Community colleges and learning centres are crucial to the Australian Government’s national training reforms and are a vital part of many local communities.
Addressing the 2012 Community Colleges Australia Conference in Melbourne, Parliamentary Secretary for Skills Sharon Bird said community education had an important role in shaping the nation’s workforce.
“The Australian Government is ramping up reform of the national training system as we develop a workforce to meet future challenges,” Ms Bird said.
“Community-based learning has the great advantage of flexibility and can cater to the individual needs of students through diverse courses and methods.
“This flexibility is critical for teaching mature age people, disengaged youth, people with disabilities and the unemployed.
“In particular, community learning is vital to local communities across regional and remote Australia.”
“The unfortunate reality is that around 40 per cent – or around 4.5 million Australian workers – do not have adequate literacy and numeracy skills to participate fully in work and society.
Community colleges and learning centres are an important part of the solution as we implement our ongoing reforms to vocational education and training,” Ms Bird said.
The vast majority of Community Colleges Australia members are located outside of capital cities and deliver services to more than 200,000 people each year.
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