NCVER

This publication provides information on the flow of government funding for vocational education and training (VET) in Australia. The publication is based on 2021 data provided by the Australian, state and territory government departments responsible for administering funds for Australia’s VET system.

This publication provides a snapshot of apprenticeships and traineeships across Australia. It presents statistics on commencements, completions, cancellations and withdrawals and those currently in training. Unless stated otherwise, data are derived from the latest National Apprentice and Trainee Collection (no. 112, June 2022 estimates), which is compiled under the Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS) for Apprentice and Trainee Collection Specifications, Release 7.0, October 2015.

Due to the delay in time between an event (commencement, completion, etc.) occurring and the reporting of that event to NCVER, NCVER estimates the most recent figures. The estimation method involves weighting recently processed numbers based on average reporting lags. As estimates are revised for up to seven quarters, figures for the last two years may differ from those published in earlier or in subsequent reports. The final counts are those submitted by jurisdictions. Further details on the methodology can be found in the Estimation of apprentice and trainee statistics technical paper.

Notes:

• The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia has created uncertain times for individuals, business and governments, which have affected apprentice and trainee numbers.  Care should be taken when comparing 2020 to 2022 data with data from previous years.

• In-training figures represent the number of apprenticeship and traineeship training contracts where the apprentice or trainee is actively training under the terms of their contract, and who have not completed, cancelled or withdrawn from their training, or had their training contract expired without meeting all of the prescribed requirements of their program. The figure reflects the number of active contracts at a given point in time (at the end of the quarter), and therefore in-training figures cannot be cumulated over time. For this reason, quarterly comparisons are equivalent to 12-months ending comparisons, as they both represent the changes as at 31 March from one year to the next.

To access the most recently released DataBuilder for Apprentices and trainees quarterly please see the Apprentices and trainees collection page.

To access the most recently released DataBuilder for Government-funded students and courses quarterly please see the Government-funded students and courses collection page.

The DataBuilder provides an interactive way of visualising data that can be customised as needed which can show students, program enrolments, and subject enrolments in Australia's government-funded vocational education and training (VET) system.

To access the most recently released DataBuilder for Total VET students and courses, please see the Total VET students and courses collection page.

The DataBuilder provided extensive data on students and full year training equivalents, program and subject enrolments, and program completions delivered by Australian training providers 2017-2021. Users can build their own tables, make selections and export their results.

This publication presents completion and attrition rates for apprentices and trainees using three methodologies:

• individual completion rates that take account of individuals recommencing, or ceasing one contract and starting another in the same or superseded qualification, with a different employer
• observed actual contract completion and attrition rates: derived by tracking the outcomes of contracts of training over time
• projected contract completion and attrition rates for the latest commencing apprentice and trainee cohorts: based on a 'life tables' methodology.

This publication provides a snapshot of apprenticeships and traineeships across Australia. It presents statistics on commencements, completions, cancellations and withdrawals and those currently in training. Unless stated otherwise, data are derived from the latest National Apprentice and Trainee Collection (no. 111, March 2022 estimates), which is compiled under the Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS) for Apprentice and Trainee Collection Specifications, Release 7.0, October 2015.

Due to the delay in time between an event (commencement, completion, etc.) occurring and the reporting of that event to NCVER, NCVER estimates the most recent figures. The estimation method involves weighting recently processed numbers based on average reporting lags. As estimates are revised for up to seven quarters, figures for the last two years may differ from those published in earlier or in subsequent reports. The final counts are those submitted by jurisdictions. Further details on the methodology can be found in the Estimation of apprentice and trainee statistics technical paper.

Notes:

• The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia has created uncertain times for individuals, business and governments, which have affected apprentice and trainee numbers.  Care should be taken when comparing 2020 and 2021 data with data from previous years.

• In-training figures represent the number of apprenticeship and traineeship training contracts where the apprentice or trainee is actively training under the terms of their contract, and who have not completed, cancelled or withdrawn from their training, or had their training contract expired without meeting all of the prescribed requirements of their program. The figure reflects the number of active contracts at a given point in time (at the end of the quarter), and therefore in-training figures cannot be cumulated over time. For this reason, quarterly comparisons are equivalent to 12-months ending comparisons, as they both represent the changes as at 31 December from one year to the next.

