REGIONAL EDUCATION, SKILLS AND JOBS PLAN
South Australia – Limestone Coast
2012 – 2014
JULY 2013
This plan was first published in July 2012. This is the July 2013 edition.
Details in this report are correct at time of drafting.
This report can be found at the Regional Education, Skills and Jobs webpage (www.deewr.gov.au/resj) or the MyRegion website (www.myregion.gov.au).
For more information about this plan, please contact:
The Office of Regional Education, Skills and Jobs
GPO Box 9880
Canberra ACT 2601
Email:
ISBN:
978-0-642-78667-8 [PDF]
978-0-642-78668-5 [DOCX]
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and where otherwise noted all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/).
The details of the relevant licence conditions (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/legalcode) are available on the Creative Commons website (accessible using the links provided) as is the full legal code for the CCBY 3.0 AU licence.
The document must be attributed as the Regional Education, Skills and Jobs Plan 2012-14 – Limestone Coast.
Disclaimer about data used in this plan
Data used in the development of this plan comes from a variety of sources and was correct at time of drafting. This document should not be used as a data source as data referred to may have been updated or reformulated since the publication of the plan. Refer to primary sources for confirmation of data.
Contents
Regional Education, Skills and Jobs Plans 4
Strategies 4
Community engagement 4
Implementation 4
Executive summary 5
Characteristics of the region 7
Population 7
Early childhood education and care 8
School education 8
Tertiary education and training 9
Jobs, skills and workforce development 10
Other characteristics 12
Issues, goals and strategies 13
Issue 1 The quality of early childhood education and care in the Limestone Coast region. 14
Issue 2 Education and transition outcomes for young people in the Limestone Coast region. 15
Issue 3 Enrolment in and attainment of post-school tertiary education and training, particularly at diploma level or higher. 16
Issue 4 Improve labour market participation and employment outcomes for disadvantaged groups in the Limestone Coast region. 18
Issue 5 Workforce development practices at employer, industry and community levels. 19
Appendices 22
Appendix A — Stakeholders 22
Appendix B — Existing related plans and strategies 23
Abbreviations 27
Regional Education, Skills and Jobs Plans
The Australian Government announced the Regional Education, Skills and Jobs Plans initiative in the 2011–12 Budget, as part of the Building Australia’s Future Workforce package. The initiative addresses four key areas of the Australian Government’s productivity and social inclusion agendas: early childhood education and care; Year 12 attainment; participation in vocational and higher education; and local job opportunities.
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) has deployed 34 Regional Education, Skills and Jobs (RESJ) Coordinators to work with local stakeholders to develop Regional Education, Skills and Jobs Plans for the 46 Regional Development Australia (RDA) areas that cover non-metropolitan Australia.
The plans present locally identified opportunities and challenges and outline local strategies to improve education, skills and jobs outcomes in regional Australia.
For more information, including the contact details of your local RESJ Coordinator, please refer to the Regional Education, Skills and Jobs webpage at www.deewr.gov.au/resj.
Strategies
Each plan reflects community priorities and includes goals and local strategies to achieve the community’s objectives, based on four key themes: early childhood education and care; school education; tertiary education and training; and jobs, skills and workforce development.
The plans build on the range of services and programs already offered by DEEWR and the strategies draw on the programs of other government agencies and the opportunities arising from major local projects.
Community engagement
The plans were developed by RESJ Coordinators with close community engagement and include views from young people, parents, employers, educators, service providers, peak bodies, community leaders, government organisations and agencies, and other interested individuals and organisations. The plans draw strongly upon existing strategic plans in each region, including the local RDA regional plan.
DEEWR acknowledges the traditional owners of the Limestone Coast RDA region and their elders past and present recognising their continuing connection to country. This plan strives to build and harness mutually respectful relationships and reflect community priorities in education, skills and jobs development for the region.
Implementation
The RESJ Coordinator, on behalf of DEEWR, will oversee the implementation of the strategies and promote and coordinate linkages between the government agencies, providers and stakeholders involved in this plan’s implementation.
