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The past year has seen profound change in the vocational education and training (VET) sector.
The federal government has embarked on a series of VET policy reforms and program funding changes, as well as a number of policy reviews in areas with relevance to VET, such as the National
Commission of Audit and the Forrest Review of Indigenous employment and training.
There have been a series of programs that were terminated either in, or following the 2014-15
Budget, totalling some $2 billion, including:
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Tools for Your Trade
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National Partnership Agreement on Training Places for Single Parents
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Accelerated Australian Apprenticeships Programme
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Australian Apprenticeships Mentoring Programme
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Joint Group Training Program
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National Workforce Development Fund
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Workplace English Language and Literacy Programme
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Alternative Pathways Programme
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Apprenticeship to Business Owner Programme
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Productive Ageing through Community Education
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Australian Apprenticeships Access Programme
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Step Into Skills Programme
In addition, the December 2014 MYEFO cut $200 million from the Adult Australian Apprentices
Program and the Skills for Education and Employment program.
In place of these programs, the government will introduce the Industry Skills Fund ($450M over four years) and the Australian Apprenticeship Support Network ($200M over four years), to take effect in
2015. Trade Support Loans of up to $20,000 over four years are also now available to apprentices undertaking a Certificate III or IV qualification in areas of national skills need.
Commonwealth responsibility for VET reverted from the Department of Industry to the expanded
Department of Education and Training in late 2014, along with the appointment of a dedicated minister, the Hon Simon Birmingham, Assistant Minister for Education and Training.
The effect of the program changes has made it an extremely difficult year for many of those operating in the VET sector. In particular, the termination of the Joint Group Training Program is still being felt across the group training network.
While acknowledging the need for fiscal belt tightening and rigour in spending, the funding cuts have had an impact on apprentices, trainees, group training organisations (GTOs) and host employers.
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Perhaps more significant is the long term deterioration in total VET funding from state and federal governments over the past decade.
A study by Professor Peter Noonan, Professorial Fellow at the Mitchell Institute of Health and
Education Policy at Victoria University, shows that while investment in schools and universities has risen significantly over recent years, there has been a much lower rate of growth in VET. i
There has been no shortage of expert opinion on the best way forward for the VET sector.
In its report last May, the National Commission of Audit made the extraordinary recommendation that responsibility for VET should be handed back to the states, and that the Commonwealth withdraw from all apprentice support programs.
Fortunately, this recommendation was promptly ruled out by Industry Minister the Hon Ian
Macfarlane.
In August, the Forrest Review into Indigenous Jobs and Training recommended the introduction of vouchers for employers, redeemable at education providers, to replace all VET funding. Savings from the VET sector would be re-directed to the early childhood and education sectors.
GTA strongly supports the original goals of the Forrest Review, namely to address the core causes of
Indigenous disadvantage and obstacles to Indigenous employment and training. (GTA’s national network employs almost a fifth of all Indigenous apprentices and trainees).
However, the recommendations in regard to VET overstepped the brief, in our view, and risked undermining the necessary balance between industry, employers and training providers.
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Another important element in the future of VET was delivered in December with the release of a
Reform of the Federation Issues Paper, Roles and Responsibilities in Education .
The paper poses a series of key questions around the Commonwealth’s continued role in VET, the role of the States, and the responsibilities of individuals and employers in skills formation.
So, while the VET sector has featured prominently in the political discussion and undergone extensive policy revision, the actual situation “on the ground” for those involved remains an extremely challenging one.
And, the coming year will be highly significant because of a number of key reforms that come into effect including in the area of apprentice support services, Training Packages, and new standards for registered training organisations.
For its part, GTA urges the Commonwealth to continue to take a national leadership role in the VET sector.
Given the importance of skills development as a national priority, a strong, overarching
Commonwealth presence is essential in delivering employment and training outcomes, as well as funding certainty.
GTA believes that more can be done to help develop a genuine training culture, and to enhance the status of apprenticeships and the trades in general, as part of a dynamic and high-performing economy.
Regrettably, there is still a tendency to regard vocational education and training as the “second choice” behind university education.
GTA believes that there must be a sustained investment in skills formation and that VET needs to be led at the Commonwealth level.
GTA believes the best answer to welfare is to get a job. The provision of welfare / income support should sustain someone while engaging in genuine and meaningful job search. However, it cannot or should not be an ‘alternate pathway’ to work i.e. work for the dole.
