As technology continues to embed itself into everyday life in a post-COVID world, TAFE NSW has partnered with Port Macquarie Hastings Council to provide council staff with digital literacy skills to better serve their community.

The Foundation Skills for your Future Program is backed by funding from the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment and will see the TAFE NSW course provide free on the job, tailored training for up to 100 staff so they can hone their digital skills.

PMHC CEO, Dr Clare Allen, said upskilling all staff and building parity of digital literacy would not only help employees in their work but also promote knowledge sharing.

“Digital literacy is an important foundational skill. Working with TAFE NSW to customise a course specifically for our people was a great opportunity for our organisation to deliver exactly the education needed to address the digital gap.

“With upto 100 staff trained over this year, the education will help our people deliver services in a more streamlined way for our community.”

TAFE NSW Head Teacher of Career Pathways, Aboriginal Languages and Employability Skills, Sam King, said the course covered software programs used daily by PMHC staff.

“We have learners from all different stages in their digital literacy journey complete the TAFE NSW course, and through hands-on learning, it was great to see students’ confidence with technology increase,” Mr King said.

“The digital literacy course is a great opportunity to work with PMHC and create specialised training to fit the needs of their staff.”

Recent graduates and council staff members, Luke Turner and Helen Ward, said the course delivered practical knowledge for their roles as more tools and administrative tasks become digital.

“It was good to learn about the tools we will be using, and about being secure and safe while using these programs,” Luke said.

“I enjoyed that the course was flexible and we could ask to learn more about a topic. Most of the course was on iPads which we will be using more and transferrable to phones too.”

Helen said with PMHC’s workforce spread widely across the local government area, meeting people outside her team was an unexpected positive to the course.

“We learned about the online programs we use and will be using. We also learned about the tools other

teams use and how they can be shared with our team too which will make the work we do more efficient,” Helen said.

“It’s a course for all levels of ability. If you’re willing to learn, you’ll get a lot out of it.”

Media contact: Jessica Cortis, TAFE NSW Communications Specialist, jessica.cortis1@tafensw.edu.au