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Talking Pools Podcast
If you’ve ever stared at a test kit like it personally insulted your family… welcome home.
Talking Pools Podcast is the pool industry’s “pull up a chair” show—part shop talk, part field manual, part therapy session—built for people who actually live on pool decks: commercial operators, service techs, builders, facility managers, and anyone responsible for water that can’t afford to go sideways. The network was created to level up the pool industry with real-world conversations on water chemistry, filtration, troubleshooting, construction, safety, and the business side of keeping pools open and budgets intact.
Here’s the hook: it’s not theory-first. It’s experience-first—a roster of seasoned pros (with 250+ years of combined “been there, fixed that” wisdom) turning complicated problems into practical moves you can use the same day. And it’s not one voice, one vibe, one corner of the industry: it’s a network of shows designed to reflect how diverse this work really is—different regions, different specialties, different personalities.
Also worth saying out loud: women aren’t “special guests” here—they’re on the mic as hosts, from the beginning, with an intentionally balanced roster. That matters, because the best ideas in this industry don’t come from one lane—they come from the whole road.
If you want a podcast that can make you laugh and make you better at what you do—without pretending the job is easier than it is—Talking Pools is the one you queue up before the first stop, and keep on when the day starts getting weird.
Talking Pools Podcast
Training Today Builds a Stronger Pool Industry Tomorrow
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Hiring new employees is only the beginning. If pool and spa businesses want knowledgeable technicians, loyal teams, confident customers, and fewer unqualified operators dragging down the trade, they must invest in professional development.
On this episode of Mondays Down Under, Lee Salisbury, Nick Day, and Shane Sneddon welcome Rachel, General Manager of IR Learning—soon to return to the name SPASA Training—to discuss the education and qualifications available to pool and spa professionals across Australia and New Zealand.
The group explores Recognition of Prior Learning, competency conversations, transferable skills, online education, industry-specific qualifications, and why experienced technicians may already possess much of the evidence needed to become formally qualified.
They also discuss the responsibility carried by pool professionals. Today’s technicians must understand water chemistry, hydraulics, electrical and plumbing systems, safety, automation, customer service, and business operations—yet the trade continues fighting for the recognition and funding it deserves.
Training your employees is not simply an investment in them. Better-trained people provide better service, inspire greater customer confidence, strengthen staff retention, and build a better business.
Topics discussed include:
- The transition from IR Learning back to SPASA Training
- The Four Pillars of Pool Care training series
- Recognition of Prior Learning for experienced technicians
- Why competency conversations are not traditional exams
- Turning everyday jobsite photos and videos into qualification evidence
- How skills from sales, safety, and other industries may transfer
- Building long-term career pathways within the pool and spa industry
- Training opportunities for Australian and New Zealand professionals
- Certificate III in Swimming Pool and Spa Service
- Pool building, retail, business, leadership, safety-barrier, and aquatic-operator training
- Why professional qualifications help separate legitimate businesses from industry cowboys
- The continuing push for trade recognition, licensing, and training funding
Learn more about available courses and qualifications at IRLearning.com
This episode is brought to you in part by Pool Brain, giving pool professionals the tools to operate smarter, more efficiently, and more profitably.
Thank you so much for listening! You can find us on social media:
Email us: talkingpools@gmail.com
Good afternoon, good evening, good morning, good whatever time of the day it is. It is time for Mondays Down Under on the Talking Pools podcast. It's great to have you with us. My name is Lee Salisbury and I am the Pool Shop Coach. As always, I'm joined by my two esteemed colleagues. Nick in Brisbane. Hey Nick, how are you?
SPEAKER_03Good thanks, Lee. How are you going down there?
SPEAKER_02I am very well, thank you. Is things heating up in Brisbane?
SPEAKER_03It is, it is. Spring is around the corner and it's meant to be 31, I think, in Brisbane next week. So we're already starting to see a few extra customers in the shop realizing that they have a pool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, foot traffic will be increasing. Yeah. Phones ringing madly and people trying to book their pools in and all the all the fun stuff.
SPEAKER_03All of the above.
SPEAKER_02And how are things in sunny Auckland, New Zealand, Shane? How are you?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, good thanks. Lee living the dream as always. Yeah. The weather is warming up. Today is a bit of a shocker, but last week there was a lot of pollen in the pools. So spring isn't the air, which is good. So could be an early season this year. I guess if we're going to get the Europe, European weather coming over here. Potentially it will be, but yeah, we'll have to wait and see.