Recent research by Peter McDonald, professor of demography at the Crawford School of Public
Policy at the Australian National University, has demonstrated that welfare-to-work programs have had a negligible effect on unemployment over the past decade.
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The cohort of unemployed, disadvantaged and disenfranchised youth are vast and diverse, facing a myriad of challenges.
Policy responses must be equally diverse. One-size-fits-all policy responses are not the antidote, and indeed, could be counterproductive, creating even deeper social dislocation and human trauma for the individuals involved. Many will require a series of well-planned and thoughtful policy and program interventions.
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Time, effort and funds will be needed to deliver many to even properly present on the ‘first day’ to a potential employer for a job interview.
Australia faces a crisis of youth disengagement and dislocation. Youth face enormous social, cultural and economic challenges – many of whom, due to a lack of solid schooling and poor fundamental literacy and numeracy skills are simply not equipped to deal with the ‘real world’ of employment and life.
The recent My First Job white paper has detailed the critical program elements that are involved in lifting youth employment.
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While we need pragmatic and realistic policy and program solutions to grapple with this growing problem, they must be matched by common sense and compassion.
Government and business must play a part. Governments must reverse the worrying trend of yearly reductions in funding for skills formation and training, and business must advocate to government for the appropriate and targeted mix of tax incentives and spending programs, while embracing a training culture and increasing the commitment to delivering opportunity and sustainable employment to young people.
To that end GTA puts forward the following ideas and policies for consideration during the deliberations for the 2015-16 budget.
Group training organisations (GTOs) are collectively the largest employer of apprentices and trainees with some 30,000 in training during 2014.
This submission argues that GTOs provide government with an outstanding value for money mechanism for promoting and delivering skills formation to support economic and social development. By working with GTOs government can target key trades (priority skills) and key groups (such as Indigenous Australians) to deliver economic and social equity programs.
We make this argument following the recent abolition of the long-standing Commonwealth contribution to the Joint Group Training Programme (JGTP) which underpinned the development of the group training network and its ability to deliver the above outcomes to governments.
Importantly the programme allowed GTOs to carry the risk associated with placing apprentices and trainees with micro, small and medium-sized businesses.
While the funds are no longer available the fact remains that GTOs are left carrying the risk on behalf of thousands of businesses employing apprentices and trainees. The absence of any support going forward threatens the viability of many of these GTOs.
The arguments for continued support are clear.
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GTOs promote training connected to real jobs provided by their employer customers. They work through networks of employers, schools and training providers (TAFE, RTOs) that have
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been built around the needs of the market. Through regular outreach programs to schools and the wider community they are engaged in ongoing marketing of apprenticeships and traineeships.
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GTOs offer a service to employers to manage their apprentices and trainees (predominantly on a not-for-profit basis). They create opportunities for apprentices to find a skilled career and assist businesses fill work skills gaps.
Governments have rightly been concerned over the past decade with supporting skills formation for economic growth and encouraging a wider range of people to enter the vocational workforce. It has supported these objectives through new initiatives and programs. But the system is failing to meet expectations.
Established in the early 1980s as community service organisations dedicated to creating opportunities for young people to undertake an apprenticeship, GTOs have become key intermediaries between employers and apprentices. Over this time, various governments have supported the GTO network because of the clear and strong community benefits they have delivered.
The failure of some governments, such as the NSW and Tasmanian State governments which have withdrawn their own share of JGTP funding, to utilise the GTO network as a key instrument in policy delivery suggest either a confusion on the part of policy makers, a reluctance to embrace the ‘shared investment’ approach or a misunderstanding of the place and role of GTOs in the VET system.
This is why GTA in this budget submission is arguing for continued investment in the group training model.
GTA budget position:
That the Commonwealth establish a stand-alone group training fund which will allow GTOs to continue to support micro, small and medium sized businesses engaged in the employment of apprentices and trainees.
Training programs designed to assist jobseekers into employment are many and varied. These programs can be administered by both State and federal governments through a number of different departments and agencies within each level of government. Too often there is little evidence that this training has had the desired effect in changing behaviour or achieving long-term employment outcomes. Jobseekers are too often back on income support followed by a return to the training carousel.
