James Barron, CEO of Group Training Australia
In the context of solidifying vocation and trade training as early into schools as possible, we think it’s a very good policy. It builds on a lot of existing vocation and trade policies which have been introduced into schools in the last two decade. This is about introducing the pathways to a trade as early as year nine and about using GTOs to place students to see if they like the apprenticeship. It’s about providing a platform that offers not just foundation skills, but also employability skills training and a pre-apprenticeship while still in school. We believe this policy is sensible because it builds on existing vocation and trade policies that have been introduced into schools in the last two decades. It builds on the gains already made in schools. We would hope it gets full support.  Obviously, these announcements are made in the context of an election campaign. The real work is when they come to implementing the policy. Implementation is the other side of the coin. We would expect that all appropriate parties — schools, GTOs and industry groups — are brought together at the ground floor so that the rough edges can be worked out. The future of dealing with skill shortages begins at school. The more the government can focus education policy on implementing trade training into the school curriculum the better. The most important feature of this policy is that it will be implemented into the national curriculum, which is a first. This is clearly an area that the Prime Minister is pretty close to. It’s about changing the teaching culture of schools and not simply adding to the curriculum. This policy could help change some of the embedded cultures of teaching; what should be taught in schools and what isn’t.