SPEAKER_02They are saying that it's going to be a very warm season. They did say very warm and dry, but there's some areas of our eastern seaport that have actually had a decent amount of rain. So I don't know too much about the wet, dry, I don't know. Well it always what they say will happen or what happens can be two totally different things. But either way, in the pool game game, or hot weather, wet weather is always welcome because let's face it, dilution of pools is great for chemical sales, but hot weather is always great because the pools get used and then people are actually happy to look after the thing in the backyard that seems to cost them a bit of money to maintain. So we'll see what the season holds, hey.
SPEAKER_04Definitely.
SPEAKER_02Today joining us is actually my boss, Rachel from IR Learning, is the general manager of IR Learning, which is Sparza's training division. And uh I today have my pool shop coach hat on or my Talking Pools podcast hat on, but Rachel is my boss when I'm wearing my IRL hat. So thank you joining for joining us, Rachel. Thanks for inviting me, Lee. It's great to be here and nice to meet you, Nick and Shane. And you can't say anything bad about me on here. So no too. That'll be all she has to say for the rest of the programme, though. No, it's that time of the year where I thought it was really important to bring Rachel on to discuss training. It's a time of the year that a lot of people are putting stuff on. I know Nick, you'll be going through that as we were this time last year for your business.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Shane, I know you've got your true and trade uh true and steady employee. So I know you're not adding to your list this year, are you?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. We'll see next year. Um yeah, we'll just see how this year because to be quite honest, we don't have enough clients, regular clients at the moment to take another staff member on. So we'll evaluate that after the season.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yep. Growth and development all comes in stages. So, but I've actually got a a couple of my coaching clients at the moment that are advertising for new staff, writing job descriptions and all of those things. And and the first thing, obviously, when they bring staff on board is training them and getting them up to speed as as quickly as you possibly can. And that's where companies like IR Learning come into play. Rachel, please tell our listeners a bit about IR Learning and also what we have to offer.
SPEAKER_00This episode is brought to you in part by Pool Brain. Pool Brain gives pool professionals the tools to run smarter, more efficient, and more profitable service businesses. Check them out at PoolBrain.com.
SPEAKER_02Rachel, please tell our listeners a bit about IR Learning and also what we have to offer.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Lee. I might start with a quick name change, if I might. So the Institute of Research and Learning, also known as IR Learning, is actually being rebranded as we speak to Sparza Training. So Sparza Training is an entity that falls under the Swingfield Spa Association, and it is it is Sparza's training pillar. Yeah, for want of a better term. So we are a registered training organization here in Australia. We do offer some non-accredited training over in New Zealand as well, Shane, not to leave you out, but we can talk about New Zealand and what we're doing in that space uh a bit later on in the episode. So we've been a training organization since 2009 when we were first registered, offering non-accredited training, accredited qualifications, and e-learning and workshops, one of our workshops that uh Lee delivers actually, with one, a new one coming up on Wednesday. We've uh got a four pillars of pool care mini series that we haven't offered before. So yeah, see how that goes. It's got some good traction so far. So that kicks off on Wednesday, covers things like circulation and equipment, filtration and hydraulics, water chemistry and balance, um, sanitizing, problem solving, and safety. So that runs uh each Wednesday afternoon for 90 minutes and it will be delivered by Lee.
SPEAKER_02And we'll actually get Rudy to put a link in the show notes so that if you are in the Australian market listeners and you want to jump on that opportunity or enroll some of your team, we'll have a link in the show notes. But if you um don't have access to the show notes, irlearning.com will get you there. Or any of the multitude of sparsa newsletters that have probably been in your inbox that you haven't read yet.
SPEAKER_01End of it is also New Zealand can jump on. It's just a little bit later in the day for those guys. So three o'clock Australian Eastern Standard Time. Of course, it'll be five o'clock New Zealand time, but they are still welcome to join.
SPEAKER_02Cool. I had the pleasure of actually delivering training in New Zealand, was that last year? Year before last, I think, now might be.
SPEAKER_04Maybe about 18 months ago.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes. And I had Shane in one class and his wife in the other. So which was great.
SPEAKER_04We were testing you, Lee. You passed. We've been around very well.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. But no, it's training is just such an important part for for all businesses. Um, but in the pull and spar industry, we are dealing with people's health and safety. We're putting people in responsible roles. So actually getting them off to start on on the right track and giving them a good foundational knowledge to actually draw upon is is really important. We've tried with what we're delivering with IR Learning to actually, we've tried a few different things over the time that I've been with Sparza in in deliveries. We've had one-day workshops done in person. We've got the now the pillars, which is fantastic. We're sort of listening to people and trying to pick up what their wants and needs are, aren't we, Rachel?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, definitely. And and no different to this as well. And I just spoke to the marketing team earlier, Lee, that we put our QR code at the back to get our feedback, which is and the for the for those listeners, the feedback that we get on Lee is that she's incredibly knowledgeable, that feedback comes through time and time again, that she knows her space. Anything to do with school care, we rely on Lee heavily for from a compliance and validation perspective as a registered training organization. We we draw on her. We she's an SME subject matter expert in her own right in that space. So yeah, incredibly important role that that Lee plays. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Fluttery will get you everywhere.