‘Training for training’s sake’, as the phenomenon has come to be known, often does not lead to employment because there was never a clear line of sight to a ‘real’ job from the start of the training program. GTA shares this view. Our experience suggests that these programs are often poorly
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resourced and do not articulate very effectively with one another such that it is often difficult for participants to move from one to another seamlessly in order to obtain all the skills and knowledge they need to secure meaningful employment. They also often lack a case managed approach to ensure that not only is suitable employment obtained but that the job seeker is also supported through those critical early months of employment when it is perhaps hardest for them to adjust to the workplace.
GTA welcomes the government’s recent proposal to implement a Youth Pilot Programme as a stream within the Industry Skills Fund. This stream is designed to address some of the issues associated with school leavers trying to enter the labour market with poor employability skills, even when they have completed twelve years of schooling and obtained senior secondary certificate. GTA has made a submission to government about this pilot programme and the potential for the group training network to be involved in this initiative.
However GTA also believes that the federal budget provides an even better opportunity for a more visionary approach from government to redressing the problems associated with young people who are disadvantaged in the labour market. GTA’s policy proposal would improve employment outcomes for this cohort and ensure that employment was sustained.
The policy proposal is based on many years’ experience managing the former Australian
Apprenticeship Access Program (Access), which was essentially a pre-vocational training program and the former Group Training in the Trades Program (GTTP), essentially a pre-apprenticeship training program, and it draws on the many representations GTA has made to government over the years about how to improve the synergy between the two types of program to produce better outcomes. It is also builds on the considerable advantages of Australia’s unique group training network.
These advantages include each group training organisation’s (GTOs) network of host employers with whom jobseekers can be placed once they have been made job ready, as well as their relationship with other employers who might prefer to employ an apprentice or trainee directly rather than through group training arrangements. It includes the professional field staff of GTOs who have extensive experience of selecting suitable jobseekers for apprenticeships and traineeships and supporting them and their host employers throughout the duration of the training, and it also includes the schools with which GTOs regularly work as they reach out to students, many of whom are prospective apprentices and trainees.
Pre-vocational programs and pre-apprenticeship programs are both important tools for getting jobseekers into jobs. While the terms are used interchangeably, creating some confusion in the market, they each serve a different purpose. Pre-vocational programs essentially provide preliminary training to people with significant deficits in foundation or employability skills while preapprenticeships target job seekers who generally do not lack these skills and are ready to undertake preliminary trade training and the technical skills that involves.
For many jobseekers pre-vocational training can be a critical starting point on the pathway to an apprenticeship or traineeship. For these jobseekers such training might entail learning how to learn,
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improved levels of literacy and numeracy and the provision of careers education and familiarisation with the world of work.
Pre-apprenticeship programs on the other hand principally offer candidates with the requisite foundation skills the opportunity both to test their interest in a particular trade or family of trades, as well as acquire technical skills which will make them more attractive to prospective employers in those trades. Participation in pre-apprenticeship programs tends to ensure better completion rates and, as an earlier GTA study iv
on pre-apprenticeships indicates, pre-apprenticeships are highly favoured by employers as part of their recruitment and selection process. The same report also highlighted the need for a greater investment in these programs particularly as there has been a significant decline in government investment in them over recent years.
The problem with pre-vocational and pre-apprenticeship programs has been the silo approach to their implementation by government departments thereby limiting their effectiveness at preparing jobseekers for employment. They are usually implemented with separate guidelines, payment arrangements, compliance, and monitoring rules which provide little, if any, scope for easy movement of jobseekers from one to the other when this would often be beneficial to their chances of gaining sustainable employment. At times rules seemed to have been designed more for the convenience of program managers within different departments, or even the same department, than for the benefit of service providers and program participants.
GTA is proposing that government establish an investment fund that will finance GTOs to conduct pre-vocational and pre-apprenticeship training in any combination to assist jobseekers find employment particularly, though not exclusively, as an apprentice or trainee. The funding would enable GTOs to provide pre-apprenticeship training to any jobseeker deemed to have adequate foundation skills, especially literacy and numeracy, thereby making them a much more attractive proposition to any employer.
Equally, the funding would enable a GTO to provide those foundation skills to any jobseeker who had little hope of succeeding in a pre-apprenticeship training programme without first undertaking pre-vocational training. Each jobseeker would be assessed to determine the level of assistance needed, would be provided with the necessary intervention and subsequently case-managed into the most suitable employment, including an apprenticeship or traineeship. Irrespective of the nature of the employment outcome they would be supported through the early stages of their employment to ensure they have adjusted adequately to the demands of the workplace. In the case of an apprentice or trainee employed through a GTO of course such support continues through the duration of their apprenticeship or traineeship.
