SCHOOL APPRENTICESHIPS

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Education. Can the minister update the house on progress being made to give high school students opportunities to begin apprenticeships while at school?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for his question and acknowledge his keen interest in these post schooling options for young people. We thought, for the hell of it, we would actually conduct ours in trade training centres rather than under gum trees.

An honourable member: For something different!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Yes, for something different. The consequences for dropping out of school without clear pathways to work are, of course, damaging for not only individuals but also for the broader community. It is no surprise that the evidence points to higher levels of unemployment and social alienation for those people who do not effectively transition from school to the post school world. To help young people manage their school-to-work transition, the government has embarked on a number of very significant reforms, one of the most significant of which is the Trade Schools for the Future program, which has seen $29.5 million invested to establish 10 trade school clusters in our public high schools.

Students who might normally have been expected to leave school early can continue their schooling while undertaking training in industries where skilled people are in demand. Not only are they gathering skills that can connect them to the world of work afterwards, the truth is that a number of these young people, but for the fact that they can get out of school and be in a non-school setting for a while, even if it is on the school grounds but maybe out in a shed doing something, that is the thing that keeps them at school. It keeps that connection with the school and enables them to finish.

Another key feature of the program, and it is a particular South Australian feature, is the apprenticeship brokers initiative. We introduced that because we know you need much more than just the skills; you need to connect the young people and the school with industry. Employers need to be invited in to schools and to mentor young people, and it is crucial you make those relationships early. Those apprenticeship brokers are working incredibly well.

I have recently had the great privilege of attending a number of city and country areas where our investments, as well as the commonwealth's initiatives in its trade training facilities, have been spread around about 91 high schools across the state. It is my great pleasure to advise the house today that, since the inception of the state government's trade schools initiative, school-based apprenticeship starts have recently reached 2,000.

I am sorry that the member for Finniss is not here, because apprenticeship No. 2,000 is Zachary Vogelsang, a year 10 student at Victor Harbor High School, who is working towards a career as an automotive mechanic. Zachary combines his regular school work with study towards a Certificate III in Automotive and Workplace Training at D&D Mechanical and 4WD in Goolwa. Zachary says he gets great support from his parents and from Dean and Danny at D&D Mechanical, and one of the most enjoyable things he is doing is building up his own toolbox, which he says is 'awesome'—which is a year 10 word.

Zachary is just one of the hundreds of young people that the government's trade schools program is helping to approach their future with purpose and enthusiasm in a whole range of industries: automotive, business administration, community services and primary industries. He might make a good future member for Finniss.

Ms Chapman: He might.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: He might, and we might be having a chat to him about that. To have reached the milestone of 2,000 apprenticeship starts is a major achievement, made even more significant by the fact that it has been achieved despite the effects of the global financial crisis, where a number of organisations were obviously not looking outward in terms of recruiting new staff.

In fact, in a recent letter to the government, Business SA advised that over the period June 2008, the year Trade Schools for the Future was launched, through to June 2010, the proportion of school-based apprenticeships signed up through Business SA's Australian Apprenticeship Centre has almost doubled for the metropolitan area and more than doubled for country South Australia. This is a great achievement of that very important program.

In this regard, we must give credit to not only our schools but also the businesses that have made the decision to sign a contract to help train our young people and to those who have helped promote school-based apprenticeships, such as Business SA. It is clear the changes that we are making here have been valued by businesses and young people themselves, and I congratulate the principals, teachers, apprenticeship brokers and employers who have all helped to reach this important milestone of 2,000 school-based apprenticeships.