Little new in trade school announcement

WENDY CURRIE examines the State Government's trade school announcement.

On May 22 Premier Morris Iemma announced the establishment of 10 new "dedicated" trade schools, with the promise of an $18 million plan over four years.

So, what's new about this? There are already part time school based apprenticeships/traineeships. Federation doesn't have the current figures, but knows that in 2003 there were 681 of them in NSW schools, 582 of those in public schools.

It seems that this is almost entirely an announcement about funding of facilities. Five of the trade schools will be based in existing schools that will be provided with upgraded industry-standard facilities. That's fine as long as they're not duplicating existing TAFE facilities. That would be counter productive and for that reason it's unlikely that this is the plan.

The other five will be school-TAFE partnerships. There's nothing new here either, although extending such partnerships is clearly valuable and appropriate.

The Premier's announcement said these students would be able to:

• Do the part time apprenticeship/traineeship while, at the same time, completing their HSC. They already can.
• Continue their training beyond school for up to three years to complete their trade qualifications. They already can.
• Be on the job for approximately one day a week. They already can and are paid for it.
• Complete the off-the-job training and the other HSC subjects for the rest of the week. They already can.

So what is new?

It seems only to be the funding and so far it's unclear whether this is a revenue neutral plan, that is, with the funds coming from within the existing Department of Education and Training (DET) budget, or whether additional money will be allocated for this in the upcoming State Budget.

One other aspect is a most welcome one. At the only site so far to have been announced, Colyton High School, the Housing Industry Association will be contributing $250,000 in construction materials.

Local industry and the DET working together to provide training within the context of the needs of the community and the students is admirable. It is not new, but additional programs that extend the provision of education and training opportunities are welcome.

Yet the concept of a "trade school" must be treated carefully. Young people must not be channelled into a particular pathway too early. Every student in every school in NSW must be provided with the opportunity to access a broad curriculum, containing both academic and vocational options. To call these "trade schools" implies a particular pathway to the exclusion of other pathways and this is anything but desirable.

Federation will be meeting with DET to flesh out the details of this announcement and will work to ensure that all students, regardless of background, have the same educational opportunities.

Wendy Currie is a Research Officer.

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