Progress towards achieving the goals within each plan will be closely monitored, while stakeholders will be kept informed through participation in plan strategies.
This edition incorporates strategies that respond to changes in local circumstances identified through continuing community input or changing government priorities in regional Australia as well as access to new data. The plans continue to be living and responsive documents that will be revisited throughout their implementation to June 2014.
Executive summary
The Limestone Coast region of South Australia is made up of a number of communities covered by seven Local Government Areas: City of Mount Gambier, District Council of Grant, Wattle Range Council, Naracoorte Lucindale Council, District Council of Tatiara, District Council of Kingston and District Council of Robe.
The Limestone Coast is situated in the south-eastern corner of South Australia, with Victoria to the east, coastline to the west and south and the Murraylands RDA region to the north. The City of Mount Gambier lies midway between Adelaide and Melbourne, with a driving time of approximately 4.5hours to each capital.
The climate is temperate, with cool wet winters and mild to hot summers. Reliable rainfall across most of the region, along with a water supply from underground aquifers, provides significant industry opportunity. The region is predominantly serviced by road and air. Diverse primary production underpins the economic base of the region. Forestry is a key industry in the region, with approximately 150,000 hectares of land under softwood and hardwood, which contributes to both direct and indirect employment in agriculture, manufacturing, transport and retail. Cereal and horticulture crops, livestock production (including dairying) occur throughout the region. The region has an extensive fishing and aquaculture industry which includes export quality Southern Rock Lobster. The Limestone Coast is also home to the world class wine producing regions of Coonawarra and Padthaway.
The region is famous for its beautiful Blue Lake, the world heritage listed Naracoorte Caves and sinkholes, popular with cave divers from around the world. Robe, Kingston and Beachport are popular seaside destinations over summer, with tourists travelling from interstate and overseas to visit.
Based on a comprehensive environmental scan and community consultation, the key education, skills and jobs challenges identified for the region include:
· the quality of early childhood education and care in the region
· young people’s engagement in education and transition outcomes for young people in the region, particularly Indigenous young people
· levels of attainment of tertiary education and training, particularly at diploma level or higher
· appropriately skilled and qualified workers to match both current and future industry needs
· full participation in the labour market
· workforce development practices at employer, industry and community levels.
The key goals of this Regional Education, Skills and Jobs (RESJ) Plan are to:
· facilitate the effective implementation of the National Quality Framework for early childhood education and care and strengthen workforce planning for the early childhood sector
· improve education and transition outcomes for young people
· improve enrolment in and attainment of tertiary education and training, particularly at diploma level or higher
· address tertiary education and training accessibility issues and the support available for new students
· improve employment outcomes and support in the Limestone Coast, including for the very long-term unemployed, Indigenous Australians, refugees and migrants and people with disability
· develop sustainable workforce development practices aimed at attracting and retaining a skilled workforce and to improve employer’s skills in workforce development.
The Limestone Coast has a RDA Committee with a broad plan that includes opportunities for education, skills and employment. This Limestone Coast RESJ Plan complements the existing goals and strategies in the RDA Plan.
Some outcomes achieved by the RESJ Coordinator working with local stakeholders include:
· Facilitating an Early Childhood Education and Care Roundtable for the sector to identify and address current and emerging workforce needs. Over 20 people attended from across the region including child care directors and representatives from the education, tertiary and workforce sectors. In follow up, the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council and South Australia’s Health and Community Services Skills Board conducted a workforce development workshop promoting the use of their workforce development resources, the National Workforce Development Fund and the Workplace Language and Literacy program to both the early childhood and aged care sectors.
· Linking RDA Limestone Coast with funding sources for the ‘Heading in the Right Direction’ initiative, a 20week program for young refugee people delivered by the Career Development Centre. The initiative will provide career guidance and employability skills to assist young refugees secure their first part-time or casual job. Approximately 40 young people from Karen, Congolese and Afghani backgrounds will benefit from the program.
