Training plan 'ignores staff, equipment costs'

JULIA Gillard's plan to offer guaranteed training places worth up to $7800 is unlikely to lift places in key trade areas, experts say.

JULIA Gillard's plan to offer guaranteed training places worth up to $7800 will make little difference to students or industry because it is unlikely to increase the availability of places in key trade areas, experts claim.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister proposed a guaranteed entitlement for subsidised training up to certificate III, the typical level of apprenticeship qualifications. "These changes would help people get better jobs (and) tackle Australia's skills shortage," Ms Gillard said in a statement.

But experts in the field say such an entitlement already exists and the real issue is not whether people can get subsidised training, but whether they can get it in high-demand skill-shortage areas that require expensive equipment.

Ms Gillard's proposal is similar to a system introduced in Victoria in 2008, but there are still hundreds of people on waiting lists there.

Victorian TAFE Association head David Williams said a lack of facilities had forced one of his members to defer training for 270 plumbing and carpentry apprentices last year.

Mr Williams said he understood other TAFEs had experienced similar problems.

"On early indicators from 2012 enrolments, they're going to head down the same path," he said.

The TAFE secretary with the Australian Education Union, Pat Forward, said declining government funding per student meant TAFEs had been unable to invest in the expensive facilities and teachers they needed to offer more places.

Victoria also subsidises students attending private colleges, but it runs relatively few trade courses because it is difficult to do so on the funding that is available.

Trade training also requires students to be in apprenticeships, which can be hard to find.

"They're as rare as hen's teeth," said University of Melbourne tertiary education expert Leesa Wheelahan.