Newsletter Number 63 - December 2008

DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE TO RECEIVE HUM-BYTES? If not, please click here to cancel.

Season's Greetings

Council members and staff at Human Services Training Advisory Council would like to wish all of our readers a wonderful and safe festive season, whatever particular religious occassion you may be celebrating (or not celebrating!). We hope you will continue to catch up with our news in 2009.

The HSTAC office will be closed on public holidays over the Christmas and New Year period and open for reduced hours on non public holidays. Our opening hours will be as follows:

Tuesday 16th December

Wednesday 17th December

Thursday 18th December

Friday 19th December

Open from 9.00am-1.00pm

Monday 22nd December

Tuesday 23rd December

Wednesday 24th December

Open from 9.00am-1.00pm

Thursday 25th December

Friday 26th December

Closed

Monday 29th December

Tuesday 30th December

Wednesday 31st December

Open from 9.00am-1.00pm

Thursday 1st January

Closed

Friday 2nd January

Open from 9.00am-1.00pm

2009 BIG Skills Conference

The 2009 BIG Skills Conference will run from 2 - 5 March next year in Sydney and the focus will be on developing strategies to address future skills needs within the context of global competition.

The conference will be hosted by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and will be the first major skills and training conference to be held at the federal level for quite some time. It will bring together major national and international players to debate issues, think differently and stimulate change in the Australian tertiary sector. If you would like to know more about the conference or if you want to register, click on the following link: Read More>>

Exciting Territory DVD Launch

Earlier this month a new DVD was launched on International Day for People with a Disability, December 3rd. The DVD has been designed to raise the profile of Indigenous people with a disability and is the result of a collaboration between YouthWorX NT Local Community Partnerships and the National Disability Coordination Officer. This partnership has worked within a series of remote Northern Territory Indigenous communities to identify Indigenous perspectives on 'disability'.

If you would like to know more about the DVD, please contact Liz Reid, National Disability Coordination Officer for the NT on phone: 8946 6288 or by clicking on the following link: email>>

Grow Your Own - Train Local, Employ Local

More and more young people want to learn a trade or vocation, and schools are now offering a wide range of programs to help them do just that.

But as the demand increases, so does the need for more employers to offer opportunities for young people. By participating in School to Work Transition Programs your business can tap into this huge pool of potential employees and build the skilled workforce you need for the future. Your involvement will:

• promote trades and provide skill shortage training to young people
• give a young person a head start in their career
• help to build a local skills base.

There will be an estimated 800 secondary school students seeking School Based Apprenticeships or Vocational Work Placements in 2009 and they need employers to give them a go!

If you would like to find out more about School to Work Transition Programs, contact Erica at Group Traning Northern Territory on 8941 2112, or click on the following link: email>>

Student Forum

Nominations are being called for from students who have overcome hardship or adversity in order to complete their VET qualifications.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations will cover travel and accommodation costs for the successful nominees, who will attend a Student Forum in Adelaide on the 15th and 16th of February 2009. The purpose of the forum is to explore the student experience in overcoming disadvantages or barriers in VET or higher education. Nominations are invited from current VET or higher education students or former students who have completed qualifications in the last year, and who:

• have successfully overcome barriers or have been helped to overcome disadvantage in participating in education or training, or making a successful transition from post-school education to employment; and
• are willing and able to participate in the forum.

If you would like to make a nomination, or if you would like further information, please click on the following link: more info>>

"Did you know . . . ?"

Vocational education and training increases wages and employability, especially for students completing higher level courses (Certificate III and above). In fact, the rate of return for VET students generally exceeds 20% and can be as much as 50%. And 94% of graduates who do a trade-related apprenticeship, as well as 81% of all VET graduates have a job within six months of graduating.

Hearing Loss in the Workplace

A new helpful and informative booklet has recently been published to assist with communication in workplaces employing staff with hearing loss or difficulties.

The booklet, titled Supporting employees who have a hearing loss: A guide for Supervisors & Mentors has been produced by Damien Howard, a Darwin Psychologist with a research interest in the psychosocial and occupational outcomes of hearing loss, and Ian Henderson, an Audiologist and Occupational Health and Safety consultant who has worked for 18 years with local people in Indigenous communities on the management of conductive hearing loss.

Hearing loss can act as an invisible but very real barrier to employment, and the problem is amplified for Indigenous people, who face language and cultural barriers as well.

The challenges presented by hearing loss are very often underestimated and can include: lower energy levels, higher levels of frustration and anxiety, low self-confidence, and feelings of shame.

The booklet discusses the difficulties that are commonly experienced in the workplace by those with hearing loss and offers useful strategies to counteract misunderstandings and to encourage collaboration and mutual support.

If you would like some further information about hearing loss, click on the following link: Read More>>

New HSTAC Resource

Human Services Training Advisory Council have recently added a brand new resource to our website titled Skills Recognition Resource for Employers - Diploma in Children's Services. Complete with information about Core Unit Clusters, Assessing Competence and Collecting Evidence, the resource is simple and user-friendly and contains detailed information about the content of the Diploma in Children's Services, including suggestions about what can be used as examples of evidence in the skills recognition process.

If you would like to familiarise yourself with this handy new resource, just click on the following link: Skills Recognition Resource>>

HEAR THIS - Watch This Space!!

Due for release at the end of January is HSTAC's latest multimedia resource, Hear This. The resource has been designed to provide information about the impact of hearing loss in Indigenous populations. The Hear This resource will be placed on the HSTAC website, so keep an eye out for it!!

WATCH THIS SPACE>>