VET & TAFE
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list. Subsequently, amendments to the list
added the Diploma of Retail Leadership and
the Diploma of Government Investigations.
The Diploma of Property Services
(Asset and Facility Management) is the
only qualification found with apprentice
and trainee activity during this period not
included on the list.
HISTORIC TRENDS OF APPRENTICESHIPS
AND ‘HIGHER’ VET QUALIFICATIONS
Trade off
Exploring diploma-level
apprenticeships and VET
student loans.
By Craig Fowler
T
his article examines apprenticeships
and traineeships undertaken at a VET
diploma level by cross reference to
diplomas financed under the VET Student
Loans (VSL) Approved Courses list.
The purpose is to examine which courses
so listed have in the recent past been
undertaken by an Australian apprentice
or trainee at a ‘higher’ VET diploma level,
and conversely what VET diploma-level
courses were undertaken by an apprentice
or trainee where their chosen course was
not on this list.
The findings have public policy and
funding implications. Data sources and
methods are found in the annex below.
VSL LIST CORRELATED WITH APPRENTICES
AND TRAINEES
There were 377 training package
qualifications (not including other nationally
accredited courses) on the VSL Approved
Courses list (compiled 1 July 2017) at
diploma and above.
20
Inspection shows that there were 92
(24 per cent) courses on this list with
some evidence of enrolment in ‘off-the-
job’ training by apprentices and trainees
in the prior two-year period, 1 July 2015
to 30 June 2017. For the 92 courses on
the VSL courses list, about a third were in
trade occupations.
There were only 13 courses found
that involved some level of ‘off-the-job’
training by apprentices and trainees in the
same period that were not on the VET
Student Loans list. However, only three
of these courses were still current as of
1 July 2017.
The top 10 courses on the VET Student
Loans list with some ‘off-the-job’ training
to apprentices and trainees between 1 July
2015 and 30 June 2017 were:
• Diploma of Early Childhood Education
and Care
• Diploma of Leadership and Management
• Diploma of Government
• Diploma of Competitive Systems
and Practices
• Diploma of School Age Education
and Care
• Diploma of Nursing
• Diploma of Laboratory Technology
• Diploma of Community Services
• Diploma of Project Management
• Diploma of Civil Construction Design
(Note: Courses ranked based on numbers
of apprentices and training ‘off-the-job’
between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2017.)
There were three courses with some ‘off-
the-job’ training to apprentices and trainees
between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2017
that were not (initially) on the VSL Courses
Most Australian apprentices and trainees
study at certificate III level (some 86 per
cent of those in training at 30 June 2018).
The ‘in training’ numbers for apprentices
and trainees at diploma and above levels
was 8335 at the end of June 2018, a fall of
41 per cent from 14,160 at the end of June
2014. Over the 12 months ending June
2018, there were some 2915 completions at
the diploma and above levels.
These are small numbers compared with
the past, especially in the period 2009–14,
where ‘higher’ VET apprentices/trainees
were in far greater numbers.
Most diplomas undertaken by
apprentices/trainees were in non-trade
occupations, where over the period
2000–17 there were some 118,235 diploma
commencements and 64,825 completions.
Over the same period, there were fewer
numbers in trade occupations, with some
3545 diploma commencements and 2130
completions. Figure 1 shows (for non-trade
and trade combined) the fast growth and
sharp fall in VET ‘diploma’ level apprentices/
trainees, the outcomes attributable
to policy settings with impacts mainly
on existing worker traineeships when
incentives were truncated around 2012.
This illustrates the fluctuating pattern of
recent ‘higher’ apprenticeships in Australia.
IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Impact on Skilling Australians National
Partnership (NP) Agreement
The NP set a target of up to 300,000
additional training contracts between June
2018 and June 2022, which includes up to
20,000 ‘higher’ apprenticeships.
All states and territories are now
signatories to the NP with the present
exception of Victoria and Queensland
(whose populations comprise about 45 per
cent of all VET students).
While the NP is designed to drive up
numbers of ‘additional’ apprentices overall,
the clear alignment between courses on
the VSL list and those chosen by diploma-
level apprentices and trainees indicates an