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Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that, if re-elected, the Labor Party would introduce a National Trade Cadetship program. She unveiled these plans in a speech at Richmond High School in Western Sydney.

The program would be open to students in Years 9-12 and would allow them to earn credits toward apprenticeships through training that takes place at schools. This program would work in conjunction with Labor’s Trade Training Centres in Schools program. It would cost about $3.5 million to fully establish the scheme, and those funds would be matched by cuts elsewhere, so as not to increase spending.

This means that vocational training would be recognised at schools and would count towards future qualifications through the continuation of apprenticeships.  Gillard cited that around 220,000 Australian students currently undergo vocational education at schools, which makes up over 40% of students pursuing secondary certificates. This large volume of students engaged in trade studies demonstrates the need for a more thorough and recognisable support and training program.

Gillard said that she believes the National Trade Cadetship will benefit students by providing them with opportunities for trade careers that are “equal in quality, value and rigour to traditional academic pursuits.” Employers would also benefit from the scheme because they would receive workers who were better trained and prepared for their apprenticeships in Australia.

Critics of the National Trade Cadetship program have been quick to point out the relatively small number of operational training centres that have been built by the Labor party thus far. Senate estimates that 13 centres are operational, while Gillard claims that 22 training centres have been built and dozens more have already been approved. Approximately 230 centres were originally planned in all. Opposition leaders question whether enough students would have access to the Trade Training Centres to make the program viable.

Gillard maintains that, “We will work as a re-elected Government with our curriculum experts and with industry and Industry Skills Council to get this training system right.”