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The threat of a massive skills shortage in Australian trades looms large, yet the common regard for the vocational education and training (VET) sector is alarmingly poor: TAFE is presented as a second rate post-compulsory choice by careers counselors, parents and teachers. Statistics indicate that career prospects in the trades are excellent and earning opportunities are extensive, yet young people continue to be encouraged towards university entrance as key to professional success. State and now Federal Government initiatives to broaden the education options for young people in late secondary years have brought TAFEs and the VET sector into the fray, but further reinforced the views of many, that VET is appropriate only for those young people who fail to make the grade, academically. Added to the difficulty of attracting young people to VET and the trades, is an alarming rate of attrition within VET programs. Rather than offer young people an attractive and effective transition from school through VET, to employment, schools fail to adequately prepare students for the prospect of a VET learning environment, and TAFEs fail to accommodate the learning structures established for young people at school. Schools and the VET sector need an inclusive approach to vocational education and training as transition to work, for the successful provision of trade professionals in Australia's future.