kickstartmentoringfinalreport

Review of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative

1 Review of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative - Interim Report 1

Department of Education, Employment

and Workplace Relations


Final Report

16 November 2011

2 Review of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative – Final Report

DISCLAIMER

The information contained within this Report has been compiled from a variety of external sources

and has not been subject to an internal independent verification. Although every care has been

taken to ensure that the information and opinions are correct, Quantum Consulting Australia Pty Ltd

specifically disclaim any responsibility for any errors, mistakes or incorrect facts or interpretation

that may occur, and accept no liability on any basis for the findings and recommendations in this

Report.

Findings within this Report can be influenced by a number of unforeseen events that may occur

outside of our control. Therefore, no assurance can be given that the findings contained within the

Report will remain as such in the future.


Table of Contents

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 5

1. Key Findings ......................................................................................................................... 9

Recommendations ............................................................................................................................ 13

2. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 17

3. Implementation of Kickstart Mentoring Initiative ................................................................ 21

4. Thematic Analysis ............................................................................................................... 22

5. Communication Strategies .................................................................................................. 23

6. Engagement and Support Methods and Strategies ............................................................... 36

7. Retention Rates .................................................................................................................. 55

8. Impact of Communication, Engagement and Support Methods on Retention: ...................... 66

9. Case Studies and Success Stories ......................................................................................... 86

Appendix A- Further Success Stories Provided by Mentors and AACs ......................................... 112


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Review of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative – Final Report 5

Executive Summary

Background On 17 May 2010, the Australian Government announced the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative.

The Kickstart Mentoring Initiative was introduced to provide innovative and enhanced mentoring

and support services to Australian Apprentices who commenced their Australian Apprenticeship

under the Apprentice Kickstart Initiative1 and Apprentice Kickstart Extension2.

The objective of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative was to obtain a measurable increase in the retention

rate of Australian Apprentices who had commenced under the Apprentice Kickstart Initiative or the

Apprentice Kickstart Extension. The Initiative had a focus on the delivery of services to Australian

Apprentices from the following targeted cohorts:

Indigenous Australians

People with disability

Australian School-based Apprentices and

Priority employment areas.

It was expected that the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative would reduce the attrition rate and contribute

to increased completion rates for these apprentices.

The Australian Government, through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace

Relations (DEEWR), invited Australian Apprenticeship Centres (AACs) to provide a proposal that

outlined how they would develop and implement the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. The focus was on

the provision of quality additional mentoring and support services that were supported by innovative

strategies that deliver additional quality mentoring support.

A total of 18 AACs were contracted by DEEWR to deliver the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. AACs

generally delivered the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative across a region and via a selection of office

locations.

1 Kickstart Australian Apprentices are defined as Australian Apprentices who commenced an Australian Apprenticeship between 1 December 2009 and 28 February 2010 in a Certificate III or IV level qualification that leads to a trade on the National Skills Needs List, and who were aged 19 years or under at the commencement of their Australian Apprenticeship. 2 Apprentice Kickstart Extension Australian Apprentices are defined as Australian Apprentices who commenced an Australian Apprenticeship between 12 May 2010 and 12 November 2010 (inclusive) in a Certificate III or IV level qualification that leads to a trade on the National Skills Needs List and who were aged 19 years or under at the commencement of their Australian Apprenticeship. The Australian Apprentice’s employer must have fewer than 200 employees at the time the Australian Apprentice commences, or be an

eligible Group Training Organisation.

Review of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative – Final Report 6 6

AACs applied for additional funding within the scope of their current contracts so as to deliver

additional mentoring and support services to Australian Apprentices within their areas.

The Kickstart Mentoring Initiative delivered mentoring and support services from 1 July 2010 for a

period of 12 months.

Purpose of the Review

Quantum Consulting Australia (in conjunction with Individual & Organisational Development,

Nyaarla Projects and Dr. Irene Styles3) were engaged to conduct an independent review (the Review)

of the impact of the mentoring and support services delivered through the Kickstart Mentoring

Initiative on the retention of Australian Apprentices who have been mentored.

The key issues reviewed included:

The overall impact of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative on the retention of Australian

Apprentices who have been mentored together with a breakdown of the impact of the

initiative on the target cohorts (Indigenous Australians, people with disability, Australian

School-based Apprentices and Priority Employment Areas).

The impact of different models of mentoring and support services on the retention of

Australian Apprentices who have been mentored, particularly where the Australian

Apprentice is part of a targeted cohort.

The impact (if any) of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative on other stakeholders who have a

direct relationship (with respect to an Australian Apprenticeship) with the Australian

Apprentices who have been mentored.

An investigation of the aspects of the initiative that have had a negative impact on the

retention of Australian Apprentices who have been mentored.

The Review gathered qualitative data from a number of stakeholders who participated in the

Kickstart Mentoring Initiative including, but not limited to:

Australian Apprentices

Mentors

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs)

AACs

3 Dr. Irene Styles provided statistical analysis in lieu of Dr. Stephen Humphry.


In addition the Review was informed by quantitative data provided by the AACs and DEEWR.

Methodology

The methodology for undertaking the Review included surveying and one-on-one interviews with

AAC staff, Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Mentors at selected sites across Australia.

Surveys

The Project Team developed the following online surveys:

Kickstart Australian Apprentice Survey

Kickstart Australian Apprentice – Exit Survey (Kickstart Australian Apprentices who have

exited the Apprenticeship system)

Kickstart Mentor Survey

A web based hyperlink was provided to each Australian Apprenticeship Centre who then facilitated

the dissemination and completion of the Kickstart Surveys. AACs provided the relevant link to each

of their respective Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Mentors through online mediums such as

email, website/portal, and Facebook.

Three AACs also facilitated the completion of hard copy Kickstart surveys during face-to-face

contact with Kickstart Apprentices.

The surveys were conducted in two discrete time periods ((i) November/December 2010 and (ii)

June/July 2011). This provided an opportunity to assess whether the views of stakeholders

regarding the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative changed over time.

Table 1 provides a summary of the type of surveys applied to each stakeholder cohort, the purpose

of the survey and the total number of responses.

Table 1: Surveys used in the Review

Type of

Survey

Stakeholder Purpose of survey Total no. of survey

responses

Online survey Kickstart

Australian

Apprentice

The survey contained questions

relating to:

The effectiveness of mentoring and support strategies for Australian Apprentices.

The frequency and mode of communication between the Kickstart Apprentice and Mentor.

Total number

returned: 1600


Type of

Survey


responses


Australian

Apprentices

(those that exited

their

Apprenticeship)


relating to:

Key factors of attrition.

Mentoring/support strategies that could be enhanced.

Total number

returned: 108

Online survey Kickstart Mentor The survey contained questions on:

The appropriateness of the mentoring and support services (i.e. is the mentoring methodology considered to be adequate?).

Key success factors in mentoring that facilitates the retention of Australian Apprentices and conversely barriers which have a negative impact on retention.

Approaches that are working well.

Total number

returned: 170

AAC site visit consultations

The Project Team conducted consultations with AAC offices in metropolitan and regional areas in

Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. This

involved interviews with AAC staff, Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Mentors.


1. Key Findings This section provides a concluding summary on the key findings of the Review and examines

options/recommendations on enhancing the effectiveness of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. For

the purposes of this Review, the Key Findings have been grouped into three categories:

Communication strategies

Methods and models used by AACs

Retention rates, and

Impact of strategies and models on retention rates.

Communication Strategies

Face to face, telephone and SMS were the most frequently used methods of communication

as reported by both mentors and apprentices and were also viewed as the most effective.

The communication modes rated least effective were Newsletter, Internet/blog and Twitter,

and these were also the least used.

While regularly used by most AACs, Facebook and Twitter received mixed views on their

effectiveness from Mentors and were not considered to be as effective as traditional

methods of communication.

SMS is a quick and easy form of communication that Apprentices are likely to respond to and

can provide an alternative communication method if they are not comfortable discussing a

matter face to face or over the telephone.

Increased frequency of use of SMS and face-to-face appears to be associated with a more

positive attitude to the Mentoring Initiative.

In summary, the modes and frequency of contact between apprentices and mentors

regarded as most effective or beneficial are SMS, face-to-face and telephone contact on at a

minimum basis of once a month. This was true as well for the four target cohorts.

Approximately 22% of Kickstart Australian Apprentices that responded to the survey

reported not being aware of the Kickstart mentoring and support services. This indicates

that opportunities exist to enhance the manner in which AACs communicate with Kickstart

Australian Apprentices regarding the availability and nature of mentoring and support

services.


Mentoring Methods/Models

Kickstart Australian Apprentices generally agreed that mentoring assisted them with

understanding training requirements and that mentoring was accessible when they needed

it.

The quality of the signup documentation differed at each AAC and data collection was not

consistent between AACs.

In both the first and second rounds of surveying, only half of Australian Apprentice

respondents indicated that they were currently “accessing” the mentoring or support

services.

A majority (82%) of surveyed apprentices agreed that mentoring would help them to

complete their apprenticeship.

Apprentices from the AACs with up to 150 Australian Apprentices per mentor have a

significantly higher positive perception towards the mentoring Initiative than those from

AACs with more than 300 apprentices. In general, the level of positive perception tends to

diminish with increasing ratios of apprentices to mentors.

In all cases Apprentice views on the mentoring service were more positive for those AACs

who had a planned formal risk assessment mechanism.


who had planned employer engagement strategies.

In relation to Group Training Organisations (GTOs), feedback indicates that in a number of

instances, the provision of mentoring services via the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative was

perceived as a “double up” given GTOs generally had in place staff that provided support

services to Apprentices.

The services that were endorsed the most by apprentices were having mentors accessible,

helping with resolving issues/conflicts at work, and helping to understand training

requirements.

Mentors indicated that more mentors were needed in order to better allocate time to those

apprentices who needed more help.

The overall structure of the mentoring service developed by AACs did not materially change

when applied to the target cohort groups. In this regard, the model was generally consistent

regardless of the target cohorts. What did differ were approaches regarding frequency of


contact, the undertaking of cultural awareness training by Mentors, transitional support for

Australian School-based Apprentices and the referral to outside agencies for persons with

disability.

The application of a flexible and ongoing risk assessment strategy was identified by Mentors

as a key success factor in ensuring mentoring services were directed to those individuals

who would benefit most from such a service.

Retention Rates

The impact of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative has been positive and in some AACs,

significant. Compared with previous years’ retention rates for non-mentored apprentices,

there was an average retention rate improvement of 14.6% across all AACs. The reported

rates of improvement for individual AACs ranged from 1.9% to 60.0%.

Members of the target cohorts are more at risk of exiting than other Australian Apprentices.

In particular, Apprentices in the Indigenous Australians cohort exit their apprenticeships at

twice the rate of those that are not a member of one of the target cohorts.

Approximately twice the proportion of females (11.2%) exited their apprenticeships than

males (5.2%)

Of interest, the attrition rate increased during the second six months for both

commencement periods (approximately 10% and 13%, respectively) compared with the first

three months (approximately 2% and 6% respectively) and the first six months

(approximately 5% and 6% respectively). This suggests that although apprentices may decide

to exit at any time, it appears that the six to twelve month period has the same, if not more,

apprentices exit than that in the first six months of an apprenticeship.

Of 105 Exited Australian Apprentices 53 (50.5%) said they had accessed mentoring services

and 43 (41%) said they had not. (Nine did not respond to the question).

Greater proportions of the Indigenous Australians and Priority Employment Area group

apprentices had accessed mentoring services, compared with the other target groups.

The main reasons that Australian Apprentices chose to exit the apprenticeships were

because they decided to change to other work or study, or because of wages or employment

conditions.

Impact of Models on Retention Rates

The greatest attrition rate occurred in AACs with more than 300 apprentices per mentor.


Mentors did not regard the initiative very positively in regard to their evaluation of the

Mentoring Initiative for Australian School Based Apprentices and, to a lesser extent, for

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander apprentices.

Target cohorts had more positive opinions about the Mentoring Initiative when they were

from AACs with formal risk assessment strategies.

Statistically, there was no difference in retention rates between AACs who advocated

employer engagement, however target cohort apprentices from those AACs who did, held

more positive attitudes towards the Mentoring Initiative (qualitatively).

After consideration of the thematic analysis and survey responses (compared to the

retention rates for AACs of various levels) the following six key attributes have been

identified in regards to AAC models with the highest retention rates:

A formalised risk assessment tool

Active engagement of the employer in the mentoring model

A relatively low apprentice to mentor ratio

A flexible, risk management-based approach in the implementation of a

communication/interaction protocol

The appointment of mentors that have highly developed engagement attributes and

problem solving abilities

A network of resources and agencies to provide “wrap around” support to the

apprentice.

