Highly Capable, Future-Ready: APS Learning and Development Strategy
Commissioner’s foreword
The Australian Public Service (APS) continues to evolve to meet the growing challenges of the future. As part of this, I am pleased to sponsor the Highly Capable, Future-Ready: APS Learning and Development Strategy, which focuses on the development of our greatest asset - our people.
A knowledgeable and skilled public service is central to meeting the challenges that lay ahead and delivering outcomes for Government and the Australian community.
The Highly Capable, Future-Ready: APS Learning and Development Strategy highlights the need for a one-APS approach to lifting the skills and capability of our workforce to ensure a high performing, driven and trusted APS.
Encouraging a culture of continuous individual and organisational investment in learning, sharing of learning resources, and partnering across the APS will be crucial. Our people will need not only to develop new skills but stay open to new ideas and new ways of working. The establishment of the APS Academy will support building the unique public service 'craft' capabilities to ensure we have access to the right learning at the right time.
The APS Professions model has also been established to target priority capabilities, such as Data, Digital and Human Resources. The APS Academy and APS Professions will deliver consistently high quality learning and development options to our APS workforce, whatever their role and wherever they are located.
The Highly Capable, Future-Ready: APS Learning and Development Strategy is for all of us. It is a continuous investment in the development of our people and builds a stronger foundation on which to deliver outcomes for Government and the Australian community.
Mr Peter Woolcott AO
Commissioner, Australian Public Service Commission
I acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which we operate. We pay our respect to the Elders, past, present and emerging, acknowledging their history and continued connection to Country.
Objective
A highly capable and future-ready APS workforce; always learning and adapting to deliver for the Government and Australians.
Pillars
Culture
Foster an organisational culture that encourages and supports APS people, teams, managers and leaders to learn and develop continuously.
Governance
Enable relevant, effective and contemporary learning and development initiatives through alignment with organisational needs, APS-wide collaboration, quality standards and evaluation practices.
Capabilities
Target priority capability-building aligned with APS Workforce Strategy. Strive for a common, yet contextualised, approach that enhances workforce adaptability, mobility and performance.
Technology
Provide access for all to high quality learning experiences, performance support and knowledge sharing anywhere and anytime.
The APS L&D Action Plan details the practical steps to deliver on these pillars of action. All contributors to APS capability development have responsibilities for implementing the action plan.
Why learning and development matters
In today’s dynamic business environment, where change is rapid, complex and unrelenting, workplace learning has become a key lever for success. To respond to this change, people need to not only develop new skills more rapidly, they also need to develop new mindsets and capabilities.
Learning at the speed of change is now critical for individuals and organisations to adapt, deliver and perform.
Organisations that effectively build a culture of continuous learning are able to adapt to change and sustain growth.
Formal learning through workshops and eLearning is no longer enough to provide the level of responsiveness and adaptation needed in the environment of constant change outlined in the APS Workforce Strategy 2025. There is abundant opportunity to learn from our work and others every day, which must be leveraged to drive APS performance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes that were already occurring in learning and development – namely, the need for a greater alignment with strategic business outcomes; the increased use of digital technology and forms of learning other than face-to-face training; and new skillsets for learning and development teams, such as co-design and community engagement. This acceleration presents an opportunity to improve the efficiency and impact of learning through fostering a culture of continuous learning and high performance.