Group training is an Australian initiative to encourage the employment of apprentices and trainees. This report examines the structure and function of group training organisations (GTOs) over time and identifies the factors that drive GTOs to change their structure and function. The authors find that group training is a critical component of Australia's skill formation system, and GTOs are highly responsive and adaptive to their policy and commercial environment. However, the authors warn that increasing commercialisation of group training has the potential to threaten the quality of training, and in particular the training opportunities for the more disadvantaged.
Group training organisations act as intermediaries between enterprises and apprentices and trainees to facilitate on- and off-the-job training. This report examines the role of the group training organisations (GTOs) in Australia's labour market. The authors find that GTOs, at their best, help promote sustainable work-based learning solutions by sharing the risks associated with employment and gaining new skills. However, the authors argue that changes in policy since the early 1990s are likely to undermine the provision of quality group training services. Instead, they state the best features of the group training model, such as operating on a not-for-profit basis, should underpin future reforms to all GTOs.
This report provides an overview of funding arrangements implemented as a result of the 1992 Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) Agreement. The Agreement sought to establish a unified national system of vocational education and training (VET) with joint Commonwealth, state and territory responsibility. The report discusses the outcomes of government, industry and individual investment in training, and includes examples of overseas funding models.
A descriptive analysis of recent pathways to apprenticeships is presented in this report. It finds pre-apprenticeship programs can play an effective role providing short-term vocational training to young people as a means of improving their chances to gaining an apprenticeship. The report is based on analysis of NCVER data and interviews with students, trainers, training experts, and representatives of industry.
What motivates school students to undertake school-based new apprenticeships and how satisfied are they with the outcomes? The students themselves answer these questions in this report on the findings of a survey of school-based new apprentices in three Australian states. Questions cover the students' appreciation of the quality of learning and training they received, the effectiveness of work experience, how it influenced their career decisions, the effects on their studies at school and the students' views on workplace learning in a variety of industries.
During the past decade both Australia and China have implemented reforms to their educational systems to develop labour force skills for the new globalised markets. This report describes the major features of the vocational education and training sectors in China and Australia, and their strategies and reforms, with emphasis on links between secondary and post-secondary vocational education and training.
This report examines the prospects of adults over 25 in the traditional trades. Aided by companies around Australia, researchers have studied adult opportunities to qualify and work in these trades. A companion volume, 'Getting adults into the trades: Case studies', is available on NCVER's website.
This is a companion volume to the report 'Getting adults into the trades'.
This publication provides a synopsis of the issues surrounding attrition in apprenticeships and traineeships, as identified in recent research reports. An analysis of recent NCVER data relating to completion levels has also been incorporated.
A discussion of the vocational education and training system in Sweden, which has developed from being primarily industry-based in the 1960s to a structurally uniform system that is integrated with general education in the present day.
This report investigates the reasons why apprentices and trainees do not complete their contracts of training. It involved telephone interviews with a national sample of non-completing new apprentices and their employers. The study also investigated what those who did not complete their contracts were doing at the time of the survey - whether they were working, in study, unemployed or not in the workforce. The study concludes with some suggested strategies to reduce non-completion.
There has been growing concern about skill shortages in a number of sectors in the Australian labour market in the past couple of years with an increased demand for some skills as a result of improvements in the Australian economy. However, such concerns are not particularly new since skill shortages are a recurring and persistent feature of the Australian labour market. In this report, available evidence about patterns and trends in trades employment and training in the building and construction industry is reviewed to guage the nature and extent of any skill shortages in these building and construction trades.
This project provides an insight into the perceptions held by young people, businesses and educational authorities about the utility of new apprenticeships in the western region of Melbourne. It takes a critical look at new apprenticeships and aims to provide a way forward for all groups involved so that the quality of apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities and outcomes can be improved.
This study explored retention in apprenticeships and traineeships and factors that influence this process. The study is based on interviews with over 400 apprentices and trainees as well as with teachers, trainers and workplace supervisors. The study identifies a range of personal, industry, labour market, workplace and training factors that contribute to the likelihood of an apprentice or trainee completing their training. The study concludes with the view that retention is the collective responsibility of all parties involved - the individual, the employer and the provider of training.
This report summarises the views of Australian apprentices and trainees on their learning and assessment experiences in on- and off-the-job settings. It also examines through some 20 case studies the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches to learning and assessment that are being used today.
Goozee's popular title has been revised and updated again. It provides an historical account of the development of Australia's public vocational education and training from its roots in the late 19th century to the end of the 1990s. This third edition has added a chapter on TAFE in the 1990s, covering such issues as the review of the ANTA Agreement, new apprenticeships, user choice, the National Training Framework, the West review and changes to the State and Territory TAFE systems. It also contains a section on the future of TAFE. This publication is a must for anyone interested in the history of TAFE and vocational education in Australia.
This publication seeks to identify the key determinants of apprentice and trainee employment in Australian small and medium-sized enterprises. The investigation is based on data collected in the ABS Business Longitudinal Survey over the period 1994-95 to 1997-98. The study concludes that there is no evidence of a single business characteristic acting as a trigger for small and medium-size enterprises to provide apprentice and trainee training although there are a number of characteristics which affect an enterprise's propensity to undertake apprentice and trainee training, including the number of employees and the rate of expansion of the enterprise.
This study examines the geographical distribution of apprenticeship commencements in the context of various labour force and population statistics by industry, location of jobs and youth population. Apprenticeship and traineeship statistics between 1995 and 1998 are examined in terms of occupational groupings, duration, full-time/part-time and qualification levels.
This publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the development of apprenticeships in Australia (including the introduction of traineeships and new apprenticeships). The rapid growth and transformation of the system over the past decade is examined in detail and proposals for the future of apprenticeships in Australia are explored.
This paper on the history of apprenticeship in Australia outlines the origins and the main issues that have influenced its development. The paper has a policy focus and attempts to identify the key issues that have been important in the development of the system.