Further particulars on the above attributes are detailed in Section 7 of this Report.


Recommendations The following recommendations have been framed to provide guidance to DEEWR should a

mentoring service such as the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative be continued into the future.

Recommendation 1: That as a general rule, the ratio of apprentices per mentor should not

exceed 150.

Statistical analysis indicates that for all Kickstart Australian Apprentices, including the four target

cohorts, as well as mentors, that positive perceptions were greatest where the ratio of

apprentices per mentor did not exceed 150. Qualitative feedback also indicated a need for a

lower apprentice per mentor ratio in order to appropriately distribute time and effort amongst

those apprentices who may need a more intense level of support services (e.g. the retention

rate for apprentices with disabilities was highest in those AACs with less than 100 apprentices

per mentor).

Recommendation 2: That greater differentiation/specialisation occurs in the mentoring model

applied to the target cohort groups.

The Review identified that the mentoring models developed by the AACs for the target cohort

groups was not materially different from that applied to all apprentices. Consideration should be

given to further tailoring the mentoring models in order to better address the requirements of

the target cohort groups so as to achieve improved retention rates.

Recommendation 3: That the Initiative adopts a ‘risk management approach’ wherein a

formalised, evidence-based risk assessment tool is applied to assess the risk level of each

apprentice and assign a category (high, medium, low), which would decide the level of support

allocated to each apprentice.

Whilst the majority of AACs applied some form of risk assessment, the efficacy of the tool

differed significantly between AACs.


Recommendation 4: That DEEWR develop a customised pro-forma document that will

facilitate all AACs to collect consistent information/data at signup and during the course of the

Mentoring Initiative.

This will facilitate the collection of standardised data by each AAC for reporting purposes.

Consideration should also be given to the use of a Consent Form which has the benefit of

formally committing the Employer and the Kickstart Australian Apprentice to active engagement

in the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative.

Recommendation 5: That a communication protocol be developed and linked with the risk

assessment model with high risk apprentices being contacted more frequently and face-to-

face rather than SMS. The minimum contact for all mentored apprentices should be SMS or

telephone once a month.

This will ensure that apprentices are regularly receiving the appropriate level of interaction

necessary to help them complete their apprenticeship. This would be tailored in light of the

ongoing risk assessment.

Recommendation 6: That a mentoring service actively engage the employer of the apprentice

during the establishment of the service.

This helps to reduce confusion as to the role of the mentor and the services being offered, as

well as encourages “buy in” from the employer as a key stakeholder in the apprenticeship.

Recommendation 7: A more thorough marketing/awareness strategy be put in place in order

to increase awareness of the Mentoring Initiative to apprentices and employers as well as to

increase knowledge of services available and how to access them.

Survey responses indicated, in a number of instances, a general lack of awareness on the part of

Kickstart Australian Apprentices of the availability of mentoring and support services as well as

some confusion as to the role of mentors. Having a strategy for marketing/awareness could

help to increase knowledge and therefore encourage more active participation in the Mentoring

Initiative.


Recommendation 8: In considering the model of any future mentoring service, that the

following key attributes be embedded within the provision of the service:



An apprentice to mentor ratio of no more than 150





A network of resources and agencies to provide “wrap around” support to the apprentice.


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2. Introduction

Quantum Consulting Australia (in conjunction with Individual & Organisational Development,

Nyaarla Projects and Dr. Irene Styles) were engaged to conduct an independent Review of the

impact of the mentoring and support services delivered through the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative on

the retention of Australian Apprentices who have been mentored.

This Review provides an assessment of the impact and benefit of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative

on the retention of Australian Apprentices who have been mentored, including:

A thematic analysis of the communication and support strategies used by AACs;

An AAC case study from each jurisdiction describing actions and strategies adopted and

identification of approaches that worked well;

A summary of the data returned from each of the surveys undertaken and their responses;

High level statistical analysis of the survey data and data obtained from AACs regarding

retention rates;

A discussion on the impact of the approaches and models used by AACs on the retention of

Australian Apprentices;

Individual success stories provided by various AACs highlighting the impact the Kickstart

Mentoring Initiative has had on individual Kickstart Australian Apprentices;

Key findings and recommendations for future initiatives based on the data obtained during

the course of this Review.

2.1.1 Kickstart Mentoring Initiative

On 17 May 2010, the Australian Government announced the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative.

The Kickstart Mentoring Initiative was introduced to provide innovative and enhanced mentoring

and support services to Australian Apprentices who commenced their Australian Apprenticeship

under the Apprentice Kickstart Initiative4 and Apprentice Kickstart Extension5.

The objective of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative was to obtain a measurable increase in the retention

rate of Australian Apprentices who had commenced under the Apprentice Kickstart Initiative or the

Apprentice Kickstart Extension. The Initiative had a focus on the delivery of services to Australian

Apprentices from the following targeted cohorts:


4 Kickstart Australian Apprentices are defined as Australian Apprentices who commenced an Australian Apprenticeship between 1 December 2009 and 28 February 2010 in a Certificate III or IV level qualification that leads to a trade on the National Skills Needs List, and who were aged 19 years or under at the commencement of their Australian Apprenticeship. 5 Apprentice Kickstart Extension Australian Apprentices are defined as Australian Apprentices who commenced an Australian Apprenticeship between 12 May 2010 and 12 November 2010 (inclusive) in a Certificate III or IV level qualification that leads to a trade on the National Skills Needs List and who were aged 19 years or under at the commencement of their Australian Apprenticeship. The Australian Apprentice’s employer must have fewer than 200 employees at the time the Australian Apprentice commences, or be an

eligible Group Training Organisation.



Australian School-based Apprentices and

Priority employment areas.

It was expected that the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative would reduce the attrition rate and contribute

to increased completion rates for these apprentices.

The Australian Government, through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace

Relations (DEEWR), invited Australian Apprenticeship Centres (AACs) to provide a proposal that

outlined how they would develop and implement the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. The focus was on

the provision of quality additional mentoring and support services that were supported by innovative

strategies that deliver additional quality mentoring support. A total of 18 AACs were contracted by

DEEWR to deliver the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. AACs generally delivered the Kickstart Mentoring

Initiative across a region and throughout a selection of office locations.

AACs applied for additional funding within the scope of their current contracts so as to deliver

additional mentoring and support services to Australian Apprentices within their areas.

The Kickstart Mentoring Initiative delivered mentoring and support services from 1 July 2010 for a

period of 12 months.

2.1.2 Required services The Kickstart Mentoring Initiative delivered support services from 1 July 2010 for a period of 12 months. The required Services to be provided by successful AAC applicants were:

provide additional mentoring and support services to obtain a measurable increase in retention rates and contribute to an increase in completions of Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Apprentice Kickstart Extension Australian Apprentices, with a particular focus on Indigenous Australians, people with disability, Australian School-based Apprentices and those Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Apprentice Kickstart Extension Australian Apprentices in Priority Employment Areas6;

develop a cost-effective communications strategy to inform Kickstart Australian Apprentices

and Apprentice Kickstart Extension Australian Apprentices of the additional comprehensive mentoring and support services available through the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative; and

provide accurate, current and comprehensive information, mentoring and support services and advice to Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Apprentice Kickstart Extension Australian Apprentices from 1 July 2010 until 30 June 2011.

6 http://www.deewr.gov.au/Employment/LMI/RegionalReports/Pages/PriorityEmployAreas.aspx


Successful Australian Apprenticeships Centres were required, as a minimum, to provide

comprehensive information and advice to Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Apprentice Kickstart

Extension Australian Apprentices, on:

The additional role of Australian Apprenticeships Centres in delivering the Kickstart

Mentoring Initiative and the assistance they can expect, including support and assistance

from 1 July 2010 until 30 June 2011; and

The availability of appropriate mentors to provide support, including expected response

time when the Australian Apprentice cannot contact their mentor directly.

Australian Apprenticeships Centres Mentors were also required to maintain ongoing contact with

participating Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Apprentice Kickstart Extension Australian

Apprentices for the duration of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative to address issues or problems that

may arise which could impact on retention or successful completion. These contacts must be made

in addition to the requirements outlined in the Australian Apprenticeships Support Services

Operating Guidelines.

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 AAC Consultation

The methodology for undertaking the Review included surveying and one-on-one interviews with

AAC staff, Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Mentors at selected sites across Australia.

Surveys

The Project Team developed the following online surveys:

Kickstart Australian Apprentice Survey

Kickstart Australian Apprentice – Exit Survey (Kickstart Australian Apprentices who have

exited the Apprenticeship system)

Kickstart Mentor Survey

A web based hyperlink was provided to each Australian Apprenticeship Centre who then facilitated

the dissemination and completion of the Kickstart Surveys. AACs provided the relevant link to each

of their respective Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Mentors through online mediums such as

email, website/portal, and Facebook.

Three AACs also facilitated the completion of hard copy Kickstart surveys during face-to-face

contact with Kickstart Apprentices.


The surveys were conducted in two discrete time periods ((i) November/December 2010 and (ii)

June/July 2011). This provided an opportunity to assess whether the views of stakeholders

regarding the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative changed over time.

Table 1 provides a summary of the type of surveys applied to each stakeholder cohort, the purpose

of the survey and the total number of responses.

Table 2: Surveys used in the Review

Type of

Survey


responses


Australian

Apprentice


relating to:

The effectiveness of mentoring and support strategies for Australian Apprentices.

The frequency and mode of communication between the Kickstart Apprentice and Mentor.

Total number

returned: 1600


Australian

Apprentices

(those that

exited their

Apprenticeship)


relating to:

Key factors of attrition.

Mentoring/support strategies that could be enhanced.

Total number

returned: 108

Online survey Kickstart Mentor The survey contained questions on:

The appropriateness of the mentoring and support services (i.e. is the mentoring methodology considered to be adequate?).

Key success factors in mentoring that facilitates the retention of Australian Apprentices and conversely barriers which have a negative impact on retention.

Approaches that are working well.

Total number

returned: 170


AAC site visit consultations

The Project Team conducted consultations with AAC offices in metropolitan and regional areas in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. This involved interviews with AAC staff, Kickstart Australian Apprentices and Mentors.

2.3 Data limitations

Although attempts were made to obtain representative samples from the various stakeholder

groups involved in the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative, in some instances sample sizes were small,

limiting the inferences that can be drawn from them.

The survey results must be viewed with some caution as the final sample size was relatively small (in

light of the total number of Kickstart Apprentices) and may be biased towards Kickstart Australian

Apprentices who are more positively disposed towards the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative as the

program was entered into on a voluntary basis. Nevertheless, the analyses reported below provide

a number of insights into the perceptions of participants.

3. Implementation of Kickstart Mentoring Initiative

3.1.1 Roll-out of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative

Timing of the implementation of the Initiative Australian Apprenticeship Centres (AACs) indicated that the roll-out/implementation of the Kickstart

Mentoring Initiative from 1 July 2010 did not provide an adequate time frame for AAC staff to

develop and implement the initiative. A number of AACs were of the view that the short timeframe

of the request for proposals did not afford AAC staff the opportunity to develop a more

comprehensive proposal for the delivery of innovative mentoring approaches/methodologies. In

addition this provided only a short timeframe to recruit staff, develop policies/systems, including

tailoring the job ready system for mentoring and developing promotional materials such as

brochures, information sheets and websites, etc. Due to the timeframe of the launch of the

initiative, in a number of cases, AACs did not have their full suite of services developed at the

commencement of the initiative and had limited capacity to launch all services due to staffing

constraints.

Due to the timing in the implementation of the initiative, the Kickstart Australian Apprentices who

commenced between 1 December 2009 and 28 February 2010 had passed the 6 month period of

their apprenticeship. This meant that limited mentoring was provided that could influence the

retention of those Kickstart Australian Apprentices in the first cohort of Kickstart Apprentices

(December 2009 to February 2010).


This issue was seen less with the second cohort of Kickstart Extension Apprentices, as AACs had had

time at that point to implement and adjust their approaches/methodologies based on their

experiences with the previous cohort.

