Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 2702 ..

MS MacDONALD (continuing):

training. Those aged between 25 and 29 comprised 23.9 per cent or just under a quarter of the people undertaking training. Both ACT figures are significantly higher than the national average. Elsewhere participants are considerably younger. Our figures are probably linked to the very high retention rate in our school system. Even more interesting, Mr Deputy Speaker, is the figure left of 35.6 per cent over the age of 29 years. In my previous role and involvement with the Business Training Advisory Board, I and a number of my colleagues were huge advocates of mature-age training, so that figure is quite uplifting for me, I have to say.

It was found that 64.9 per cent of all apprentices and trainees were male. Overall, male and female, 46.2 per cent were involved in the trades and related work, while 21.8 per cent were undertaking intermediate clerical, sales and service work, leaving 32 per cent involved in other areas. Of those, 76.9 per cent attained a certificate III level apprenticeship or traineeship, while only 3.8 per cent attained certificate IV or higher. However, it is still commendable that they went on beyond the certificate II level.

The percentage of those attaining a certificate III in the ACT was higher than the national average of 74.4 per cent. Most apprentices and trainees, 75.5 per cent, undertake their training on a full-time basis, something which traditionally has been the case within the training sector but which I believe may well change over time as the nature of the workplace changes and more people undertake traineeships which are based on their workplaces rather than going straight into places such as the CIT.

Most of this training in the ACT, 55.3 per cent, is completed within two years. Nationally, 58.8 per cent of students undertake their training for more than two years. This figure is related to the structure of the ACT economy, with a large proportion of our businesses being in the service sector, where traineeships are more common than the longer apprenticeships. The total number of apprentices and trainees in the ACT at 31 December 2001 was 4,830. Nationally, the figure was 333,190. That shows that the ACT is a small player, but it is still an extremely significant player in the traineeship and apprenticeship sectors.

There have been many changes to the new apprenticeships program in recent times. New qualifications under the new apprenticeships program include certificates in the automotive industry-for example, for administration and service reception-and certificates in film, television, radio and multimedia, such as screen and television broadcasting. I have to say that that is one of the most interesting areas that I have seen, with things coming up on the television screen and rotating around. The trainees in the multimedia area learn how to do those things, but I do not know how they do them. They also get paid for making computer games. I do not understand that, but there you go! There is also certificate in health-for example, for cleaning support services-and a certificate in off-site construction, such as shopfitting. Of course, equity in and access to VET are ongoing priorities.

The ACT's VET sector, like any other VET system around Australia, has a wide variety of programs which assist people from underrepresented groups, such as those with a disability, the elderly, women, people from indigenous backgrounds, youths at risk and those from non-English speaking backgrounds-for example, training for intellectually disabled persons in the cleaning industry. In my previous role, that was one area in which I saw a lot of very valuable work going on, giving people with a disability a level of self-

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .