Australian Workforce Futures

A National Workforce Development Strategy

Julia Gillard has just launched Skills Australia's latest contribution which makes mention of Outreach programs on a couple of occasions. Julia acknowledges those marginalised with particular reference to LLN.

Critical to achieving these will be our ability to lift the rate of workforce participation for those groups of people who are not participating to their full potential, including those who are marginalised due to a lack of skills, particularly the foundation skills of language, literacy and numeracy.

The executive summary highlights the success of Outreach programs:

We recommend strategies to encourage the delivery of further education and training in more flexible and innovative ways to suit the needs and interests of employees at different stages of their working life. One way to achieve this for existing workers would be through a more flexible approach to using employer incentives to support training for those who are not apprentices or trainees. For job seekers we recommend extending the highly successful flexible outreach programs which have successfully encouraged and equipped many women to rejoin the workforce.

The paper reflects on seeking solutions to effective outcomes with the most marginalised in our communities by learning from others.

Models of successful programs to engage marginalised people and at risk groups need to be studied, adapted and applied as appropriate. The examples that follow demonstrate how flexibility, partnerships and community involvement can make a difference: The Men’s Shed: A highly successful, flexible outreach program that helps marginalized people to participate in the community and workforce has been established in the Nambucca Shire.