4. Thematic Analysis

4.1.1 Thematic analysis of AAC submissions

There are a number of communication and support strategies used by AACs to engage Kickstart

Apprentices and key stakeholders in the initiative. The main themes in the AAC proposals included

the following:

1. Wide use of online and other interactive telecommunications and social media

2. Ongoing risk assessments of Kickstart Australian Apprentices

3. Personalised plans for Kickstart Australian Apprentices

4. Specific details of interventions for Kickstart Australian Apprentices (as distinct from no

specific details)

5. Specific mentor features such as use of Youth Workers, etc.

6. Significant support to employer in areas such as recruitment, induction, training and

management of Kickstart Australian Apprentices

7. Engagement and/or communication with parents, RTOs, etc

8. More contacts with Kickstart Australian Apprentices than the contract specifies

9. Multiple points of entry to program

10. Incentives for Kickstart Australian Apprentices to engage and remain engaged in the

Kickstart Mentoring Initiative

11. Career development and guidance

12. Support for cancelled/failed Kickstart Australian Apprentices

Elements that were difficult to determine from the information provided, and that may be relevant

in the Review process were:

Quality of the various risk assessment tools

Some aspects of the various communication strategies

Selection criteria for mentors in some programs

It was identified in the initial review of AAC submissions that most proposals did not distinguish

specific and unique services that would be made available to the different targeted cohorts. As a

result there were very few proposals that could be identified as offering anything specific to any one

of the individual targeted cohorts with the exception of Indigenous Australians.


a) Indigenous Australians The main strategies for assisting Indigenous Australians to remain in their Kickstart Australian

Apprenticeships were:

Cultural awareness training for mentors

Vetting of offered services by the organisation’s Indigenous Advisor

Risk analysis - often an assumption that all indigenous Apprentices are ‘at risk’ of failing to

complete

Employment of Indigenous Mentor/s

Linkages with and referral to other Indigenous organisations

b) Apprentices with a Disability Only three proposals had specific and unique reference to Kickstart Australian Apprentices with a

Disability.

Table 3.1 Approaches for mentoring Kickstart Australian Apprentices with a disability

Name of ACC Proposal

AAC 1 Arranging assistance for the employer so they can better support a particular Kickstart Australian Apprentice in the workplace, for example work place modifications for an apprentice with disability.

Specific strategies to support apprentices with disability will include linking to existing programs to access specialist expertise, such as the National Disability Coordination Officer (NDCO) and Disability Employment Service (DES) programs for those with disability.

AAC 2 Facilitation of a connection with significant others such as a case manager at a disability services organisation, career teacher or parent.

AAC 3 People with disability – Working with service providers to provide better access to employment as an Kickstart Australian Apprentice

5. Communication Strategies The section below provides a high level summary of the communication strategies used by the

participating Australian Apprenticeship Centres to engage Kickstart Australian Apprentices in

mentoring, and the perceptions of Kickstart Australian Mentors and Apprentices regarding the

different communication strategies used in the initiative. Mentor survey responses are summarised

first, followed by Apprentice survey responses and then a statistical analysis of survey responses

from both rounds of surveying.


0

20

40

60

Figure 1. Methods of Communication Used by Mentors to Interact with Australian Apprentices (Round 1)

Kickstart Mentor Survey Responses Methods of Communication Used by Mentors Figures 1 and 2 highlight the methods of communication used my Kickstart Mentors to interact with

their Kickstart Apprentices. Figure 1 represents the communications methods in the first round of

surveying and Figure 2 represents the communication methods in the second round of surveying.

In the first round of surveying, approximately 78% of Mentors indicated that they use telephone and

Face-to-Face contact. The next popular method of communication used by Mentors was SMS, which

represents 78% of all Mentors who responded to the survey. Social media such as Facebook and

Twitter were used approximately 20% and 12% respectively.

Face-to-face visits were considered to be effective and enabled the ability to build a rapport with the

Australian Apprentice. In the instances were face-to-face visits were made at the work place, the

mentor was also able to see the working environment first hand as well as consult with the

employer (where appropriate) to discuss any issues the Apprentice or employer may be

experiencing.


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Figure 2. Methods of Communication Used by Mentors to Interact with Kickstart Australian Apprentices (Round 2)

In the second round of surveying, the most frequently used type of contact was Face-to-Face

contact, with approximately 92% of mentors using this form of communication. The telephone was

the next most use mode with approximately 90% of mentors using it, and SMS was the next with

approximately 70%. Email was the next most use form of communication with 56% of mentors using

it and Facebook was next with 23%.

Effectiveness of Communication Methods

Mentors were asked to provide feedback on how effective they thought the different methods of

communication were in delivering mentoring services to Kickstart Australian Apprentices. In both

rounds of surveying, mentors responded strongly that face-to-face contact is a highly effective

method of communicating with the apprentices. SMS and telephone contact were also viewed

strongly as being either highly effective or effective. Email appears to vary in effectiveness according

to mentor views. Methods deemed by mentors to be ineffective include Internet/Blog, Twitter,

Facebook and a Newsletter. Figures 3 and 4 represent these responses from rounds 1 and 2 of

surveying, respectively.


There are mixed views from Mentors on the effectiveness of popular communication tools such as

Facebook and Twitter. Whilst these social media are considered to be regularly used by the Kickstart

Australian Apprentice Cohort, they are not considered to be as effective as traditional methods of

contact such as face-to-face contact and Telephone contact. Consultation with AACs also suggests

that the roll-out of Facebook/Twitter by AACs/Mentors may have been ad-hoc. As a result Kickstart

Australian Apprentices were slow in taking up this mode of communication.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Figure 3. Mentors Views on Effectiveness of Communication Methods (Round 1)

Highly Effective

Effective

Somewhat Effective

Not Effective

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Figure 4. Mentors Views on Effectiveness of Communication Methods (Round 2)

Highly Effective

Effective

Somewhat Effective

Not Effective


A number of Mentors were of the view that SMS communication is likely to be more effective where

rapport had been built with the Kickstart Australian Apprentice. In this scenario the SMS was used to

maintain contact and see how things were progressing in their Apprenticeship. Being a quick and

easy form of communication Kickstart Australian Apprentices are likely to respond to Mentors and

can use this method of communication to ask questions or advice on matters that they may not feel

comfortable speaking about with their Mentor on the phone or face-to-face. Some AACs reported

that employers have also indicated a preference for this method as it is less disruptive during work

hours.

Frequency of Contact Mentors were asked to specify the approximate number of Kickstart Australian Apprentices that

they communicated or interacted with for the following categories of frequency:

Daily

More than once a week

Weekly

Monthly

Every 2 months

Every 3 months

Every 6 months

Not applicable (meaning that the number range of apprentices was not applicable to them)

A large majority of those Mentors that responded to the survey in the first round indicated that they

had at least 1-10 Australian Apprentices that they communicated with on a daily basis. This was also

the same for the number of Mentors communicating with Australian Apprentices more than once a

week. Compared with the second round of surveying, the other contact frequency options provided

in the survey were indicated with much less frequency. The second round showed a much broader

distribution between the contact frequencies. This could be due to the fact that more mentors

responded to the second round of surveying or possibly because communication strategies at the

AACs had been altered to better suit the needs of the Australian Apprentices. These responses can

be seen in Figures 5 and 6, and are discussed at further length in the statistical analysis discussion

below. The effectiveness of the contact frequencies is discussed below regarding retention rates.


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Figure 5. Number of Australian Apprentices Contacted by Category of Frequency (Round 1)

1-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51+

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

Figure 6. Number of Australian Apprentices Contacted by Category of Frequency (Round 2)

1-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51+


Kickstart Australian Apprentice Survey Responses

Awareness of Mentoring Services Overall, the majority of Kickstart Australian Apprentices (1192 out of 1600, 75%) that responded to

the survey were aware of the Kickstart mentoring and support services that are available (Figures 7

and 8).

Kickstart Australian Apprentices became aware of the mentoring initiative through a range of

communication methods. Figures 9 and 10 below show that brochures, telephone contact and

employers were frequently reported methods amongst Kickstart Australian Apprentices.

77%

23%

Figure 7. Whether Kickstart Australian Apprentices Are Aware of Available Mentoring and Support Services

(Round 1)

Yes No

79%

21%

Figure 8. Whether Kickstart Australian Apprentices Are Aware of Available Mentoring and Support Services

(Round 2)

Yes No


A common theme from Kickstart Australian Apprentices who answered ‘other’ to this survey

question was that they found out about the mentoring initiative via a face-to-face contact or site

visit from a Mentor in the first round of surveying. The responses to this question in the second

round of surveying also pen pointed a face-to-face contact or site visit from Mentor or field officer,

as well as via letter or at sign up. This is congruent with many of the AACs proposals relating to the

first term of the mentoring initiative and the extension. Many AACs proposed sending a letter or a

field officer to apprentices who had already started the Kickstart Program when the mentoring

initiative began, and for those who started with the extension they were told of the mentoring

opportunity when they signed up for their apprenticeships.

0 20 40 60 80

100 120 140 160

Figure 9. How Kickstart Australian Apprentices Became Aware of Mentoring and Support Services (Round 1)


Frequency of Contact from Mentors

Kickstart Australian Apprentices were asked to identify the frequency with which they were

receiving mentoring and/or support services (Figures 11 and 12). Where Apprentices were not

receiving a specific type of mentoring or support service, they were asked to check “Not Applicable.”

What is noteworthy from Figures 11 and 12 is that in both rounds of surveying, social media,

newsletter and email contact were all strongly underrepresented as means of being contacted by a

Mentor. Despite a popular belief in the majority of proposals that social media communication

methods such as Facebook and Twitter would be a valuable tool in the mentoring initiative, very few

apprentices reported being contacted with these methods. Email and newsletter were also not

frequently used methods of communication. The most often reported method of receiving

communication from mentors was monthly face-to-face contact in the first round as well as the

second round. Weekly and monthly telephone and SMS contact were frequent in the first round

while the second round of survey responses reflected less weekly telephone and SMS contacts and

more monthly contacts.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Figure 10. How Kickstart Australian Apprentices Became Aware of Mentoring and Support Services (Round 2)


Statistical Analysis of Communication Strategies

A high level statistical analysis has been done to compare communication strategies as well as the

frequency of communications in order to determine good practice for communication strategies.

0 20 40 60 80

100 120 140 160 180 200

Figure 11. Frequency with which Kickstart Australian Apprentices Report Receiving Mentoring or Support Services (Round 1)

Daily

More than once a week Weekly

Monthly

Every 2 months Every 3 months Every 6 months Not Applicable

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Figure 12. Frequency with which Kickstart Australian Apprentices Report Receiving Mentoring or Support Services (Round 2)

Daily

More than once a week Weekly

Monthly

Every 2 months

Every 3 months

Every 6 months

Not Applicable


For the purposes of this Report, both the first and second round survey results were combined in

order to produce a reliable number of responses for analysis.

As addressed above, a rant of modes of communication were available to mentors and apprentices

to keep in touch with each other. Initially, the possibility of the items (relating to frequency of use)

of communication modes forming a single scale was considered. If this were possible, then

responses to each item could be added to give a single score on frequency of contact for each

apprentice, however, a Rasch analysis of these data showed they did not form a single construct or

latent trait and hence the modes were, rather, treated as being separate categories. Table 5.1 shows

the numbers of apprentices who received mentoring services via these different modes and how

regularly this was done.

Table 5.1 Numbers of apprentices receiving mentoring services via different modes and different frequency of contact

Number of apprentices reporting frequency of contact

(total % of full sample)

Mode of contact

(total % of full sample)

Daily

More than once

/week

Wkly Mthly Every 2 months

Every 3 months

Every 6 months

Not applicable

or no response

Face-to-face 442

(27.7)

7 (0.4)

7 (0.4)

36 (2.3)

257 (16.1)

46 (2.9)

38 (2.4)

51 (3.2)

1155 (72.4)

Newsletter 105 (6.6)

3 (0.2)

0 (0)

5 (0.3)

63 (3.9)

12 (0.8)

8 (0.5)

14 (0.9)

1492 (93.5)

Telephone 367

(22.9)

2 (0.1)

11 (0.7)

67 (4.2)

193 (12.1)

41 (2.6)

34 (2.1)

19 (1.2)

1230 (77.1)

SMS 307

(19.2)

2 (0.1)

9 (0.6)

72 (4.5)

199 (12.5)

11 (0.7)

5 (0.3)

9 (0.6)

1290 (80.8)

Email 117

(6.3)

3 (0.2)

1 (0.1)

12 (0.8)

63 (3.9)

15 (0.9)

10 (0.6)

13 (0.8)

1480 (92.7)

Facebook 52

(3.3)

4 (0.3)

5 (0.3)

5 (0.3)

30 (1.9)

3 (0.2)

2 (0.1)

3 (0.2)

1545 (96.7)


Twitter 28

(1.8)

2 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

22 (1.4)

2 (0.1)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

1569 (98.2)

Internet/blog 31

(1.9)

2 (0.1)

2 (0.1)

0 (0)

25 (1.6)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

1566 (98.1)

Clearly, the most often use mode was that of face-to-face contact with 27.6% of the Apprentices

reporting this mode. This was followed by telephone (22.9%) then SMS (19.2%). The other modes

were used less often (each by less than 12% of the sample). In every mode, the highest reported

frequency of contact was once per month, with face-to-face, telephone and SMS contact of this

frequency being the most often reported (between 12% and 16%).

