THE Housing Industry Association has responded to an ACTU call for more apprentices by suggesting the union movement support increased flexibility in the training system and adoption of a competency based apprenticeship indenture period.
HIA WA executive director John Dastlik said the apprenticeship training content must reflect the work that apprentices were required to do for their employer.
“In the residential construction sector many trades are now very specialised and do not need the all-round skills that are included in traditional time-served apprenticeships – however HIA also argues that the training must be competency based,” Mr Dastlik said.
WA laws require apprenticeships based on a time-served approach of a four-year indenture period.
“If the union movement in WA and the ACTU nationally had supported the ongoing calls from industry made many years ago, the current skills shortage may have been avoided or at least reduced in its intensity, as it would have encouraged more young people to consider the industry as a good career prospect,” Mr Dastlik said.