Cost: $3500    $0 for eligible apprentices* (*participant eligibility criteria apply)

FCTA is pleased to announce it is now offering Fee-Free Vocational Training in CPC33020 Certificate III in Bricklaying and Blocklaying to anybody looking to complete the training component of their apprenticeship.

We are now accepting enrolments from prospective apprentices in South Australia looking to upskill or pursue a rewarding career in the ever-expanding and in-demand bricklaying industry.

To help address demand across South Australia, we are now offering:

• 25 free training places for metro students
• 5 free training places for regional students

To be eligible for Fee-Free Vocational Training with FCTA students must, at the time of enrolment, be:

• An active full-time or part-time apprentice in South Australia with an approved Training Contract
• Between 17 – 24 years of age
• Not enrolled in school
• An Australian or New Zealand citizen, permanent Australian resident or an eligible visa holder
• Not currently enrolled in the same course with another training provider

Applicants must also meet language, literacy and numeracy course entry requirements which will be tested during registration.

These fee free places are available to the first 30 eligible apprentices who apply so get in quick if you’d like to secure a place, as they will fill-up fast.

Offer ends July 31 2023, unless filled prior.

Fee Free Vocational Education is a joint initiative of the Australian and South Australian Governments.

The terms and conditions under which FCTA can offer Fee Free Vocational Education are stipulated in a Funded Activities Agreement (FAA) between FCTA and Skills SA.

Under our FAA, FCTA can only offer Fee Free Vocational Education to full or part-time apprentices with an approved Training Contract.

This offer is not available to school-based apprentices.

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MEGT: 136 348

MAS National: 1300 627 628

We are expecting an increase in the number of people looking to hire apprentices. It can be difficult to find candidates who hold drivers licenses and have a car. If you would be willing to employ an apprentice who is the process of getting their P plates, please contact us on 8367 5615. If you would also consider hiring an unlicensed apprentice who lived in close vicinity to you or your team, please let us know the area you would consider recruiting from. Employers may also consider the option to employ adult apprentices and utilise the governments’ wage subsidy to reduce the higher pay rate.

We will be running a recruitment drive in December 2021 to try to increase the number of applicants we have to recommend.

JobMaker Plan

The Government’s $74 billion JobMaker Plan is a key element of the Government’s Economic Recovery Plan for Australia, designed to support a stronger economic recovery and bring more Australians back to work. Creating jobs and boosting the skills of Australians to help them get back into work is at the heart of the Government’s Economic Recovery Plan for Australia. The JobMaker Plan consists of a number of measures designed to boost economic growth, create jobs, invest in our future industries and skills, remove red tape, guarantee essential services and restore confidence in a stronger recovery.  See the full suite of initiatives under the JobMaker plan at https://budget.gov.au/2020-21/content/jobmaker.htm

Skills and Training Initiatives under the JobMaker Plan include:

To get more people the skills they need and to support job seekers back into work, the Australian Government will fund 100,000 new apprenticeships through the $1.2 billion Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy. It will be paid to businesses of any size who take on new or recommencing apprentices from 5 October 2020 to 30 September 2021, for wages paid in that period, capped at $7,000 per quarter.

The Government will create a new Apprenticeships Data Management System (ADMS) to better support the needs of apprentices and employers as Australia works to recover from COVID-19 and get more people into apprenticeships and back to work. It will replace the current outdated apprenticeships information system, known as the Training and Youth Internet Management System (TYIMS) at an estimated cost of $91.6 million.

New job seekers who lack basic language, literacy and numeracy skills will be supported to access the training and support they need with funding for an additional 14,485 places in the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program. The Government will invest $49.5 million to fund these additional places over two years.

The Government is cutting fees and charges to students and educators, including waiving the Tuition Protection Levy for the VET Student Loans (VSL) program, providing $6.3 million in funding to the Tuition Protection Service, and extending exemptions for eligible students from paying loan fees under the VSL program to 30 June 2021.

Eligible students will have more time to have their VET FEE-HELP debt re-credited after the Government committed $11.9 million to extend the VET FEE-HELP Student Redress Measures to 31 December 2022.

Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements in detail:

The $1.2 billion Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) wage subsidy will support 100,000 new apprentices. The measure sees the Government paying a 50 per cent wage subsidy for wages paid to businesses of any size who take on new or recommencing apprentices from 5 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. The subsidy will be capped at $7,000 per quarter for gross wages and compliments the significant support already available for employers.

The Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements measure aims to support employers and Group Training Organisations to take on new apprentices and trainees to build a pipeline of skilled workers to support sustained economic recovery.

Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements is only available to the first 100,000 Australian Apprentices who commence or recommence with an employer or host employer of any size, including Group Training Organisations, on or after 5 October 2020.

For an employer to be eligible for Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements, the Australian Apprentice must:

• be undertaking a Certificate II or higher qualification; and
• meet the following eligibility criteria from Section III Primary Eligibility:

• • Employment and Training Arrangements; and
  • Citizenship Status; and

• have a Training Contract that is formally approved by the State Training Authority

An employer will not be eligible for Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements where:

• the employer is receiving any other form of Australian Government wage subsidy or equivalent assistance for the Australian Apprentice;
• the Australian Apprentice is undertaking a qualification that supersedes a qualification previously undertaken by the same Australian Apprentice; or
• there has been fraud or manipulation, such as cancelling or withdrawing from an Australian Apprenticeship, for the purpose of accessing Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements  payments, which would otherwise not have been payable.

Interested Employers should contact their local Australian Apprenticeship Support Network (AASN) Provider who can provide tailored information and support them to complete the short online registration form https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=BoostingApprentices. This should be done after the Contract of Training has been completed and the relevant tracking code has been obtained (this tracking code is provided at the sign up).

The Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy will be paid quarterly in arrears with all claims to be finalised by December 2021.

National Careers Institute Initiatives  

The National Careers Institute has announced initiatives to further support and enhance people’s access to careers information in Australia.

• On 1 October 2020, the Your Career website at yourcareer.gov.au was announced.  The website will support people to make informed career decisions, including support to learn and train, get job-ready and get career ideas.

• The Enhanced Support to School Leavers measure was announced on 8 October.  The measure comprises two initiatives:

The School Leavers Information Kit, available at yourcareer.gov.au, which provides this year’s school leavers with information about their education, training and employment options in 2021.

The School Leavers Information Service which will provide school leavers with phone, text or email support to navigate the School Leavers Information Kit, and to access and use the Your Career website. The service also offers a personalised career guidance session with a qualified career practitioner for up to 45 minutes, where needed.

The media releases signalling the launch of Your Career and the School Leaver measure by Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, can be found here.

Your Career website

The Your Career website at yourcareer.gov.au supports people at all ages and stages of their career, to make informed career decisions now, and as the economy recovers from COVID-19.

Powered by world-leading leading labour market intelligence from the National Skills Commission, visitors to Your Career will be able to interact with a range of tools to help them understand where the jobs are now, and where they will be in the future, and which skills they may need to get there.

Your Career is genuinely user-driven. Over 5,000 people, including school leavers, career advisers, employers and people across all stages of working life, took part in research and user acceptance testing to inform the website’s functionality and design over the past 12 months.

Your Career stems from Recommendation 6.6 of Strengthening Skills: Expert Review of the Vocational Education and Training System by the Hon. Steven Joyce, which found careers development information in Australia to be multilayered, difficult to navigate, and in need of a single source of information on the main careers in Australia. The release of Your Career will represent a key milestone for the NCI in the strengthening and streamlining of careers information.

School Leavers Information Kit and School Leavers Information Service

The School Leavers Information Kit and School Leavers Information Service will help school leavers navigate the changed labour market as a result of COVID-19.  Information about both initiatives can be found on the Your Career website: https://yourcareer.gov.au/school-leavers-support/

In Term 4 (weeks commencing 5 and 12 October) school leavers across the country will receive an information card, or brochure, inviting them to view the School Leavers Information Kit Your Career: What’s next for you?.  The kit has a range of resources to help young people navigate their education, training and career options (attached).

