National Skills Week celebrates vital workers

Celebrating the value of apprentices and trainees across Australia, National Skills Week is taking place from August 23–29.

National Skills Week is an initiative of SkillsOne, and highlights the talents and skills of apprentices and trainees across multiple industries. Industry and training organisations are encouraged to get involved.

The theme this year encourages Australians to “re-think” their ideas of what Vocational Education and Training is all about, and the role it can have in preparing people for work for the future. A key objective of National Skills Week is to identify and highlight industries where the biggest job growth will occur in coming years.

National Skills Week Founder and Chair, Brian Wexham, says it is absolutely critical that school leavers, job seekers, parents and career changers are informed of what the jobs of the future are, and what Australia’s most critical skills shortages and jobs needs are.

“This will ensure our young people, yet to start careers, can gain training and skills in education which is going to secure them a job at the end of that training,” he says.

Some key areas identified include:

• Health and community care
• Disability care
• Cyber security
• Hospitality
• STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)
• Mining
• Building and construction
• Agriculture.

AIRAH’s Chief Executive Tony Gleeson, M.AIRAH, says the construction industry is the cornerstone of the Australian economy and is vitally important.

“Key trades in the construction industry are currently in short supply and this is threatening to derail recovery as the world opens up again after COVID-19,” he says.

AIRAH offers a variety of awards, courses and scholarships to encourage and assist those entering the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) industry.

“The building and construction is not all about building sites and difficult work conditions,” says Gleeson.

“The industry covers careers in architectural design, engineering and project management, along with onsite trades. And all of these roles require specialist skills, whether it’s the designing and planning of a building or the physical making of it.”

For more information on how to get involved in National Skills Week, click here.