Data released today by the National Centre for Vocational Educational Research (NCVER) has revealed that the number of South Australian students commencing or currently in vocational training has fallen by more than twice the national average.
The number of South Australian students in training has fallen 11.4 per cent compared to the national figure of 5 per cent for the year ended March 2017.
Over the same period, the number of South Australian students commencing training has also fallen by 4.2 per cent, more than twice the national average of 2 per cent, while the number of completions fell by 13.7 percent.
“These figures should ring serious alarm bells for South Australians who need vocational education training to find a job,” said Acting Shadow Minister for Education David Pisoni.
“It’s a huge concern that at a time when South Australia desperately needs more job opportunities and skilled workers, we have almost 9,000 fewer students in training than we did this time last year. “South Australia’s vocational education sector is crashing at a rate more than twice that of the national average.
“We know that upcoming projects, such as the $80 billion naval shipbuilding projects, will require a host of skilled workers.
“We need to ensure that the South Australian workforce has enough skilled workers to meet this demand and these jobs are not lost to interstate workers.
“Minister Close has completely dropped the ball on vocational training.
“On Saturday it was revealed that 80 former TAFE SA students who had undergone an aircraft maintenance course had their accreditation suspended after it was found that the course was not delivered as it was supposed to.
“Minister Close must commit to conduct a full audit of TAFE SA processes and qualifications to ensure this failure isn’t being repeated in other courses.