The School Leavers Information Service 1800 CAREER (1800 227 337) offers a triage service to assist callers to navigate the School Leavers Information Kit. It will also help school leavers use the Your Career website and where necessary, will refer callers to relevant government programs or support services.

Callers may also be referred to a personalised career guidance session with a qualified career practitioner for up to 45 minutes, where needed. Young people also have the option to text the Service by texting SLIS2020 to 0429 009 435 or they can email through schoolleavers.nci@dese.gov.au.

I have attached fact sheets on the initiatives mentioned above which outline some of the key features you can expect to see, which you are very welcome to share. I have also attached the School Leaver information kit, which I would also welcome you to use to promote the availability of these initiatives to your networks.

Further information about the initiatives are being published on the website at nci.dese.gov.au.

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Apprenticeship transfers can happen for a variety of reasons:

• the collapse of a builder leaves some apprentices out of work and another builder takes over the apprentices
• two builders decide to enter into a partnership
• a builder urgently needs an experienced apprentice

Transfers have been seen as a faster way to sign up an existing apprentice. The only problem – the transfer does not reset the probationary period. A new apprentice signing up to a new training contract has a 90-day probationary period. If you take on an existing apprentice via a transfer you no longer have a 90-day probationary period. The period starts at the date the original training contract was signed. We only became aware of this issue when one of our employers attempted to dismiss an apprentice they had hired via an apprenticeship transfer.

This is the first time we are aware of this happening in 18 years. As a result, we will no longer recommend apprentice transfers, but instead, recommend signing up all apprentices under a new training contract. Shorter contracts of training are available for employers who want to recognise experienced apprentices, but beware that for apprentices signed up to (and including) 24 months, the probationary period drops to 60 days.

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If you are interested in enrolling please call Anne on 8367 5615 or email admin@fcta.com.au. This course is a great way of trying several trades before committing to an apprenticeship. The location for the course is at 15 Jacobsen Crs, Holden Hill SA. Training is focused on the development of practical hand skills. Existing apprentices and industry representatives will be at FCTA during the course to discuss what the industry is like and the day to day work apprentices do.

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• apprentices having to currently complete 5 arches requiring trade school attendance – the proposal is to reduce this to 4 – should this be reduced at all or become an elective unit?
• the inclusion of sub-floor construction in the brick veneer AND cavity brick subjects
• How much time should be focused on the level of detail in the Australian Standards? we get ‘Goldilocks’ feedback on this (too little versus too much)
• Apprentices not being taught enough of the traditional techniques versus apprentices being taught too many traditional techniques – think fireplaces, number of different types of bonds, decorative elements.
• The change in qualification name to Certificate III in Bricklaying/Blocklaying and Paving (note: paving units will be electives and not core subjects).

Trade schools are audited by a dedicated government body to ensure that all parts of a training package are correctly being trained. What is being proposed in these changes will affect every bricklaying apprentice in the country. If you feel that there are gaps in training or a focus on the wrong types of skills, this is your chance to make a difference!

Visit this website to take part in the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/brickblockpavingDP2

As always, if you would like to have a chat about these changes, or ask questions, feel free to contact us at 0883675615 or email info@fcta.com.au.

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The biggest obstacle seems to be the number of under 21’s who either do not have a drivers license or have lost their licenses. The Government needs to consider reversing the policy that requires people to be on their ‘L’ plates for 12 months. Along with this, the loss of a drivers license can result in being completely excluded from working in the building and construction industry. Using public transport to get to different job sites, some of which are located in new suburbs without any infrastructure – is not practical or even possible most of the time.

Below is the article from The Advertiser:

THE number of traineeships and apprenticeships being undertaken in South Australia has continued to decline, a new report shows.

South Australia’s Training and Skills Commission 2017 Annual Report, tabled in State Parliament on Tuesday, showed last year there were 15,700 apprentices and trainees in training from 17,100 the year before – an 8.2 percent drop. An estimated 6100 apprentices and trainees successfully completed their training contract in the 12 months between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017 – again down from the year before when there was 6700 – a drop of 9 percent.

