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Government appears to have answered calls from those in the trade industry. An overhaul of apprenticeships and in training are on the way, effectively letting experts run things their own way. A new independent industry lead model will be introduced early next year, taking responsibility awale from the failed to perking a polytechnic kind of trouble, saying that to perking of Polytechnic, there we go. Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmons joins me.
Good morning, good morning.
So industries have been crying out for this, haven't they? Why was the system not working?
Lookis industry have been crying out for it, and it's been about getting industry back in the driver's seat. So it wasn't working because industry voice had been taken away. The old industry training organizations had been centralized into the Combined Polytechnics Entity Pooking, which took industry away from being able to control the sort of training that went on for their apprentices.
How big a job is the one you've got ahead of you?
Then, look, it's quite big. It's taken quite a long time, which has been frustrating for me and frustrating for industry. But we're getting now to the sharp end of it and we're looking at having a lot of things set up by one January next year. So certainly the Industry Skills Boards will be set up by one January next year.
The work based learning units, the old itos, they will come out of the Taputina and they will sit for a transition period with the Industry Skills Boards while industry decides whether they want to have a private training provider and industry training provider, and they can then set up the private training provider if they wish to.
There's criticism that the plan lacks detailents a lot to get done by January. What's your response to that.
Look, No, there is a lot of d tail behind it, and it's about getting the legislation in place. So the legislation will be introduced to the House soon that will certainly have all the detail in it, and then there'll be the period of the Select Committee where people will be able to have a say in if they see some of the detail that needs changed.
Okay, have some sectors been putting their plans together already.
Yes, certainly they have. Yes, I think there will be some industries that will be ready straight away to set up a private training provider as soon as they're able to in the beginning of next year, So poking is.
Out of the picture. Now, are you confident that most importantly, new apprentices are going to get the skills they need.
Yes, Look, taputing will be in the scene still until the end of next year. We have to leave it there to mop up a few things. But yes, Really this is about industry having control. So industry will set the standards. Industry will develop the qualifications. Industry will do the endorsement of who can deliver programs to meet those qualifications. They will then have the quality assurance role as well.
So industry every step of the way are going to be in control of ensuring that apprentices are learning what they need to learn for their industry. And it really does then put the responsibility onto industry to list those completion rates, because at the moment we have under fifty percent completion rates for our apprentices and we only have between ten and twenty percent of employers taking on apprentices.
So industry now will have control and will have the responsibility of lifting those rates also.
Excellent lots to keep you busy. Their Penny that is a vocational educational minister. Sorry, what did I say, vocational education minister. There we go Penny Simmons.
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