Coalition plan: Train-up school kids to plug skills shortages

The Coalition is moving to revive a Howard-era ‘Skills in Schools’ policy to reverse flatlining trade apprenticeship completions and encourage thousands of teenagers to attend technical colleges.

Former prime minister John Howard with apprentice boilermaker Zane Morgan at the North Queensland Australian Technical College ahead of the 2007 federal election.

The Coalition is moving to revive a Howard government-era “skills in schools” policy to reverse flatlining trade apprenticeship completions, encourage thousands of teenagers to attend technical colleges and fast-track young Australians into jobs.

The Australian can reveal that in response to a spike in skills shortages and drops in apprentice and trainee numbers, Peter Dutton’s skills and training election policy will set-up a political clash with Labor over the government’s fee-free TAFE focus.

In a speech at the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia’s national conference, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley on Friday will say new pathways are needed for young Australians outside universities and TAFEs.

Ms Ley will say that of around 1.6 million secondary students in Australia, only 1 per cent, or 20,765, are engaged in school-based apprenticeships or traineeships. About 243,000 students are doing VET in Schools training, with the most popular skills programs across tourism, hospitality, sport, fitness and recreation.

In contrast, around 50 per cent of German school-leavers are undertaking vocational training.

The opposition industry and skills spokeswoman will cite international examples in Germany, France, Japan and Britain where governments have established dedicated training schools or skills streams.

Ahead of the 2007 election, John Howard promised a five-fold expansion of his government’s Australian Technical Colleges program, pledging to spend $2.1bn over a decade to build 100 additional campuses. Following the election, the Rudd and Gillard governments redirected funding into TAFEs.

Ms Ley, who recently visited the Tec-NQ campus built in North Queensland under the Howard government, will say “the reality is Australia will face a ‘forever skills shortage’ unless we look at long-term reform that supports more Australians to get into skills earlier in their lives”.

With builders reporting tradie shortages at a time when the Albanese government is promising to build 1.2 million new homes by 2029, Ms Ley will say a “stigma of vocational education and the cultural imbalance with university remains”.

“We cannot rely on re-skilling alone – we have to skill Australians sooner and to do that we need smarter systems and better policies. In short, we need to have a national conversation about getting skills back into schools,” Ms Ley will say.

“If we make the right decisions, we can make a real impact on this challenge, and I believe we can create a rare public policy win-win. We can help lift our worsening performance in schools, upskill the workforce we need for strategic industries and build the reputation of vocational training up to where it belongs.

“We do not have a pipeline of skills in schools that can boost our construction workforce and develop the critical skills we need to support strategic efforts like AUKUS and nuclear energy.”

The looming election battle over technical colleges and TAFEs comes after The Australian last month revealed Mr Dutton’s education policy would include a refocusing of education standards in schools, including reprioritising reading, writing and maths curriculum.

Ms Ley will say after two years of Labor policies “we have worsening skills shortages, fewer apprentices, fewer trainees, fewer new training starts and a lower number of students taking-up government-funded courses at TAFE”.

Jobs and Skills Australia data reveals that 36 per cent of occupations were deemed as in shortage in 2023, up from 31 per cent the previous year. More than 330 occupations are in shortage across Australia.

The Coalition is looking at overseas examples including Germany, where the school system is divided along vocational and academic tracks.

Ms Ley, who chose vocational training despite pressure from her parents, will say “skills policy is personal for me”.

“Labor’s policies are not working. Skill shortages have got worse, not better. And their skills planning has allowed yoga instructors to leapfrog construction workers for priority processing of skills visas – you couldn’t make this stuff up.

“When the Coalition left office there were nearly 430,000 apprentices and trainees in-training and commencements over the year were 277,900. In September 2023, the latest numbers we have, apprentices and trainees in training have fallen to 365,000 and commencements to 171,700.”