National review of group training: overview of group training operations

The Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) National Review of Group Training Steering Committee has the intention of providing comprehensive advice on future directions of group training. This document offers a brief overview of group training operations in Australia. The first section gives a history of group training in Australia from the 1970s to the present. The second section looks at comparisons of the size of group training organisations (GTOs), the client base of GTOs, the additional functions of GTOs and the characteristics of joint policy funded and unfunded GTOs and...  [+] Show more

The Australian National Training Authority (ANTA) National Review of Group Training Steering Committee has the intention of providing comprehensive advice on future directions of group training. This document offers a brief overview of group training operations in Australia. The first section gives a history of group training in Australia from the 1970s to the present. The second section looks at comparisons of the size of group training organisations (GTOs), the client base of GTOs, the additional functions of GTOs and the characteristics of joint policy funded and unfunded GTOs and their New Apprentices. The third section examines group training outcomes and the fourth section discusses current pressures on group training. The paper concludes that group training is delivering high levels of satisfaction to both host employers and apprentices and trainees and is growing in line with current trends. However, to continue to grow and diversify, it is suggested that group training will have to develop strategies to harness the newer areas of the economy, to exploit its position as a value-adding employer, to strengthen workable local level partnerships and to build its capacity to cope with a highly competitive business environment.