Students looking to get into a trade beware, the year 10 certificate is not the get-out-of-school ticket it used to be.
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Tradesmen are increasingly demanding year 12 certificates as the minimum education level for aspiring apprentices.
And with the growth of trade training in schools, finishing college with a school-based apprenticeship might soon be the only way to stay competitive.
Major employers Electrogroup and the Master Builders Association say students who have not completed year 12 tend to be immature, inexperienced and lacking even the most basic literacy and numeracy skills needed for the job.
Electrogroup ACT general manager Neal Lamb said for his industry in particular, year 10 numeracy just didn't cut it any more.
''We did a survey of 40 kids applying for an apprenticeship a few years ago and found only two of them had the maths skills required to start the program,'' he said.
Martin Donnelly electrical contractors director Rod Drew said he wouldn't even look at hiring a young person unless they had a year 12 certificate and at least half of his apprentices had completed a school-based apprenticeship as well
''The [school-based apprenticeships] are a real advantage for us because they've had experience in the industry, they're less likely to quit and they've probably got 18 months of their apprenticeship already out of the way,'' he said.
The growth in trade training opportunities in schools has lead many to question whether schools should be developing a vocational equivalent to the year 12 certificate.
Victoria is the only Australian state or territory to offer the option so far, with the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning now entering its 10th year.
But experts say the number of work and study hours required, as well as employment outcomes, were too different to be able to draw a fair comparison between the two.
Victoria currently accepts certificate II level qualifications as being equal to the year 12 certificate but National Centre for Vocational Education managing director Tom Karmel said a certificate III should be the absolute minimum accepted.
If Australia wanted to create a true vocational alternative, Dr Karmel said the country would have to turn its attitude around completely and accept that vocational subjects were not only for students who struggled with reading and writing.
''If you talk about vocational learning at the high end then maths, languages, music and science could all be classified vocational subjects,'' he said. ''For students who need to be challenged, you would need to offer these kinds of subjects at a diploma level.
''I've seen it in Canada, where a school was running an vocational engineering class full of kids who wanted to go to university … but in Australia, our schools just aren't equipped to do that.''
The ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies has said it will investigate introducing a vocational year 12 equivalent as part of its 2011-13 strategic plan.
