Pre-apprenticeship training activity

Pre-apprenticeships are becoming an increasingly important component of the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system. The purpose of this report is to investigate the level of pre-apprenticeship activity occurring in Australia and to examine the characteristics of pre-apprenticeship courses and the students undertaking those courses.

With the absence of a pre-apprenticeship identifier in the National VET Provider Collection, our approach was to compile a list of possible pre-apprenticeship courses and to examine the associated activity from the National VET Provider Collection. The pre-apprenticeship courses were identified through a keyword search of course names and responses to requests to state and territory contacts to provide lists of pre-apprenticeship courses. A Western Australian dataset with a pre-apprenticeship identifier was also available.

Key findings

• Pre-apprenticeship training in Australia is an important—and growing—component of the Australian VET sector, with an estimated 64 800 course enrolments in 2009.
• Enrolments in pre-apprenticeship courses are within two main fields of education—engineering and related technologies, and architecture and building.
• Pre-apprenticeship courses are providing an important pathway for disadvantaged students, such as Indigenous students, early school leavers and those without non-school qualifications.
• Pre-apprenticeship courses are providing good further study outcomes, with 43.5% of graduates going onto further study, compared with 32.1% of all VET graduates.

The estimate of 64 800 course enrolments provided within this report should be treated with some caution. This is because we may not have identified all courses that lead to apprenticeships, and some students in an identified pre-apprenticeship course may have no interest in a subsequent apprenticeship or are undertaking an apprenticeship already.

One of the difficulties of defining pre-apprenticeship courses is that the definition is inherently problematic. It presumes a particular motivation (that is, to obtain an apprenticeship), but an individual's motivation may well change in undertaking any course.

One way around this quandary would be to consider all certificate I and II courses as potentially 'pre-apprenticeships', but this has not been done in this report.

Tom Karmel
Managing Director, NCVER

Pre-apprenticeship training is described as a pathway that assists an individual to gain entry to an industry through an apprenticeship, particularly in the traditional trades. The aim of this research was to examine the level of training occurring in pre-apprenticeship courses and to examine the characteristics of pre-apprenticeship courses and students. Outcomes from pre-apprenticeship training were also investigated.

The research looked at pre-apprenticeship training in Australia through a variety of research methods—keyword searches, lists of prescribed pre-apprenticeship courses from state and territory contacts, and a unit record enrolment file. While the keyword search and list of pre-apprenticeship courses provided insights into pre-apprenticeship activity, there were problems with both approaches. In particular, a problem identified—especially for training package qualifications—is that training is not necessarily restricted to pre-apprenticeships. These courses are open to any student, so data from the National VET Provider Collection inflates pre-apprenticeship activity.

The analysis of unit record data for Western Australia enabled detailed analysis of pre-apprenticeship enrolments and courses. The file allowed investigation of enrolment details by the type of enrolment: apprenticeships, traineeships, pre-apprenticeships and other. Analysis of these data found that there were ten nationally accredited and 24 training package courses with pre-apprenticeship activity. Over half (54.5%) of the nationally accredited courses and 16.5% of training package qualifications were undertaken as pre-apprenticeship enrolments. The remaining students undertook the courses as an apprenticeship, traineeship or other enrolment type.

This research established that, without a specific pre-apprenticeship identifier similar to the identifier in the Western Australian dataset, the National VET Provider Collection is not equipped to accurately identify national pre-apprenticeship activity. In an attempt to better understand the characteristics of pre-apprenticeship courses and students, a list of possible pre-apprenticeship courses was compiled using the courses identified in the keyword search, the state and territory lists of courses, and the Western Australian dataset.

This research suggests there were approximately 64 800 ¹ course enrolments in the identified pre-apprenticeship courses in 2009. This can be compared with 2007, when there were 50 700 course enrolments in these courses. Findings from the analysis of the course characteristics are listed.

• Over half of pre-apprenticeship course enrolments were within the engineering and related technologies field of education and around a third were within the architecture and building field. course enrolments in the identified pre-apprenticeship courses in 2009. This can be compared with 2007, when there were 50 700 course enrolments in these courses. Findings from the analysis of the course characteristics are listed.
• The majority of course enrolments were within certificate II courses (58.5%). A further 39.4% were within certificate I courses.

From the list of possible pre-apprenticeship courses, this research was able to provide a picture of the students undertaking pre-apprenticeship courses in 2009. Key highlights are provided.

• The majority of enrolments in pre-apprenticeship courses were by male students (81.9%). The most popular fields of education undertaken by females were food, hospitality and personal services, and health.
• Indigenous students comprised 8.5% of all pre-apprenticeship course enrolments. By comparison, Indigenous students represented 5.1% of course enrolments for all VET activity.
• Early school leavers (students who have not completed Year 12) accounted for 68.8% of course enrolments, compared with 46.0% for all VET courses.
• Students without a non-school qualification represented 75.7% of course enrolments. By comparison, these students comprised 58.2% of course enrolments in all VET courses.
• Students from extreme-disadvantage and high-disadvantage backgrounds comprised 42.6% of course enrolments in pre-apprenticeship courses. By comparison, 38.0% of these students were represented in all VET course enrolments.
• Pre-apprenticeship course enrolments undertaken by students located in remote and very remote regions represented 8.4% of enrolments in pre-apprenticeship courses, compared with 4.6% of course enrolments in all VET courses.

Data suggest that pre-apprenticeships lead to good further study outcomes and reasonable employment outcomes. This is consistent with other research on outcomes from lower levels of VET, which suggests that lower-level VET courses provide good further study outcomes (see, for example, Stanwick 2005). The importance of pre-apprenticeships as pathways is demonstrated in NCVER's Apprentice and Trainee Destinations Survey. The survey found that pre-vocational and pre-apprenticeship courses were completed by 18.2% of apprentice and trainee completers and non-completers, including:

• 27.9% of completers and 27.0% of non-completers in a trade apprenticeship or traineeship
• 14.4% of completers and 14.3% of non-completers in a non-trade apprenticeship or traineeship.

Of those who completed a pre-vocational or pre-apprenticeship course:

• 82.8% of completers and 76.8% of non-completers in a trade occupation found the course relevant to their apprenticeship or traineeship.
• 71.0% of completers and 65.8% of non-completers in a non-trade occupation found the course relevant to their apprenticeship.

The employment benefits of pre-apprenticeships are evident in the Student Outcomes Survey. This found that:

• 69.8% of graduates from pre-apprenticeship courses were employed after training, compared with 77.8% of all VET graduates.
• 43.5% of pre-apprenticeship graduates were enrolled in further study after training. By comparison, 32.1% of all VET graduates went onto further study after training.

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¹ This figure should be treated with some caution as it is an estimate of pre-apprenticeship activity.