In-training as at 31 December 2021

There were 349 235 apprentices and trainees in-training as at 31 December 2021, an increase of 16.8% from 31 December 2020.

Quarterly training activity

In the December quarter 2021, compared with the December quarter 2020:

• commencements decreased by 32.2%, to 48 685
• completions increased by 20.2%, to 26 815
• cancellations and withdrawals increased by 42.8%, to 28 680

Training activity: 12-month ending series

In the 12 months ending 31 December 2021, compared with the 12 months ending 31 December 2020:

• commencements increased by 27.5%, to 216 445
• completions increased by 9.3%, to 83 055
• cancellations and withdrawals increased by 41.6%, to 102 870.

This publication presents information on VET in Schools, the vocational education and training (VET) undertaken by school students as part of their senior secondary certificate of education (SSCE). Students can undertake VET through a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship pathway, or other pathway (the latter is referred to as ‘other VET in Schools students’).

Data are presented by the state or territory of the senior secondary assessment authority.

The information contained in this publication is, unless stated otherwise, derived from the National VET in Schools Collection, which is compiled under the Australian Vocational Education and Training Management Information Statistical Standard (AVETMISS), Release 8.0.

To access the most recently released DataBuilder for VET in Schools please see the VET in Schools Collection page.

The DataBuilder allows users to quickly create customised tables using the latest VET in Schools data, filter by a selection of variables and compare training activity over time. There are four separate datasets available: students, program enrolments, program completions and subject enrolments.

This publication provides a summary of data relating to students, programs, subjects and training providers in Australia’s government-funded vocational education and training (VET) system, defined as all Commonwealth and state or territory government-funded training delivered by technical and further education (TAFE) institutes, other government providers (such as universities), private providers and community education providers.

To access the most recently released DataBuilder for Government-funded students and courses please see the Government-funded students and courses collection page.

The DataBuilder allows users to quickly create customised tables using the latest Government-funded students and courses data, filter by a selection of variables and compare training activity over time. There are four separate datasets available: students, program enrolments, program completions and subject enrolments.

International onshore VET qualification completer outcomes 2021 provides a summary of the outcomes of international students who completed their vocational education and training (VET) qualification in Australia in 2020. These students were surveyed as an additional component to the 2021 National Student Outcomes Survey.

Information is presented on international onshore VET qualification completers' reasons for training and their employment outcomes, their satisfaction with training and further study outcomes.

Overall, 14 574 international onshore VET qualification completers responded to the survey.

Main reason for training

• 70.6% undertook training for employment-related reasons, 25.8% for personal reasons, and 3.6% for further study reasons.
• The most common reason was to develop or start their own business (22.4%), followed by improve general education skills (17.5%) and to gain extra skills for their current job (13.4%).

Employment and further study outcomes

• 64.1% had an improved employment status after training, up 10.5 percentage points from 2020.
• 75.5% were employed after training, up 10.8 percentage points from 2020.
• 54.6% were enrolled in further study after training, down 2.2 percentage points from 2020.

Barriers to employment

• Of those looking for work after training, 89.3% faced at least one barrier when looking for work, down 3.8 percentage points from 2020.
  • The two most commonly cited barriers were 'lack of jobs due to COVID-19' (51.1%) and 'did not have a required permanent residency/work visa' (37.4%).

Satisfaction with training

• 85.4% were satisfied with the training overall, up 1.7 percentage points from 2020.
• 80.9% would recommend the training provider, similar to 2020.

To access the most recently released DataBuilder for International onshore VET qualification completer outcomes please see the collection page.

The DataBuilder provided extensive data on the outcomes of international students who completed a nationally recognised vocational education and training (VET) qualification in Australia during the previous calendar year. These students were surveyed as an additional component to the National Student Outcomes Survey. Data is presented on international onshore VET qualification completers' satisfaction with training, reasons for training, and their employment and further study outcomes. Users can filter by a selection of variables (including by state or territory), view the margins of error (to determine the amount of certainty/error in survey estimates) and export their results.