Over a five year period, the number of school students undertaking vocational education and training (VET) as part of their Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE) has declined by 6.7% to 230 700, according to new data released today by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).
The report VET in Schools 2018 also reveals that the number of school-based apprentices and trainees decreased to 18,200 in 2018, down 13.3% from 2014, while those undertaking other VET that contributed to their SSCE decreased to 212,500 in 2018, down 6.0% from 2014.
Certificate II qualifications continued to be the most popular (undertaken by 54.8% of all VET in Schools students), however the number of students undertaking qualifications at this level has declined by 2.6% since 2014.
In contrast, the number of VET in Schools students enrolled in certificate III qualifications has increased by 1.7% since 2014, with 34.6% of all students undertaking training at this level in 2018.
Tourism, travel and hospitality remains the most popular training package, with 14.8% of all VET in Schools students undertaking qualifications in this training package in 2018.
Business services training package was the second most popular, with 12.4% of VET in Schools students undertaking qualifications in this training package in 2018, followed by the Sport, fitness and recreation training package.
Australian vocational education and training statistics: VET in Schools 2018 is now available from: www.ncver.edu.au/publications.
For the latest data and further year-on-year and state and territory comparisons visit https://www.ncver.edu.au/research-and-statistics/collections/vet-in-schools/vet-in-schools.
As published by NCVER, 2 September 2019.
