VET News

Digging Into Australia's Apprenticeships and Traineeships System

Apprenticeships play a very important role in Australia’s system of skills development, having had a long history of successfully combining paid on-the-job training in tandem with formal skills and knowledge development.

There are, however, several issues in the system that have persisted over time, according to a new report released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).

Issues in apprenticeships and traineeships – a research synthesis identifies five enduring issues in the national apprenticeship and traineeship system.

Research shows a large number of stakeholders in the system leads to congestion and confusion by employers and apprentices alike. Similarly, the lack of harmonisation across states and territories has made the apprenticeship system challenging to navigate for national employers.

Another long-standing concern for the government is increasing apprenticeship and traineeship completion rates, with data showing that those who complete having, on average, better employment outcomes than those who don’t.

Further, incentives play an important role in encouraging and supporting apprenticeships and traineeships, but the research finds that they need to be carefully targeted.

Previous experience has shown that poorly targeted incentives can lead to increased uptake but can also have unintended consequences and lead to inferior outcomes for apprentices and trainees.

The off-the-job training component plays a significant role in the overall apprenticeship or traineeship, but there are often challenges in coordinating it with the on-the-job component. These include aligning the training and assessment and ensuring that the off-the-job component accords with what is being learned in the workplace.

Lastly, the relevance of the historical apprenticeship model to changes in industry, economic and social conditions has been challenged, and there is considerable support for alternative models of delivery.

Access the full research publication here.

Date posted Dec 2, 2021