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Last updated: 30 November 2006
Chapter 6: Learning and development
Abbreviations
A list of the abbreviations used in this report is available in the Glossary
Priority development areas
The employee survey asked respondents to consider their learning and development needs in the next 12 months and to indicate the priority they would place on a number of nominated skills development areas.
| Skills Development Area | High (%) | Medium (%) | Low (%) | No priority (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leadership (e.g. general leadership development, whole of government approaches, achieving results, shaping strategic thinking) |
43 | 27 | 21 | 9 |
| Public Administration (e.g. writing for government, policy development, implementation) |
22 | 29 | 36 | 14 |
| Corporate (e.g. understanding the organisational setting, agency structure, priorities, key clients, service orientation, APS and/or agency values, diversity) |
25 | 36 | 31 | 9 |
| Business (e.g. planning, finance, human resources, project management, record keeping) |
30 | 30 | 30 | 10 |
| Technical, relevant to specific jobs (e.g. knowledge of specialist areas, legislation) | 57 | 24 | 15 | 5 |
| IT (e.g. training in agency specific IT systems) |
34 | 29 | 29 | 8 |
| Interpersonal skills (e.g. communication, conflict resolution, negotiation) |
38 | 32 | 24 | 5 |
| Self-management (e.g. time management, learning and personal development, team participation, ethical behaviour) |
40 | 28 | 26 | 6 |
| Source: Employee survey | ||||
Table 6.2 shows the priority placed on a range of different skills development areas. Employees were most likely to place the highest priority on developing technical skills or skills relevant to specific jobs and were least likely to place a high priority on developing public administration skills. The development of leadership, self-management and interpersonal skills also rated highly.
Other types of skills development needs identified by employees included completing formal study and continual professional development, particularly in the legal area, facilitation and presentation skills, public speaking and general management.
There were some minor differences in the priorities placed on learning and development needs depending on the type of work undertaken in the APS. Technical and leadership skills were identified as the top two priorities by employees working in policy, research, programme design or delivery, exercising regulatory authority and legal areas. Technical skills remained the number one priority for the other three identified work areas, but leadership was replaced by interpersonal skills for those employees involved in service delivery to the general public, by business skills for corporate employees and by IT skills for those working in administrative support/clerical areas.
