Industry Cluster

Skills are at the heart of human services

The success of Australia’s human services sector is dependent on a workforce that has the skills and qualities necessary to deliver essential, high-quality services. In the next five years, the demand for these services will rapidly escalate and require an additional 250,000 jobs.

We believe that immediate and sustainable change is needed to ensure we attract, skill and retain the best possible staff to deliver these essential services.  Skills are at the heart of what we do in human services.

Skills reform

To support the future growth of our country, the Australian Government has committed to improving the vocational education and training (VET) system through an ambitious program of reform. The reform is transformational and will see the role of our early childhood education and care, health and human services employers strengthened, with greater access and involvement in vocational education and training.

The government has announced that new Industry Clusters (groups of industries) will be the mechanism for this.

The establishment of the Industry Clusters is through a grant opportunity process. The Human Services Skills Organisation is uniquely positioned to take on this role and has put forward an application to transition to an Industry Cluster entity.

For more information on the process, you can visit the Australian Government’s Skills Reform website.

Our vision of the industry cluster model

There are many stakeholder groups whose input are required to build a strong national training system and the Industry Cluster model aims to ensure that input and engagement is impactful and contributes to addressing current workforce challenges and prepare for the skills needs of the future.

We are keenly aware of the sector’s challenges, and we have a strong vision for the future.

Our vision for the VET system is a departure from what we’ve seen before:

• We are committed to communicating and collaborating with all employers, training organisations and government to strengthen the workforce that cares for the nation’s most vulnerable.
• We will continue to develop innovative, evidence-based solutions to deliver the skilled and adaptable workforce the sector needs.
• We will focus on continuously improving quality across all aspects of the training system: industry intelligence, product development and delivery and are committed to engaging and working closely with training organisations who deliver in our sectors.
• We will support stakeholders to identify and implement high-value strategic and operational investments to transform the workforce and skills ecosystem to meet current, new and emerging needs

Our approach is to bring employers, the providers of training and education, governments of all levels, unions, peak bodies, and regulators together to inform, design and co-create solutions that will make a difference.

Here’s what you can expect if we are successful:

• Transparent governance and advisory arrangements that are driven by employers
• Opportunities for educators, regulators, and associations to contribute at all levels
• Different, improved and more sophisticated models of engagement
• New, real-time engagement options supported by digital technologies
• The capacity to adapt the best elements of international approaches for the Australian environment.
• The collection of data and creation of information assets that will assist all participants in the sector in developing workforce development initiatives with impact.

For more information please download our flyer.

Let’s work together

We can only make change if we work together.

It is a complex problem that requires diverse perspectives and long-term commitment to grow and sustain a workforce that is valued and vital to Australia’s economy and in making a difference to the everyday lives of many Australians.

Collectively the sectors within this Industry Cluster involve more than 1.8 million workers and nearly 149,000 businesses. Only 3% of businesses in the sector have more than 20 employees, which means the overwhelming majority are small or micro businesses. We don’t underestimate the challenge of supporting employers who are represented across national, urban, regional, rural, and remote locations.

As part of our industry cluster grant submission, we received support from employers, peak bodies, unions, registered training organisations, Industry Training Advisory Bodies, and higher education providers in the form of Letters of Support, logo submission for inclusion in our application, and Expressions of Interest to be involved in Advisory or Working Groups.

Express your interest to be involved

You can still register your interest in being involved in these groups by filling in the form below.

The Human Services Skills Organisation is responsible for ensuring that the personal information you provide is handled in accordance with our privacy policy .  The Human Services Skills Organisation is using the services of WordPress, Mailchimp and Salesforce to collect and store the information you provide in this form.

FAQ

What is the reform?

The Australian Government is committed to improving vocational education and training in Australia. Their reform will help us build better qualifications, better support registered training organisations to deliver high-quality training, and enable the increase in participation of industry and employers in our vocational education and training (VET) sector.

What will the Human Services Skills Organisation do?

We have a vision for the future of vocational education and training for early childhood education and care, health and human services.

Our vision for the VET system is a departure from what we’ve seen before:

• We are committed to communicating and collaborating with all employers, training organisations and government to strengthen the workforce that cares for the nation’s most vulnerable.
• We will continue to develop innovative, evidence-based solutions to deliver the skilled and adaptable workforce the sector needs.
• We will focus on continuously improving quality across all aspects of the training system: industry intelligence, product development and delivery and are committed to engaging and working closely with training organisations who deliver in our sectors.
• We will support stakeholders to identify and implement high-value strategic and operational investments to transform the workforce and skills ecosystem to meet current, new and emerging needs

What industries will the Human Services Skills Organisation represent?

If successful, the HSSO will engage and elevate a range of industries. Download our flyer for more information.

How can I get involved?

For ongoing updates about the work of the Human Services Skills Organisation, including access to reports, workforce planning data, tools, news, and events, you can subscribe to our newsletter.

If you would like to support our submission as part of the Industry Cluster grant application process, you can provide your logo for inclusion in our submission or submit a letter of support to us via email.

If you would like to engage with us, you can express your interest in being part of our sector advisory or working groups.  Complete the form above and let us know how you would like to contribute.

How is the government establishing the Industry Clusters?

To establish the Industry Clusters the Australian Government is running a two-stage grant process.   The first stage of the process ran from early December 2021 to 31 March 2022.  This stage involved an open competitive process, in which the Human Services Skills Organisation put forward a submission. For more information about the process, please visit the Australia Government’s industry engagement reforms webpage.

What is the Human Services Skills Organisation?

Founded in 2020 as an employer led, independent, not-for-profit organisation the Human Services Skills Organisation (HSSO) is one of three Skills Organisation Pilots established by the Australian Government to deliver a stronger employer-led skills sector and improvements to the national training system.

The HSSO is a driver of sustainable change. Our relationships are based on trust, knowledge, and collaboration. We work to empower a community of cross-sector collaborators — employers, peak bodies, industry experts, training organisations and government — to develop, pilot and deliver responsive, fit-for-purpose workforce development and training programs. Together, we identify and trial new approaches to attract workers to the human services sector and ensure they are the right fit and job ready.