Occupational identity in Australian traineeships: An
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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]