GTA’s budget position:
That, in recognition of their value in constructing employment pathways for a diverse range of clients across the labour market, government establish an investment fund to enable GTOs to develop pre-vocational and pre-apprenticeship training programs to assist jobseekers to obtain employment, particularly apprenticeships and traineeships.
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Announced at the last Federal budget, the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) is a suite of five
Indigenous-specific broad-based programmes replacing some 150 programmes previously administered under a variety of portfolios. Announcements of initial contracts to be awarded under the new programs are expected to be made in March 2015. Of the five programmes, the Jobs, Land,
Economy programme is anticipated to fund much of the employment-focused activity that was previously funded under the now defunct Indigenous Employment Program (IEP).
GTA’s budget position:
That, since the group training model is fit-for-purpose to deliver employment and training outcomes to Indigenous jobseekers GTOs, particularly those operating in regional, rural and remote locations, should be funded and supported to maintain and grow their suite of services offered to Indigenous communities; and
That, under the Jobs, Land and Economy Programme, funding preference should be given to those organisations that provide holistic services and enjoy historically high retention rates and sustainable employment outcomes; and that recruitment periods under the new programme should be of at least two years’ duration and not restricted to 12 months as was previously the case under IEP.
A model designed by Generation One, VTECs connect Indigenous jobseekers with guaranteed jobs and bring together the support service necessary to prepare Indigenous jobseekers for long-term employment. Funded by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 23 VTECs have been established as pilots across Australia, with the first of these commencing in July 2014 and contracts for more centres announced in January 2015.
The duration of initial VTEC contracts issued under the initiative were of 12 months’ duration. A 12 month recruitment period does not afford enough time in which to place participants into employment; many participants require a substantial period (up to several months) assistance in the pre-employment phase of engagement.
GTA’s budget position:
That, in order to test the effectiveness of the VTEC model, an analysis needs to be conducted within diverse labour markets in metropolitan, regional and remote locations; and
That future VTEC contracts should not be less than two years’ duration.
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The Creating Parity Review analysed the effectiveness and relevance of all Federal Indigenous programs. Recommendation 14 of the review proposed that all State and Federal funding for VET be re-directed to a training voucher system for use by employers only, whereby employers design course delivery content, and further, that the voucher would only be redeemable upon completion of employment milestones.
Such a system would appear to favour situations where a significant number of participants within a single course were preparing for a single vocation within the one enterprise. The recommendation does not readily account for the 42% of jobseekers who will gain employment with a small to medium enterprise (SME) with this percentage higher in some locations (particularly remote) and for certain cohorts (for example Indigenous jobseekers).
Furthermore, the payment system is arguably more punitive than encouraging. GTA would favour a funding arrangement, such as the one that was applied under the now defunct Australian
Apprenticeships Access Program (Access), where a modest payment was made for training milestones with weighted incentives attached to employment milestones.
GTA’s budget position:
That government reject the recommendation to implement a training voucher for use by employers as well as the recommended payment structure in favour of one which rewards the achievement of both training and employment milestones.
Increasing the capacity of school students to access and use relevant career information is critical to achieving effective transitions from school to work. Employers can make a key contribution by offering up to date information and insights about specific workplaces and industries, providing a real world context in which students can explore potential career options and pathways.
Preparing Secondary Students for Work – A framework for vocational learning and VET delivered to secondary students v
, endorsed in 2014 by Ministers with responsibility for education and training, recognises the need for greater industry involvement in the delivery of a range of vocational education and training services in both the junior and senior secondary levels of education. This position is supported by considerable evidence that meaningful exposure to the world of work and high quality careers education during schooling assists students to make a more effective transition from school to work.
Working with schools has generally been a strategic objective for group training organisations but it is resource intensive with no group training-specific funding to support it. Most GTOs provide schools with some kind of service to assist students with various aspects of their transition through school and beyond. This can be anything from basic careers information to the management of work placements for the wide variety of vocational learning and VET delivered to secondary students
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across the country. There are now examples of GTOs working with schools, even at primary level, on programs whose principal purpose is to provide students with a workplace-like context in which to develop their language and numeracy skills.
GTA believes that the group training network can increase its contribution by partnering with schools, employers and communities in a coordinated strategy to provide students with greater access to vocational learning and pathways through structured work exposure, exploration and applied learning opportunities.