Table 5.2 shows the number of mentors reporting their use of different modes of contact with their

apprentices and their mean ratings on the effectiveness of the modes for communicating with their

mentees (N=137).

Table 5.2 Numbers of mentors, use of modes of communication, and mean effectiveness ratings

Mode of contact Number of mentors using the

mode (%)

Mean effectiveness rating – score range of 1 to 4 (standard

deviation)

Newsletter 19 (11.2) 1.77 (0.84)

Telephone 124 (73.4) 3.33 (0.67)

Face-to-face 126 (74.6) 3.81 (0.55)

SMS 104 (61.5) 3.01 (1.00)

Email 82 (48.5) 2.48 (0.95)

Facebook 32 (18.9) 2.15 (1.05)

Twitter 15 (8.9) 1.62 (0.80)

Internet/blog 12 (7.1) 1.68 (0.92)

Other 13 (7.7) 0.59 (0.93)

As is evident from Table 5.2, the largest numbers of mentors reported using face-to-face, telephone

and SMS contact and these were also the modes of contact that mentors rated the highest in regard

to effectiveness. These modes were used by significantly more mentors and were rated significantly

higher in effectiveness than any other mode. The modes rated least effective (apart from the ‘other’


category) were newsletter, internet/blog and Twitter. These were also the least used forms of

communication.

Correlational and regression analyses

The Table 5.3 shows the correlation matrix of attitude towards the Mentoring Initiative and mentors’

ratings of how effective different modes of communication are. The results indicate that views on

the effectiveness of SMS, face-to-face, email and telephone are significantly associated with attitude

to Mentoring Initiative. Thus if a mentor has a positive attitude towards the effectiveness of these

modes, then they are also likely to hold a positive opinion on the Mentoring Initiative, and vice

versa. Other correlations are not significant, and hence there is no association in those cases.

Table 5.3 Correlations between views on Effectiveness of Mentoring and Mentor ratings of effectiveness of Modes of Communication

Mode of Communication

Newsletter

Pearson Correlation 0.075

Sig. (2-tailed) .380

N 139

Telephone



N 139

Face-to-face



N 139

SMS



N 139

Email



N 139

Facebook



N 139

Twitter

Pearson Correlation -0.005


N 139

Internet//blog



N 139

Other modes



N 139


According to these results, the communications modes most used were face-to-face, telephone and

SMS contact. The most reported frequency of contact was once per month. This is true across all

cohorts. Also, according to Table 5.3, increased frequency of use of SMS and face-to-face appears to

be associated with a more positive attitude to the Mentoring Initiative.

Table 5.4 shows the numbers of apprentices from all of the three AAC APM categories reporting use

of different communication modes. Clearly, there is the same pattern of use in this sample as in the

full sample of apprentices who completed the survey, with most reporting use of face-to-face,

telephone and SMS contact.

Table 5.4 Numbers of apprentices (and proportions) in the AACs (where known) using different Communication modes

Therefore, the modes and frequency of contact between apprentices and mentors regarded as most

effective or beneficial are SMS, face-to-face and telephone contact on at a minimum basis of once a

month. This was true as well for the four target cohorts.

6. Engagement and Support Methods and Strategies Survey Responses

As summarised by the thematic analysis, each AAC had a different approach for engaging and

supporting Kickstart Australian Apprentices. The responses from apprentices and mentors alike in

the Kickstart Surveys identified methodologies that they believed appear to be working. Below is a

summary of the survey responses from both rounds of surveying.

Apprentice per Mentor Ratio

Mentors were asked in both rounds of surveying how many Australian Apprentices they were in

charge of mentoring. Figures 13 and 14 below reflect the first and second round responses,

respectively. As can be seen from these figures, of the respondents in the first round, most were

mentoring at least 51 apprentices. The second round response shows a greater number of mentors

having 1-10 apprentices, with the over 50 apprentices per mentor group still having a large

Communication Mode Used

N

Not used or Missing Percent

Total N

Percent N Percent

Face-to-face 400 25.0% 1197 75.0% 1597 100%

Newsletter 80 5.0% 1517 95.0% 1597 100%

Telephone 337 21.1% 1260 78.9% 1597 100%

SMS 279 17.5% 1318 82.5% 1597 100%

Email 97 6.1% 1500 93.9% 1597 100%

Facebook 40 2.5% 1557 97.5% 1597 100%

Twitter 24 1.5% 1573 98.5% 1597 100%

Internet/Blog 25 1.6% 1572 98.4% 1597 100%


representation. The variance between rounds could be due to some mentors indicating the number

of apprentices they were currently actively engaged with, rather than the total number of

apprentices in their group, as indicated by the comments to this question. It could also be due in

part to the increased number of mentors that responded to the survey in the second round.

Figures 15 and 16 reflect the reported number of Australian Apprentices from each target cohort

that mentors were providing mentoring and/or support services to. Most mentors reported having

between one and ten apprentices in their group that were a member of one of these cohorts.

Further details on these numbers are given in the statistical analysis below.

0

10

20

30

40

50

1-10 11-20 21-50 51+

Figure 13. Number of Australian Apprentices Mentors are Currently Providing with Mentoring and Support

Services (Round 1)

0

10

20

30

40

50

1-10 11-20 21-50 51+

Figure 14. Number of Australian Apprentices Mentors are Currently Providing with Mentoring and Support Services

(Round 2)


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50



Australian School-based Apprentices

Priority employment

areas

Figure 15. Number of Target Cohort Australian Apprentices Being Mentored (Round 1)

1-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51+

Not Applicable

0

10

20

30

40

50

60




Priority employment

areas

Figure 16. Number of Target Cohort Australian Apprentices Being Mentored (Round 2)

1-10

11-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51+

Not Applicable


Mentors Views on Effectiveness of AAC Approach/Methodology Throughout both rounds of survey responses the overall majority of mentors thought that their

AAC’s model for the mentoring initiative was working highly effectively or effectively. Very few

rated their model as somewhat effective and only in the second round did any mentors respond that

their AACs model was ineffective. This is reflective of the overall positive attitude that mentors had

of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative and the positive support the Initiative has received.

0

5

10

15

20

25

Highly Effective Effective Somewhat Effective

Not Effective

Figure 17. How Effective Mentors Found their AAC's Approach/Methodology in Assisting Mentees through their

Australian Apprenticeship (Round 1)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Highly Effective Effective Somewhat Effective

Not Effective

Figure 18. How Effective Mentors Found their AAC's Approach/Methodology in Assisting Mentees through their

Australian Apprenticeship (Round 2)


In order to support the above qualitatively, Mentors were asked to provide qualitative feedback on

actions that they believed significantly assisted mentees through their Australian Apprenticeships.

The following is a summary of the responses that were most frequently given in various forms:

For Australian Apprentices in General:

Regular, consistent and frequent contact with the Apprentice, especially:

Face-to-face contact

SMS contact

Intervene or mediate with employers to resolve issues at work

Referral to other support programs or information on assistance should a personal issue

arise

Helping with paperwork/forms

Establishing a relationship with/involvement of other stakeholders to the apprenticeship

such as parents or guardians, RTOs, TAFE, etc.

Pastoral care/holistic approach (i.e. being actively involved with the Apprentice, teaching

them a skill for work, working on better communication with others, etc.)

The methods adopted by AACs that mentors identified as having a positive impact on retention for

the four Target Cohorts include:

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Cohort:

Increased face-to-face contact

Cultural awareness training for mentors

Links with Indigenous service providers and/or Elders

Persons with Disability:

Referral to other support services (i.e. OzHelp, DAAWS, DES, etc.)


Australian School-Based Apprentices:

Frequent contact (face-to-face & SMS)

Liaising with all stakeholders to the apprenticeship (family, school, teachers, employer)

Encouragement and increased support through the transition from school-based apprentice

to full time apprentice

Priority Employment Areas:


Help with incentives/subsidies available to them

Consulting/regular contact with the employer


When Kickstart Australian Apprentices were asked whether they currently access any form of

mentoring or support services, a total of 262 from 459 survey respondents (57%) in the first round

and 391 from 707 (55%) in the second round indicated that they were not currently accessing

mentoring or support services. It should be noted however that 198 out of the 657 Kickstart

Australian Apprentices who completed the survey in the first round and 236 out of 943 in the second

round did not provide a response to this question in the survey. This could be due to the fact that

the question specifically asks for current access rather than access in general or past access to

mentoring services. However, if this response is taken as indicative, it shows that possibly half of

those apprentices signed up for the Mentoring Initiative had not needed to access the mentor at the

time of surveying.

57%

43%

Figure 19. Apprentices Currently Accessing Mentoring or Support Services (Round 1)

Yes No


Apprentices were asked to indicate whether they agreed or disagreed with the following statements:

Mentoring provided me with practical tips for surviving the initial months of my Australian

Apprenticeship

Mentoring has assisted me with understanding my training requirements (i.e. for my

Registered Training Organisation)

I am able to rely on mentoring for advice on resolving conflict/issues at my workplace

Mentoring has provided me with advice on teamwork, preparing and coping with work, time

management and career aspirations/planning

Mentoring has assisted me with filling out paperwork relating to my Australian

Apprenticeship

Mentoring is accessible when I need advice or support

Mentoring is motivating me to stay on and complete my Australian Apprenticeship

Overall response was very positive, with an even stronger positive response in the second round of

surveying. The largest response in the first round appears to be that Apprentices agreed that

mentoring assisted them with understanding training requirements. The largest response in the

second round of surveying was that Apprentices strongly agreed that mentoring was accessible

when they needed advice or support.

45%

55%

Figure 20. Australian Apprentices Currently Accessing Mentoring or Support Services (Round 2)

Yes No


0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Figure 21. Kickstart Australian Apprentices' Opinions on Mentoring and Support Services (Round 1)

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Not applicable

0

50

100

150

200

Figure 22. Kickstart Australian Apprentices' Opinion on Mentoring and Support Services (Round 2)

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Not applicable


Overall Australian Apprentices agreed that advice and support from a mentor would increase the

chances of completing their Australian Apprenticeship. Of the total number of Australian

Apprentices that responded from both rounds of surveying, 67% agreed to this statement and 15%

strongly agreed, therefore 82% considered it possible that a mentor would help them to complete

their apprenticeship. This kind of positive response from apprentices to the mentoring initiative is

likely help the possibility of increasing retention rates as they are more likely to access support

should an issue arise if they feel it will have a positive effect.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Figure 23. Kickstart Australian Apprentices' Belief that Mentor Support will Increase Chances of Completing Apprenticeship

(Round 1)


Qualitative Suggestions from Mentors for Future Initiatives Mentors were asked in both rounds of surveying to identify two aspects of the program they would

do differently if they could plan the project again. Their responses fell into broad categories:

Timing issues

Contact schedules

Employer Engagement

Administrative issues

Mentors had a strong response to the timing of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. The following

statements represent the key timing aspects of the program that they would change:

Better timing for the start-up/roll out of the program (this was seen more so in the

responses to the first round of surveying rather than after the Kickstart extension)

Engage apprentices in the Mentoring Initiative from the beginning of their apprenticeship,

i.e. at the time of sign up

Put more effort into helping an Apprentice quickly recommence in a new apprenticeship

should they cancel or leave their position

There was a large showing of responses with regard to the schedule for contacting apprentices.

Most of the responses centred on the following themes:

Have a risk assessment strategy in place for identifying those apprentices that are more at

risk

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

Figure 24. Kickstart Australian Apprentices' Belief that Mentor Support will Increase Chances of Completing Apprenticeship

(Round 2)


Assign more time/effort to those apprentices who are at a higher level of risk of leaving their

apprenticeship than to those who are not experiencing any issues rather than having a set

contact schedule for all apprentices

More flexibility in the contact schedule, being able to adjust the risk level and therefore the

amount of contact in order to more properly address the individual needs of apprentices

Employ more mentors in order to ensure that all apprentices are getting the proper amount

of attention and support

Mentors also felt strongly about engaging the employer as part of the Mentoring Initiative. Samples

of responses under this area include:

Early engagement of the employer in the program so that they are able to assist the

apprentice should issues arise (i.e. engaging the employer from the on-set of the

apprenticeship in order to encourage buy-in)

More communication with the employer, including regular meetings with the employer,

providing support to the employer, involving the employer in meetings with the apprentice

where appropriate to identify and mediate issues

There were a broad range of other aspects of the program that mentors felt needed to be changed,

they have been grouped together here as ‘administrative issues.’

