Colin King MP
National’s Associate Education (Trade Training) Spokesman

29 April 2008

Trade training is a focus for National

National Party Associate Education (Trade Training) spokesman Colin King says a National Government would be working with business and Industry Training Organisations to stop the appalling drop out and failure rate in modern apprenticeships.

“Thursday is Industry Training Day, and the Industry Training Act was a product of the National Government in 1992. This Act has gone along way to meeting today’s training needs with its wide and varied opportunities.

“But there is much more that needs to be done. Labour capped the funding to the Industry Training Organisations and has been responsible for spending $400 million on reform after reform. These are valuable dollars which would have far better returns focused on productivity training inside the work place.

“National recognises and thanks all those employers and employees who have embraced the workplace training model, and encourages them to continue to train for excellence so we can become a high-skill, high-wage economy.

“National will support the ITOs in the leadership role set for them within the Act – by supporting ITOs, formal education providers, and businesses to build more enduring relationships.

“National’s Trades In Schools policy will be a very visible feature of this. We’ll also relentlessly target literacy and numeracy to equip students with the basic skills they need to become the tradespeople of tomorrow.”

ENDS

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