Is the day of the Apprenticeship past?

At the risk of offending my good friends in the Trade Union movement I would like to propose that perhaps it is time for a review of the trade apprenticeship system in Australia.

The concept of apprenticeships is founded on principles from history. 

Traditionally a father would train his son/sons in the family business. The son would then take over the business passing it onto the next generation. Apprenticing a son came about when the father had too many sons for the family business. The father would then apprentice his son to another man who may not have had sons to learn his trade. In this way business existed for centuries. The advent of Guilds gave a form of organisation to the trades.

The current apprenticeship system of combining theoretical training with practical experience over an extended period of time is struggling. Low remuneration and long courses are not popular with today’s younger generation who are more used to a fast paced instant gratification world. 

The difficulty in obtaining apprentices, particularly in less popular trades, is due to a number of issues:

• Modern culture is strong in advocating that everyone should obtain a university education; prompting students to stay at school far longer than previously. 
• The concept that some trades are dirty work and don’t pay enough.
• The length of the apprenticeship – three to four years which is the same as a university degree.
• Parents seeing the need for the children to do better than they did so pushing them to a higher calling.
• The transient nature of Gen Y and Gen Z who are likely to move around careers and jobs at frequent intervals.
• Trade Unions are against major changes to the trade apprentice system.

Government has attempted to give incentives to companies to put on apprentices with the Australian Apprenticeships system which includes trade apprenticeships but also other traineeships. The funding for these traineeships is significant and many companies are eager to cash in on the opportunity. The difficulty is finding and retaining candidates for the roles.

Even a one year Certificate II in Business is too long for some young people. My own daughter has said that one year is too long because “what if I don’t like it.” The concept of a career is alien to this generation and it is more about what makes them feel good or what pays the best.

I have seen young people with no experience to speak of requesting $40,000 a year for an entry level job.

During the recent GFC that attitude changed a little as it was not as easy for people to swap jobs whenever they were dissatisfied. The strong Australian economy and in particular the lure of high paying mining jobs have meant that entry level jobs are more difficult to fill with people willing to do the hard yards and work their way up the ladder.

We need to rethink how we project the trades. Do our young people really need a university degree to be successful in life or is the current system devaluing not only the importance of the trades but the achievement of the university degree.

John Kirk recently graduated with a MBA from The University of New England and is currently studying for an MBA (advanced) in Corporate Sustainability with Southern Cross University. John has more than 30 years experience in the print industry, having acted as a representative at both state and national levels as a Director of ACFIPS Industry Training Advisory Board and as a member of the Sector Advisory Committee for Innovation Business Skills Australia. John is interested in  sustainability, corporate social responsibility, futurism, and developing people. For the last 7 years he has sat on the corporate social responsibility committee for a major corporation.