Shaping apprenticeships the Australian Group Training way

Before we look at shaping the future, I’d firstly like to look at the past by sharing some history behind the Australian Group Training model. Group Training in the Australian landscape involves organisations legally employing apprentices across many occupational sectors and, in turn, placing them with a host employer. The Group Training Company essentially manages all the associated paperwork, payroll, taxation requirements, effectively cutting bureaucracy out of the employment of an apprentice.

Group Training evolved in the early 1980’s when industry leaders in the construction and automotive sector developed industry groups to drive this unique and flexible apprenticeship employment model for their sector. The concept was largely developed in response to the needs of small businesses when these individuals found staffing difficult given the unpredictable nature of their operations and work patterns.

By 1990 there were close to 90 Group Training companies employing around 11,000 apprentices. Today in Australia, there is more than 180 Group Training Companies legally employing in excess of 50,000 apprentices, making the Group Training network the single largest employer of apprentices.

In England, this Group Training concept is known as an Apprenticeship Training Agency or ATA. The full capacity of the model is yet to be demonstrated in England having only been piloted since 2009. It must be understood that this agency model is a business that grows very organically as it seeds apprentice commencements, but should not be underestimated as for the opportunity it presents to small businesses that traditionally haven’t employed an apprentice. Another major function of the agency model which should not be overlooked is the structured support to apprentice learners.

Apprentices employed through the agency model have the ability to be placed with multiple host employers during their apprenticeship, which enhances learning experience and develops deeper applied knowledge and skills. If we explore completion rates of an agency employed apprentices in Australia, typically we find successful completion rates are quite higher than traditionally direct employed apprentices. This is due to the quality structured recruitment process that agencies and Group Training provide, particularly for the small business sector that have limited resources and are unfamiliar with recruitment procedures.

The other key element that supports successful completion rates for agency employed apprentices is the solid pastoral care framework that apprentices and host employers receive. The Apprenticeship Training Agency is effectively an impartial third party that monitors the workplace performance of the apprentice, host employer and training provider or college attached to the relationship.

Smaller businesses in England that we currently work with have embraced the employment model, seeing it as the way to assist with the procurement of an apprentice and reducing the associated burdens that are perceived with apprenticeships.

Although there are similarities between England and Australia’s employment and apprenticeship systems, there are naturally many variations. The Australian apprenticeship programme is heavily subsidised by Government, providing employers and Group Training Companies with incentives; in addition to funding associated training costs. Government incentives can assist in reducing some wage associated costs, including training downtime for employers and, if applied in an ethical manner, can reward good employer behaviour.

In light of recent media coverage on quality of apprenticeships we feel confident the agency model can, and will, provide a long-term solid structured safety net to all stakeholders. If we revisit the Australian Group Training model, many organisations are required to operate with eight National Standards for Group Training Organisations, which essentially underpins the operation and are audited by Government State or Territory Training Authorities (STAs). STA’s are responsible for compliance, audit evaluation, including an independent audit program to ensure compliance with the National Standards for Group Training Organisations.

We are optimistic as to the future of apprenticeship training agencies in England and strongly feel that, as the model matures, it will demonstrate success for all parties; apprentices, host employers and local communities.

Ashley Langdon, Chief Executive Officer,
IMPACT Apprenticeships

MP Hayes Praises ‘Innovative and Exciting’ IMPACT Apprenticeships

Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning John Hayes dubbed IMPACT Apprenticeships ‘innovative and exciting’ at their Loughborough College launch last week.

The Apprenticeship Employment and Training Agency is a joint venture supported by the College and Australia’s leading apprenticeships provider MEGT.

Mr Hayes was one of a number of special guests in attendance at the launch including MEGT CEO David Windridge, Martin Traynor from the Leicester Chamber of Commerce and IMPACT Apprenticeships chairman John Smith OBE.

Speaking at the event, he said: “The combination of the experience of MEGT Australia and the established work of this more than 100 year old college is very exciting.

“In Australia, MEGT are by far the biggest apprenticeship provider. The numbers are quite staggering.

“What this speaks of in terms of that blend of experience is of course impressive, but what it also speaks of is the importance of the concept of an Apprenticeship Training Agency.

“I came to the conclusion very early that the way we would seed apprenticeships across the whole country and every community was through GTAs (Group Training Associations) and ATAs.

“This allows the reach of apprenticeships to go beyond where they have been historically.

“The focus on apprenticeships which MEGT will provide is incredibly important. It is the marriage, the collaboration, the fusion of this college and MEGT that I believe that we can allow the effectiveness of apprenticeships in delivering job-related skills to take us even further than we have travelled already.

“The message I have delivered here is one of absolute confidence in the work of our FE sector, one of real admiration the collaboration you have formed.

“I think it is innovative and exciting and I think it is going to be immensely invaluable to learners, to employers, to our country, to our economy, and to our culture.”

The Minister also talked about the government’s focus on apprenticeships and their value to businesses and learners.

“People say to me, why apprenticeships?” he said, “And I say to them because they are valued by learners, they’re understood by employers, they are a brand which has resonance with the wider community.

“They confirm competencies which are measurable, which add to employability, which feed economic purpose, which allow people to be the best they can be, which deliver a sense of worth and prowess through their acquisition.

“We have as a government made an unabridged, unremitting, unparalleled commitment to apprenticeships.

“Our commitment approach in terms of scale and scope and pace is absolutely unparalleled and unprecedented.

“We have delivered the greatest growth of apprenticeship numbers in the last year ever seen in modern history, we will build more apprenticeships in Britain than we have ever had in the whole of our history.

“The growth is across all ages, it’s across all sectors and it’s all levels. Every part of the country has seen more apprenticeships.”

“We are using apprenticeships both as a route to higher learning with the Level 4 apprenticeships – there are now 2000 plus Level 4 apprenticeships, bearing in mind there were only 200 in 2008-09.

“We will develop Level 5 and Level 6 and I intend to develop a new category called ‘Master Apprenticeships’ at that level.

“We will use apprenticeships as a means of upskilling and reskilling the existing workforce and of course what they have always been, which is a route into employment for those with technical tastes and talents as well as a route for those moving from disengagement to engagement through our access to apprenticeship work.

“We have apprenticeships filling a much bigger space than they ever have before, we’ve made them the pivot of the skills system and that’s why I’m so pleased to be here to support this important initiative.”

WorldSkills Premiere Experience

WorldSkills Premiere Experience
4 – 9 October 2011
ExCeL, London
www.worldskillspremiere.com

The WorldSkills Premiere Experience (WSPE) is being held from 4 – 9 October 2011 at the WorldSkills London 2011 Competition, speakers from many different countries/regions and organisations will share their stories, their best practices, and their strategic plans for the future of skills around the world. John Hayes MP, Rt Hon Dr. Vince Cable MP, representatives from several Global Industry Partners, Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner of Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth and Terry Morgan from Crossrail are but a small sampling of the speakers who will be at the WSPE.
Download the web flyer below: