The Motor Industry Association says it’s concerned that industry and employers will lose influence over vocational training because of a major overhaul of vocational education and training announced by the Government today.

Chief Executive David Crawford says that the Industry Training Organisation model has been working well for the automotive sector.

“MITO, the Motor Industry Training Organisation, has been very responsive to the industry’s needs in the design of the range and contents of the courses in the automotive industry as well as in the way it has been able to liaise with the polytechs.

“We are concerned that replacing these specialist ITOs, such as MITO, with much larger and wide-ranging Workforce Development Councils will result in the sector losing an important level of influence over the way in which industry training outcomes are designed.

“The ITOs have been able to be nimble in responding to industry needs, such as adapting on the ground training to suit new developments and technology.

“The Government’s changes could mean that some of the smaller and more specialists sectors would have difficulty in getting their voices heard against the needs of much bigger industry groups.”

David Crawford says he is disappointed that the Government did not listen to the industry when it called for a timely, not rushed, review of ITOs and their effectiveness.

“It appears these changes have been rushed and there is little evidence that the Government has listened to the concerns of this sector when pushing ahead with its reforms.”

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