Coalition makes first major school announcement with training college network

Thousands of teenagers would have more options to learn trades such as construction, plumbing and engineering during their senior school years under a Coalition plan to build a national network of vocational colleges to rebalance the education system towards skills.

The Coalition’s $260 million election pledge to build 12 new technical colleges for students in years 10 to 12 – its first major education investment of the campaign – signals the opposition’s approach to education will emphasise vocational training rather than pushing students into university.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will link the plan for new vocational training colleges to the Coalition’s other policies on skills and housing.Credit: James Brickwood

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will unveil the policy on Thursday, linking it to other Coalition commitments on skills and housing, as he pitches a vision for keeping students in education while training them to meet the country’s future needs, particularly in construction.

Dutton, who has been promoting himself as the candidate to restore the dream of home ownership, said he also wanted to see more students taking up careers in trades. “Part of our plan will mean building the workforce we need to tackle the housing and construction challenges head-on,” he said.

“Not enough students are taking up the skills we need to solve the urgent national challenges we face. A new national network of Australian technical colleges will help skill the next generation of workers we need to build more homes and infrastructure, and our efforts in areas like defence and nuclear energy.”

The federal funding would establish 12 sites – including at least one in each state, prioritising regions with skill shortages or high youth unemployment – in the first term of a Coalition government. The federal government would contribute to capital works and establishment costs while partnering with industry, state governments or independent schools to deliver them.

Several vocational colleges already operate around the country – catering to a few hundred students each – but they are run by a patchwork of private providers, Catholic school systems and state governments. School curriculums have also elevated their focus on vocational skills, but this often costs time and money that not all schools have, meaning it doesn’t always translate to practical offerings.

As retention rates for year 12 have fallen over the decade – from 83.6 per cent of year 7 students who went through to complete high school in 2014, to 79.9 per cent in 2024 – the Coalition says turbocharging vocational education options will improve young people’s engagement in education while setting them up for the future.

They would be separate to TAFE, which the Coalition said had lower completion rates than technical colleges.

The Australian technical colleges would enrol each student in a school-based apprenticeship while they also complete academic, information technology and business courses to earn a year 12 certificate.

Vocational colleges often teach construction, plumbing, automotive industries, electrotechnology and engineering to put students on an early pathway to apprenticeships. They can also offer courses in subjects such as business services, hospitality, retail, care services, beauty services and food technology.

Coalition skills spokeswoman Sussan Ley said only about 20,000 of Australia’s 1.6 million secondary school students were undertaking school-based apprenticeships, compared to greater numbers overseas. She said investing in more vocational colleges was a generational reform the Australian school system needed.

“They will give young people the opportunity to get a head start on in-demand skills,” she said. “We have always rejected the idea that if you haven’t made it to university then you haven’t made it in life – and that principle underpins this significant announcement.”

The Coalition has also promised to pay small and medium businesses $12,000 to support apprentice wages, and it will match Labor’s $10,000 incentive payments for apprentices in housing construction.

The opposition’s rhetoric around education in the election campaign has so far focused on complaints about the “indoctrination” of children.

“A Coalition government is committed to ensuring classrooms are places of education – not indoctrination,” Dutton said at the Liberal Party’s campaign launch on Sunday, a day after frontbencher Jacinta Price said the opposition wanted to reset the school curriculum.

Thursday’s announcement moves the conversation about education back onto skills, construction and more practical issues, as the federal election campaign homes in on debates about housing in its final weeks.

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