· Supporting the implementation of the ‘Geared 2 Drive’ program for young people, a volunteer mentor-based learner driver program for young people offered by the District Council of Grant. This program addresses the lack of suitable adult supervision available for young people to obtain a full licence and will assist to address transport related barriers to education and employment in the area. The initiative aims to attract a minimum of 10 mentors, who will be working with 24 young people.
Characteristics of the region
This section sets out the characteristics of the region identified through a comprehensive environmental scan and local consultations. The information detailed in this section is not exhaustive of the characteristics of the region, but provides an overview and insight to some of the challenges facing the region.
To guide the RESJ Coordinator’s identification of issues and engagement with the community, various data sets have supported the development of this plan. Data used in the development of this plan was sourced from DEEWR, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and other relevant sources. Data referred to may have been reformulated and was correct at time of drafting. Different data sets are refreshed at different intervals, for example, unemployment rates are updated monthly for national and state/territory figures and quarterly for regions.
Population
The ABS estimated resident population for the Limestone Coast RDA region in 2011 is 64,105, approximately 3.9 per cent of the state’s population. Mount Gambier, located in the lower part of the region, is South Australia’s second largest city, with around 40per cent of the region’s total population. Major towns in the region are, in order of population, Millicent, Naracoorte, Bordertown, Penola, Keith, Kingston and Robe. The average rate of annual growth for the region between 2006 and 2011 is less than the average rate of 0.8 per cent for South Australia over the same period.
According to ABS estimated resident population figures from 2011, the age profile of the Limestone Coast is similar to that of the rest of South Australia. The most noticeable difference is in the 0 to 14 age group; at 20 per cent, it is higher than the state average of 17.6 per cent. Statistically based population projections for the region are conservative. Conversely, Mount Gambier in particular is well placed strategically to support population growth, with the right infrastructure and investments in place.
According to the 2011 Census, approximately 1.7 per cent of the population in the region identified as Indigenous on Census night —relatively low compared to other regional locations in South Australia. Data from the same source indicates the average for South Australia is 1.9percent. Of note is their young age profile, with well over half of this population aged 0 to 24 years. Local Indigenous community members have observed a movement of families and individuals relocating to the region in recent times, predominantly to Mount Gambier and Millicent.
A reasonably high proportion (86.1%) of Limestone Coast residents were born in Australia according to the 2011 Census. Culturally and linguistically diverse communities, while small in number, are significant. Since 2007, Mount Gambier has welcomed almost 400 directly settled refugees, predominantly from Burma (Myanmar) and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other recent migrants have relocated from New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, China and the Philippines. Many of the refugees who have settled in the region have language barriers, no Australian workplace experience and a lack of understanding of Australian work culture, all of which have affected their ability to fully participate in the local labour market.
For people with disability, Disability Employment Services providers cite continuing difficulties with licence and transport access; and access to and appropriateness of vocational training as labour market barriers for their client group.
In September 2012, 5.8 per cent of the working age population (15-64 years) in the Limestone Coast were in receipt of income support, Newstart or Youth Allowance (other), which is comparable to the state average of 5.6per cent of the same population. Approximately 44 per cent of Limestone Coast residents who were receiving income support during the same period had been doing so for over 24 months, a higher proportion than in Australia (38%). In June 2011, approximately 6.2 per cent of the working age population in the Limestone Coast were in receipt of a Disability Support Pension which is slightly lower that the 6.8 percent rate for South Australia as a whole.
Early childhood education and care
The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) measures young children’s development across five domains: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, school-based language and cognitive skills, and general knowledge. 2009 AEDI data indicated that, at a national level 23.6percent of children were vulnerable on one or more domains and 11.8 per cent were vulnerable on two or more domains. The AEDI found that in the local communities of Mount Gambier surrounds, Outer Millicent and Penola and surrounds the proportion of vulnerable children was less than half the national rate on both measures. However, in the communities of Bordertown and surrounds, Keith, Millicent and Robe vulnerability rates were at or higher than the national averages on both measures.