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The Australian Apprenticeships Roundtable provides a forum for Australian Apprentices to inform Ministers and governments about issues affecting their training and careers.
This is the only forum that gives a voice specifically to Australian Apprentices as key users of the national training system and will result in up-to-date information direct from apprentices and trainees about their current experience of vocational pathways, challenges and successes and to inform future policy and program development.
In 2008 the Roundtable commenced with a three-day working meeting in Canberra on 2 - 4 June 2008. A subsequent meeting was held in September and the year culminated in a presentation of key issues to industry and government in Darwin in November 2008.
The Australian Apprenticeships Roundtable met in Adelaide in February. The meeting was held in conjunction with a Student Forum. The meeting was opened by the Hon Kate Ellis MP, Minister for Youth. These meetings were held simultaneously to provide an opportunity for the Roundtable to share their experiences with students attending the Forum.
At the Roundtable meeting four new members were introduced. The new members are 2008 Australian Training Awards winners, Rachael Keiley (Australian Apprentice of the Year), Matter Machar (Australian Apprentice (Trainee) of The Year), Melinda Stephens (Stella Axarlis Australian school-based Apprentice of the Year) and Michael Donovan (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander of the Year).
The Roundtable meeting was primarily aimed at finalising the Roundtable report and to focus on how best to progress key suggested action items arising from the report.
The Roundtable met in Darwin to present their findings on recent research work they have undertaken over the last few months. The presentations were made to the Ministerial Council of Vocational and Technical Education (MCVTE) and to representatives of a broad range of VET stakeholders.
Both presentations were very well received and the participants were provided with highly positive feedback. The MCVTE presentation was productive and successful; the Roundtable was given high profile in a very busy agenda and there was a good deal of interest in what the Roundtable had to say about issues facing apprentices and trainees.
The VET sector presentation was well attended by a variety of VET sector representatives and the issues raised by the Roundtable sparked enthusiastic response and discussion.
The Roundtable members also had the opportunity to attend the Australian Training Awards which was a real highlight for them and a time to celebrate their hard work.
The first Australian Apprenticeships Roundtable meeting for 2008 was held in Canberra 2 - 4 June 2008. Following a nomination process 31 Australian Apprentices were selected to reflect a broad set of experiences, including trade and non-trade apprentices/trainees, apprentices and trainees from large, medium and small enterprises; school-age, post-school, mid-career and mature-age apprentices and trainees and those from across urban and rural areas of Australia.
At the June meeting members met to identify key issues of concern to Australian Apprentices. These issues were prioritised, a work plan was developed and working groups established to investigate, research and report on the findings.
Meeting members also participated in professional development activities to gain skills in networking, communication, presentation and leadership so that they can more effectively influence change, negotiate outcomes and represent their peers in decision-making forums and publicly.
Members of the six working groups of the Roundtable developed issues based surveys to gather information, and formulate findings to present to the Australian Government on apprenticeships and traineeships in Australia today.
The working groups collated data and analysed the findings of these surveys and developed a written report for each working group. These reports include suggested action items to address issues raised.