February 24, 2022
Collaboration announced between the Digital Skills Organisation (DSO) and workforce skills program developers, IBSA Group, to ensure digital skills are available to all in the evolving manufacturing sector.
Digital skills are increasingly becoming essential across all industries. As the digitalisation of manufacturing is accelerating, employers have huge potential to gain from a workforce enabled with the right digital skills both through upskilling and reskilling the current workforce and ensuring new entrants have got the skills necessary. Recent industry estimates are that 87% of manufacturing jobs now require digital skills.[1]
Digital literacy are the skills every person needs to interact in a digitally enabled world while digital fluency is improving these skills to keep pace with changes in technology. The DSO and IBSA Group trial will focus on identifying these digital skills needed by the manufacturing sector. Through working with employers, the trial will design a standard to describe these skills. This standard can, in turn, be used to assess a person to determine what support, if any, they need to further develop their skills.
“This is a great opportunity to support and uplift the manufacturing industry while testing the skill standards in both the manufacturing sector and how they could be leveraged in other sectors, commented Patrick Kidd, Chief Executive Officer, DSO. He added, “We’ve had a strong appetite from various sectors to look at the lessons we can learn from this project and apply them to their own industries.”
An agreed skills standard for the manufacturing sector will provide much needed clarity for:
- employers about the digital skills needed in the workplace;
- training providers about training priorities;
- learners about what skills will be valued; and
- what upskilling programmes should be focused on.
The standards and associated assessment are measurable and will provide employers and the manufacturing sector clarity about the progress being made in upskilling their workforce.
Sharon Robertson, Chief Executive Officer IBSA Group said, “IBSA’s research clearly shows the critical importance of digital fluency across the manufacturing sector. The aim is to help clarify what this means in practice for employers, to assist them in their workforce development activities. We are encouraging employers in the manufacturing sector to get involved in the project to ensure the outcome is as relevant as possible.”
To get involved contact [email protected]. | View the project here
For more information on DSO visit digitalskillsorg.com.au
[1] Heath, A (2020) Skills, Technology and the Future of Work