SUB-PROGRAMME | COMPONENT |
|
| |
| 3.1.1 Training Policy and Innovation
3.1.2 Entry level Training and Skills Enhancement 3.1.3 National Centre for Vocational Education Research 3.1.4 New Apprenticeships 3.1.5 Jobs Pathway 3.1.6 Workplace English Language and Literacy | |
| 3.2.1 Vocational Education and Training Funding Act
3.2.2 National Programmes 3.2.3 Operating Budget 3.2.4 Australian Student Traineeship Foundation |
To contribute to the improvement of Australia's economic competitiveness and social well-being by improving the productivity and skills of the workforce, through the provision of quality vocational education and training.
| Outlays | Actual | Budget | Actual |
|
| 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1996-97 |
|
| $m | $m | $m |
| Programme costs | 948 | 1 029 | 1 022 |
| Running costs | 13 | 15 | 12 |
Subtotal | 961 | 1 045 | 1 035 |
| Adjustments | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 961 | 1 045 | 1 035 |
| Revenue | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Staff years | 138 | 161 | 120 |
| Accrued Financial Information | Actual | Actual |
|
| 1995-96 | 1996-97 |
|
| $m | $m |
| Programme costs | 986 | 1 056 |
| Net cost of service delivery | 12 | 12 |
| Total costs | 998 | 1 068 |
| Programme revenue | 0 | 0 |
| Total assets | 46 | 12 |
| Total liabilities | 437 | 468 |
The Programme consists of two sub-programmes which link the Department's involvement in, and support for, vocational education and training. The first includes the development of a more skilled workforce which meets the needs of industry by stimulating opportunities for apprenticeships, traineeships and vocational preparation, and by improving the quality of training. It also covers support for systems, organisations and individuals to underpin the Government's training reforms, including New Apprenticeships, formerly known as the Modern Australian Apprenticeship and Traineeship System or MAATS.
The second encompasses the development of a national vocational education and training system through the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA), which has nationally agreed objectives, strategies and planning processes. ANTA is an independent statutory body which reports to a council of Commonwealth, State and Territory ministers. ANTA also has responsibility for progressing significant elements of New Apprenticeships relating to the introduction of training packages and user choice of training provider.
The implementation of New Apprenticeships will ensure better results for employers and individuals, and will develop the mix of training required by industry. New Apprenticeships gives employers a key role in determining the kinds of skills required to make training arrangements simpler and more flexible. Also, the Access programme provides additional assistance for people who are disadvantaged in the labour market and who need some preliminary training before they can successfully participate in New Apprenticeships.
Complementing Programme 3 are components in Sub-programme 4.3 which provide incentive payments to employers and support for the disadvantaged in gaining access to apprenticeships and traineeships. These components have been merged with Sub-programme 3.1 for the 1997-98 financial year.
In cooperation with States and Territories, industry parties and training providers, to contribute to implementation of national training reforms to improve the productivity and skills of the workforce.
| Outlays | Actual | Budget | Actual |
|
| 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1996-97 |
|
| $m | $m | $m |
| Programme costs | 79 | 76 | 66 |
| Running costs | 12 | 15 | 11 |
Subtotal | 91 | 90 | 77 |
| Adjustments | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total | 91 | 90 | 77 |
| Revenue | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Staff years | 129 | 152 | 112 |
The sub-programme provides support to education systems, organisations and individuals for projects to address national priorities in the reform of vocational education and training. It has six components which are set out below together with a summary of the major programme activities.
Funding is provided to develop teaching and learning resources to support vocational training reforms including competency-based training, flexible delivery, assessment and recognition of prior learning. The resources are based on industry endorsed competency standards and the materials are developed to meet industry and employer requirements.
Funding is provided for projects to facilitate recognition of prior learning activity in industry. Recognising existing skills can reduce unnecessary training or duplication of training for skills already held.
The Access Programme initiative provides training to people who are disadvantaged in the labour market and need preliminary training before they can successfully participate in an apprenticeship or traineeship. The Access initiative:
The Australia and New Zealand Joint Council for Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training focussed on developing advice to ministers in Australia and New Zealand on the mutual recognition of vocational education and training qualifications.
The programme trials innovative ways to provide quality professional development to small business. The objective is to assist them to select appropriate training and to train their own staff. In 1996-97, $2m was provided to the States and Territories to develop, trial, implement and document a range of best practice models.
The National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd (NCVER) is a Commonwealth and State jointly owned company which undertakes research and development projects that are of national significance to the vocational education and training sectors, and is responsible for collecting relevant national statistics. The Centre also disseminates the research results and acts as a clearing house for information relevant to the sector. In 1996-97 the Commonwealth provided half of the Centre's core income ($527 000 in 1996-97), with the other half provided by the States and Territories.
Assistance is provided to support the development and implementation of the new national apprenticeship and traineeship system, called New Apprenticeships. The 1996-97 Budget provided $207m over four years for this purpose.
Through New Apprenticeships, employers will be encouraged to provide employment opportunities that include a mix of work and training that suits the individual enterprise.
New Apprenticeships is designed to:
New Apprenticeships will expand training opportunities for Australia's young people by moving beyond traditional occupations to new industries to take advantage of growth and employment potential. The new arrangements will provide traineeship and apprenticeship opportunities in small and medium sized businesses in emerging technology, information and service industries.
