How School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships Work
School Based apprenticeships and traineeships are part of the national Australian Apprenticeships system.
They combine practical, on-the-job work with structured off-the-job training.
Students finish high school with both a high school
diploma, and a nationally recognised tertiary
qualification.
School-based apprentices usually attend school 3.5 days per week, trade school half a day per week, and work one day per week.
Why Do a School Based Apprenticeship / Traineeship?
School based apprenticeships and traineeships
offer a whole range of benefits:
• They give you a practical idea of your potential career
• It is much cheaper to test the waters through a school based apprenticeship, rather than sink thousands of dollars into a semester at an expensive university.
• If you enrol in a full-time apprenticeship after high
school, you receive recognition of the time spent
as a school based apprentice, reducing the length
of your apprenticeship or traineeship considerably.
School Based Apprenticeships in Action
Andrew Purser is another one of WPC Group’s successful school-based apprentices. Andrew commenced his school-based apprenticeship with Linfox Australia in mid 2014.
Since then, Andrew has spent one day per week at
Linfox’s workshop in Sydney, one day per week at
TAFE studying a Certificate III in Automotive Heavy
Vehicle Road Transport, and the other three days at
high school. And he couldn’t be happier, “I always
knew I wanted to do a trade or an apprenticeship.
I just wasn’t sure what type. I actually started off in
hospitality, learning how to be a chef. But I quickly
discovered that I didn’t enjoy that type of work,”
said Andrew.
Luckily, the school-based apprenticeship model
allowed Andrew to discover where his true passion
lay early on. Unlike completing a four-year university
degree, or even a two-year TAFE course, a schoolbased
apprenticeship gives high school students the chance to try their hand at different career paths without the expensive price tag and extended study time. Andrew attends McCarthy Catholic College at Emu Plains, which has a trade training centre on-site, which approximately 30 of Andrew’s classmates
attend
Andrew’s manager at Linfox, Roy Jones, is an advocate for the school-based apprenticeship system, “I think having someone complete this type of training is a big advantage. It gives the apprentice a good feel for job itself, for the career options that are available to them, and helps them to determine what sort of work they might want to do in the long-term,” said Jones.
“Andrew seems to be really happy with the way his apprenticeship works. The team tries to teach him as much as we possibly can. We don’t just have him washing floors and picking up rubbish. We get him involved in the day-to-day operations of the workplace. He is involved in servicing vehicles, and performing general repairs on both trucks and trailers.”
“Even though Andrew is only in the workshop one day a week, he is certainly never an inconvenience. He is always happy to help and is a valued member of our team.”
“The mentoring provided by WPC Group is a real asset to both Andrew, and our team. It gives Andrew the extra support he needs, and an impartial third party that he can talk to if needed. As a result, we have a much more productive, effective apprentice,” said Jones.