Community
6 September, 2024
State award for TAFE
A first-of-its-kind Aged Care Mobile Skills Lab that takes training on the road to rural areas has won a state-wide award for South West TAFE.
South West TAFE is this week celebrating after winning the Industry Collaboration Award at this year’s Victorian Training Awards.
Former business trainee Trephy Grant won the People’s Choice award after being named a finalist in the 2024 Trainee of the Year category.
Her employer during the traineeship was Westvic Staffing Solutions and she was hosted by Western District Food Share.
South West TAFE was also shortlisted as one of three finalists for Large Training Provider of the Year, which was won by Melbourne Polytechnic.
The awards were announced in Melbourne last Friday night.
The Mobile Skills Lab is a workforce development collaboration between South West TAFE (as the lead organisation) and disability, aged care and home care providers Eventide Homes Stawell, Calvary Community Care, Edgarley Assisted Living Casterton, and Mulleraterong in Hamilton.
The Mobile Skills Lab is a purpose-built motorhome that was created to simulate an aged care workplace environment.
This allows training to be taken on the road to all types of residential aged care homes, disability and homecare organisation.
South West TAFE chief executive officer Mark Fidge said the Industry Collaboration Award reflected South West TAFE’s ongoing commitment to working with the community and local industry to address pressing workforce demands across the region.
“The award recognises the impact the Aged Care Mobile Skills Lab has had across industries that are struggling to find and retain staff,” Mr Fidge said.
“South West TAFE continues to make a difference not only in the lives of our students but for the industries that we support across our region.
“This is a perfect example of TAFE innovation having a big impact on our communities.”
Skills lab project coordinator and personal support teacher Robert Peoples said the project was three years in development and had been a huge hit since rolling out last year.
Mr Peoples, who previously worked in aged care and disability home care management, said the concept of a Mobile Skills Lab was developed after the COVID pandemic.
“I talked with our partners about what we could do to support their workforce,” he said.
“A lot of staff and potential students can’t afford to go to class-based delivery if it means they’re not able to earn money, so we looked at changing not only our mode of delivery with traineeships but also upskilling existing staff and bringing the training to them using the Mobile Skills Lab.
“A lot of our partners are in rural and remote areas such as Stawell, Casterton, Nhill, Kaniva and Hopetoun and travel is not feasible for training.”
The Mobile Skills Lab, a 26-foot mobile home, was refurbished with funding from the state government.
The mobile lab has been on the road for 12 months and in that time trainee numbers have grown by 434 per cent.
“It simulates an aged care room and has a custom-built annex that can house 12 students to run a class,” Mr Peoples said.
“We can do everything you would normally find on a campus but we go directly to our partners so people can learn and earn money at the same time.
“Within the first six weeks, they’re work ready which reduces the stress on organisations and increases retention of trainees because they better understand their job.”
Mr Peoples said the program was designed specifically to meet the needs of industry.
