Vocational Education and Training in Regional, Rural and Remote Australia

This article examines the provision of – and access to – vocational education and training (VET) in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia. It fulfills one aspect of Jobs and Skills Australia’s functions in relation to providing advice on issues relating to skills and training, and workforce needs, in regional, rural and remote Australia.The analysis and findings are descriptive in nature, observing activity and supply of VET in regional and remote Australia and drawing comparisons across these regions and major cities. This may be particularly important in remote areas where, compared to 74% in major cities and 68% in regional areas, 49% of senior school students in remote and very remote areas achieved at or above the benchmark in math, science and reading.

A key finding is that regional VET activity is driven, to a large extent, by local industries, although the analysis does also reveal a relatively equal weighting towards essential service-related training. These local labor market and industry factors, as well as the practical constraints on regional and remote delivery, appear to be key drivers of the types of training that are delivered and accessed within Australia`s. The prominence of some fields of education in regional and remote areas may reflect the importance of industries to regional economies.

This means that individuals working in regional and remote areas who work in similar roles to those in the city are more likely to be VET qualified than to hold other qualifications, reflecting labor market opportunities and competition. Enrolments in engineering-related programs are also typically higher in regional and remote areas, likely reflecting a similar trend. Less variation is typically observed in the number of training products and registered training organizations accessed in regional and remote areas compared to major cities.

The various levels of Australia's education system play important roles in building essential skills and knowledge for use in society generally, and in developing skills and expertise so that people can engage in the workforce to their full capacity. It has been shown, however, that proximity to education services helps to improve educational and labor force outcomes in regional, rural and remote Australia.

 

Importance of VET in regional, rural and remote Australia

Australia’s regional industries rely on VET-trained workers. This highlights the importance of place-based skill development opportunities for regional, rural and remote Australians. VET not only supplies skilled labor to industries, it also provides a pathway for developing foundational skills to individuals who have not been able to gain these skills in other educational settings. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) uses these scores to divide Australia into five classes – Major Cities, Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote or Very Remote. This includes analysis at the Statistical Area Level 3, which covers the functional areas of regional towns and cities with a population in excess of 20,000 or clusters of related suburbs connected by urban commercial and transport hubs.

Another concept of regionality referred to in this report is Greater Capital City Areas and Rest of. This report provides comparisons according to the ABS remoteness categories when current data is available. In some instances, instead of using remoteness area categories, it has been necessary to provide splits between the capital city and the rest of the state. Approximately 7 million people or 28% of the Australian population live in regional and remote areas. Within a similar occupation, workers in regional and remote areas are more likely to be VET qualified compared to major cities. While in major cities this is likely explained by higher education attainment among those workers, and in more remote areas it could be that workers do not have any post-school qualifications.

This section explores the availability of VET options to students across Australia. It combines training.gov.au data about RTOs and NCVER activity data to provide a broad picture of student choice and RTO delivery in Australia’s regions. In this report, training products refer to nationally recognised training. This includes training package qualifications and skill sets, and accredited qualifications and courses. Analysis of data about what an RTO is approved to deliver is only one indication of RTO presence in regional and remote areas. The nature of regional and remote training delivery differs by state, with a higher share of remote training delivery typically occurring in Queensland and Western Australia.

Au data about RTOs and NCVER activity data to provide a broad picture of student choice and RTO delivery in Australia's regions. The current nature of scope data does not provide complete and accurate coverage of RTO campus and delivery locations. For this reason, an assessment on the availability of RTOs and training products from what is approved for delivery relies solely on RTO head office location. Enrolment data provides an indication of a match between an RTO, training product and student. These data offer more complete coverage in relation to delivery and student location than the scope of registration data. This report therefore seeks to provide a picture of choice by considering the training products on scope for delivery by RTO head office location, the training products delivered by delivery location, and what is accessed by student location.

The states and territories determine eligibility for government funding for training. The proportion of enrolments in government-funded VET is therefore impacted by jurisdiction specific priorities. These relate to industry and labor market conditions, skill development priorities (e.g. foundation skills) and VET funding policy. The distribution of government funded enrolments within a state therefore generally reflects the type of training taking place, rather than specific policies targeted at regional and remote delivery.

Another interesting observation is the high level of satisfaction of students in remote Australia. Finally, students in major cities report a marginally lower level of satisfaction relating to the location of their training provider compared to other remote areas. 

source: Vocational education and training in regional, rural and remote Australia