In the last edition of VDC News we reported on the numbers in Government-funded training, which were up on 2020. This time we switch the focus to VET in schools.
NCVER reports that, compared with 2020, the number of VET in Schools students in Australia increased by just over 4%.
The numbers
The NCVER’s statistical report found that in 2021, there was a total of 251,200 VET in Schools students of whom 20,500 were school-based apprentices and trainees (This represents just over 8% of all VET in Schools students) while 230,700 students undertook other VET in Schools programs and made up about 92% of these student numbers. In all it’s estimated that just over 28% of the Australian resident population who were at school and aged 15 to 19 years participated in VET in Schools last year.
As always, Queensland has the highest VET in Schools numbers at nearly 100,000 (100K) and their numbers have been progressively increasing since 2018. Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) have about half those numbers each (Victoria has 51.8K and NSW 47.9K). Western Australia has 31.8K in 2021 and down on their numbers from 2017 to 2019. South Australia stands at about the 12.4K mark in 2021 and their numbers have been largely stable since 2017. There are relatively low numbers in the remaining states and territories, and this reflects their smaller population sizes.
NCVER reports that Certificate II programs continued to be the most popular qualification level for VET in schools, with 52.5% of students undertaking programs at this level. However, this has decreased slightly from 2020 (at 54.4%).
In terms of training packages there are large student numbers (around the 30K mark nationally) in Tourism, Travel and Hospitality; Business Services and Sport, Fitness and Recreation as these are undoubtedly in areas that it is easiest for schools to offer. There are relatively low numbers in Health, Agriculture, Horticulture and Conservation and Land Management and Metals and Engineering. Areas in which there are ‘middle level’ numbers (around the 14 to 17K range) are Creative Arts and Culture, Community Services, Foundation Skills and the Construction, Plumbing & Services Integrated Framework.
As with Government funded VET statistics a DataBuilder for the VET in Schools stats is available to help you interrogate this data further if you wish. Four separate datasets are available, covering students, program enrolments, program completions and subject enrolments.
