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“New research released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research shines a spotlight on the important role that pre-apprenticeship training can play in supporting student success as they begin a trade career.
“The new research provides evidence that aspiring tradies who completed a pre-apprenticeship program had a significantly higher likelihood of completing a trade apprenticeship. The problem is that only a small proportion of apprentices participate in any pre-apprenticeship training and access to this type of training is limited.
“Pre-apprenticeship, try-a-trade, and job readiness programs play an important role in enabling people to explore career pathways, solidify career aspirations and make more informed decisions about their training needs.
“High quality pre-apprenticeship training is valuable for students who gain foundational skills while deepening their understanding of jobs in industry before committing to an apprenticeship. Furthermore, employers value this foundational training when recruiting apprentices.
“The residential building industry is already short of more than 83,000 tradies and training the next generation is the only plausible way that this shortage will be overcome.
“While we need to ensure that careers in the building industry appeal to more workers, we must also ensure that the training pathways into trade careers are setting new entrants up for success.
“Improving access to high quality pre-apprenticeship training will ensure that apprentices are job ready and starting out on the path to successfully complete their trade qualifications.
“Policymakers must take heed of these research findings and ensure that the VET sector and industry are equipped and incentivised to deliver this type of foundational training,” Mr Murray concluded.
The Victorian Housing Industry Association (HIA) takes this opportunity to make a submission ahead of the 2026-27 State Budget.
“Access to skilled labour deteriorated further, across almost all regions and all trades, as the number of homes under construction grew in the March quarter this year,” stated HIA Senior Economist Tom Devitt.
Industry was recently advised that a preview of NCC 2025 was published, and will be available for adoption from 1 May 2026.
Saturday 25 April is Anzac Day and is an observed public holiday. In addition, Monday 27 April has also been gazetted as a public holiday in NSW and the ACT this year.