New apprenticeships were introduced to Australia in January 1998 to provide practical training opportunities to a wider range of people than the traditional trade-based apprenticeship system did. The effect of the new apprenticeship initiative on the type of employment-based training being undertaken in Australia was studied by analyzing data from…

This publication is part of the study materials for the distance education course, Adults Learning: The Changing Workplace B, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University. Section 1 looks mostly at male-dominated trades work and at some historical modes of the flexing of political muscle in struggles over the definition of work and skill. It…