Thursday, 18 August 2022

Learn Local providers

Mr MELHEM (Western Metropolitan)

Incorporated pursuant to order of Council of 7 September 2021:

Last week I attended the 2022 Learn Local conference: ‘It takes a village’. The ACFE board, Learn Local providers and other stakeholders gathered to highlight the work of the sector and reconnect after COVID setbacks.

Learn Locals in partnership with other organisations provide essential support to individuals and ensure everyone has a successful learning journey and can achieve meaningful pathways to work or further study or just help them in day-to-day life. Over the two days of the conference, I saw the success of this sector in connecting with agencies and the importance of local responses to local issues.

We heard from several Learn Locals about their work with local industry, TAFE and community services and the work they are doing to support learners on their journeys. We also heard from Mark Cabaj on the power of community and local response, taking a deep dive into this sentiment by discussing the work undertaken by the sector and exploring steps to achieve successful collaborations on the ground. This provided opportunity to share and learn for each other while inspiring new ways of working together.

It was a privilege to visit many of these providers over the past couple of years. Through these visits, the issue of access to digital devices was highlighted, with many learners unable to access a computer. This prompted the start of the repurposing of departmental end-of-life computers. This became the refurbished laptop program, which reduces e-waste and supports the closure of this digital divide.

We have since secured the rollout of 1000 refurbished laptops to the sector with 350 dispatched to Learn Locals as a part of the pilot program, followed by 300 notebooks in June and a final dispatch by November.

It really does take a village to be able to provide quality education and opportunity the way these Learn Locals are. That is why the Andrews Labor government is committed to supporting this sector to continue this incredible work in delivering a first-class service to our most disadvantaged group in our society.