More than 20 people in Adelaide’s north west have secured jobs through a tailored preemployment and training program that addresses skills needs in South Australia’s aged and disability sectors.

Employment, Higher Education and Skills Minister Gail Gago said the Uniting Care Wesley Bowden Support Worker Pre-Employment Program was giving people the opportunity to take part in industry-specific training which leads to jobs in home and community care.

“After completing the training, 24 people aged between 18 and 64 in Bowden and surrounding suburbs have gained work with Uniting Care Wesley Bowden (UCWB),” Ms Gago said.

“Delivered by community-based, not-for-profit organisation Western Futures, the program has provided accredited training in senior first aid, food safety and manual handling that has been designed in partnership with TAFE SA and the Renewal SA Works Program.

“Fourteen participants have gone onto further study since completing their training and six people have started training through a new intake of the program in August.

“Some participants may already have a background in caring, aged care, disability or youth services; however a desire to support people within the community is the main pre-requisite.

“Language, literacy and numeracy support has been available for eligible students to support them to complete their training.”

The program aligns with the WorkReady training and jobs strategy, which aims to ensure the public investment in training is aligned to strategic industry sectors and growth areas such as aged care.

“The demand for home care positions like these has increased and will continue to grow as the national Disability Insurance Scheme changes how services are provided to people with a disability and older people,” Ms Gago said.

TAFE SA’s Executive Director Education Jen Rodger said the success of the program demonstrated TAFE SA’s capacity to support industry partners by developing and implementing courses tailored to their needs.

“TAFE SA is increasingly working with industry partners such as UCWB to design customised training packages that are valuable for students and employers,” Ms Rodger said.

UCWB CEO Julian Sawicki said based on the success of this innovative partnership model, UCWB are now expanding this program further within South Australia.

“This will mean that people from areas outside the north west will be able to take up training opportunities and obtain work in the home care sector,” Mr Sawicki said.

Newly employed Support Worker Emma, aged 24, of Woodville North said the program provided flexibility and was very satisfying work.

“Despite hating school, I enjoyed the study and found the staff supported me really well,” Emma said.

Job seekers who want to find out more about the program can call Heather Franchini from UCWB on 08 8245 7123 to register for an information breakfast session on 26 October at UCWB, 77 Gibson Street, Bowden.

(Article attribution to: ‘Department of State Development, Sourced on 20 October 2015, http://www.statedevelopment.sa.gov.au
/news-releases/all-news-updates/ tailored-skills-program-boosts-aged-care-jobs-in-adelaides-north-west)

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