Community
5 February, 2025
Mobile skills lab arrives in region
AN INNOVATIVE aged care mobile skills lab led by South West TAFE is making its way across Victoria, partnering with 33 aged care facilities and introducing more than 110 new trainees to the industry.
The award-winning lab is now being delivered across 24 towns in 10 local government areas, including Corangamite Shire.
The mobile skills lab is a purpose-built motorhome refurbished with funding from the Victorian Government.
The lab simulates an aged care room and has a custom-built annex that can house 12 students to run a class – taking training on the road to rural areas, the aged care mobile skills lab is addressing serious workforce shortages in the aged care sector.
It allows remotely located learners to enter a Certificate III in Individual Support traineeship and be trained at their workplace.
Skills lab project coordinator and personal support teacher Robert Peoples said the lab has gone well beyond what he thought it might be.
“It is the first in Victoria and I believe it’s the only one in Australia doing what we do, but it can be duplicated,” he said.
“We believe the mobile skills lab is ideal to bring training to those isolated areas.
“It used to be that everyone had to come to us but now we’re focused on taking everything to you, regardless of where you are.”
Since its introduction, aged care traineeship numbers through South West TAFE have increased by 556 per cent and employer-partner numbers by 175 per cent.
89 per cent of trainees have been retained within the aged care system.
The skills lab has also been expanded to disability and home care work.
Mr Peoples is working with Human Services Skills Organisation to support home care workforce capacity building, aimed to support isolated or remote Indigenous communities across Australia to access training opportunities to build self-reliance in their communities.
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