GTA’s proposal - Take the Trade Pathway: Implementation of a National Try-a-Trade Program in
Conjunction with Work Inspiration Using the Group Training Network (September 2014), outlines how the group training network can connect and implement two proven work exposure programs:
Work Inspiration and Try-a-Trade, for both years 7-10 and years 11-12. The Work Inspiration model combined with the hands-on activities of Try-a-Trade can make workplaces more accessible and deliver authentic career conversations.
The close relationships GTOs have with their host employers across a diverse range of industries and regions means the group training network is a valued partner able to effectively connect local employers with schools. The Take the Trade Pathway Program is able to increase employer engagement, apprentice development, student exploration and assist in professional development for teachers. Try-a-Trade events which give students the opportunity to ‘try their hand’ at the kinds of tasks and calculations required for a range of different traditional trades, have been utilised at careers expos, WorldSkills competitions, school careers days and more recently as a pedagogical tool for teachers working in conjunction with trainers from some GTOs.
Integrating the Try-a-Trade activity within the Work Inspirations model is an ideal way to enable students in years 7-10 to engage in meaningful and practical career conversations and exploration.
Students in years 11-12 would also benefit from stand-alone Try-a-Trade events, to either build on their previous workplace experiences or for those with no previous workplace exposure.
The group training network is already actively involved in the roll-out of Try-a-Trade events and is well placed to roll out Try-a-Trade events in local schools, if funded, and to build this activity into their perennial search for candidates with the right attitude and aptitude to fill their apprenticeship vacancies. GTOs also would have the opportunity to work more closely with teaching staff, particularly in the junior years, on integrating Try-a-Trade into school curriculum.
Over the years successive governments have allocated significant taxpayers’ dollars to funding a myriad of career advice and development initiatives with marginal results. GTA believes that government should invest in what actually works and both Try-a-Trade and Work Inspiration have a strong track record that should be supported.
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GTA’s budget position:
The government should invest in a national Try-a-Trade/Work Inspiration program managed by the national network of GTOs.
GTOs have been at the forefront of the development of Australian School-based Apprenticeships
(school-based apprenticeships and traineeships). Indeed, GTOs were arguably the progenitors of these innovative education and training arrangements with some of the earliest models put in place by GTOs in Queensland and Victoria. Currently, 17% of Australian School-based Apprentices are employed through group training arrangements. In most instances, school-based trainees can, and generally do, complete their vocational certificate at the same time as they complete their senior secondary certificate.
However, this is not the case with students who are also undertaking school-based traditional apprenticeships. These students invariably need several more years beyond the completion of their schooling before they can complete their trade certificate. There is evidence that students who undertake a school-based traditional apprenticeship are more likely to continue that apprenticeship through to completion after leaving school if they were employed by a GTO throughout the course of their apprenticeship than if they started their apprenticeship by being indentured directly to an employer.
The issue of completion rates for both apprentices and trainees is a vexed one for the training system. The support services provided by GTOs to apprentices and trainees may make the difference between the cancellation and the completion of a training contract, particularly when it involves a student balancing general education with training in a traditional trade.
Preparing Secondary Students for Work – A framework for vocational learning and VET delivered to secondary students extols the benefits to secondary students of undertaking school-based traditional apprenticeships that conform to certain best practice principles. There can be no doubt from this text that GTOs make an ideal vehicle for managing the myriad relationships involved in school-based apprenticeships and for assuring the quality of the training program.
GTA’s budget position:
Given the strong ties that GTOs have with schools through their network of field officers, mentors and counsellors, that all school-based apprenticeships be undertaken through group training arrangements and government provide appropriate funding to do so.
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The loss of income when host employers declare bankruptcy is causing increasing financial difficulty for GTOs. The order of precedence in respect of bankruptcies in Australia is that the 1st priority creditor is the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) followed by salary and wages, though these two may rank equally. Thereafter all other creditors would be rated as ‘unsecured’ unless there were specific legal relationships determining priorities.
The majority of GTOs invoice host employers for wage and entitlement recoveries which include contributions to superannuation and PAYG tax. In the event that a host employer declares bankruptcy, the monies due to GTOs have no ranking other than that of an unsecured creditor.
