Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (VET)
Vocational education and training (VET) is a fundamental driver of a skilled Australian workforce. VET includes courses which lead to formal qualifications in a wide range of trade and professional fields, as well as course components aimed at developing or refining specific work-related skills or workplace practices. Most VET courses which lead to a formal qualification are delivered at the Certificate I-IV or Diploma/Advanced diploma levels.
There were 2,794 registered training providers in Australia in 2010. While many of these are private providers, government-funded providers such as technical and further education (TAFE) colleges tend to be larger, multi-purpose institutions, meaning that most VET students (74%) are engaged with government providers.
Publicly funded VET is provided by TAFE colleges as well as by higher education institutions, secondary schools and colleges, agricultural and technical colleges, and adult and community organisations. Private providers of VET include private training organisations, business colleges, industry associations, adult and community organisations and employers.
In 2010, there were approximately 1.8 million students enrolled in publicly funded VET courses (table 12.12), of whom just over half (54%) were under 30 years of age. Between 2006 and 2010, VET student numbers grew about 7% for both males and females (graph 12.11).
Among younger age groups, males were more likely than females to be studying in publicly funded VET courses, comprising 56% of enrolments for those under 30 years of age. Females comprised a greater share of older VET students. Overall, just over half (52%) of publicly funded VET students were male.
VET courses are classified according to specific fields of education. Table 12.13 shows the number of course enrolments in 2010 in 11 broad fields of education and for mixed field programs. Since students may be enrolled in more than one VET course, the number of course enrolments is greater than the total number of students. In 2010, there were 2.2 million course enrolments taken up by 1.8 million students.
The most common broad fields of study for VET courses were Management and commerce (20%), Engineering and related technologies (17%), Society and culture (11%), and Food, hospitality and personal services (10%). Each of these fields is strongly linked to gender, with courses in Management and commerce, Society and culture, and Food, hospitality and personal services all being predominantly studied by females (65%, 74% and 62%, respectively), while most students studying Engineering and related technologies were male (91%). Education and Creative arts had more even distributions of male and female course participants.
Mixed field programs, which either encompass multiple fields of study or are more generalist in nature, such as bridging and enabling courses, comprised 16% of VET course enrolments, with participation divided almost evenly between males and females.
Apprenticeships and traineeships
Of 441,000 apprentices and trainees, 204,000 or nearly half (46%) were in the Technicians and trades occupations (table 12.14). Two specific trades occupations: Automotive and engineering (50,000 apprenticeships) and Construction (55,000 apprenticeships) were the largest occupations for apprenticeships/traineeships, with the exception of the broad Clerical and administrative occupation (68,000 apprenticeships).
Males comprised two-thirds (66%) of all apprenticeship/traineeship participants, and more than 98% of participants in three trades occupations – Automotive and engineering, Construction and Electro-technology and telecommunications. Males also comprised more than 70% of participants in the other major trades occupations of Engineering, ICT and science, Food trades, and Skilled animal and horticultural workers, as well as two non-trade occupation groups, Machinery operators and drivers and Labourers.
Females were more highly represented than males in four non-trade occupation groups — Managers, Community and personal service, Clerical and administrative and Sales. Community and personal service workers recorded the highest share of female participants at 72%.
Staff
In 2010, there were 36,000 VET teachers employed in TAFE and other VET institutions in Australia (table 12.15). Slightly more than half of these were female (54%). Three-quarters of male VET teachers were full-time, compared to approximately half of female VET teachers.
Work-related training
Many workers seek, or are provided with, training courses specifically to meet the skill and practice needs of their workplace. Table 12.16 shows the proportion of workers who had, in the previous year, participated in a work-related non-formal course, by sex, work hours and occupation (as at 2009). Non-formal learning refers to structured taught learning, but unlike formal learning, does not lead to a recognised qualification, per the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF).
Workers in the occupational categories of Community and personal service workers (36%) and Professionals (33%) were much more likely to have participated in work-related non-formal courses than were those in other professions. The lowest rates of participation were reported in the Sales workers and Labourers occupations, both at 15%.
Overall, there was little difference in the participation rates of males and females, at 23% and 24% respectively. However, there was some variation by occupation group. Males were more likely than females to have participated in a work-related course in the Community and personal services occupation (41% compared with 33% for females). In contrast, female Professionals (36%) were more likely to have participated in a course than male Professionals (30%).
People working full-time were much more likely to report that they had participated in a work- related course, at 26% of workers, than were part-time workers (18%). Full-time Sales workers were twice as likely as part-time Sales workers to have participated in a work-related course (22% compared with 11%).
(b) Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition, 2006 (1220.0).