It is good to be here today at this ACTU Forum on School based New Apprenticeships and Group Training issues. Particular thanks to John Ingram, my travel companion in Germany last year, for the invitation to attend and participate today. Today’s Forum is particularly important as there is no doubt in my mind that the introduction of School Based New Apprenticeships by the Commonwealth some years ago has represented one of the more challenging VET policies over the past decade. And Group Training has been and will continue to be, central to it’s progress. However, there is clearly much work to be done for school based apprenticeships to be fully accepted into the national culture of vocational education and training. Again, group training will play a key role.
