On 22 and 23 April Racing Australia, Godolphin Australia and Thoroughbred Industry Careers will partner to host a national Australian Thoroughbred Workforce Development Forum.
To be held at Royal Randwick Racecourse, The Forum was originally established following the ‘2019 International Forum for Education’ being hosted by Godolphin in Newmarket, UK.
With much work already being done globally, planning for the Forum commenced in late 2020, as it was originally planned for February 2021, and now 22, 23 April 2021.
It will gather breeding, racing, and education professionals from six countries and will address challenges such as inclusion and attracting newcomers, education and workforce enrichment.
It will address community engagement, that results in the formation of a global alliance and commitment to collaborate the togetherforracinginternational.com website.
In association with the national Principal Racing Authorities, Racing Australia initiated and hosted an Australian-based Forum in late January 2020, comprising peak stakeholder representatives.
The objective of this Workforce Development Forum is to create and deliver in principle agreement on strategies to secure and develop the 75,000+ people needed to sustain this Industry.
With a focus on ‘Obtain, Train and Retain’ within the thoroughbred industry, the strategies will be further developed as recommendations and documented outcomes of the Forum.
These outcomes are to be taken by Forum representatives to their peak organisations for review and consideration, and a national stakeholder working group to determine what to proceed with and how to implement the recommendations and outcomes.
Matters relevant directly to racing, will be reviewed by the Racing Australia Board who will then in conjunction with the Principal Racing Authorities.
The Racing and Breeding Industry Reference Committee recently completed a review and update for the Australian Industry Skills Committee to the RGR Racing and Breeding Training Package.
The Forum provides amongst other objectives an opportunity to build upon the work of the IRC to address urgent and emerging industry skills issues.
In originally launching the parent organisation Together for Racing International, it was Godolphin who addressed promoting education, community engagement and workforce development.
Mr Hugh Anderson, Godolphin Managing Director, recalled “a year ago today, the racing community united at the Godolphin Forum for Education in Newmarket, and was committed to ensuring that racing can offer greater opportunities to educators, young people and our communities.”
“The TfRI website provides a comprehensive view of the fantastic initiatives already in place globally and is an enormous step towards achieving our aim of engaging with young people and encouraging them to work in our wonderful sport.”
The TfRI global steering committee members comprise Thoroughbred Industry Careers in Australia, France’s AFASEC and France-Galop, Godolphin globally, Horse Racing Ireland, Irish National Stud, Kentucky Equine Talent Pipeline Project, North American Racing Academy and Britain’s Racing Together and The Racing Foundation.
