TAFE NSW halts apprentice electrician enrolments at five campuses amid ‘capacity crisis’
TAFE NSW has frozen its second semester intake for a raft of critical trades, turning away would-be electricians from their classroom training at all but six locations in greater Sydney.
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TAFE NSW has frozen its second semester intake for a raft of critical trades, turning away would-be electricians from their classroom training at all but six locations in greater Sydney, until at least 2026.
Meanwhile just one TAFE campus in the entire 46,000-square kilometre New England region – Inverell – is offering an entry-level qualification in construction.
Industry insiders were informed earlier this month that more than 20 TAFE courses were already at capacity and the public provider would be unable to run semester two intakes for trades including carpentry, plumbing and electrical fitting.
The worst affected qualification is the Certificate III in Electrotechnology (Electrician), with campuses at Meadowbank, Miller, the Northern Beaches, Ultimo and Kogarah all unable to accept more trainees.
It comes as the nation faces a critical shortage of qualified sparkies to meet housing and renewable energy targets, with Jobs and Skills Australia forecasting another 85,000 will be required by 2050.
The latest figures from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research show there were 11,200 electricians enrolled at TAFE in 2024, however there were more than 800 withdrawals in the first three months of that year alone.
Tradespeople in regional communities are also struggling for places.
In the northwest New England town of Armidale students have been turned away from a Certificate II engineering course, with Careers Network chief executive Debb Taekata told the course was at capacity just 15 days before it was due to start.
Ms Taekata said Certificate II options are dwindling, despite being crucial to getting students who have dropped out of school before Year 10 into a trade.
“We don’t have the offerings for young people who want to take that step into the world of work,” she said.
“We have a booming market for cafes, and we don’t have a certificate for hospitality available.”
Tamworth-based truck manufacturer Obieco Industries employs 20 apprentices among its 60 employees. Head of HR Fiona Sweeney said there had been “zero consultation with industry” over which TAFE courses there was a demand for.
“They’re going ahead cancelling all these certificate II engineering courses … industry is crying out for these people,” she said.
Mid Coast Connect chief executive Jenny Fraser said Port Macquarie students who wanted to study plumbing were told they’d need to travel to Coffs Harbour.
“Our problem is most of our TAFE teachers are not permanent or full time,” she said.
“TAFE don’t have enough teachers to be able to put the courses on.”
Electrical Trades Union national secretary Michael Wright said the unmet demand is a “massive concern” for a nation in the middle of an energy transition, but also adds a very real risk of injury for individual sparkies.
“Close to one in five apprentices are not getting into TAFE until well into their second year,” he said.
“The first thing you do at TAFE is health and safety, and learning how to work with power tools.
“We are seeing an increase in the rate of reported electrocution by apprentice members, and while correlation doesn’t equal causation, I’m not going to wait around for the research study.”
National Electrical and Communications Association CEO Oliver Judd echoed the union leader’s safety concerns, and said the “capacity crisis” also poses a threat to the state’s “energy, housing and infrastructure goals”.
“We are shutting the gates at exactly the moment we should be scaling up,” Mr Judd said.
“This is not a scheduling issue. This is the system saying it cannot cope.”
Skills and TAFE Minister Steve Whan said the Minns government had hired an additional 500 TAFE teachers since it was elected in 2023, but acknowledged “there is much more to do”.
“We know there is a teacher shortage in some high demand areas, and we are working with the Commonwealth to continue to recruit teachers,” he said.
“We want to hear from industry if they are aware of particular areas where demand is not being met.”
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