SPEAKER_01The QR code. Sorry, I was saying the QR code. So I did and we have not done an offering like this, a mini-series for an hour and a half on a Wednesday afternoon. So so far it does seem to have pretty good uptake. But I just have said to marketing, just tweak a couple of the questions at in the QR code just to see if that is the appetite. Is that the sweet spot at three o'clock of an afternoon? Do, you know, do businesses want their staff doing it at, you know, an early morning one? Not sure, but that's yeah. Industries say they want training and we do try and deliver what it is that they what they're asking for.
SPEAKER_02And that's the thing, like we've tried a few different deliveries. We've obviously we do the online, we've done the online before, where I've delivered Zoom training and it's like for three hours. Um, we've done it in person, we've obviously we've got our e-learning courses as well, which which are great. They're self-paced, people can do them at a time that's convenient for them, but it's not delivered by a person, it's it's just an online course that they undertake. So we're trying to meet people where they're where their needs and wants are. But if we don't know what they are, as Rachel said with the QR codes, they're so important to get that feedback. If we don't know what those needs and wants are, then we can't tailor our training to to suit that. But we also offer tailored personal training, like I've delivered for Raging Warters and Griffith Council, and so bigger businesses out there that have bigger teams that want a more personal delivery or maybe like a facility delivery, we can cater to that too. So we we do do quite a bit. But the biggest problem we find is trying to get through to people, I think.
SPEAKER_01Like trying to get seen and heard is actually quite yeah. And I think that's and that's part of the rebrand, rightly. Um, with segue into talking about that again. But um, that's part of uh the reason why we uh change our name back to Spars of Training. So so Spars of Training was born back in 2009, and then there was uh a a name change to the Institute of Research and Learning with the idea that there would be a significant research component that just never really got off the ground. So a lot of the industry still refer to us and have done for all these years as sparse of training, and it just makes sense. Like we we want to be known as the go-to in industry for anything training, whether it's a tailored tailored training for the workplace, yeah, bite-sized bits of e-learning, which we are going to be doing a little bit more of with the updated qualification that should be coming out later this year, Lee. Others to sit three and four in Swim Fools Fast Service, we're going to link our e-learning much closer to the accredited training. So people will be doing these bite-sized pieces of learning that are linked. They're mapped in the back end to the qualification and at a later date they can enroll into that and get things marked off. Then they they're doing it without even realizing they're actually doing it. Um, we're gonna be gotta be doing a lot with that that space. Yes. Yeah, for the rest of this year and next year is linking non-accredited things through to the accredited training just to show that pathway as well. And it's not as daunting then for those who go, Oh my god, I haven't looked at a book or a textbook or any type of learning for the last however many years, and it's it's too much. If they've done, you know, just a handful of these e-learning offerings, they're part way through the qualification without even knowing that they've done it.
SPEAKER_02So that that's yeah, it's it it that's been something that's been on our radar all since I started back with IR learning. Actually, geez, that's a bit scary. I think it's nearly three years now. Yeah, it would be. Yeah. Time goes fast. But yeah, that's something like Wendy and I discussed early on. It's like we're we're delivering this training. If we're delivering something, then it should be mappable. And and it, like you say, it makes it not seem so daunting. When you look at a at a course like what we deliver and we go, it's 18 units. How many units in the new version? 14. Okay. So yeah, so there's 18 in the current one, there's 14 in the in the new one. But that can seem like a lot of work to people. And they go, Well, I haven't been in school for some people it's only a matter of a couple of years, but others it could be 20 years since they've been at school. And it's actually quite scary, like thinking and doing that learning again. And but we're making it bite-sized, and it's almost like a choose your own adventure, I think is a a term we used early on. Don't know whether you boys had them at school, but you had the choose your own adventure books that you could you'd read a section and it'd go, you have a choice. You can either go down this path or that path. And if you want to go to that page or this page, you've got to choose your own adventure and where you would end up, I suppose. And it's the same way with with learning, like you could learn things that interest you, that are point to your role at that time that you're going to get the most benefit out of. And then before you know it, you've completed half the course. And it's like, well, I may as well may as well finish it off. Yeah, yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04And especially, I mean, if you're out on the road five days a week and you're on the tools five days a week, you're pretty much you're pretty much working towards that accreditation anyway. It's just the paperwork that you're missing. So I mean, if you can put up with that paperwork, then yeah, you're halfway there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And that's exactly right. The the on the tools and the work that people are doing just in their day-to-day activities and tasks, that that all links to recognition of prior learning. So you're out in the field, take take photos, take videos, and you know, this it's all evidence that builds your portfolio of evidence that that then links to units of competency and accreditation at a later stage.
