to findings from the Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce, with a focus on a range of strategic actions to grow and sustain an agile and enabled aged services workforce that can provide safe and quality care to older Australians in a variety of settings. This includes ensuring that the national training system and higher education can address both current and future competencies and skill requirements for new workers entering the sector and existing staff needing to upskill.

The Aged Services IRC will be responsible for:

• reforming national training package qualifications and skill sets needed by the aged services industry
• examining new approaches to career structuring and progression in the sector, and the education pathways needed to support these
• scoping opportunities for collaboration across vocational education and training (VET), higher education and a range of industry sectors to tackle the challenges of an ageing society
• working with other IRCs which have an interest in qualifications relevant to the aged services sector to ensure industry needs are considered and met.

The AISC seeks to ensure that the membership of the Aged Services IRC provides the best possible industry coverage and expertise to support the work of the committee. The AISC is looking for active practitioners and/or representatives from within the industry, with extensive experience in and knowledge of the skilling and workforce needs of the aged services sector, with the capacity to proactively apply these attributes to the work of the IRC.

When considering nominations, the AISC is interested in:

• knowledge and expertise of the skills required for professional development and qualifications frameworks
• the level of influence the nominee has across the sector and how they are perceived in relation to industry-wide issues
• the capacity of the nominee to consider current and future directions/influences for their industry and to relate those factors to workforce development and skills needs
• the capability of the nominee to provide input directly, to seek input from others and to represent a variety of circumstances across the industry.

In determining the final membership, the AISC will consider both the characteristics of nominees (as set out in their nomination) and the composition of the committee as a whole to ensure it is balanced and appropriate to the aged services industry.

Please note that while it may not be possible to include every nominee on the IRC, it is important to remember that the Skills Service Organisation (SkillsIQ) and the IRC will consult widely with all interested stakeholders and existing IRCs as appropriate to progress the work of the committee.

Further, given the high-level of interest and engagement, and the complexity of the reforms to be progressed by the Aged Services IRC, the IRC will establish a number of ‘specific interest’ advisory committees to provide high-level strategic and policy advice to support the work of the IRC. See below for more details.

IRC Structure – Feedback

Consultation on the draft structure for the Aged Services IRC closed on 4 April 2018 and provided an opportunity for industry to comment on whether the structure would adequately represent the Aged Services industry. The AISC welcomed the comments received from a range of stakeholders, including industry/employers, peaks, education providers and government.

The final structure and membership is outlined below.

Call for nominations

Nominations can be made via the nomination form at the bottom of this page. To assist the AISC in determining the membership for the IRC, please:

• complete the nomination and privacy consent forms, and provide information against the criteria
• submit a current resume
• provide the names of two referees.

Once you have completed and saved the attachment, please email it (with supporting documentation) to education‑sectoralpolicy@education.gov.au by COB Tuesday, 24 July 2018.

Organisations that have already been allocated a position on the IRC do not have to submit a nomination. The AISC will directly invite these organisations to nominate their representative.

Further information about the role of IRCs and how they will operate can be found in the IRC Operating Framework.

Please note: If you are successful in gaining a position on the IRC, your name, organisation, position/expertise and coverage (state/territory or national) will be published on the AISC website.

Aged Services Advisory Committees

The following ‘specific interest’ advisory committees will be established to support the work of the Aged Services IRC by providing high-level strategic and policy advice. Each committee will comprise 6-8 members, with both allocated and open positions.

SkillsIQ will conduct a separate nominations process for these committees once the IRC has been established. For more information, including registering your interest in participating in an advisory committee, please fill in your details at the SkillsIQ - Aged Services IRC page.