Technical education schooling options

What are the schooling options for technical education?

Students in Years 11 and 12 who want to focus on trade and technical education can attend specialised trade colleges that provide training alongside regular academic classes. In some cases these students are able to gain a senior secondary qualification whilst gaining a trade qualification and completing industry experience with an employer. Depending on the subjects completed, some students may even be eligible for an ATAR. Students can either complete a VET in Schools program or a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship. School-based apprentices and trainees students are able to complete a significant portion of their apprenticeship by the time they finish Year 12, after which they are able to commence full-time work with their employer and return to the college for off-the-job training to complete their qualification.

In New South Wales, many trade and technical skills can be studied as single VET units or as part of a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship.

Trade colleges in Queensland include:

• Australian Industry Trade College
• Australian Trade College North Brisbane
• Tec-NQ (Townsville).

Victoria has four Technical Education Centres (TECs) which offer pre-apprenticeship training for senior students alongside academic classes. In other schools, many trade and technical skills can be studied as single VCE VET or VCAL units.