Media releases

Federation University’s Future Regions Research Centre (FRRC) Hub in Horsham, Federation TAFE and Wimmera Southern Mallee Development have started a new collaborative project to address the care worker skills shortage in the greater Wimmera region. 

The three-year project, “Accessing Latent Care Industry Workforces for Western Victoria”, will be managed by Wimmera Southern Mallee Development, formerly Wimmera Development Association, and link local research by FRRC with local training delivery by Federation TAFE in the areas of community services, early childhood education and care, aged care, disability support, and individual support. 

Dr Cathy Tischler from the FRRC will lead the project’s research and engage with local employers, industry, and workforces to identify and understand barriers to workforce and training attraction and retention and make recommendations to industry and workforces for investment and actions to better support the sustainability of rural workforces in the priority sectors of healthcare and social services. 

The anticipated three-year project will focus on smaller outlying western Victorian communities with low population growth and very low unemployment. 

Based on the FRRC research, Federation TAFE will design, develop, and deliver customised vocational education and training and wrap-around supports for students studying four pilot certificate level programs, as well as lead workforce mentoring. 

This innovative project has been made possible thanks to a grant worth close to $1 million from the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions Workforce Training Innovation Fund (WTIF) which aims to meet the needs of Victorian industries, regions, and disadvantaged learners, and make the training and TAFE system more effective in meeting skills needs in areas of economic growth priorities. 

The project is the latest example of how Federation as a dual-sector educational provider can support local communities by delivering research that can transform lives and enhance communities, while providing greater access to vocational education and training to help address the skills needs of regional areas. 

Those interested in being a part of the project should contact horshamresearchhub@federation.edu.au.  

Quotes attributable to Federation University Future Regions Research Centre Horsham Hub Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Dr Cathy Tischler 

“We want to understand the challenges that people in our smaller Wimmera Southern Mallee communities have in accessing training and education support and work together to remove those barriers. It's important that we are using our in-region research team who already understand the region and some of the problems that exist.” 

“There are small rural pockets of people in the Wimmera Southern Mallee, like those with family caring commitments, that are interested in upskilling but challenges of childcare and travel to and from Horsham make this impossible. We want to talk to those people to understand the specific barriers they have, put some science behind it, and see if we can find training and support options to meet their needs.”  

Quotes attributable to Federation University Campus Director, Wimmera, Ms Christine Brown 

“Federation TAFE is committed to addressing skills shortages and tackling the big issues facing regional communities. This project further strengthens our partnership with the Wimmera Southern Mallee Development as we work together to address the training and jobs needs of the region and marries the research capabilities of the Future Regions Research Centre Horsham Research Hub with the training expertise of Federation TAFE.” 

“This project is different in that it commences with first understanding the barriers to engaging with training by prospective students, and then builds training approaches with identified wraparound services that support local delivery. This exciting and innovative approach will try and test options for engaging and supporting students exploring a range of options identified as barriers through targeted, in-region research.” 

Quotes attributable to Wimmera Southern Mallee Development Chief Executive Officer, Mr Chris Sounness 

“Collaborating and partnering with Federation University on projects like this is so important in the Wimmera Southern Mallee region. The only way we can do this is by everyone working together and this project is a great example.” 

“Using innovative ways to engage with our local community works best when the people doing it are also embedded in the community. Wimmera Southern Mallee Development and Federation working together will give us the best possible result.”