While the incidence of bankruptcy varies across industries, it is unfortunately higher in the small and micro-businesses which GTOs traditionally service. Indeed, group training is targeted into this area of somewhat shaky financial performance where it is vulnerable and where it is effectively extending significant lines of credit. This situation is compounded when operating in very cyclical industries such as hospitality, and building and construction, and in rural areas where the prosperity of business is subject to the vagaries of the weather.
GTA believes that there is a need for a change in the legislation to ensure that the component of the
GTO invoice that represents recovery of wages and Crown debt is treated as a preferred creditor and ranked equally with other payments of wages and Crown debt which are required to be made as a priority by the organisation in financial difficulty or its receiver.
GTA’s budget position:
That GTOs be accorded preferred creditor status in bankruptcy.
The Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 requires non-public sector employers with 100 or more staff to submit a report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency between 1 April and 31 May each year for the preceding 12 month period (1 April – 31 March reporting period).
Relevant employers are required to submit a workplace profile and questionnaire. The workplace profile and reporting questionnaire capture information on the reporting matters which are related to the six gender equality indicators (GEI) specified in the Act.
The six GEIs are as follows:
( GEI 1) gender composition of the workforce
(GEI 2) gender composition of governing bodies of the GTO
(GEI 3) equal remuneration between women and men
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(GEI 4) availability and utility of employment terms, conditions and practices relating to flexible working arrangements for employees and to working arrangements supporting employees with family or caring responsibilities
(GEI 5) consultation with employees on issues concerning gender equality in the workplace
(GEI 6) any other matters specified by the Minister in a legislative instrument. The Minister has set sex-based harassment and discrimination as a further indicator.
Reporting matters for the 2014-15 reporting period will be the same as those in the 2013-14 reporting period. The current government has decided to delay by one year the introduction of additional gender reporting requirements that had been due to commence in the 2014-15 reporting period, which will reduce the effort required by employers to report to the Agency in 2015 while allowing further consultation on ways future reporting requirements can be streamlined.
In addition to the reporting matters for the 2014-15 reporting period, the government has introduced a minimum standard for relevant employers with 500 or more staff to have in place a policy or strategy in at least one of the following areas from 1 October 2014:
1. gender composition of the workforce
2. equal remuneration between women and men
3. availability and utility of employment terms, conditions and practices relating to flexible working arrangements for employees and to working arrangements supporting employees with family or caring responsibilities
4. sex-based harassment and discrimination
If an employer that is required to meet this minimum standard does not do so, that employer will have a further two years to improve against the minimum standard before it may be deemed noncompliant by the Agency.
GTA believes that these reporting requirements are onerous and an example of unnecessary red tape which the government has been keen to minimise for business. The gravamen of our complaint is that group training organisations must include their apprentices and trainees for the purposes of calculating whether they meet the 100 or 500 staff threshold for reporting purposes. GTA contends that GTOs should only be required to count their professional staff for reporting purposes and there are two principal reasons for this:
Firstly GTOs employ apprentices and trainees and hire them out to host employers for varying periods until the apprentice or trainee has completed their course. GTOs do not control the workplaces of their host employers, however they do seek to influence host employers in employment decisions such as offering opportunities to members of traditional equity groups including women.
Secondly, and more importantly, there is little if anything by way of strategy to redress gender inequity for the professional staff that applies equally to the apprentices and trainees. All apprentices and trainees for example are employed under a contract of training regulated by
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State/Territory governments, as well as modern awards or certified agreements which provide for the bulk of their terms and conditions of employment. There is no difference in remuneration based on gender and the question of promotion or advancement by their employer, the GTO, is utterly irrelevant where apprentices and trainees are concerned.
GTA’s budget position:
That GTOs be permitted to exclude the apprentices and trainees they employ when calculating whether they meet the number of employees above which they are required to satisfy the reporting requirements of the Workplace Agenda Equality Act. i
Peter Noonan, Gerald Burke, Andrew Wade and Sarah Pilcher, Expenditure on education and training in
Australia, Analysis and background paper No. 01/2014, October 2014. ii
Maher, S. The Australian , ‘Welfare to work drive has zero gain’, published 2 January 2015. iii
My First Job Working Group, ‘Improved Job Outcomes for Young People: A plan for enhancing employment services for young people leaving education and joining the workforce’, October 2014. iv
A Study Into Pre-Apprenticeship Delivery Models and Their Labour Market Outcomes, GTA, 2012 v
Preparing Secondary Students for Work – A framework for vocational learning and VET delivered to secondary students, Education Council, 2014, p14
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