SPEAKER_02I'm actually, winter is always a big time for people finishing qualifications or actually undertaking them and and let's say, let's say knocking them out because they they do. They go, okay, I've got a period through winter and I'm going to knuckle in, I'm going to get as much done on as this as I can. And at the moment I've got a few RPL students going through and we're doing competency conversations, which is the last stage of of RPL. And uh a fellow messaged me today and said, like, do I have to study for this or prepare? And I went, no, no, no. It's a competency conversation. The things that I'm actually going to be asking you are things that you're doing each and every day in your role as a pool technician. You've just got to actually verbalize it. And it's amazing, though, how many times we don't think about verbalizing what we do. We just go, oh yeah, we did a pool service. Well, pool service includes doing a work health and safety check as you arrive on site. It's something we do automatically. It's a safety check that it's there's the fence is intact and the gate opens outwards and there's a CPR chart. There's the chemistry check, there's the filtration and circulation, you're doing the backwash and emptying the baskets. All the little steps, we just call it, oh, yeah, I did a pool service. But what does a pool service actually entail? And so it's verbalizing those things. So it's it's not daunting, it's just being descriptive, I suppose, or detailed in in what you actually do. So no competency conversation is not a test. It is a conversation. That's probably the one of the biggest things we have with our students, isn't it, Rach? Where they think it's it's a test at the end.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, they put it off. Yeah. They're like, yeah, it's uh Yeah, but they put it off. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's exactly that. It's a conversation and it's just confirming they know what they're doing and that the evidence that they've submitted as part of their portfolio are they can talk to each item, you know, the pool tests that they upload and how they quote their jobs and as you just mentioned, all the checks that they do and things like that. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the I say to people all the time, like, I can't walk into a pool vent into a pool yard, and I know you to Nick and and Shane will be the same, you can't walk into a pool yard without doing that automatic check off in your head that like it's like, does the gate open outwards? Does it shut automatically? And it's not like an actual checklist in your head, but it's just something that you notice. It's like you're going through those noticing things. It's ingrained in us. So, and you're doing the visual check, the pool's the water's clear, the water's halfway up the skimmer box, you just do those things on autopilot. And it's yeah, it's just vampalizing it. But I think all of this talks to the level of professionalism in our industry. Like I think we're all strong advocates here for improving the level of professionalism in our industry. And I think one of the best ways to do that is actually to become qualified.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. We uh we and just at splash last week, you you know, there was a number of people that came to our stand to talk about qualifications and what that looks like in their business and that they they want to invest in their people because they're sick of the cowboys in the industry. We hear it all too often. So, but we also hear equally is that business owners say, Oh, I don't, you know, like why would I invest in someone? You know, they they're just going to leave. Like, what if they leave? What if they don't? You know, like it's it's important to invest in your people. And there are so many reasons why it's important to invest in your people. You've got better staff retention. You invest in your people and they feel valued, so they're gonna be have better engagement, better engaged staff, you know, like it's better customer experience for the people walking through your doors. So there's so many reasons why it's important to yeah, in invest in your team. It builds your business.
SPEAKER_04It gives a client a lot of confidence as well, choosing your business over, you know, the other guy down the road.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's exactly right. Well, I often say like it doesn't matter what brand is above the door, whether it's a a franchise or an independent, a long-standing business name, it does not matter whose name is above the door. If people walk in and they can't get service that they trust that they risk like they value and respect, that it's expertise coming through in everything that's being delivered, they're just as likely to walk out the door and go to the next pool shop down the road, or for that matter, a mass merchant. Because the value of what your business brings to your clientele is your knowledge and expertise. And if your staff can't deliver on that, you're not going to retain those clients.
