Apprenticeships Victoria is here to enable real and rewarding apprenticeships and traineeships for all Victorians.
We are proud of the programs and initiatives we oversee in the course of supporting apprentices, trainees, employers, teachers and other stakeholders in the apprenticeship system.
Current programs and initiatives
Apprenticeship Support Officers (ASOs) help apprentices – and their employers – get the most out of the apprenticeship system. ASOs are located across Victoria and provide a free and confidential support and advice service.
The Apprentice Helpdesk offers free information, support, and advice and can help with any questions or concerns about apprenticeships or traineeships in Victoria.
The Apprentice Employee Assistance Program offers apprentices and trainees in Victoria confidential short-term counselling and coaching for a broad range of health and wellbeing matters.
Head Start is a flexible approach to apprenticeships and traineeships for school students that allows them to spend more time doing valuable, paid, on-the-job training while completing VCE, VCE VM or VPC.
WorldSkills competitions give young people an opportunity to showcase their talent, benchmark excellence and promote skills pathways.
Past programs and initiatives
The $8 million fund supported new approaches to the apprenticeship and traineeship model – with a focus on female participation – undertaken in partnership with industry and unions. Funding was provided for 9 women’s projects and 3 general projects. While the first focussed exclusively on women, the general stream projects aimed to increase the number of apprentices from under-represented groups including Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and women.
SPRINKS Female Specific Apprenticeship Pathway
In partnership with the National Fire Industry Association, this project aimed to recruit 30 female school leavers into the traditionally male-dominated fire protection industry.
Women in STEM
This project (opens in a new window)(opens in a new window) was managed by the Australian Industry Group and aimed to recruit and support 30 women into engineering apprenticeships, and 20 women into traineeships in ICT and Industry 4.0.
Accelerating Women in Auto
The Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce program was designed to increase the number of women commencing apprenticeships in the automotive industry. The program recruited 60 females who undertook initial training, delivering 28 apprenticeships and two full-time employments.
CareersPlus
The Trades Women Australia program (opens in a new window)(opens in a new window) provided an online platform for women, influencers and employers to raise awareness and connect women with job opportunities as apprentices and trainees.
WAVE Women in Electrical
The Electrical Trades Union invited 100 women to a Try a Trade Day (opens in a new window)(opens in a new window), with the aim of recruiting 30 women to start a pre-apprenticeship scheme.
Women and Their Trade
The program run by the National Electrical Communications Association was designed to provide career opportunities for women in the electrical industry, supporting 25 female apprentices with a special focus on mature-age candidates.
Women in Plumbing
In partnership with Master Plumbers, the program (opens in a new window)(opens in a new window) championed a connected community of aspiring female students, apprentices and plumbers to address participation rates for women in plumbing.
Women on Track
The project recruited 10 women into rail industry traineeships combining structured learning with on-the-job experience in high capacity metro trains at Downer Group (opens in a new window)(opens in a new window).
Women Only Multi-trade Pre-apprenticeship
The Apprenticeship Employment Network delivered 8 all-female pre-apprenticeship programs (opens in a new window) for 120 women across Victoria, including plumbing, carpentry, IT and landscaping.
The Jobs Project
Victorian Trades Hall Council supported 50 Victorians who had been historically marginalised from apprenticeships and traineeships by offering direct support to the participants and Safe and Respectful Workplaces training for participating employers.
Koorie Construction Apprenticeships Program
The project delivered by Dardi Munwurro aimed to recruit, train and support 10 young Indigenous workers into apprenticeships on Victoria’s Big Build Projects, partnering with the RTO arm of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union.
Youth Justice Training Pilot
The Youth Justice Pre-apprenticeships project delivered by Bendigo Kangan Institute provided two cohorts of eight youth offenders within the Victorian Justice System, a vocational program based on the carpentry pre-apprenticeship, Cert II in Building and Construction. This provided them with reintegration opportunities into the community upon release.
The Victorian Higher Apprenticeship Pilots created innovative products to support skills gaps in the key sectors of social services, digital, construction, advanced manufacturing and engineering.
Big Build Higher Apprenticeship Pilot
Partnering with Swinburne University, the Big Build Higher Apprenticeship Pilot was aimed at mid-level managers in engineering, project planning and surveying. These higher apprentices worked towards a Diploma of Applied Technologies (Civil Construction), combining on-the-job training with formal study.
Participants were nominated by civil construction employers and worked on a major project, investigating how transformative digital technologies can be implemented in their workplace to drive efficiencies and return on investment.
Higher Apprenticeships and Traineeships Social Services Extension Project (HATSSEP)
As Australia’s fastest-growing jobs sector, the social services have a vital role to play in Victoria’s economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Higher Apprenticeships and Traineeships Social Services Extension Project (HATSSEP) was designed to help grow the workforce and address skills gaps, with 400 funded traineeships for social services workers.
It was delivered in partnership with the Workforce Innovation and Development Institute at RMIT University and leading organisations in the Victorian social services sector.
The purpose of the project was to:
- Give experienced and unrecognised social services workers the opportunity to upskill and gain credentials through a Certificate IV Disability traineeship (200 funded places).
- Give experienced and emerging social service leaders the opportunity to upskill through an Advanced Diploma of Community Sector Management traineeship (200 funded places).
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