1.

The Office of Training and Tertiary Education Victoria provides this website for employers wanting to develop apprenticeships and traineeships in their business. Useful information is also provided for apprentices/trainees.

2.

Australian School-based Apprenticeships enable students to gain a vocational and technical qualification while completing their school studies. Once completed the qualification can lead to continued employment, self employment; further training or education. The website provides information on school-based apprenticeships and the government financial assistance available.

3.

The Australian Apprenticeships Training Information Service website is designed to provide visitors with a range of information that will help them understand what Australian Apprenticeships are and how to choose the best one to help them start on an industry based career. The information available on this site includes: who can be an apprentice; job titles; industry sectors; training package pathway charts; and links to further information. There is also a search option that allows visitors to search for apprenticeships and training package information by state and industry.

4.

This website provides information on the Australian Skills Vouchers initiative. Business Skills Vouchers for Apprentices provide vouchers up to $500 to assist apprentices or newly qualified tradespeople to undertake business skills training. Work Skills Vouchers provide vouchers up to $3000 to assist Australians aged 25 and over to improve their basic skill level to Year 12 or vocational Certificate II.

5.

User Choice is the flow of public funding to Registered Training Organisations to meet the choices made by users for structured training in apprenticeship and traineeship programs. This site provides information about User Choice in Queensland, and includes an overview, an FAQ page, information on 2004-2006 contracts, related sites and contact details.

6.

The main aim of this research is to explore the nature of the relationship between the highest level of education attained by students and their self-rated happiness. One key findings of this report are that happiness levels converge, so by age 25 years there is almost no difference in the mean reported levels of happiness by educational achievement. University graduates tend to have their 'glory days' at school and university but after completion of a degree, their self rated happiness radically drops. In contrast undertaking vocational qualifications, such as an apprenticeship or traineeship, has a positive impact on happiness during the training period, with happiness continuing after completion.

7.

This page provides information for employers on Australian Apprenticeships incentives and subsidies. Financial assistance is offered for eligible employers to help reduce the cost of training. For the full range of incentives, employers can contact a local New Apprenticeships Centre; contact details are provided on the site.

8.

This paper examines the place of women in the manual trades. It sets out strategies for encouraging women to study and work in areas such as building and construction. Such strategies include introductory and pre-apprenticeships courses, clustering female students, and support from teachers in opening up job opportunities. This paper is the result of a 2008 NCVER New Researcher Award.

9.

The Workplace Research Centre at the University of Sydney was commissioned to provide a report to COAG's Apprenticeship Taskforce on how other industrialised countries are supporting their apprenticeship system during the current downturn. The project involved scrutiny of readily available publications and interviews/correspondence with 15 of the world leading experts in skills, labour markets and workforce development in the USA, UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany and Denmark. Two questions guided the project: (a) How are apprenticeship systems as currently structured responding to the downturn? (b) How can apprenticeship systems be structured to respond more effectively to downturns like this now and in the future? The research identified important insights into how apprenticeship systems evolve over time. The authors summarise these in the form of five challenges policy makers and stakeholders need to manage in the medium term.

10.

This report is aimed at specifically improving workplace practices in Queensland which,to date, have led in many cases to the harassment of apprentices and trainees and the cancelling or withdrawing from their programs without completion. Issues that are covered include: the impact of multiple generations in the workplace and on training methods; and descriptions of workplace harassment, and actions to reduce incidence of such behaviour. Recommendations are to develop education strategies and resources for stakeholders who provide services to apprentices and trainees e.g. induction kits; and industry-based education, promotion and awareness campaigns.