The JobTrainer scheme lacks national consistency, offers too many short courses, and funds providers subject to regulatory action

In July 2020 the Prime Minister announced a new $1B JobTrainer scheme jointly funded by the Commonwealth and States and Territories. The scheme was intended to specifically focus on young people and unemployed workers – offering free or low-cost training to help them (and Australia) bounce back after the COVID-19 pandemic.

All State and Territory governments subsequently signed on to the scheme and funding is now flowing to training providers.

To date (29 November 2020) five jurisdictions (NSW, Vic, WA, SA and the ACT) have published details on the MySkills website (www.myskills.gov.au) of the courses and providers they are funding through the JobTrainer scheme.

Analysis shows:

  • there is almost no national agreement by governments on the skills which are critical to Australia’s economic recovery – only 16 (3%) of the 547 JobTrainer courses are being funded by all jurisdictions (another 38 courses (7%) are funded by 4 States or Territories)
  • 70 of the 547 courses have an advertised duration which is below the requirements set out in the Australian Qualifications Framework – 1 in every 8 courses is much shorter than it should be
  • 11 of the providers receiving JobTrainer funding have current conditions (relating to their assessment practices) imposed on their registration by the national VET regulator, ASQA
  • these 11 providers include a TAFE Institute, a community college and 9 independent providers
  • 99 providers have funding contracts in more than one State or Territory: 17 have contracts in 3 jurisdictions, 5 have contracts in 4 jurisdictions and 1 organisation (operating 2 RTOs – one with a Victorian HQ) has funding contracts with all 5 governments which have so far published their JobTrainer data
  • of those providers with JobTrainer funding contracts in more than 3 states: 2 are Victorian TAFEs, 2 are community organisations/industry associations, and 19 are independent providers.