Extend the program to include all Australian Apprentices, rather than the selected age group

and targeted occupations

Better identifying the role of the mentor where multiple stakeholders are involved, i.e.

where the apprenticeship is with a GTO or mining company that already has a Mentoring

Initiative. This would help to reduce confusion on the part of the employers and apprentices

as to the support services being offered by the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative.

Better marketing/heavier promotion, both to apprentices and employers, from the outset of

the program in order to increase awareness of the program. This also includes increased

market research where time and budget allows.

o This also included using the information from workshops conducted to make flyers

or reference sheets for apprentices and employers and not having workshops at all

as they were seen as impinging on time

Reduce the amount of administration that mentors have to do in order to free up more time

for addressing apprentice needs

Use of a more thorough risk assessment/questionnaire form in order to collect more

information and in turn better identify risk issues

As part of the Australian Apprentice Survey, apprentices who currently receive mentoring and

support services were asked for suggestions that would improve the mentoring experience for them

(including additional areas where they might require advice or assistance that current mentoring and

support service may not be providing to them). The overall response was very positive, with many

respondents commenting that that they had no suggestions and that the program was going very


well. The most recurring suggestions were those that had to do with the communication strategies

and how often they were being contacted. Out of these suggestions, many commented that they

would like to receive more frequent and regular contacts. Some commented that they had reached

a milestone in their apprenticeship (i.e. changing jobs within their current organisation or moving

from school to a full time apprenticeship) without having received contact from their mentor.

Relatively few comments regarded having fewer contacts, but those that did indicated that they did

not need to be contacted as frequently as they were not experiencing any problems with their

apprenticeships and were not in need of support services. Another comment made was that the

phone calls they did receive were not very thorough and should involve more than “yes or no”

questions. A large number of apprentices commented that though they had yet to need the service,

it was good to know that they had someone to contact anytime they needed help with anything.

Other themes noted in these comments include:

Mentors and support services being available outside of work hours

SMS is a good method of contact

Face-to-face visits are a good contact method, would like to have more face-to-face or

onsite visits

Would like for the service to continue longer than six months

Would like to have the service available throughout the entire apprenticeship

Would like more help with/information on paperwork (e.g. required TAFE documents, Tools

for Your Trade paperwork, etc.)

Speaking/mediating with employer

Facebook would be a good means of communication/private messaging with Mentor

These themes were consistent throughout the general respondent population as well as within the

four target cohort groups.

Statistical Analysis of Engagement and Support Strategies

In order to better understand the methods and models used by AACs that appear to be the most

beneficial for Australian Apprentices, a statistical analysis was conducted in order to determine good

practice approaches to the engagement and support of Australian Apprentices.

Statistical Analysis of Apprentices per Mentor Ratios

For the purposes of statistical analysis an average of apprentices per mentor for each AAC was found

by dividing the total number of Kickstart Apprentices mentored at that AAC by the reported number

of mentors employed. This data was then analysed against mentor and apprentice attitudes in an

attempt to find an optimum mentee group size.

Table 6.1 shows the numbers of mentors reporting looking after specific numbers of apprentices

from each of the four Target cohorts. Thus 94 mentors reported having one to 10 apprentices with

Indigenous backgrounds and 30 mentors report having 51 or more people undertaking

apprenticeships in Priority Employment Areas. Thus most mentors have 1 to10 apprentices in one of


the Target groups; quite a large number of mentors (20) have 11 to 20 apprentices in Australian

School-based Apprenticeships and 30 mentors have at least 51 Apprentices in Priority Employment

Areas.

Table 6.1 Number of Mentors looking after the specified number of Apprentices in each Target group

Number of Apprentices

Target Group


Disability Australian

School-based Apprentices

Priority Employment

Areas

1-10 94 80 68 33

11-20 6 4 20 6

21-30 1 2 7 4

31-40 1 1 4 6

41-50 1 1 2 5

51 or more 3 0 11 30

Table 6.2 Mean locations (std. dev) on Effectiveness Scale (mentors), together with F statistics and p values comparing means of sub-groups

Group Sub-group N Mean location in logits (std dev)

F statistic Prob. value

Whole sample 139 2.30 (2.75)

Commencement Period

First 59 2.70 (2.09) 2.098 0.150

Second 80 2.02 (3.14)

Region

Metro 71 2.43 (2.82)

1.491 0.229 Regional 60 2.33 (2.77)

Remote 7 0.558 (1.31)

Number of apprentices being mentored

1-10 35 -0.07 (3.14)

17.077 <0.0001 11-20 32 1.09 (1.76)

21-50 23 3.44 (1.92)

51 or more 76 3.14 (2.09)

Table 6.3 shows that apprentices from the AACs with up to 150 apprentices per mentor have

significantly higher attitudes towards the mentoring Initiative than those from AACs with more than


300 apprentices per mentor. In general, the level of attitude tends to decrease with increasing

ratios of apprentices to mentors. These results are shown graphically in Figure 25.

Table 6.3 Differences in Apprentices’ Attitudes to mentoring scale according to AACs of different apprentice per mentor (APM) categories

Attitudes to mentoring

APM category N Mean/logits Std Dev F p

1 (1-150) 351 3.48 2.48

4.511 0.012 2 (151-300) 74 3.13 2.46

3(>300) 12 1.40 2.56

Total 437 3.36 2.49

Belief in efficacy of mentoring Initiative

APM category N Mean/logits Std Dev F p

1 (1-150) 161 3.03 0.575

4.281 0.014 2 (151-300) 411 2.93 0.548

3 (>300) 110 2.83 0.619

Total 682 2.94 0.569


Figure 25. Levels of Attitudes towards Mentoring Initiative of apprentices from AACs of three different APM categories

Table 6.4 shows the mean Attitudes to mentoring of target cohort apprentices by AAC Apprentices

per mentor category. Note that the most reliable result is that for Priority Employment Areas and

‘other’ (that is, apprentices from none of the four cohorts) because of their larger numbers of

respondents for whom data is available. Hence conclusions need to be interpreted and used with

caution. Overall, the means are very high, indicating good support from all groups. Compared with

other cohorts, Apprentices in Priority Employment Areas hold lower levels of attitudes (that is, are

least supportive of mentoring), followed by Australian School-based Apprentices and Indigenous

Australian Apprentices. The very few with Disabilities for whom data exists, are the most

supportive.


Table 6.4 Attitudes to mentoring of four Target group apprentices according to three different AAC Apps per mentor (AMP) categories

Apps per mentor Total

1 (1-150) 2 (151-300) 3 (300+)

N Mean (std dev)

N Mean (std dev)

N Mean (std dev)

F p N Mean

(std dev)


18 3.91

(2.66) 2

4.70 (2.56)

- - 0.157 0.696 20 3.99

(2.59)

Disability 3 6.00

(0.69) 2

3.91 (3.70)

- - 5 5.16

(2.23)


47 3.86

(2.58) 10

2.99 (2.06)

- - 1.015 0.317 57 3.71

(2.50)

Priority Employment

Areas 158

2.76 (2.19)

48 2.78

92.43) 1 1.29 0.215 0.807 207

2.76 (2.24)

Other 147 4.01

(2.51) 21

3.88 (2.58)

11 1.41

(2.37) 5.514 0.005 179

3.83 (2.57)

In the survey data, most mentors had more than 51 apprentices. The next most numerous category

was 1-10 apprentices. Usually 1-10 Apprentices within these groups belonged to one or more of the

target cohorts. Mentors with the most positive attitudes reported having 21 or more apprentices.

The AACs were put in categories of Apprentice to Mentor Ratios (AMR) of small, medium and large.

Small AACs had 1-150 apprentices per mentor, the medium category had 151-300 and the large had

301+ apprentices per mentor. Apprentices from those AACs in the small category had a more

positive attitude and more approval of the mentoring initiative. This is likely due to the fact that the

number of apprentices was more manageable and the mentor could divide their time within a risk

management approach and apply more time to those high risk apprentices, rather than being

‘spread too thin’ to make an appropriate amount of contact with their apprentices. This is

complementary to the findings for the communication methods that work best as stated above.

Risk Assessment Strategies

Most of the AACs had some form of risk assessment strategy, whether it was formal or informal.

Apprentices from those AACs with formal risk assessment strategies had much more positive

opinions about the Mentoring Initiative. This was true of all four target cohorts as well.


Table 6.5 shows the numbers of AACs advocating three different types of risk assessment strategies,

namely, none reported, informal assessment procedures and formal assessment procedures. Those

in the ‘none specified’ category did not include specific details of a risk assessment strategy in either

their proposal or their final reports as submitted to DEEWR. Those considered to be informal

consisted of procedures such as self-evaluation by the Apprentice, basing the assessment on the

Mentor’s experience or instincts, and other such subjective approaches. AACs considered to have a

formal risk assessment strategy were those that developed a formal risk profiling tool using either a

pro-forma document or a computer generated formulaic assessment.

Table 6.5 Numbers of AACs using one of three Risk assessment strategies

Risk assessment strategies

Number of Risk assessment

Type of risk assessment

Frequency (number of AACs)

Percentage

1 None Specified 5 27.8%

2 Informal 7 38.9%

3 Formal 6 33.3%

Total 18 100%

Employer Support and/or Involvement

Most AACs in their proposals advocated some level of employer support or involvement with the

apprenticeship and its processes. The support or involvement included activities such as workshops

for employers on workplace relations, assistance with better recruitment practices, cultural

awareness and round table discussions between the mentor, apprentice and employer. The

presence of a plan for employer support or involvement was measured against Apprentice attitude

towards the program for both the general survey respondents and the respondents representing the

four target cohorts. Apprentices from those AACs with some level of employer support or that

advocated of employer engagement in the apprenticeship held a more positive attitude towards the

Mentoring Initiative. This is also true of all target cohorts.


Table 6.6 Numbers of AACs inviting different levels of Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement Type

Employer Engagement, Yes or No

Frequency (Number of AACs)

Percentage

1 No 3 16.7%

2 Yes 15 83.3%

Total 18 100%

Table 6.7 Retention rates and Apprentice attitudes to mentoring by Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement

Employer

Engagement,

Yes or No

N Retention

rate (%) F p N

Mean

Apprentice

Attitude to

Mentoring

Initiative

(std dev)

F p

No 3 86.5 0.408 0.532 42 1.85 (2.04) 17.556 <0.001

Yes 15 84.1 399 3.51 (2.48)

Total 18 84.5 441 3.35 (2.48)

Table 6.8 Attitudes to mentoring of Apprentices in the four target cohorts by employer engagement

Employer Engagement

Cohort Employer

Engagement Type

N Mean

Locations Std. Dev. F P


1 1 0.087

2 19 4.16 2.56

Disability 1 1 1.29

2 4 6.13 0.62

Australian 1 2 1.69 2.58


School-based

Apprentices 2 57 3.68 2.50

Priority Employment

Areas

1 21 1.95 2.04 2.936 0.088

2 188 2.83 2.23

Services Endorsed by Apprentices

As stated above, Australian Apprentices were asked in the Apprentice Survey to give their opinion on

various support services offered by the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. The services that were

endorsed the most by apprentices were having mentors accessible, helping with resolving

issues/conflicts at work, and helping to understand training requirements. Table 6.9 lists the items

on a continuum in increasing order of Rasch scores which are known as locations. These locations

are the Rasch-transformed scores with an equal-interval unit called a logit.

Table 6.9 Locations of items and their content: Apprentices

Item Location (logits)

Content

Q15f -0.756 Mentoring is accessible when I need support

Q15c -0.375 Able to rely on mentoring for advice on resolving conflict/issues at my work

Q15b -0.265 Mentoring has assisted me in understanding training requirements

Q15g 0.113 Mentoring is motivating me to stay on and complete apprenticeship

Q15e 0.249 Mentoring has assisted me fill out paperwork relating to apprenticeship

Q15a 0.275 Mentoring provided me with practical tips for surviving initial months of apprenticeship

Q15d 0.759 Mentoring has provided me with advice on teamwork, preparation, coping with work, time management, career aspirations

The items that appear first in Table 6.9 are ones that apprentices found easy to endorse, in other

words, they strongly agreed these were helpful aspects of mentoring. So Australian Apprentices

strongly agreed that Mentoring is accessible when I need support, for example. The items at the end

of the table require a high opinion of mentoring in order to endorse them. Thus an apprentice

would need to have a high overall opinion of mentoring to agree that Mentoring has provided me

with advice on teamwork, preparation, coping with work, time management, and career aspirations.


