Fact sheet 122: Adequate training arrangements for apprentices and trainees
Version 7
21 June 2007
[PDF 42kb]
This fact sheet focuses on adequate training arrangements relating to apprentices and trainees. Other legal responsibilities such as workplace health and safety requirements and common law matters such as the duty of care and negligence, should be regarded as separate issues for the employer's and supervising registered training organisation's compliance. These matters will not be addressed in this fact sheet.
It is the employer's responsibility to establish and maintain adequate training and supervisory arrangements in the workplace in conjunction with the supervising registered training organisation. The training contract signed by the employer and the apprentice or trainee contains information on employer obligations. The training contract states that employers must:
-
provide the facilities and expertise to train the apprentice or trainee in the competencies agreed in the training plan
-
ensure the provision of workplace training, supervision and assessment according to the requirements of the training plan.
Supervising registered training organisations will assess the employer's capacity to provide adequate training arrangements during an employer resource assessment. This assessment is conducted as part of the negotiation of the training plan and assists the parties to determine the required level of employer training for each apprentice or trainee.
Whilst a ratio of one qualified person to each apprentice or trainee is expected in a workplace, this may vary from situation to situation dependant on a range of indicators. If there are concerns about the employer's training arrangements, the supervising registered training organisation must advise the Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts.
Access to training by the apprentice or trainee is also very important. As a guide, a minimum requirement for the provision of adequate training of apprentices and trainees has been determined as "a designated qualified person is required to be permanently engaged at the same workplace as the apprentice or trainee and predominantly employed during the same working hours as the apprentice or trainee". Fact sheet 179 Definition of a qualified person (including tradesperson) provides more detail on this requirement.
The supervising registered training organisation will identify if this minimum requirement is not met when conducting the employer resource assessment and during monitoring visits. If this requirement is not met, the employer must provide details of other arrangements that will be made to adequately train the apprentice or trainee. The supervising registered training organisation must advise the department if there are any concerns in respect of these alternative arrangements.
The level of training required to meet the definition of 'adequate training' is based on the level required to facilitate the successful achievement of competencies in the apprenticeship or traineeship for the individual apprentice or trainee. One of the indicators of inadequate training arrangements is the failure of the apprentice or trainee to make reasonable progress in the achievement of competencies as identified in the training plan.
The supervising registered training organisation and employer must monitor the progress of the apprentice or trainee against the training plan, in keeping with their responsibilities. The supervising registered training organisation and employer should report the failure of the apprentice or trainee to achieve reasonable progress to the department. Fact sheet 171 Failure to make reasonable progress in an apprenticeship or traineeship provides more detail on this process.
The intent of this fact sheet is to provide guidelines that will enable adequate training practices to be applied to individual apprentices and trainees. These guidelines take into account the individual differences that exist between workplaces, employers, apprenticeships and traineeships.
Contact Apprenticeships info 1800 210 210 or Training Queensland 1300 369 935
Other languages