Transcript Occupational identity in Australian traineeships: An

Occupational identity in
Australian traineeships: An
initial exploration
Erica Smith, University of Ballarat
Australia
Apprenticeships and traineeships in
Australia
 Approx 400,000 participants from 1.6 million VET




participants and a labour force of 12 million;
Participants are always employed and therefore
‘study’ part-time towards a qualification, usually at
AQF level III or IV;
Participants may be of any age and may work fulltime or part-time;
The government funds the training and also provides
employment incentives; and
‘Study’ may be at a public (TAFE) college or a private
college (‘RTOs’), or mainly on-the-job.
What’s different about traineeships?
 They are ‘new’ (approx 20 years) and more likely to
be in newer industry areas and/or those which did not
traditionally have any qualifications;
 They cover many jobs where the workforce is
predominantly female eg aged care, retail;
 They suffered for many years from perceptions of low
quality in delivery and a thin curriculum;
 They usually last for 12-18 months as opposed to a
typical 3-year apprenticeship.
Occupational identity
 A “home” with psychological, social and
ideological “anchors” (Brown, 2004);
 Often fixed through history but nevertheless
offering scope for shaping either individually
or collectively;
 Workers vary in their need and desire for
occupational identity.
The research
 Two case studies from a study on quality in
traineeships.
 Each involved 6-8 senior stakeholder
interviews at industry and government level
(State and National) and two company
exemplars, involving interviews with workers,
managers and training providers).
 Asset maintenance (cleaning) Certificate III
and General construction Certificate II.
Asset maintenance (cleaning)
 An industry area that previously lacked
qualifications.
Major issues: Cleaning
 An industry with low profit margins and many
underqualified managers.
 Workers often had low literacy levels.
 High levels of technological advance and
deep knowledge requirements.
 Snobbery exhibited by some stakeholders
and training providers.
 Workers enjoyed training but were relatively
unaware of qualification ladders and career
prosects.
General Construction Certificate II
 An industry where apprenticeships are firmly
entrenched, at Certificate III level.
Main issues: Construction
 Massive resistance by trade unions to traineeships.
 Has resulted in low levels of take-up and poor
pathways into Cert III (Apprenticeship level).
 A new qualification with better pathways was being
blocked by trade unions at the time of the study.
 Often used for disadvantaged groups eg indigenous
workers in remote locations and for high-schoolbased workers.
 In most cases employers used apprentice-like
training methods.
Discussion
 Individual level: Some workers may identify more
closely with organisation than the occupation; they
may not value their traineeship qualification very
highly; some trainees don’t know they are on
traineeships.
 Organisational level: Many employers are
inexperienced in traineeship management. Unions
have actively opposed traineeships.
 Society as a whole: The jobs covered by traineeships
are of lower status than those covered by
apprenticeships. This may change over time.
Find out more?
 Smith, E., Comyn, P., Brennan Kemmis, R. &
Smith, A. (forthcoming). High quality
traineeships: identifying what works.
Adelaide: NCVER.
www.ncver.edu.au
 Or email [email protected]