7. Retention Rates The impact of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative has been positive and in some AACs, significant.

Compared with previous years’ retention rates for non-mentored apprentices, there was an average

retention rate improvement of 14.57% across all AACs. The rates of improvement for individual

AACs ranged from 1.92% to 60%. This section of the report summarises the various retention rates

reported by the AACs as well as the data obtained from the Exit Apprentice Survey in order to

determine the reasons for attrition as reported by Australian Apprentices who have left their

apprenticeship.

Retention Rates

Table 7.1 shows the number of Kickstart apprentices, the number in each of four Target groups, the

number who exited in the period December 2009 to November 2010, and the retention rates for

each of 18 Australian Apprenticeship Centres, together with totals or averages. For analysis

purposes, each AAC was assigned a number in order to give it an individual identity for the

codification and analysis processes.

Table 7.1 Numbers of Apprentices and retention rates by Target cohort and Commencement period

Number of Apprentices7

AAC Total Commenced

Period 1 Commenced

Period 2 Indigenous Australians

Persons with

Disability


Priority Employment

Areas

1 3,564 2,307 1,257 122 57 132 NA

2 1,311 548 763 44 7 98 202

3 210 74 136 2 5 8 100

4 381 203 178 4 15 21 NA

5 2,227 1,307 920 53 43 114 791

6 429 262 167 27 3 14 258

7 1,770 955 815 66 63 337 354

8 513 302 211 38 5 10 NA

9 119 86 33 17 1 3 117

10 403 258 145 17 44 17 380

11 801 396 405 19 16 179 NA

12 1,864 1,132 732 60 38 106 NA

13 155 90 65 6 0 3 97

14 907 588 319 30 13 8 NA

7 The Apprentice numbers contained herein are based on the DEEWR database records for commencement periods 1 and

2. It is noted that there is a slight variation between these records and the Final Reports of some AACs as to the total

number of Australian Apprentices as at 30 June 2011. However, this variation is slight (28 Australian Apprentices) and the

numbers do not affect the overall data output substantially (<0.1%) and are not expected to affect any conclusions drawn

herein.


15 1,169 655 514 126 26 228 1,169

16 2,303 945 1,358 67 43 323 647

17 569 323 246 16 9 10 117

18 1,480 730 750 26 26 92 NA

Total 20,175 11,161 9,014 740 414 1,703 4,232

%

55.2 44.6 3.7 2.1 8.4 21.0

Numbers of Kickstart apprentices ranged from a minimum of 137 to a maximum of 3564 at any one

AAC and most started in the first Commencement period of December 2009 to February 2010. The

Priority Employment Areas cohort had the largest intake (20.9%) and the Disability cohort had the

smallest (2.1%) retention rates.

Table 7.2 shows the retention rates for the whole group of Kickstart Australian Apprentices and for

the four target cohorts, and two commencement period groups.

Table 7.2 Retention rates for four Target cohorts and two Commencement period groups

Retention rates (percentages of total group)

AAC Total Commencement

Period 1 Commencement

Period 2 Indigenous Australians

Persons with

Disability

Australian School-Based

Apprentices

Priority Employment

Areas

1 78.1% 79.5% 77.5% 74.1% 65.9% 80.9% NA

2 78.9% 78.3% 79.3% 65.6% 60.0% 56.8% 74.5%

3 79.0% 81.0% 76.0% 100.0% 58.0% 83.0% 80.6%

4 86.0% 88.0% 83.0% 116.7% 13.8% 35.1% NA

5 88.1% 91.8% 82.6% 38.0% 44.2% 43.9% 46.2%

6 92.0% 97.0% 84.0% 89.5% 100.0% 87.5% NA

7 90.8% 90.8% 90.9% 88.1% 83.5% 89.1% 91.4%

8 91.6% 94.3% 87.6% 55.2% 100.0% 100.0% NA

9 83.0% 79.0% 88.0% 82.0% 100.0% 100.0% 83.0%

10 91.5% 93.0% 88.3% 75.0% 40.0% 76.5% 89.0%

11 88.4% 88.6% 80.7% 68.0% 81.3% 87.0% NA

12 70.3% 68.3% 73.4% 58.6% 68.4% 53.8% NA

13 85.8% 87.8% 83.1% 100.0% NA 33.3% 90.7%

14 89.4% 91.6% 85.9% 82.2% 83.5% 100.0% NA

15 83.5% 83.1% 84.8% 75.4% 80.8% 74.6% 83.5%

16 82.0% 79.0% 81.5% 71.5% 85.0% 88.0% 89.0%

17 82.3% 81.4% 83.3% 68.8% 66.7% 100.0% 66.7%

18 79.8% 85.6% 74.1% 73.6% 77.4% 72.8% NA

Avg. 84.5% 85.5% 82.4% 76.8% 71.1% 75.7% 79.5%

The mean retention rate in the period December 2009 to November 2010 was 84.5%, that is, a loss

of 15.5% of all apprentices. This rate is larger than that estimated from the survey completions

where 1597 apprentices completed the survey and 105 apprentices completed exit surveys


(indicating a 6.2% loss, or a retention rate of 93.8%). This suggests the survey is less representative

of the Exit Apprentices.

The losses in the first and second commencement periods were very similar. Of the four target

cohorts, the Priority Employment Areas cohort had the smallest percentage loss (an attrition rate of

20.6% or a retention rate of 79.5%) and the Disability cohort had the largest (an attrition rate of

28.9% or a retention rate of 71.1%). Thus the retention rates across all four target cohorts are very

similar and less than that for the sample as a whole. Thus members of the target cohorts are more

at risk of exiting than other apprentices.

Table 7.3 Retention rates for all apprentices for three time periods within each of two Commencement periods

Retention rates (percentages)

Commencement Period 1 Commencement Period 2

AAC number

3 Months 6 Months 12 Months

(Where Applicable)

3 Months 6 Months 12 Months

(Where Applicable)

1 98.6% 95.6% 84.6% 92.1% 84.0% NA

2 90.3% 84.5% 77.2% 89.3% 80.3% 75.1%

3 98.7% 97.3% 82.4% 92.7% 86.0% 76.5%

4 100.0% 100.0% 97.0% 90.0% 85.0% 84.0%

5 99.7% 96.2% 87.2% 99.0% 89.5% 50.3%

6 99.0% 97.0% 92.0% 92.0% 84.0% 79.0%

7 100.0% 100.0% 98.8% 99.6% 94.6% 88.8%

8 99.6% 98.4% 68.6% NA NA NA

9 99.0% 89.5% 89.2% 97.0% 90.9% 87.9%

10 100.0% 100.0% 98.4% 97.2% 95.8% 93.7%

11 94.6% 90.4% 80.7% 88.9% 80.3% 70.1%

12 97.0% 91.0% 82.5% 93.6% 93.6% NA

13 100.0% 100.0% 87.8% 98.5% 92.3% 83.1%

14 99.5% 99.8% 96.8% 97.8% 91.9% 19.4%

15 100.0% 99.2% 85.5% 92.6% 86.0% 81.1%

16 90.0% 84.0% 70.0% 88.0% 80.0% 73.0%

17 106.0%8 100.9% 89.5% 98.4% 88.6% NA

18 99.3% 95.8% 85.6% 89.2% 80.1% 74.1%

Avg. 98.4% 95.5% 86.3% 93.9% 87.2% 74.0%

It may be seen that the retention rates decreased from 3 months to 12 months after the beginning

of both commencement periods. This is as might be expected, however, the point of interest to

note is that the attrition rate increases during the second six months for both commencement

periods (approximately 10% and 13%, respectively) compared with the first three months

8 Where a percentage indicates higher than 100%, generally it indicates that more Apprentices had been

added on in the first three months, thereby increasing the retention rate from the starting date.


(approximately 2% and 6% respectively) and the first six months (approximately 5.5% and 6%

respectively). This suggests that although apprentices may decide to exit at any time, the crucial

period for the majority of those who leave (at least in the first 12 months) is in the second six

months after apprentices commence their apprenticeships.

Analysis on the Exit Survey Data

If an apprentice chose to withdraw from his or her apprenticeship, they were invited to complete a

survey aimed at identifying the reasons for this action and their views on the Mentoring Initiative.

Data were again collected on two occasions, though in this case no person responded twice.

Characteristics of the sample (descriptive statistics)

One hundred and five people withdrew from their apprenticeships and responded to the exit survey.

Thirty-five apprentices who exited their apprenticeships completed the survey on Occasion 1 and 70

on Occasion 2 (again reflecting the different lengths of time of enrolment between the two

occasions).

Table 7.4 shows the characteristics of these Exit Apprentices with a breakdown of frequencies

according to Gender, Region, Commencement period and Target Group membership.

Table 7.4 Characteristics of the Exit Apprentice samples: frequencies by Occasion, Gender, Region, Period of Commencement and Target cohort

Group Sub-group Occasion 1 Occasion 2 Total (%)

Gender Male 19 55 74 (70.5)

Female 16 15 31 (29.5)

Region

Metropolitan 10 43 53 (50.5)

Regional 15 26 41 (39.0)

Remote 7 1 8 (7.6)

Commencement Period

1 23 10 62 (59.0)

2 39 24 34 (32.4)

Target group membership


3 4 7 (6.7)

Persons with Disability

0 1 1 (1.0)

Australian School-based

Apprentices 4 5 9 (8.6)

Priority Employment

Areas 8 29 37 (35.2)

None of the above

20 31 51 (48.6)

Total 105


Most of those Apprentices who chose to exit were male (70.5%), with only 29.5% being females.

However, when compared to the total number apprentices, approximately twice the proportion of

females (11.2%) exited their apprentices than males (5.2%).

Half of all Exited Apprentices were located in metropolitan centres and 59 percent had commenced

in the earlier period (December 2009 to February 2010), indicating that people take some time (at

least several months) to decide to leave an apprenticeship.

As in the sample of current Apprentices, most of the Exited Apprentices were not associated with

any of the target cohorts. If they were, they tended to be in one of the Priority Employment Areas

(35.2%). About 7% were of Indigenous background and just one person reported having a disability.

These proportions are slightly different from those in the Australian Apprentice Survey sample in

some instances: one notable difference is, the larger proportion of Indigenous Australian

Apprentices tending to exit (11.5% of the total number of Australian Apprentice and Exited

Apprentice Indigenous Australians compared with 5.2% of all Apprentices other than the Indigenous

Australians Apprentice cohort). In other words, Indigenous Australians Apprentices appear to be

overrepresented in the Exit Apprentice sample. Similar statistics for the other groups (proportion of

total Exited Apprentices and Australian Apprentices) are 6.6%, 5%, 4.9% and 6.4% for Disability,

Australian School-based Apprentices, Priority Employment Areas and the ‘none’ groups, respectively.

This suggests Indigenous background Apprentices leave apprenticeships at twice the rate of other

groups.

Of the 105 Exited Apprentice respondents, 42 (40%) stated they were going to start, or had already

started, a new Australian Apprenticeship in the future. Also, 26 (24.8% of the total sample of Exited

Apprentices, or 61.9% of the 42 people) had received advice from a mentor in regard to doing this.

In other words, despite leaving their Apprenticeship, approximately 62% of those Exited Apprentices

that planned on moving into another apprenticeship sought a Mentor’s help in doing so. This speaks

highly of a Mentor’s role in the Australian Apprenticeship even for those Apprentices who have left.

Analysis of Access to mentoring

Of 105 Exited Apprentices who responded to the question, 53 (50.5%) said they had accessed

mentoring services and 43 (41%) said they had not. Table 7.5 shows the breakdown of numbers of

Exited Apprentices accessing and not accessing mentors by Target group, Region and

Commencement period. Greater proportions of the Indigenous Australian Apprentices and Priority

Employment Areas group Apprentices had accessed mentoring services, compared with the other

Target groups. Greater proportions of Metropolitan and Remote groups had accessed mentors

rather than not and similarly for both commencement periods.


