PEER is leading the way in apprentice training, providing flexibility and choice, including the capability to provide supported training from any location, which is essential in our current Pandemic climate.
PEER has worked hard to develop and implement flexibility in the choice of training location, asserting themselves as leaders in the apprentice training market being equipped to quickly adapt to events such as the recent State lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s terrific to see training providers moving swiftly to digital tools to keep students learning while adhering to social distancing and I commend PEER on their achievements,” Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said.
PEER is the leading not-for-profit apprenticeship and skills recognition training, pre-vocational training, and VET in school’s provider, delivering high quality apprentices and trainees to meet the skill development needs of South Australia.
As PEER CEO Peter Nolan explains, PEER is a National Training Award winner and is known for finding ways to deliver innovative solutions and providing flexibility and choice to employers and apprentices.
“We developed an advanced way of delivering training, and PEER is recognised for understanding what its customers want,” Nolan said.
“Two years ago, we started a program of change, we looked at what our learners wanted and what their needs were. They wanted more flexibility and choice. We listened and put resources in place to develop capability in providing consistent yet flexible training at any location.”
Flexibility and choice are what appeals to employers of apprentices, especially in tougher times such as lockdowns.
“We have had a lot of enquiries from employers in South Australia, who are concerned their apprentices won’t complete their training on time,” Nolan said.
“Using our world class interactive learning resources, apprentices can continue their studies at any location as well as at our state-of-the-art training centre. The key thing for us is to ensure all of our apprentices, complete their apprenticeship on time and on schedule.” Nolan said.
As the latest lockdown unfolded in July, and schools closed their doors, PEER’s training model accommodated VET students and apprentices to receive support to study from other locations. This ensured no extension of training would be required, nor would any student or apprentice be disadvantaged.
“We were really on the front foot, having already developed the capability. The day the lock down started, our students continued their training, just from a different location – at home. There was no interruption to their training, in fact a survey of our learners showed that they were happy with the change and actually enjoyed it with an 8.2/10 satisfaction rate.” Nolan said.
PEER is motivated to create new opportunities for flexible and personalised training providing more choice for students, even beyond COVID-19.
“One of the challenges around South Australia has been students living in regional and remote areas,” Nolan said. Our training capability means we are able to provide more training opportunities for our students and apprentices in country areas and that’s what we’re going to do next”. Nolan said