SPEAKER_01Well, and in expense, the second biggest investment behind a mortgage is a pool in your backyard. So, you know, like you need to trust in the people that can support you in maintaining that massive investment.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. You we're dealing with their health and safety and we're protecting their biggest investment, we can cause a lot of damage to that or to the people that are using it. So we need to take what we do very seriously. And I think too, you make an extremely important point, Rachel, in that we need to invest in our people. If we don't invest in our staff, they're not going to stay with us. If we don't show that we value and appreciate them and that they're a valued and contributing member of the team and actually feel like they belong, that they're contributing, like they they're really adding value to your business and to your clients' lives, they're not going to stay. And so simply by investing in them and and giving them the training and the knowledge and actually making them that person, that important cob in the wheel of of your business, then they're going to they're going to be much more likely to stay. People don't like to leave teams where they feel valued, where they're actually they're a strong unity. Um, I know Nick's got a great team up there, and it's it's lovely to see that camaraderie in in a team where they do lean on each other and they have some fun banter and those sort of things. It just strengthens the team. And people then are less likely to leave. And that's what we want. We want employees that are gonna stay. Too many people see this industry as a transient industry. Why? Let's make it not transient. We we need to change employers need to change their perspective and not see it as a transient.
SPEAKER_01And why, you know, what you know, why would I invest in my staff if if they're just gonna leave? Like you're don't look at it as you're investing in your staff. Just take a bit of a different lens. You're you're ultimately investing in your own business. So better staff is better business. So just uh yeah, the perception and changing that lens and the way they they sort of approach what investing in people and their business looks like.
SPEAKER_02Well, I often like use the example when I went up to I think it was Coffs Harbour with Lindsay a couple of years ago and delivered the keynote at the country managers uh association. We had up on that stage over 120 years of experience between the five of us that were on the panel. Well 120 years of industry experience. Not one of us was from the same sector of industry. Yeah, there you go. And that goes to show that there's longevity. Yeah. And so it's about creating a career pathway and training, getting qualifications is a big part of that pathway, creating that pathway for your your staff to actually show there's a long standing future in this in this industry. And that's why I love people taking like Nick takes his team to to splash. I love people taking their teams to splash because they think that they're just one man and with a pole in a backyard, they don't realise they're actually part of a a very massive community. Yeah. Yeah. It's huge. Yeah. And walking into Splash and seeing how big it is and how diverse it is. Yeah, I think really opens a lot of employees' eyes to that. Do you get any feedback, Nick, from your newbies?
SPEAKER_03Most most definitely we did a bit of the scavenger hunt test that I gave to them. We we spoke about that today. But yeah, definitely a lot of the guys didn't realise how big it was and how big the industry was. So there's a lot of big, big eyes, big faces when we um when they walked in. But no they took a lot out of it.
SPEAKER_02So I don't know whether you know Rachel, but Nick actually does a scavenger hunt with his team and he puts a heaps heap of tasks on it as to getting them to do different things. Who who got the most swag at all the stalls?
SPEAKER_03That was one of them. Who who got the most pens? That was one of the challenges.
SPEAKER_02One of them was that they had to stitch up Peter Legaz, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. Had to go and call it the wrong name and yeah stir Pete up a little bit. So he was good baby though.
SPEAKER_02I was very grateful to find out that I wasn't on the scavenger list because I thought most of the team actually know me. I might have been on the scavenger list.
SPEAKER_03I thought about it. I really thought about it.
SPEAKER_022028 whip out. Yeah. So no it's i I think it's it's really important for your team to actually realise that yeah there can be a massive future in this industry. So it's it's not just small. And I think even doing doing the judging for the sparsa awards this year, I did some for different criteria that I'm not involved in in in my role but it's opened my eyes to how many businesses in different states where there's not licensing in service don't seem to have the same value for the qualification. And that really saddened me because I think if you're a business and you take what you do seriously, the best thing you can do is actually be qualified. Like yes be a spa's a member absolutely be a spaza member and be qualified. Yeah show that you're serious in it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and hopefully that starts coming through like I know the the service techs were once upon a time lumped in the category of something and laborers and then NEC which stands for not elsewhere classified under the ANSCO codes. And that got an overhaul a couple of years ago and pool builders were also lumped under the category of building associates but pool builders and service techs now have their own Oscar codes. So they've separated under that ANSCO banner and they're not listed as not elsewhere classified or dumped into a bucket of building associate anymore. So there they do have their own standalone code that that does say look we we are a trait we we've got our own Oscar code and hopefully I know sparza put out that the comms when the we did the census are where you had to list your occupations. So that those comms went out and hopefully people did fill them in accurately and and a true representation of you know how many people are in the industry because those that data then feeds back into you you know like even funding for qualifications and things like that. It's super important. So yeah hopefully people put their right occupation in in the census when when that went around and that will they you know it takes a little while to sort of feed back through but that's just one component of it. We did a funding application with the Queensland Department of Trade Employment and despite DTET whatever