Apprenticeships aren't broken: government must stop trying to 'fix' them

There's a worrying trend emerging in the education policy arena. The talk is that apprenticeships are 'broken' and need to be fixed.

Policymakers at both state and federal levels are perennially tinkering with skills reform and delivery models for vocational training. The latest example appeared in last week's budget, when the Federal Government announced funding of $69 million for a pilot program to test alternative pathways into trades other than traditional four-year apprenticeships.

While the details are yet to be confirmed, one can only hope this new funding for 'Alternative Pathways' won't be another plan to train new entrants to industry using predominantly classroom-based methods, to the detriment of hands on experience in a real workplace. The existing apprenticeship model, comprising a combination of "on-the-job" and "off-the-job" training has proven successful over a long period of time and works well for the 80,000 apprentices and trainees currently working in NSW.

Despite the broad satisfaction with the current apprenticeship system from employers and apprentices, government can't help itself from wheeling out the policy toolkit to tinker with the workforce skills machine.

The real problem with apprenticeships is that government, who controls the purse strings, is preoccupied with ticking boxes and achieving arbitrary throughputs rather than real outcomes in the form of skills and jobs.

Governments at both state and federal levels are most concerned with the rate of apprenticeship and traineeship completions. The NSW State Plan suggests the panacea to skills shortages is for more people to complete their apprenticeships sooner, that is, within a shorter timeframe than the usual three or four years.

This policy will damage apprentices' prospects on the ground. It's usually in their last year of an apprenticeship when they are well on their way to being skilled and experienced, that the apprentice can demonstrate their value to the employer and secure an ongoing job with them. Reducing the length of time of the apprenticeship in order to speed up completions short changes employees and employers - but it will no doubt look impressive on the department's annual report.

Now is not the time for government to be fiddling with the system. We are seeing apprentice and trainee numbers declining. Figures released in May by the National Centre for Vocational Education and Research show that combined apprenticeship and traineeship commencements have dropped nationally to the lowest rate in over ten years. This is most marked in traineeship commencements, which have plummeted by more than half since this time last year in response to government withdrawal of funding for employers.

This is a worry because low apprenticeship numbers can indicate skills shortages and high youth unemployment.

In March this year the Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures showing that long term unemployment has grown by 80 per cent since the Global Financial Crisis hit in 2008. That's an additional 200,000 people who have been out of work for over a year. The worst part of this is that more than half of all young people, 16-21 years, who claim income support have been unemployed for more than a year. This trend is unacceptable at a time when many industries are concerned about a foreseeable skills shortage putting the brakes on growth and productivity.

We need to think more deeply about this issue before government makes the same mistakes of withdrawing funding and support for effective skills and training programs in favour of the latest training fads.

No doubt government has the policy levers to encourage young people into work, or at least into trying it. But policymakers are deluded if they think they can influence whether young people will see an apprenticeship through to the end.

A report released last year by NSW BVET was the most comprehensive study of apprentices and their employers ever undertaken in NSW. The key finding of the report was that the most influential factor as to whether a trainee or apprentice completes their training is the attitude of both the apprentice and their employer. It did not find that our apprenticeship system is broken and in need of yet another government led restructure.

What policymakers don't seem to understand is that non-completions of apprenticeships are caused by many factors and some industries see better completion rates than others. Apprentices may find that they're not suited to the job or the workplace, and find another job or something else to study. This is why pre-apprenticeship programs are so important, they give applicants a taste of industry so they can decide if it's for them or not.

It's not simply a matter of looking at the dollars government spends on training. Employers, schools, parents and the apprentices themselves all invest in the training contract.

Government can support the economy by encouraging and funding more people into skills and training. But it cannot change the attitudes and minds of those people undertaking that training no matter how frequently it tinkers with the system.