VET in Schools for 2019 shows there were 17 100 school-based apprentices and trainees and 218 700 students undertaking other VET in Schools programs, a total of 235 800 in all.

Overall, this number is up 2.2% on 2018, but school-based apprentices and trainee numbers are down 5.2%.

The report shows that while just over 7% are undertaking school-based apprenticeships or traineeships the remainder, nearly 93%, are doing other VET programs. Queensland has the highest number of students by far (79 200), followed by Victoria (51 300), NSW (46 900) and WA (38 000). Most are aged 16 to 17 years, but Queensland has very high numbers of 15-year-olds (20 800) compared with other states – perhaps because they have significant programs for those below years 11 and 12.

The picture is not all that different for school-based apprentices and trainees (SBATs), with the largest numbers, over half, being in Queensland (9 800), followed by Victoria (3 700) and then NSW (1 500).

Trend data are interesting too. The publication gives numbers from 2015 to 2019. Overall, numbers have dropped from their 2015 levels, with an uptick in 2019. When looking at the state-based data, the real drop is in Queensland with numbers slightly decreasing or largely steady in other jurisdictions. Interestingly, there has been a small but tending increase in WA. Given the numbers, the real numbers action up or down has been in those undertaking VET in schools studies other than an SBAT where numbers are generally small anyway.

Readers can access a range of other VET in schools data here, and information is available for both general and expert users. Related information is available on VET for secondary schools through a VOCED Podlet. And there is another Pod on pathways.