3
“Under the Fund, organisations can identify their current and future business and workforce
development needs and apply for funding to support the training of existing workers and new workers in
areas of need. “The Fund is part of the Australian
Government’s Building Australia’s Future Workforce package and also forms part of
Australian Government Skills Connect, an initiative designed to consolidate Government skills
programs and better target training to meet
industry and employer needs.”3 1.3 DEEWR,
http:www.deewr.gov.auSkillsProgramsSkil lTrainingnwdfPagesdefault.aspx
1.4 Industry Skills Councils http:www.isc.org.au
These funds are administered or regulated through Industry Skills Councils4 and provided to
employers rather than RTOs. This effectively mirrors the Victorian government intent, to place
employers and industry at the heart of training. Inherent in that intent is that employers take
responsibility for the development of their own workforces. Employers as customers of VET.
In effect, employers and industry have been repositioned as the primary customers of vocational
education and training.
2. Industry
Numerous industry stakeholders have been highly critical of the TAFE workforce, in particular its
poor response times and inflexibility to meet employer and industry needs AiG Response to
Productivity Commission Draft Report Vocational
Education Workforce, Feb 2011. Over the last ten years Australian governments
have suggested and implemented various policies to address not only skills shortages, but the
criticisms of powerful industry stakeholders. Each attempts to increase stakeholder engagement with
training, targeting employers, industry, Registered Training Organisations RTOs and individuals.
Industry representative groups such as Australian Industry Group, AiG have successfully lobbied
successive governments for pro-industry reforms to the apprenticeship system, such as a shift away
from the time-served model towards Competency- Based
Progression in
Engineering and
Automotive and Competency-Based Completions CBCs in 13 trades, including Carpentry, Cookery,
Electrical, Plumbing, Hairdressing, etc. Another of the COAG commitments, these changes are
currently being rolled out. To reduce the time served in an apprenticeship addresses labour
shortages through a shortened pipeline, and attempts to present a more attractive model for
young people considering a career in trades. Individuals as customers in VET.
To attract more young people into trades, the Australian Government has committed 2.5 billion
to the establishment of Trades Training Centres TTCs in schools across Australia. TAFE is likely
to see
– and collaborate in – the shift of delivery of Certificate II School-Based Apprenticeship, Pre-
apprenticeship and VET in Schools programs onto these school sites.
3. Attractiveness of VET to Local Youth
The status of apprenticeships has been promoted to young people and their parents with increased
marketing to Careers Educators and through popular media. Over many years, government
Government as customer of VET implemented financial incentives as levers within the market,
boosting apprentice wages Individual as customer of VET and rewarding employers for taking on
apprentices Employers as customers of VET. Despite the clear employment opportunities
available
for those
completing a trade
apprenticeship 80.7 of those with a CIII qualification are working after training, with an
average salary of 45,500 the luxury of choice for young people to fill positions within the job market,
is increasing. Young people can afford to be more demanding of their employers
– and their training providers
– as the youth unemployment rate drops and employer competition for their service,
increases. Responding to national educational attainment
targets, the Victorian Government has invested considerable funding to address the Australia-wide
issue of apprentice attrition currently sits at roughly 50. Apprentice drop-out is costly for
employers and government alike and typically surrenders the ex-apprentice to low educational
achievement, for life. Services such as Apprentice Support Officers ASOs, Apprentice Field Officers
AFOs plus new responsibilities for Group Training Organisations GTOs and Australian
Apprenticeship Centres AACs support and monitor apprentice engagement.
Criticisms of young people toward the apprenticeship system include the low remuneration
structure currently under review from Fair Work Australia and the duration of the apprenticeship.
Both of these are criticisms echoed within the mature-aged apprenticeship market.
4. The Mature Apprentice
Australia has a rapidly ageing demographic, with a decrease in numbers of young people entering the
workforce and an increase in the lifespan and potential workspan of existing workers. There is an
increasing need to train and retrain older workers as skill sets required for evolving jobs, change.
4
For mature age apprentices, the living wage is a key issue, with social ramifications of no adjustments to
salaries for people with families. Apprenticeship salaries
and contracts
suppose youth;
apprenticeships for older workers require a different compact between employer, individual and
institution.
5. Overseas Approaches
Australia’s apprenticeship model was originally modelled on the established British system, and
Australian governments and industry continue to reflect on developments in the VET system in Great
Britain and other countries. Fuller Unwin 2007, in What counts as good practice in
contemporary apprenticeships? Evidence from two contrasting sectors in England identify a range of
features, that when combined, appear to create the conditions for well-managed and effective
apprenticeships. According to Fuller Unwin, good practice features tend to appeal to two
stakeholder groups in particular: Government as Customer of VET
Investment over and above government funding is critical for the provision of an
apprenticeship program that builds capacity for the future
Individual as Customer of VET Investment in publicity about the program to
sustain a reputable image of VET in the community at large.
Young people are regarded as important for the future success of the organisations and are
made to feel valued Well-designed recruitment policies and
practices help to select young people who can benefit from an apprenticeship and contribute
to the organisation’s ever developing skill base
Dedicated personnel monitor the progress and welfare of apprentices and liaise with line
managers, supervisors and trainers to ensure both personal and organisational needs are
being met
Training on and off-the-job is seen as relevant to the apprentices’ work tasks and as
providing a platform for further progression. In Rudd, Henderson, Usher Hawtin’s 2008 Rapid
review of Research on Apprenticeships in the United Kingdom noted the similarity of UK issues
about apprenticeships as in Australia: problems with quality, employer commitment, retention and
progression of apprentices including to Higher Education, concerns about the capacity of on-job
apprenticeships achieving standards required and
cultural issues associated with the status of apprenticeships.
In contrast to the UK, Australia has entered a new era of a demand-driven tertiary education market
characterised by increased competition between training organisations with uncapped government
funding. In 2009, the Victorian Government announced the opening of access to VET funding in
the policy Securing Jobs for your Future: Skills for Victoria
. In particular, “the most significant impact of these changes was the shift from a planning
and purchasing model with limited contestability, to a demand based funding model with significantly
increased contestability and client choice”. http:www.skills.vic.gov.au__dataassetspdf_file
0007188449ssa-review-of-skills-vic.pdf This decentralisation reduces government direction
of the focus or supply of training, reliant on the market to regulate provision in accordance with
consumer demand. In this case, Employer and Individual as Customer of VET has elevated the
customer to a position of control in VET provision.
The benefits of competition in the Australian training market have yet to be fully realised, and
neither have the risks. Numerous stakeholders have raised serious concerns about the risk to training
quality, of reduced central governance of VET.
6. A National Skills Strategy
Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens advises caution in Australia’s reliance on
the Chinese economic boom and its appetite for resources. Some 13 of Australia’s annual income
is generated by China importing Australian commodities5. Government initiatives to boost
apprenticeship numbers must see beyond the current skills shortages and prepare Australians and
the workforce for a post-China economy. 5 Sydney Morning Herald, 230211
To equip a nation’s workforce beyond current market priorities requires long-term, strategic
thinking. In 2012, the Council of Australian Governments
COAG asserted its commitment to TAFE at the
centre of its skills development strategy. However, changes to the provision of government investment
to training indicate a similar trend away from central government investment towards employer
client responsibility for training. Initiatives such as Workforce Development Funding specify that:
“Under the Fund, organisations can identify their current and future business and workforce
development needs and apply for funding to support the training of existing workers and new workers in
areas of need. “The Fund is part of the Australian Government’s Building Australia’s Future
Workforce package, an initiative designed to