Table 7.5 Frequencies of Exited Apprentices who had (Yes) and had not (No) accessed mentoring, by Region, Commencement period and Target group

Group Sub-group Access: Yes (%) Access: No (%) Total (%)

Region

Metropolitan 28 (57.14) 21 (42.9) 49 (46.7)

Regional 17 (46) 20 (54) 37 (35.2)

Remote 5 (71.4) 2 (28.6) 7 (6.7)

Commencement Period

1 37 (69.8) 16 (30.2) 53 (50.5)

2 25 (58.1) 18 (41.9) 43 (41)

Target group membership


6 (85.7) 1 (14.3) 7 (6.7)

Persons with Disability

0 (0) 1 (100) 1 (1)


Apprentices 3 33.3) 6 (66.6) 9 (8.6)

Priority Employment

Areas 22 (59.5) 13 (35.1) 37 (35.2)

None of the above

22 (50) 22 (50) 44 (41.9)

Table 7.6 shows some of the reasons the Exited Apprentices agreed had underlain their decision not

to access the help of a mentor, and the number of Exited Apprentices giving each reason. Not being

aware of the Mentoring Initiative was (of the reasons listed in the survey) the main reason, though

still only 18% of the Exited Apprentices surveyed chose it. The second two highest percentages of

Exiting Apprentices indicated that they either did not need mentor support or were capable of doing

the apprenticeship without mentor support. This indicates the need for ongoing risk analysis, which

would allow the mentor to update the risk level of an apprentice and adjust the level of support

being given accordingly. This would be an efficient use of resources. Also evident is the need for

better marketing in order to increase awareness of the initiative as well as the number of

apprentices volunteering to participate in it.


Table 7.6 Reasons for not accessing mentoring and number of exit apprentices giving each reason

Target groups frequency / number of Exit Apprentices (percentage of total for each Target group)

Reason for not accessing mentor

services

Frequency / number of Exit

Apprentices (% of total Exit

group)

Indigenous Australians (% of total

N=7)

Persons with

Disability (% of total N=1)


Apprentices (% of total

N=9)

Priority Employment

Areas (% of total

N=37)

Not aware of mentoring and

support services available

19 (18.1)

1 (14.3)

1 (100)

2 (22.2)

8 (21.6)

Advice/support of mentor not needed

10

(9.5) 0 0

1 (11.1)

3 (8.1)

Capable of doing apprenticeship

without mentoring/support

services

11 (10.5)

1 (14.3)

0 3

(33.3) 3

(8.1)

Other 9

(8.6) 0 0

1 (11.1)

1 (2.7)

Exited Apprentices were asked to identify what services or help they had accessed from mentors.

Table 7.7 shows these numbers for a range of services, according to Gender, Region and Target

group. The service most used was that of helping to resolve conflict/issues at work and the least

used was tips for time management and preparation. This is consistent with qualitative feedback

from the mentor survey wherein mentors were asked to identify at least two actions that

significantly assisted mentees through their Australian Apprentices. Reponses were of a varied

nature; however among the most reported actions were mediating conflicts at work and referral to

services to assist with resolving any issues that might arise during the apprenticeship.


Table 7.7 Numbers of Exited Apprentices accessing different types of mentoring services (out of a total of 105), according to Gender, Region and Target group

Types of mentoring services accessed

Group

Sub group (total

number)

Tips in initial

months

Under-standing

requirements

Advice on resolving

issues

Tips on time management

Career advice

Paperwork assistance

Other

Total/ 105

18 20 27 14 19 17 9

Gender

Male (74)

15 15 19 13 16 11 7

Female (31)

3 5 8 1 3 6 2

Region

Metro (53)

10 12 14 9 9 8 5

Regional (41)

6 6 8 3 5 6 3

Remote (8)

1 2 4 1 4 3 1

Group

Indigenous

Australians (7)

1 3 4 1 2 1 0

Disability (1)

0 0 0 0 0 0 0


Apprentices (9)

0 0 1 0 0 1 0

Priority Employment Areas

(37)

9 11 11 7 11 7 6


Validation of scale

Seven items in the survey addressed the reasons why the apprentice had decided to terminate

his/her apprenticeship. These items were analysed using the Rasch model to establish whether they

might be considered to form a scale measuring a single uni-dimensional property or construct. The

data were entered so that a high score would mean agreement that an item was a reason. The

sample of 105 was sufficient to provide a robust analysis of seven items.

The analysis indicated that the data fitted the Rasch model, that is, the items can be considered to

measure a single construct and thus the scores on each item may be summed to provide a single

measure of a person’s standing on the scale items as a whole. The power of the analysis was

reasonable and the reliability was 0.582. Thus a person with a high score is one who was agreeing

that many of the items were the reasons for termination of an apprenticeship. The one item that

tended not to fit the model (according to the log residual test of it and the item-trait test of fit (chi

square)) was my employer terminated me. As may be seen in Figure 26, it tended not to be able to

discriminate amongst persons in middle and lower persons score ranges as well as other items. This

tells us something about the construct being measured, that is, the scale is about reasons the

apprentice had, rather than reasons the employer had; in other words, it was not necessarily a

choice the apprentice had made. It has, however, been left in the analysis at this stage.

Figure 26 Item Characteristic curve for Item Q13f (My employer terminated me)

A Differential Item analysis indicated no items showing DIF according to Gender, Region, Occasion,

Commencement period, Region or Target group. This means that mean scores for different groups

may legitimately be compared because the construct for all groups is the qualitatively the same. It

also means the samples from the two occasions may be combined since the items represent the

same construct on both occasions. Note that this is a different question from whether any of the

sub-groups endorse the items more or less than each other: this question is answered in the ANOVA

analyses in the later section entitled Comparison of group means.


Table 7.8 shows the item locations on a continuum. The items appearing at the lower end of the

continuum (first in the table) are the ones people tended to endorse, that is, they were important or

main reasons. Thus, changing to other work/study or finding a position with better conditions were

endorsed strongly by many people. Those towards the high end of the scale are ones which the

respondents tended not to endorse as being strong reasons for ending their apprenticeships. Thus

not enjoying the apprenticeship or being terminated by an employer were reasons much less often

endorsed. Those items referring to mentoring services (and also changing to another

apprenticeship) were of middle intensity, being endorsed neither at lot or a little. Clearly, mentoring

services were not major reasons for terminating an apprenticeship.

According to this data, the main reasons that apprentices chose to exit their apprenticeships were

because they to decided to change other work or study, or because of wages or employment

conditions. Very few reported not enjoying their apprenticeship or being terminated. These results

are congruent with the above findings that mentoring can provide a large amount of assistance

when an apprentice is unhappy with their working conditions. It also highlights the need for ongoing

assistance to apprentices who decide to change to other work or study. Something to consider

might be an ongoing service provided to those apprentices who cancel their apprenticeships in order

to help them recommence in a new position. This would in turn increase overall retention rates for

the initiative.

Table 7.8 Locations of items and their content in increasing order of intensity

Item Location (logits)

Content

Q13e -0.25 Decided to change to other work or study

Q13g -0.158 Wages or employment conditions

Q13d 0.004 Decided to change to another Australian apprenticeship

Q13b 0.007 Did not receive enough advice/support from mentor

Q13c 0.036 Mentoring not tailored to my situation

Q13a 0.120 Did not enjoy my Australian apprenticeship

Q13f 0.241 My employer terminated me

The continuum has an equal-interval scale on which both items and persons can be plotted – as

shown in Figure 27. There it can be seen that two people with very high scores strongly agreed with

all items – suggesting these two people may not have engaged properly with the survey questions.

Six people had very low scores – that is, they did not agree that the items were true for them


Figure 27. Distribution of item and person locations: reasons for terminating apprenticeships

Comparison of group means

Table 7.9 presents the mean locations (Rasch scores) for different groups of Exited Apprentices and

the F statistics and p values which indicate whether these differences were statistically significant or

not. As may be seen, the Exited Apprentices did not differ significantly in levels of agreement with

reasons for terminating, across Gender, Region, Commencement period, Occasion, Target group or

Accessing mentors groups. Males tended to endorse items more strongly (felt more strongly about

the reasons, i.e. strongly agree or disagree) compared with females (though not significantly more

so), as did the Indigenous Australian and Priority Employment Areas Apprentice groups compared

with other target cohorts. Metro-based Exited Apprentices tended to endorse items more strongly

than Regional or Remote Apprentices, as did Exited Apprentices who had started in the first rather

than the second commencement period.

Table 7.9 Mean locations (std dev) on Reasons Exited Apprentices terminated, together with F statistics and p values comparing means of sub-groups

Group Sub-group N Mean location in logits (std dev)

F statistic Prob. value

Whole sample 82 0.09 (1.00)

Occasion One 29 0.17 (0.82) 0.286 0.594

Two 53 0.05 (1.08)

Gender Male 56 0.14 (1.02) 0.512 0.476

Female 26 -0.03 (0.95)


Target group


5 0.15 (0.57) 1.882 0.147

Disability 1 -0.84 (0)


Apprentices

8 -0.64 (0.68)

Priority Employment

Areas 32 0.17 (1.02)

None of the above

38 0.20 (1.04)

Region

Metro 42 0.20 (1.12) 0.887 0.416

Regional 32 -0.06 (0.87)

Remote 6 -0.23 (0.63)

Commencement period

1 50 0.16 (1.02) 0.566 0.454

2 32 -0.02 (0.97)

Accessed mentor Yes 45 0.13 (1.10) 0.132 0.717

No 37 0.04 (0.86)

Overall, it is important to note that survey results indicated that though some apprentices exited

from their apprenticeships, many sought the advice of mentors in doing so and for further career

advice, especially those in the Indigenous Australian and Priority Employment Areas groups. In fact,

40% of apprentices who exited indicated that they intended on seeking another apprenticeship and

sought the advice of mentors in doing so and for further career advice. This was true more so for

those in metropolitan and remote areas than regional. Mentors appear to have had an important

role for these apprentices as well as for those who remained in their apprenticeships.

8. Impact of Communication, Engagement and Support Methods on Retention:

It is important to note not only quantitative but also qualitative impacts that the Kickstart Mentoring

Initiative has had on the various stakeholders. Included in this section of the Review is a summary of

stakeholder experience with and support for the Mentoring Initiative, followed by an in-depth

analysis of what approaches and strategies utilised by the AACs seemed to have the greatest impact

on the retention of Australian Apprentices.


Stakeholder Experience with and Support for the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative

The overall stakeholder response to the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative was positive. Below is a brief

summary of stakeholder views of the Initiative.

Australian Apprenticeship Centres: Overall AACs indicated strong supportive for the initiative and there was a general view that the

initiative is a positive approach to improving retention rates. In implementing the initiative AACs

were able to utilise existing resources, including field officers, internal databases and stakeholder

networks which enabled the development of a methodology/approach that would be suitable for

mentoring and support services.

Kickstart Australian Apprentices:

Generally, Kickstart Australian Apprentices agreed that the mentoring and support services

provided by Australian Apprenticeship Centres are assisting them in their apprenticeship.

Positive stories from Kickstart Australian Apprentices on how mentors had assisted them

with personal issues and been successful in resolving issues/conflicts with employers/RTOs.

Kickstart Australian Apprentices appreciate the support and guidance from Mentors and

gain comfort in having someone acting in their best interests.

Employers:

Employers of Kickstart Australian Apprentices were generally informed about the initiative at

the sign up of the Apprentice and through other communication methods which included

brochures/flyers and ongoing Mentor contact.

Employers are becoming highly involved in the referral of Kickstart Australian Apprentices to

mentoring and support services.

Some reluctance by employers to get involved. The reason for the reluctance was thought to

be due to the change of relationship required to generate engagement. Employers had

existing relationships with field staff that were generally more business-minded and had

more of a “sales relationship” with employers.

Introducing Mentors may take some time as employers come to terms with the initiative

and understand the specific role of the mentor and how they fit into the Apprenticeship

system.


Retention of Target Cohorts

Target cohorts made up 59.7% of the whole sample of Australian Apprentices surveyed. Most were

in Priority Employment Areas (44.8%), followed by Australian School-based Apprentices (10.6%),

Indigenous Australians (3.4%), then Persons with Disability (less than 1%).

Members of the four Target cohorts had lower retention rates than those who were not members of

one of the cohort groups, that is, they are more at risk of exiting their apprenticeships. Retention

rates were lower for the four cohorts in general than for the whole group of apprentices. Attrition

rate was highest in the Priority Employment Areas cohort (21%) and lowest in the Disability cohort

(2.1%), with Australian School-based Apprentices (8.4%) and Indigenous Australians (3.7%) between

these two extremes.

