NCVER News #386

7 September 2016

Apprentices and trainees: latest figures

The past two weeks has seen the release of a number of reports on apprentices and trainees:

Quarterly figures show apprentice and trainee numbers decline

The number of apprentices and trainees starting training in the March 2016 quarter decreased by 3.7% to 56 100 compared with the same period last year.

In contrast to an overall decrease in apprentice and trainee commencements, there has been a 4.6% growth in commencements in non-trade occupations. This is mainly due to increases in sales assistants and salespersons, and carers and aides workers.

The overall decrease can be attributed to a decline in the number of commencements in trade occupations, down 10.8% to 27 900 for the March 2016 quarter when compared with the March 2015 quarter.

Completion rates steady

Individual completion rates, which take into account apprentices and trainees moving between employers while undertaking their training, have remained largely steady at 56.3% for trade occupations and 58.3% for non-trade occupations. Across occupations, individual completion rates range from 69.0% for hospitality, retail and service managers to 40.6% for food trades workers.

Completion and attrition rates for apprentices and trainees 2015 tracks the outcomes of apprentices and trainees who started their training in 2011, recognising the time it takes to complete an apprenticeship/traineeship.

Government-funded VET program completion rates improving

Completion rates are improving for government-funded vocational education and training (VET) programs with the national estimated completion rate for programs started in 2014 now at 38.0%, up from 34.5% for programs started in 2013.

The field of education a student chooses also plays a role, with estimated completion rates for programs started in 2014 the highest in:

society and culture (49.5%)
management and commerce (47.2%)
natural and physical sciences (44.9%)

The likelihood of completing a government-funded VET program 2010-14 uses statistical techniques to estimate completion rates for government-funded VET programs.

Latest NCVER research

How has VET policy influenced participation?

Our latest report, Trends in VET: policy and participation, examines the evolution of VET policy over the past 20 years and its influence on participation in VET.

Case studies looking at incentive payments for employers of apprentices and trainees, accelerated apprenticeships and entitlement models revealed:

The injection of incentives payments to employers has influenced the growth of apprenticeships and in particular traineeships. The removal of the incentives for occupations not on the National Skills Needs List has had a significant impact on participation in the non-trades.
The introduction of entitlement models has had an impact on participation trends in some states where we saw significant growth in commencements. The subsequent tightening of their entitlement models also impacted upon participation, leading to declines in student numbers. However, it is too early to discern clear trends in all jurisdictions.
The policy focus on accelerated apprenticeships and traineeships appears to have had an influence on completions, with more trade apprenticeships and traineeships being completed in shorter durations, particularly among adult apprentices.

Upcoming webinars

Get ready for AVETMISS Release 8.0

Date: Wednesday 21 September

Time: 11.00am – 12.00pm ACST

Who should attend: Registered training organisations

Join us to find out more about:

the changes between AVETMISS Release 7.0 and Release 8.0.
the steps that RTOs need to take to be ready to collect and produce data in Release 8.0 format from 2018.

How can private RTOs support young learners who have left school early?

Date: Thursday 29 September

Time: 1.30pm – 2.30pm ACST

Who should attend: Registered training organisations or those with an interest in young disadvantaged learners.

Join us to hear about the role of private RTOs in delivering training to young people who have left school early including:

barriers to participation
teaching practices
types of initiatives needed to support learners
capability of private RTOs in providing support.

AVETMISS news for RTOs

Webinar on 21 September

Get ready for AVETMISS Release 8.0 by joining us from your desk at a free webinar on Wednesday, 21 September at 11am ACST.

For more information and to register

AVETMISS reporting reminder

AVETMISS 2016 fee-for-service and Commonwealth funded data submitted direct to NCVER are due by the end of February 2017.

The following tips may be useful:

USIs - To help RTOs avoid delays in end of year AVETMISS reporting the USI Office will be increasing their staff during September to assist RTOs troubleshooting verification, data cleansing and USI creation issues. RTOs can also refer to the Help Centre on the USI website for FAQs and other useful online resources.
Be ready to submit by the end of December - NCVER’s AVETMISS validation software can be used to validate your data at any time throughout the year to prepare error free data files ready for submission when the collection window opens in early January 2017.
Check with your STA - some STAs want RTOs to submit data directly to them, others want RTOs to submit data to NCVER. And, if you provide government-funded and fee-for-service training, you may have to extract your data into multiple submissions based on funding source.
Access support material - NCVER has a range of support materials on the AVETMISS support for RTOs section of its Portal.
Ask for help early - NCVER has a small, professional team dedicated to helping RTOs with data reporting, but as the final date for submission looms, the volume of requests for support increases and the time they can spend helping you decreases. By starting early you’ll have time to fix errors if they occur, some of which may involve going back to students or checking outcomes or funding sources. The Client Support team are available Monday to Friday 8:45am to 5pm ACDT and can be contacted using our online contact form.

NCVER at Velg's national conference

If you're attending Velg Training's National VET Conference on 15-16 September, don't miss NCVER presentations from Peter Mlotkowski on NCVER's data products and services, and Chelsea Saint and Rosa LIbrandi presenting information on how to prepare for AVETMISS reporting.

Also, please feel free to stop by the NCVER booth and see the NCVER team who will be more than happy to show you NCVER's products and services and help answer any questions and access information, be it research or data.