the new name is now to have pool building recognised as a a traineeship in Queensland and that was ticked off and approved last year. So pool building was recognised as a traineeship last year in Queensland the first state in state or territory in Australia to have that but then in the next spread if they said yeah no problem agree here's a traineeship and it's all declared but by the way you're not getting any funding for it and it's it's impossible to compete with the other 300 odd trades that are out there particularly when you know my son did a a school based apprenticeship as a mechanic and if he was to come home and say oh mum I want to I want to do this but it's going to cost you know thousands of dollars the parents are going to say mate you've got another 300 and something on that list to choose from maybe that aren't going to cost me anything choose a different trade. So that's something we're we're battling at the moment to find the data and and get feedback from industry to have that decision a resubmission I guess so that we can try and get funding for our qualifications.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I know when I was involved with build skills like I I just said to them I can I can't believe that that we aren't like an apprenticeship. Like we we are a little bit plumber a little bit electrician and a lot chemist and we can drown you electrocute you and chemically blow you up and yet we're not a licensed trade and yet there's so many licensed trades out there that like you can't kill somebody with a paintbrush but you need to be a licensed painter. It's things like that. And it just dumbfounds me that we are a job that has so much responsibility. But I think the thing is our industry's come a long way like in the last 40 years, 30 years, 20 years even we've come such a long way now we even have to be a little bit body computer scientist so that we can actually program all those systems that are automated and all the robotic things that we have that run our pools. Like now we're going to have to add that to our skill set as well it's really quite incredible how diverse the skill set in a in our industry needs to be to to be really successful at this position. It's not an easy job by any means. Like I think people who think pushing a pole around a pool is an easy job and that they're going to make a quick bark.
SPEAKER_01I think that's what they see, right? Yeah you you've got your leaf scooper and that that's that's it.
SPEAKER_02Just yes your bucket of chlorine and they think they're a pool boy. They're the cowboys that unfortunately give us a bad name and that's then when we get into pricing battles with people that underprice things and then it devalues the services that the professionals in our industry actually provide. So the faster the whole of Australia can bring out a license I think the better. We've just got to get Victoria on board next which would be which would be wonderful but yeah at least in New South Wales and Queensland we have a license which is good. So at least that's something.
SPEAKER_04Shane there's no license in New Zealand is there isn't I was just about to bring that up funnily enough we did have a very good conversation about this earlier before the recording and Rachel you were given a lot of really really good information on it. So I know I know myself and I really would like to put my staff through it I know there's many other people many other businesses managers that want to do the same thing over here it's it's in the making it's been in the making for a little while now for New Zealand so free but uh could you give a little bit of information on that as well please?
SPEAKER_01Yeah so there's sort of two components to that so last year we had so there was a few of us uh that sat on a technical committee to have tool building recognised as a qualification in New Zealand. So that was ticked off last year uh so that's recognised by the NZQA. We did look at uh what that would look like for spaza becoming a PTE over in New Zealand which is equivalent to Australia's RTO so it stands for a private training establishment. It was it was yeah extensive as far as time money and and effort were concerned for a probably at this stage a small cohort of people so we went down the route of partnering with an existing provider. So we've just got an agreement signed with Vertical Horizons over in New Zealand. I was over there the week before Splash a couple weeks ago and they they do an array of different they're in the construction space they are asbestos they do not asbestos actually they do a marine safety one they do confined spaces so lots of different sort of avenues they they work within so we're partnering with those guys great bunch of people to do pool building so that's still kind of getting off the ground and we're building that at the moment but just last week we were approved to have certificate three in swimming pool spa service added to our scope of registration in Australia to deliver online offshore for New Zealand. So what that means is that anyone in New Zealand who's looking at doing the certificate three in swimming pool and spa service which is nationally recognized in Australia they can do that now and they will if their if their goal is to either come to Australia for work live whatever that might be they will they will enter Australia with that qualification that's recognised and a licensed pathway for those guys that would do it to have the NZQA piece of paper on their wall to say that they're they're accredited probably not for those guys because it's not NZQA approved. So I just want to make that very clear not NZQA approved but the water quality microcredential skill set that is available in New Zealand is looking to be reviewed next year. So they're looking at bringing in more of a domestic pool service pool ballet qualification and that is where this qualification would link towards so in Australia we use units of competency that are attached to nominal hours. New Zealand use unit standards which are attached to credits and hours so they are a bit different but it absolutely would link to recognition of prior learning and potentially some credits towards the qualification that is to come in New Zealand. But yeah it's it's a good qualification Lee's delivered this to you know hundreds of students probably Lee over over the years. And those that genuinely want the learning out of it they will get something out of it for those piece of paper on the wall that's ticked off by the NZQA not for that cohort but those who are wanting to learn something or even enter Australia fully qualified and ready to to be licensed in the states that that's relevant to definitely for those people.
