“Future success or failure at tackling skills shortages will, to a large extent, depend on what happens at the school and pre-apprenticeship levels” Jim Barron, CEO of Group Training Australia (GTA) said today.

Mr Barron’s comments follow the announcement by the Minister for Vocational and Technical Education, the Hon Gary Hardgrave of an additional 7,000 school-based New Apprenticeship places and 4,500 pre-apprenticeship places over the next four years through the new Group Training in the Trades Programme (GTTP). GTA has today secured two thirds of the total contract numbers making it the key national broker for this important initiative.

The Group Training in the Trades Programmes has been a central plank in the Government’s policy campaign on skills shortages and indeed is one of the first skills policies, post election, to be implemented.

“GTA represents the entire national network of group training organisations, and we are extremely well placed to deliver the school-based and pre-apprenticeship outcomes needed. Already, many in our network excel in the delivery of school-based New Apprenticeships and innovative pre-apprenticeship programmes.

“Our challenge now is to substantially ramp up that effort across the nation and through the GTTP programme, to start to make real inroads into existing school and training infrastructures”.

“Critical to the ultimate success of this programme will not only be the capacity of group training organisations, training providers and brokers to work closely together but also for government and group training to maintain a flexible and open working partnership over the course of the next four years.”