The Traineeship Alternative

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday February 11, 1994

By TONY SELMES

THE automotive industry is a major employer of young people, many of whom begin their careers as apprentices.

Less well known is an alternative to apprenticeships that still enables 15-to 19-year-olds to enter the automotive industry and receive the high-quality training that will prepare them for a rewarding career.

Twelve-month traineeships have been designed for those areas of the automotive industry that cannot offer apprenticeships yet can offer specific training to improve the quality of their staff.

Automotive Group Training - formerly the MTA Group Apprenticeship Scheme -is responsible for running the automotive industry's traineeships. AGT employs the trainees and places them in workshops that are called "host trainers".

Working in the Australian Traineeship System (ATS), teenagers can obtain traineeships in the radiator-repair, spare-parts and exhaust-repair industries. A clerical traineeship in record-keeping is also offered.

Traineeships also offer a foundation of workplace experience to which future study can be added.

Radiator-repair and exhaust-repair trainees who successfully complete their TAFE course and traineeship, then work another two years in the industry, obtain full professional certification.

Spare-parts (parts warehousing) trainees who then undertake a parts-interpreter apprenticeship are credited for some subjects from Stage 1 TAFE training and for six months of their four-year apprenticeship.

Each traineeship has been designed by specialists from within the industry. Trainees learn practical skills, as well as those intangible ones needed by everyone in business, such as communications and customer-service skills.

The teenage trainee receives a job and a start in his or her career in the automotive industry. The industry gains better-qualified staff and new personnel with a genuine interest in their work. Both benefit from the arrangement.

For a 12-month period, trainees in the Australian traineeship system work three days a week in the host workplace and attend TAFE for two days a week during TAFE terms (a total of 65 days). Between TAFE terms, the trainee works full-time in the host workplace.

Trainees are usually aged 16-19 although in special circumstances 15-year-olds may apply.

Automotive Group Training has trained almost 1,000 apprentices since its founding by the MTA in 1982 and is now the principal training supplier for automotive traineeships.

AGT is seeking trainees and host businesses in the fields of parts warehousing (spare parts), radiator repairs and exhaust repairs for traineeships that will begin in March.

By employing trainees directly, AGT offers extra protection to them and their host workshops. AGT training officers regularly visit each trainee, the host trainer and TAFE college to check on progress.

AGT field staff deal with any hassles or problems that may arise, serving as arbitrator in difficult situations. Trainees are counselled throughout their traineeship. If conflicts cannot be resolved to either party's satisfaction, there is an option to remove or replace the trainee.

An additional advantage for automotive workshops is that AGT handles all the administration and paperwork for each trainee, leaving workshop staff free to focus on customers.

Workshops also receive Government funding for employing a trainee.

If you are a teenager interested in a traineeship or run a workshop and want to take a trainee, ring the MTA on (02) 281 8277.