Measures to support the VET workforce

Vocational education and training (VET) workforce measures aim to build a skilled and sustainable VET workforce that delivers high-quality training, and supports Australia’s economic growth and social prosperity.

The VET sector provides millions of Australians with the education, training and skills they need. At the heart of the sector is the VET workforce, which plays a vital role in delivering high-quality training. Ensuring a skilled and sustainable VET workforce is critical to meeting the growing demand for skills in many key sectors of the economy, driving Australia’s productivity. The VET sector is diverse, encompassing a wide range of workforce roles, training providers, courses and qualifications, learner groups, industries, and delivery settings. Recognising and supporting this diversity is essential to ensure initiatives are relevant, responsive, and effective.

Action underway

Through the National Skills Agreement (NSA), the Australian Government has partnered with states and territories to strengthen and grow the VET workforce, supporting quality VET.

The Australian Government is investing up to $100 million over 5 years under the NSA for measures to strengthen the VET workforce. This includes:

  • $70 million over 5 years for state and territory initiatives to strengthen the VET workforce, including local action to respond to the VET Workforce Blueprint (matched by states and territories)
  • $30 million to be retained by the Australian Government to support agreed areas of national action.

The VET Workforce Blueprint (the Blueprint) identifies that the VET workforce is facing supply challenges, and that the sector is under increasing pressure to attract, retain and develop the skilled individuals needed to deliver training. The Blueprint identifies opportunities and actions to strengthen the VET workforce, including strategies to attract, retain, build capability, and support career development and succession planning for the VET workforce.

Australian Government led responses to the Blueprint includes national actions (occupational mapping, VET workforce data strategy, ongoing research program, mapping compliance and administrative activity), as well as targeted measures to build and support both the First Nations’ VET workforce and the VET workforces for the critical industry areas of electrical and construction.

The Australian Government has worked collaboratively with states and territories to agree on implementation arrangements to strengthen the VET workforce.

Other initiatives to support and grow the VET workforce includes industry led responses by Jobs and Skills Councils, the Turbocharging the VET Workforce measure for clean energy occupations, and work undertaken by Jobs and Skills Australia.

Further information on these initiatives, including resources, is provided below.

National Actions

A woman stands at the front of a classroom, speaking to the gathered students who are primarily in their early 20s

National Actions

Targeted Measures

A woman and man in high visibility jackets and blue hardhats are in front of an open panel containing gauges and valves, discussing something about it.

Critical Industries
A woman and two men are walking on the grass strip of a farm, dressed in high visibility wear and white hardhats.

First Nations

Other initiatives to support the VET workforce

In a metal workshop, two young workers are looking down on the saw bench that one of them is working on.

State and Territory VET Workforce Initiatives
A young woman wearing a high visibility vest and hardhat sits in a forklift while a man next to her dressed in a similar uniform points to something off-screen that she looks towards.

Jobs and Skills Councils
A woman wearing an orange high visibility vest with a matching hardhat is leaning on a solar panel, looking off-screen with a clear blue sky in the background.

Clean Energy VET Workforce