The release of the latest national training data shows a further boost for jobs, careers and South Australia's training system.
South Australia had a large increase in the number of students, increases in program enrolments at TAFE and non-government providers, and an increase in apprentice and trainee program enrolments in the first nine months of 2019.
“Skilling South Australia is delivering results for our state, providing jobs and opportunities for South Australians, and meeting the needs of SA employers,” Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said.
The Government-funded students and courses – January to September 2019 publication from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) confirms the Marshall Liberal Government’s achievements to date in rebuilding SA’s training system.
The report highlights that this is the first increase in government funded VET activity in SA for the January to September period since 2015, when the NCVER first started collecting and recording this data on a quarterly basis.
Highlights for South Australia from the NCVER release include:
- For government funded apprentice and trainee program enrolments there was an increase of 1 per cent, which was the largest percentage increase in the nation and 14.4 percentage points above the national increase of 2.7 per cent
- 361,190 South Australian government funded subject enrolments – which was an increase of 56,995 or 7 per cent compared to the 2018 figure of 304,200 – SA’s percentage increase was the largest in the nation and 16.2 percentage points above the national increase of 2.5 per cent
- 57,485 South Australian government funded program enrolments – an increase of 8 per cent compared to 2018, which was the largest percentage increase in the nation and 10.8 percentage points above the national increase of 6 per cent
“Providing a quality training framework which leads to jobs and meaningful careers for South Australians is critical to the growth of the state’s economy, and the Marshall Liberal Government is working closely with industry and businesses to continue the turnaround of our state’s training system,” Minister Pisoni said.
“The first full year of the Skilling South Australia program has yielded fantastic results, with over 13,000 new apprenticeship and traineeship commencements.
“We’re seeing strong growth in government funded VET program enrolments across critical sectors for the SA economy, including community services, agriculture, horticulture, conservation and land management, construction and traditional trades, as well tourism, hospitality and events.
“There are also excellent opportunities and pathways in the emerging fields of cyber security, high-tech industries, space and defence.
“We’ve also seen 700 South Australian businesses take on an apprentice for the first time, which is a huge vote of confidence in the South Australian economy.
“There are almost 100 Skilling South Australia projects underway, co-designed by industry and business to grow our skilled workforce, build careers, and meet the needs of employers by driving growth in apprenticeships and traineeships – and that’s exactly what we’re seeing reflected in the NCVER data.
“Encouragingly, we’re also delivering increased participation in terms of Aboriginal students and increased female participation in skills training.
“While there is always more work to be done to turnaround the state’s training system, there are positive signs in not only this report, but also in the recent Report on Government Services, as well as the growth and outcomes we’re seeing flow from the Skilling South Australia program.”
Peter Nolan, Chief Executive of leading South Australian training organisation PEER said that the State Government’s investments in skills and expansion of subsidised training is delivering positive results for the sector.
“2020 has commenced very positively for PEER and we have seen a strong uptake of apprentices already,” Mr Nolan said.
“We have 42 new well-trained, high quality apprentices either commenced or commencing soon.
“We also have vacancies in the refrigeration and air-conditioning trade and are always looking for more females in all of our trades.
“The Skilling South Australia projects have been of great benefit to new apprentices and the demand for well-trained apprentices is continuing to grow.”
