Hello from the Data Professional Stream Team at the ABS!
The Australian Public Service Commission have recently released fascinating evidence from the 2020 Employee Census that rates data as the fourth highest capability gap across the service, from general literacy across to professional skills. One quarter of employees who identified the gaps highlighted it was in their immediate work group. These results confirm the timely and invaluable role the data professional stream can play to address this gap.
To this end, the team are continuing to work with our Australian Public Service (APS) partners to progress a number of exciting priority initiatives. In addition to working towards releasing a beta data capability framework later this year, over 40 senior executives from 9 agencies are participating in a masterclass on "Why data matters" to build skills and confidence to use data effectively in their leadership roles. We continue to pilot immersive capability development through public service mobility and will profile these in this, and future, editions.
We are launching a new project to learn more about you. Developing an employee value proposition to improve the employment experience of data professionals across the service is fundamental to success of the Data Professional Stream and will be used to develop an online membership platform. We will be seeking help through our APS Data Network and Data Graduate Network, so keep an eye out for opportunities to get involved.
Finally, the Data Profession turns one in September. To celebrate, there will be a Canberra based event (with in person and virtual attendance options) marking the occasion, a virtual presentation and, of course, cake to complete the celebration.
Enjoy the newsletter. Don't forget to let us know about any projects, news, or opportunities you would like to share with colleagues through the Data Profession News. Please send any feedback or ideas to data.profession@abs.gov.au
Best wishes,
Lisette Aarons
Director, Data Professional Stream