Meeting skills needs in a market-based training system: a study of employer perceptions and responses to training challenges in the Australian transport and logistics industry

Abstract

Many countries are adopting market-based training systems to address industry skills needs. This paper examines the marketisation of Australia’s training system and the implications for training provision and outcomes in the Transport and Logistics industry. Drawing on qualitative interviews from industry employers and training providers, we examine the social structuring of the training market with reference to employer perceptions, behaviour and implications for the training system and outcomes. We conclude that the training market is not neutral but one shaped by major employers. Employers becoming enterprise training providers and training to their specific needs are identified as entrenching employer control over the training system with the unintended consequences of potentially restricting broader worker employability, marginalising the interests of smaller employers and contributing to unfavourable labour market outcomes. Enhanced social partnership is presented as a way to address these concerns and mitigate the negative consequences of training marketisation.

Keywords:

• market-based training systems
• transport and logistics industry
• employability
• vocational education and training

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Transport and Logistics Industry Skills Council for funding the study on which this paper is based. Apart from funding the TLISC also provided essential facilitation which enabled access to industry for data collection. We also thank the reviewers for their very professional, timely and detailed scrutiny and useful advice on how to improve the paper.