SPEAKER_04I think I've got to have to wait for it to come out so Lee can uh come over to New Zealand and uh take it as well I can be your designated trainer from all the way over here and Nick I know there was talk about you guys doing the cert three well look Rachel Nick was actually born in a cot out the back of the shop basically he's been he's been in this one business since he was 15.
SPEAKER_02He started as a Saturday job and he's never left and I've never left all these years later. No he's the general manager.
SPEAKER_03Yes no I actually had a good chat with Jamie at Splash we'd actually exchanged and Kathy'd exchange some emails um with him so yeah I had a good chat with him with the benefits of it and what I've found that could be beneficial for for someone like me that is been in the industry for so long but doesn't have the qualification and what I could um yeah benefit from.
SPEAKER_01Yeah absolutely and I'm sure he would have spoken to you then if yeah you've been doing it for that long. I'm sure the the the pathway for you is RPL recognition of prior learning without a doubt.
SPEAKER_02Yes again for that competency conversation Nick Nick could rob it probably write the book to be quite honest.
SPEAKER_03Good good with my hands the technical knowledge or the the yeah maybe not so much but yeah put it put the pool in front of me I'll fix it.
SPEAKER_01That's where we try and take the the how people feel overwhelmed as you're saying earlier in the episode Lee and we we have tried to simplify that student portal and it's it's upload this here, upload this here and you just kind of follow the bouncing ball along and we've tried to simplify it as much as we possibly can um and take those pain points out of it. Um we we've got to be doing a building we're gonna be on this journey again building the qualification and and what that looks like for the updated one when it's released. So it feels like that's what we we spend a lot of our time doing. But we do, yeah, we everything we build we try and build it with the um you know the student experience the user experience in mind and particularly in industry who they're not academically inclined a lot of them and and they find this overwhelming and daunting. So we we try and take that pain point out and follow the bouncing ball up your upload your Regionet here, upload your white card here, upload some pull tests here, upload what a quote might look like here. So we do try and simplify it so that yeah people can get that recognition of what they already know how to do. And your trainers always there to support you.
SPEAKER_02So like Steve and I and Anita and Sam we're all there as near as the phone but I have students reach out to me and say I've created this video but I can't edit it. How do I edit it? Okay well download this app it's free and this is how you do it and I talk them through it and and things like that or uploading information and like it can be the simplest little hiccup can seem like a mountain but the moment you speak to a a trainer they can simplify it for you or you might say I don't have this particular document what do I do and it's yeah don't I and I always say to my students go in and upload what you've got that you've got ready access to you'll be amazed at actually how much of it you do have. Yeah and most of the time they make a mountain out of molehill and then when they actually get to it and they actually go oh I have that it's like yeah it's it's not as big an issue as they paint it out to be well the transferable skills.
SPEAKER_01So when I was down in New South Wales in this barza office uh a couple of months ago and the pool works guys came in and did a presentation to a cohort of their and we their people and we came in and spoke about certificate three and one of the guys said oh and we spoke about RPL and and how that plays out and one of the guys in the room said oh no there's I wouldn't get any RPL I'm new to the industry and and he probably would have been in his 30s and I said to well what's what's your background what have you done prior to this oh I've only ever done sales there's units of competency that is literally sell products to customers there is a customer service um module within and um it's a transferable skill so a lot of people don't sort of think that their background would hold much weight to any of this being such a different industry but I'd be hard pressed to tell me an industry that you've come from that you don't have any skill that that links that is transferable into any of our units. So there is definitely transferable skills regardless of your background.
SPEAKER_02So yeah work health and safety is another one like a lot of people do work health and safety in a in a variety of different roles yeah it's okay they haven't done storage and handling of dangerous chemicals or that actual component but they've done what's covered in the other two. So we can we we can help make the journey a little bit easier and and then not feel so overwhelmed. So yeah your trainers are always there to support you but Nick you undersell yourself as always. So no cat Kathy was Kathy reached out to me and I put her in cut in contact with Jamie a while ago so about a couple of their guys doing training.
SPEAKER_03So I look forward to having you on my list yes me and me and Brendan me and Brendan really need to do it.
