Building Service Contractors Association of Australia (BSCAA) NSW division held its members’ meeting over breakfast at The Ranch in Marsfield (Sydney) on 6 March to announce the launch of its online cleaning induction course. After a quick welcome to members and suppliers by BSCAA NSW vice president Jamie Halfhide, managing director of RTO Daniels Associates, Bruce Whiteley, took the floor to inform members about the benefits of the new training initiative.
“We aren’t here to say traditional training has gone, it’s still here, but we are now looking at blended learning system, which includes the use of an online portal,” stated Whiteley. “We are focusing on career pathways in the cleaning industry and that starts with an induction course that covers three units of competency.”
Whiteley went on to list the benefits to employers of the BSCAA online induction course; including compliance with legislation, minimal workplace disruptions, cost effective pricing, and the most important aspect – staff trained to competency
standards. Meanwhile the overall industry also benefits with standardised industry induction training and encouraging active involvement of the BSCAA as a key training provider.
“This course should be something people are doing before they apply for a job, just like any other industry trade, a condition of employment should be to have that certificate,” noted Whiteley. “However there’s an important issue we need to consider and that is ESL – English as a second language, as this can, and has been a barrier with learning in our industry.”
To address this issue, Whiteley and the BSCAA have looked into offering additional support services. “AustralianSuper has offered support to translate the course into two or three other languages dependent on industry consultation to select the key languages. We are also looking at audio tutorial support for the future,” he revealed.
Whiteley also mentioned a short supervisory course on leadership, which will include how to deal with harassment in the workplace, how to run a team meeting, conflict resolution and customer service. He also mentioned a different traineeship funding model being released by the Government next year.
“Online training isn’t the perfect solution. Face to face learning is still the more accepted method, but we are trying to develop an alternative pathway for everyone to get some education,” explained Whiteley. “Online training is part of a blended system and approach to training our workforce.”