As part of this strategy the Government is:
The National Employment and Training Taskforce (NETTFORCE) was established to encourage employers to make more jobs available to unemployed people and to increase entry level training places, particularly for young people. A small secretariat in Melbourne reports to a Board of high profile industry and union representatives.
Industry training companies have been established in 24 specific industry sectors. In addition, funding is provided to support four small business projects, four sports group training companies and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Training Company, Ariginisle.
The Government provided $14.6m to NETTFORCE in 1996-97 to meet operational costs ($3.5m), the marketing and promotional costs of the industry training companies ($10m) and $1.1m for the management of the Secretariat and the Board.
This programme administered by NETTFORCE assists enterprises, particularly small business, through support and assistance given by training service providers to employers employing on-the-job trainees in a range of traineeships. Some 2 800 new businesses took advantage of this service in 1996-97.
The New Apprenticeships Through Group Training Expansion initiative was announced in the 1996-97 Budget and commenced operation on 1 December 1996. The programme:
The programme is a partnership arrangement between schools and industry to assist young people to make a smooth transition from school to work. It helps them to be competitive in the labour market and to make well informed career choices. Assistance takes the form of career guidance and job placement, with up to 12 months mentoring support after leaving school.
In 1996-97, 42 agents were contracted under the programme to assist 4 685 school leavers at a total cost of $3.2m.
The programme provides workers with sufficient English language and literacy skills to enable them to meet the demands of their current and future employment and training needs. Projects may provide workplace-based English language and literacy training which is generally integrated with other training, develop training resources, and support the integration of language and literacy competencies into industry training packages.
In 1996-97, $2.1m funded 27 new projects and 35 continuing projects. These covered a broad range of industries and included the development of materials to support the New Apprenticeships programme. Funds were targeted to small business, disadvantaged groups and to industries which have little or no structured entry level training, skills shortages and projected employment growth. The majority of industries in which projects were funded recorded an increase in the intake of trainees in the past 12 months.
Thirteen recognition of prior learning projects, costing $0.36m, were completed or commenced in 1996-97. The programme was effective in initiating or supporting recognition of prior learning in diverse areas. It supported the development of videos and case study booklets for Indigenous people to conduct recognition of prior learning activities within Indigenous communities. Also, with remote communities being one of the main access and equity target groups, recognition of prior learning material was developed for Remote Area Local Government Certificate and Diploma students. Another project involved the Tasmanian Department of Vocational Education and Training working with a major Hobart employer to develop recognition arrangements for competency standards in aluminium fabrication, welding and rigging.
A number of State and Territory projects have developed mentoring programmes and regional networks for small business operators, and/or disseminated information on training issues through the Internet, workshops and professional development kits and support materials.
Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia have targeted small businesses for workplace trainer and assessor projects, developing an infrastructure to support participation in workplace assessor training which is localised and industry specific.
Victoria targeted mentoring programmes, while the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory focussed on the development of general business management knowledge and skills through networking and mentoring projects. In Queensland, the projects focussed on using a range of technologies and action learning strategies to equip business operators and supervisors with general business skills or general supervisory skills. The projects developed participants' skills in selecting and/or conducting training for their staff.
New national arrangements have been introduced for performance assessment, data collection and management, and research and evaluation in vocational education and training. Under the new arrangements, ANTA has contracted the Centre to prepare its report on the performance of the vocational education and training sector in 1996 (Benchmarking VET), to manage the national data collection, and to manage national vocational education and training research and evaluation. The Centre's top priority is to refine the national statistics in order to gain high quality national data for monitoring and evaluating vocational education and training outcomes.
The Government has made significant progress in introducing arrangements to support New Apprenticeships:
Individual traineeship commencement targets for 1996-97 were achieved by industry training companies operating in the following industry sectors: administration, automotive services, community services and health, food, meat, metals and manufacturing, property, recreation, retail, rural, small business and tourism and hospitality. Information about traineeship commencements for 1996-97 is reported under Sub-programme 4.3: Employer and Industry Servicing.
An independent evaluation of the programme in late 1996 concluded that while the programme was performing well with no outstanding service issues, its coverage could be substantially improved through better communications and marketing. Responding to the survey, NETTFORCE conducted information seminars across Australia early in 1997 for some 1 000 training service providers and traineeship agencies.
In 1996-97, four contracts were signed leading to more than 800 new apprenticeship and traineeship positions with a total value of $0.9m.
A total of 3 052 placements have been made in the Jobs Pathway Programme, of which 1 327 are apprenticeship and traineeship placements. Most placements are in the retail trade (28.2 per cent); accommodation, cafes and restaurants (18.4 per cent); and manufacturing sectors (18.3 per cent). The placement period has been extended from May to the end of August 1997 to allow agents to continue assisting school leavers.
Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) funding operates on a calendar year basis but is funded by financial year. Both 1996 and 1997 data are listed below:
During 1996-97 the capacity to collect performance information was enhanced by the use of the WELL information system database. A draft reporting mechanism was developed which uses key performance indicators (called impact evaluation instruments) and trialled in over 20 work sites.
At the work sites where these impact evaluation instruments were trialled it was found that undertaking a WELL project at the workplace resulted not only in improved communication skills for those undertaking the training, but also in one or more of the following indirect benefits to participants:
