A
pprenticeships and Traineeships are struggling in Australia. Commencement numbers have been falling for the past four years and completion rates remain stubbornly low. However Australia’s need for skilled workers continues to grow.
If we don’t take action soon, our training system will not be able to meet the country’s demand for skilled labour, and at the same time, many young people will miss out on opportunities for rewarding careers as tradespeople.
AEN believes that group training is an important element in developing new strategies to address those barriers.
This paper looks at issues surrounding the three main barriers:
- Attracting and supporting apprentices.
- Making the system simpler and attractive
- Improving completions
We have considered the recommendations in a number of papers presented by other organisations and have made our own recommendations based on those papers and on the experiences of our members. In all, there are 17 recommendations that are interspersed throughout the paper.
All of these recommendations are important, but our highest priorities are to help students in their transition from school to work, and to help small businesses take on and keep more apprentices.
Follow the link below or click the image to download the full paper.