Plumbing into the future

The forum 'Plumbing into the Future', held on the 20th of May 2010 provided participants with a wealth of information and discussion on topics relevant to the plumbing sector. Over 60 industry, training providers, regulators and government representatives attended the day.

We would love to get some feedback from participants - it will only take two minutes - please click here to take a quick on line survey to help shape future events.

Below is a brief overview of the event and links to the presentations available for download. Holmesglen also took some very useful notes of the entire day, available here.

Luke Behncke (Skills Victoria) started the day with an overview of the very interesting Kellock Report into apprentice waiting lists. Luke also provided information on the funding programs available to plumbers at the state and federal levels.

Tom Vassallo, our wonderful new CMM provided an insight into a new project on Competency Based Completions in Plumbing. Welcome Tom and we hope you enjoy working with the plumbers!

Members then discussed some key challenges and provided solutions to three key questions.

1. What does flexible training and assessment mean for plumbing training?

2. What does effective communication mean between employer, apprentice and provider in the plumbing industry?

3.What do you think the future challenges are for plumbing?

A list of the answers received are available in the Holmesglen notes.

Lyle Kelson from Bendigo Institute of TAFE gave a wonderful presentation on how BRIT overcame the challenges of the new Certificate IV, with much support from Foxy! (see if you can find Foxy in the background picture).

The afternoon session provided participants with a range of great information, including

The day finished with some questions from the floor to panel members and an overview of the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre from Vin Ebejer.

Thank you to all of those who attended and actively participated in the day. Don’t forget to send in your your feedback!