The RAC trade is in need of more masters but there is a lack of funding for post-trade training, according to ARC’s training manager, Noel Munkman.
As a former TAFE teacher who has been involved in the development of RAC training packages for many years, Munkman said the trade would benefit from more masters with a high level of expertise.
“It would be great to one day have a masters accreditation,” he told participants at CCN Live.
For now Munkman is trying to get approval for a project that was completed back in 2015.
“A couple of years ago we did a review of Electrotechnology training packages and found a few problems,” he said.
“There were apprentices with terrible literacy and numeracy skills but once an employer takes on an apprentice, TAFE must take them so we've recommended entry testing.
“We also need to make sure apprentices get core skills because we bury them in too much information. It's impossible to know everything in four years so we have recommended going back to core skills,” he said.
In addition to ensuring Cert III concentrated on the core skills of the trade, Munkman said Cert IV should include more complicated, higher level systems.
“This ensures there are two pathways, one at the basic level and a more advanced pathway with Cert IV,” he said.
“At the time we proposed these recommendations the Federal Government decided to overhaul the entire VET system so it was put on hold.
“Right now we are trying to get approval to move ahead with this project.”
Another speaker at the event talked about the need to give RAC a sexy makeover to attract apprentices.
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association (RACCA) president, Kevin O'Shea, said it is time to lift the profile of the RAC trade and make it more sexy to attract the right calibre of apprentices.
O'Shea has been in the trade 50 years and in all that time there has always been skills shortages.
“We are not attracting the right calibre of apprentices because we want our kids to go to university,” he said.
“This needs to change because the trade earns more than a graduate and there is no HECS debt.
“A fully competent RAC technician needs the same capabilities as a person doing university but we need to make the industry more sexy.”
O'Shea said there needs to be an entry test to make sure new apprentices have the basic skills to complete their training.
“At the same time TAFE must cease with all the cost cutting measures,” he said.
“Cert II should also cease to be delivered. I would also like to see training for all refrigerants around the country.
“As for national licensing, that's a tough one but we can start with trying to get national consistency.
“And finally, RAC is a great trade.”