In the report, Commission chair Michael Boyce said SA has followed a national trend.“Apprenticeship and traineeship activity has declined nationwide since July 2012 due to multiple factors,” Mr Boyce said.“The significant decrease in traineeship activity was primarily driven by the removal of almost all funding to employers for employing existing workers under the Australian Government’s Australian Apprenticeships Incentives Programme.“Challenging economic conditions reduced apprenticeship commencements between 2012-13 and 2015-16.“However, the impact of these changes has lessened in the past three years, with preliminary data indicating apprenticeship commencements have stabilised, while the decline in traineeship commencements has slowed.”The new State Government has promised $100 million over the forward estimates to create 21,000 new apprenticeships or traineeships in SA. Last month The Advertiser revealed the new program to expand skills training for young people in SA will start from July, despite ongoing negotiations to unlock $100 million in crucial federal cash.

Source: Apprentice and trainee numbers in South Australian decline | Adelaide Now

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Haydon started work with Michael in early 2016 and has proven through his diligence and skill to be a worthy recipient of this award, as judged by field officers employed by HIA. There was only one bricklaying Award made by HIA and sponsor Stratco, covering all bricklaying apprenticeship years, so it is a strong recognition of effort to have achieved this award – well done Haydon!

I attended the event and on behalf of Australian Brick and Blocking Foundation (ABBTF) and presented this important award to Haydon. It was an honour and a pleasure to see SA’s apprentices from several trades, receive acknowledgement for their strong performances.

If you’re considering an Apprenticeship in SA check out your options at FCTA, TAFESA. Also visit Become-a-Bricklayer for information on how to explore bricklaying in your State and much more.

Just a bit more information on the role of Group Training:  For bricklayers not wanting to directly employ an Apprentice, Group Training is an excellent way to introduce new apprentices into your business without carrying the administration with the GTO employing and training the apprentice.

The host employer is a tradesperson who provides actual onsite training and as such pays the Group Training company a fee for the time that the apprentice spends onsite. There are advantages to this arrangement. For example some tradespeople want apprentices but do not want the responsibility of accruing or paying holiday pay, sick leave, and superannuation or training costs as such. Some tradesmen do not want the direct responsibility of overseeing the offsite training component and coordination of their apprentices to attend a local Training Provider (RTO), such as TAFESA, as part of the Certificate III completion. And some feel they may not have long term work and cannot sustain an apprentice for three to four years.

For apprentices it’s an alternative pathway to direct employment with a bricklayer, providing them instead with a ‘host’ employer while being employed by the GTO, in this case HIA. GTO vs RTO explained.

Tony Bishop
ABBTF Regional Manager North West

Source: HIA-Stratco South Australia Awards Apprentice Bricklayer 2017

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by Robert Bolton

There’s been another steep fall in the number of people doing apprenticeships – although the government claims there are positive signs in the details.

At the end of September, there were 291,925 apprentices in training, that was 5.6 per cent fewer than at the same time in 2016. Trade apprenticeship commencements were down by 3.2 per cent year on year and non trade commencements down by 5.2 per cent. The government says although trade apprenticeships were down year on year, the quarter on quarter result shows an improvement of 4.2 per cent.

 

 

“The national level fell below 300,000 for the first time in September 2015. Since December 2015 the quarter levels of participation have ranged between the current figure of 262k and 285k.

“While there is improvement in some industry sectors, the overall levels of participation in this major training pathway continue to be a real concern to business and demonstrate the need for targeted and coordinated government invention.”

The minister for vocational education and skills Karen Andrews said the biggest single issue was raising vocational education and training as a good pathway for school leavers – since it has to compete against universities.

She said the overall decline showed the importance of the government’s $1.5 billion Skilling Australians Fund to arresting the slide. The fund was announced in 2017 and binds the states to match commonwealth spending. But so far no state government has committed to the agreement.

Source: Apprenticeships continue their downward slide | afr.com

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A YOUNG plumber was only paid one-fifth of what he was owed. When he asked his boss about it, all he got was abuse.

Source: Plumbing boss hit with $121k fine for ‘exploitation of a young person’

A MAN who told his employee to “seriously, f**k off” after the worker complained about being ripped off has copped a hefty fine.

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