Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss whether the availability of qualifications through work-based traineeships in Australia assists social inclusion. Design/methodology/approach: Industry case studies, of the finance and cleaning industries, were undertaken as part of a national research project on quality in traineeships. The two…

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to examine the ways in which Australian companies can achieve high quality apprenticeship and traineeship systems in a time of labour shortage through close attention to the recruitment and development of apprentices and trainees. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on six qualitative case studies…

Follow-up of seven Australian trainees and four apprentices in their first year of full-time work indicated that they chose jobs that provided learning opportunities and expected to learn more from on-the-job training. Employers were generally committed to training, but environmental factors affected its success. Apprentices rated school-based…