Professional development

ECEC courses the centrepiece of WA’s $103 million training expansion

Freya Lucas

Oct 13, 2021

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Those wishing to undertake studies in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Western Australia will soon benefit from an extension of the McGowan Government's Lower fees, local skills program with another 30 TAFE courses discounted, along with the introduction of reduced fees for workers in critical industries needing to upskill.

ECEC has been identified as a critical industry (sic.) where there is an urgent need to upskill existing workers to meet the sector's mandatory accreditation requirements for a qualified workforce.

Those wishing to study a Diploma in Children’s Services will now save $7,256 on the course, in a bid to attract more professionals to upskill or reskill for a role in ECEC.

"We know we need more skilled childcare workers, so this is wonderful news for the sector,” WA Minister for Community Services Simone McGurk said. "Childcare is critical for so many families. By investing in the industry (sic.) with initiatives like these we not only help working parents, but provide important upskilling opportunities for the State's thousands of childcare workers."

The new initiatives are being jointly funded through a $103.5 million agreement between the West Australian Government and the Commonwealth Government, and will support ECEC, aged and disability care, and civil construction, with each group being able to access low-fee 'existing worker traineeships'.

In addition to the existing worker traineeships, the Lower fees, local skills initiative has been expanded by a further 30 courses, to now include a total of 210 courses with heavily reduced fees. These cover a wide range of industries including train driving, veterinary nursing, crane operations, surveying, laboratory technology, wool classing, hospitality management and others. The initiative reduces fees for priority courses by up to 72 per cent, and has so far trained more than 72,600 Western Australians in 2021, adding more capability to the local workforce. The new fees for the expanded courses will be in place from 1 January, with applications now open through TAFEs and other training providers. The Commonwealth investment is being funded via the national JobTrainer programme.

More information is available here.

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