SPEAKER_02And there will be no favoritisms at all you would have toe the line completely because I do everything above board. I believe that 100% you would expect nothing less of me I know. But yeah I think Rachel we've got quite a lot at IRL that we can offer the people out there that are training these new staff members that are coming on board. We've got the e-learning there's a special on the e-learning at the moment isn't there I think is it getting get three and it's some and it's at a discounted rate or something like that.
SPEAKER_01It's a package it's a package oh that's the uh the bundles you're talking about bundles yes but yeah the yeah there are and and they're good for um there's a the people who are you know intro into the industry uh the seasoned service tech so the we've got the foundations bundle I'll tell you the foundations bundle the technician bundle and the expert bundle and within each of those there is three three separate e-learning courses thrown into the one bundle but they're really good for yeah as I said people who are new to the industry or been in it for a while and need a bit of a refresher so yeah yeah there's some good offerings there yeah send send your staff out into the season ready to tackle whatever might come their way. Yeah and again if they do something now and then maybe you know next winter the they've done these now and over the over the time they're just their day-to-day work they're out in the field taking photos and videos of the work that they're doing next winter rolls around they've got a really good portfolio already of what they could use for recognition of prior learning evidence.
SPEAKER_02And I know we've talked about like obviously the the e-learning courses the bundles we've talked about the pillars that are coming up on on Wednesday so remember if you want to jump on that listeners you need to do it quickly because today is Monday and it starts on Wednesday afternoon. So make sure you jump on that link or go to IRlearning.com and book your spot but we've also obviously got qualifications that we deliver we've talked about the set three in pool and spar service but what are the other qualifications that we offer at IR Learning that people might be interested in so just on the Certificate 3 and 3 in pool and spa service and we've also got some funding as well in New South Wales and Queensland for that.
SPEAKER_01So if you're interested in New South Wales Queensland what that funding looks like please reach out to us and and yeah we can we can help you uh check your eligibility but we also do certificate three in retail we've got business qualifications so anything that we do offer specifically the um retail and the business they're not generic off the shelf kind of learning so everything we we we offer is built by industry for industry so our retail it allows you to bring in additional external units from a training package so we've made ours for the cohort of pool shop people working in a pool shop so all the units they're right and relevant for people in the pool shop they're not a generic sales associate kind of learning and assessment they're very much specific to the industry.
SPEAKER_02They've been contextualized to relevant content so that it applies exactly to their role and we bought in I think it was the water qual water quality unit or that there was one of the water pool water and the selling the And yes we've got also the diploma of uh business diploma of leadership and management we'll also be looking at putting HR qualifications on our scope in the near future for yeah for people in the in the business that want to go down the sorry in the industry wanting to go down more of the business route so their offerings and a career pathway as well we have people who are seasoned service techs that might want to go into more of a management role as well where these qualifications will support that that career pathway. So we're not a one not a one horse pony or one at one show pony.
SPEAKER_01Yeah or of course pool building that is that's one of our main ones pool building we yeah we we get the market share of students across Australia our data the data that's available nationally reflects that so we get most of the students who are looking to do service tech and pool building most of those people come through us. So it's it's really good something to be proud of.
SPEAKER_02Yeah absolutely I think what we offer is like you say it's built by industry for industry very specific we're not just an RTO that are offering these courses we actually are offering what we live and breathe and what our industry members need.
SPEAKER_01So full safety barrier is another one that we do yeah yeah yeah aquatic technical operator for your commercial commercial techs out there as well it's a five unit skill set but yeah not a not a huge RTO that churns through you know thousands of students it it is very much a uh it's a niche RTO uh specifically for the industry.
SPEAKER_02Fantastic so listeners out there if you want to upskill your team in any way shape or form maybe it's just a small e-learning course maybe it's an online Zoom um pillars course or maybe it's a full qualification. IR Learning or as soon to be known as Barza Training again um is your go-to. So and if you're really lucky you might get me as your trainer. Exactly but anyway thank you very much for joining us Rachel I think our industry are stronger because of the service offerings that we do provide for industry and people just need to take them up and run with them.
SPEAKER_01Yes I think that's thanks so much for inviting me along and um and talking all things professional development trading everything that's been really good Lee. Thanks.
SPEAKER_02That's great. Thanks Nick thanks Shane I hope you guys jump in the training bandwagon soon get your teams on board. More homework for me I think thank you listeners thank you listeners for joining us if you have any questions any topic suggestions remember drop us online at talkingpools at gmail.com and Rudy will dish those out to the most applicable host. We hope you've got something out of today's session and we look forward to you joining us again next week for the next riveting episode of Talkingpools down under. Alright guys cheers bye thank you