In general, many of the findings made above applied to the four target cohorts as it did to the

general Australian Apprenticeship population. It was also identified, as stated above, that very few

of the AACs had specific measures in place distinguishing unique services that would be made

available to the different targeted cohorts. Very little data, therefore, could be identified as to

models or strategies that had any impact on the retention rate of the target cohorts. However, this

Review has identified some practices that may aid in the retention of these cohorts in future

initiatives:

For all target cohorts, increasing the frequency of contact as well as the quality of contact

(e.g. face-to-face visits rather than telephone contacts);

For Indigenous Australians, providing cultural awareness training to Mentors;

For Australian School-Based Apprentices, providing increased support during the transition

into full-time employment as well as encouraging the involvement of the various

stakeholders in these types of apprenticeships (e.g. TAFE, parents/guardians, etc.);

For persons with disability, having a network of agencies on hand for referral such as

DAAWS, DES, etc.;

For Priority Employment Areas, increased help with knowledge of incentives and subsidies

that are available as well as regular contact and consultations with the employers.

Practices that Had a Positive Impact on Retention Rates

Table 8.1 Shows the Thematic Analysis of AAC strategies and models for providing mentoring and

support services to Australian Apprentices according to their overall retention rates. It is important

to note that all participating AACs reported an increase in their overall retention rate of Australian

Apprentices and therefore a positive outcome of the Mentoring Initiative. Also, this Review did not

identify any practices or strategy that appeared to have a negative impact on retention rates, and

therefore addresses only those aspects of models that had a positive impact or no impact at all.



Table 8.1 Thematic analysis by AAC in Retention Rate

AAC

Wide use of

online and

other

telecommun

ications/soci

al media

Ongoing risk

assessments

Personalised

plans for

Apprentices

Specific

details of

intervention

s for

Apprentices

Specific

mentor

features

Significant

support to

employer

Engagement

with

parents,

RTOs, etc.

More

contact with

apprentices

than the

contract

specifies

Career

developmen

t and

guidance

Support for

Cancelled

apprentices

AAC # 1 X X X X X X

AAC #2 X X

AAC #3 X X X X X

AAC #4 X X X X X X X

AAC #5 X X X X X X X


AAC

Wide use of

online and

other

telecommun

ications/soci

al media

Ongoing risk

assessments

Personalised

plans for

Apprentices

Specific

details of

intervention

s for

Apprentices

Specific

mentor

features

Significant

support to

employer

Engagement

with

parents,

RTOs, etc.

More

contact with

apprentices

than the

contract

specifies

Career

developmen

t and

guidance

Support for

Cancelled

apprentices

AAC #6 X X

AAC #7 X X X X X

AAC #8 X X

AAC #9 X X X

AAC #10 X X X X X X

AAC #11 X X


AAC

Wide use of

online and

other

telecommun

ications/soci

al media

Ongoing risk

assessments

Personalised

plans for

Apprentices

Specific

details of

intervention

s for

Apprentices

Specific

mentor

features

Significant

support to

employer

Engagement

with

parents,

RTOs, etc.

More

contact with

apprentices

than the

contract

specifies

Career

developmen

t and

guidance

Support for

Cancelled

apprentices

AAC #12 X X X X X X

AAC #13 X X X X X

AAC #14 X X X X X X X X

AAC #15 X X X X

AAC #16 X X X X X X


AAC

Wide use of

online and

other

telecommun

ications/soci

al media

Ongoing risk

assessments

Personalised

plans for

Apprentices

Specific

details of

intervention

s for

Apprentices

Specific

mentor

features

Significant

support to

employer

Engagement

with

parents,

RTOs, etc.

More

contact with

apprentices

than the

contract

specifies

Career

developmen

t and

guidance

Support for

Cancelled

apprentices

AAC #17 X X X X

AAC #18 X X X X X X



After consideration of the above thematic analysis and survey responses, compared to the retention

rates for AACs of various levels, the Project Team has identified six key attributes of AAC Models

with the highest retention rates:








A network of resources and agencies to provide “wrap around” support to the apprentice

The following is an in-depth discussion of the impact of the above key practices, with statistical

support where appropriate. It is important to note that not all of these approaches were utilised by

each AAC, and that many AACs with lower retention rates also utilised these approaches. It is also of

high importance to note that each of the AACs reported a measurable increase in their retention

rates. This model is put forward as an example only and does not claim to be exhaustive of the

approaches that will increase retention rates.

Formalised Risk Assessment Tool

As discussed above, most AACs had some form of a risk assessment strategy to identify those

Australian Apprentices who were most at risk of leaving their apprenticeship in order to provide a

more ‘intense’ support program to high risk individuals. According to analysis, those AACs with a

formalised risk assessment tool or strategy were also those whose Apprentices held a more positive

attitude toward the Mentoring Initiative as a whole. Such positive views of the support being

received can be a strong influence over whether an Apprentice chooses to seek out Mentoring

support should an issue arise and is therefore considered to be an important aspect of a successful

support service model.

Table 8.2 shows the mean retention rates and apprentices’ attitudes to Mentoring Initiative,

according to risk assessment strategy. There are no significant differences amongst the three types

of risk assessment as regards Retention rates, though retention rate was slightly higher for the

formal risk assessment AACs. There was, however, a significant difference amongst the three risk

assessment types in regard to apprentices’ attitudes towards the Mentoring Initiative, with

apprentices coming from AACs using formal risk assessment strategies being much more positive

towards the program.

In all cases, including the four target cohorts, apprentices’ views on the mentoring services were

more positive for those AACs who planned formal risk assessment.


Table 8.2 Retention rates and Apprenticeship Attitudes to mentoring by Risk Assessment types

Risk assessment

Number of Risk

assessment

Type of risk assessment

N Retention

rate F p N

Mean App Attitude

to Mentoring Initiative (std dev)

F p

1 None

Reported 5

82.30 (3.91)

0.807 0.464 46 2.26 (2.32) 29.494 <0.001

2 Informal 7 84.01 (7.57)

158 2.48 (2.05)

3 Formal 7 86.01 (5.11)

237 4.14 (2.51)

Total 18 84.47 (5.91)

441 3.35 (2.48)

Table 8.3 Attitudes to mentoring of apprentices in four Target cohorts by Risk assessment

Risk assessment

Cohort Risk ass

type N

Mean locations

Std Dev F p


1 2 1.88 1.42 3.076 0.072

2 7 2.77 2.16

3 11 5.15 2.60

Disability

1 -

2 1 6.52

3 4 4,82 2.42


Apprentices

1 4 2.80 2.67 2.167 0.124

2 14 2.56 1.68

3 41 4.06 2.65

Priority 1 8 2.96 3.17 7.104 0.001


Employment Areas

2 136 2.33 1.96

3 65 3.56 2.44

Active engagement of the Employer in the Mentoring Model

Most AACs in their proposals advocated some level of employer support or engagement with the

apprenticeship and its processes. The support or engagement included activities such as workshops

for employers on workplace relations, assistance with better recruitment practices, cultural

awareness and round table discussions between the mentor, apprentice and employer. The

approach used often by AACs that appeared to have a positive affect was that of meeting with

employer within the initial stages of the mentoring program in order to assess the employment

“environment,” as well as assisting the employer with issues that may arise during the

apprenticeship such as mediating problems with the apprentice and informing them of any benefits

(non wage) they may be entitled to.

A number of AACs also identified via qualitative feedback that the mentoring initiative should be

expanded to include a mentoring service to employers, in order to alleviate any conflict that may

arise due to employer/apprentice differences. In this regard, this Review recognises that the

approach adopted by the mentor in their first meeting with the employer is a critical point that can

achieve employer “buy in” to the mentoring arrangement.

There are, however, mixed views from the AACs in regards to whether it is realistic to actively

include employers in the mentoring model. Issues put forward are that certain employers are not

receptive to accepting that communication approaches or attitudes of different generations may

require a different approach to the way in which the employer interacts/engages with the

apprentices. It is noted, however, that this view appears to be the exception rather than the general

rule.

The presence of a plan for employer support or engagement was measured against Apprentice

attitude towards the program for both the general survey respondents and the respondents

representing the four target cohorts. Apprentices from those AACs with some level of employer

support or that advocated of employer engagement in the apprenticeship held a more positive

attitude towards the Mentoring Initiative. This is also true of all target cohorts.


Table 8.4 Numbers of AACs inviting different levels of Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement

Number of Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement, Yes or No

Frequency (Number of AACs)

Percentage

1 No 3 16.7%

2 Yes 15 83.3%

Total 18 100%

Table 8.5 Retention rates and Apprentice attitudes to mentoring by Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement,

Yes or No N

Retention rate

F p N

Mean App Attitude to Mentoring Initiative (std dev)

F p

No 3 86.49 (3.03)

0.408 0.532 42 1.85 (2.04) 17.556 <0.001

Yes 15 84.06 (6.33)

399 3.51 (2.48)

Total 18 84.47 (5.91)

441 3.35 (2.48)

Table 8.6 Attitudes to mentoring of Apprentices in the four target cohorts by Employer Engagement

Employer Engagement

Cohort Employer

Engagement Type

N Mean

Locations Std. Dev. F P


1 1 0.08 2.04

2 19 4.16 2.56

Disability 1 1.29 -

2 4 6.13 0.62



Apprentices

1 1 0.08 -

19 4.16 2.56

Priority Employment

Areas

1 21 1.95 2.04 2.936 0.088

2 188 2.83 2.23

Low Apprentice per Mentor Ratio

According to the statistical analysis, one of the most influential features of an AAC was the number

of apprentices each mentor had. As stated above, this was a key indicator of attitude towards the

Mentoring Initiative as a program. It also appeared to have somewhat of an effect on retention

rates, with the greatest attrition rate being in those AACs with an average of 301+ apprentices per

mentor.

Of the five identified highest performing AACs (with regard to retention rates), three had an

apprentice to mentor ratio of under 100 apprentices to one mentor. Within these three, the ratios

ranged from 51:1 to 98:1. The other two high performing AACs had ratios of 129:1 and 207:1.

Regarding target cohorts, the only pattern that was apparent when looking at the top five retention

rates for AACs within each cohort was that of Persons with Disability. Four of the five top

performing AACs (with regard to retention rates of Persons with Disability) had less than 100

apprentices per mentor (a range of 34:1 to 98:1).

The ranges for the remaining target cohorts varied widely, to the extent that no statistical

conclusions could be drawn. However, the Review notes that the broad range of apprentice to

mentor ratios within these contexts is probably an indicator that, while the apprentice to mentor

ratio is an important aspect of an AAC’s approach to retaining apprentices, it is not the sole factor

contributing to retention rates (E.g. other factors such as the effectiveness of the risk assessment

tool, quality of the mentor attributes, network arrangements in place etc. will also influence

retention rates).

This Review notes that there was no material difference in the apprentice per mentor ratio

specifically for the target cohorts. Instead, the AACs that applied a comprehensive risk assessment

tool would generally classify the target cohort as “high risk” and accordingly such apprentices would

receive a greater level of contact than others in the “low” or “medium” risk categories.


Table 8.7 Mean differences in Retention rates for the four Target Cohorts, by average number of Apprentices per mentor in 16 AACs

Group Average number of

Apps per mentor N

Mean retention rate

Standard deviation

F p

All cohorts 1-150 6 87.64 5.37 2.437 0.126

151-300 6 85.78 3.98

> 300 4 79.94 7.55

Total 16 85.02 6.01


1-150 6 82.83 15.04 1.089 0.365

151-300 6 79.78 26.82

> 300 4 65.23 4.64

Total 16 77.28 19.31

Disability 1-150 6 87.50 16.56 4.553 0.034

151-300 5 51.24 27.98

> 300 4 69.09 8.88

Total 15 70.50 24.40


Apprentices

1-150 6 93.27 7.64 6.777 0.010

151-300 6 56.03 20.73

> 300 4 74.38 22.74

Total 74.58 23.31

Priority Employment

Areas 1-150 3 84.98 5.64 0.545 0.606

151-300 4 77.35 20.99

> 300 2 70.57 5.51

Total 9 78.38 14.46


To summarise, there was an 85% retention rate for all cohorts in all AACs, that is, about 15% attrition

rate. The greatest attrition rate occurred in AACs with more than 300 apprentices. Indigenous

Australian Apprentices had the highest attrition rate and Priority Employment Areas had the

smallest. The attrition rate is greatest for Indigenous Australian Apprentices in AACs with more than

300 apprentices. For the Disability, Australian School-based Apprentices and Priority Employment

Areas cohorts, the greatest attrition rate occurs in the AACs with 151-300 apprentices. The numbers

in AACs in each of the three categories are so small, however, that the evidence for these indications

is weak. The F statistics suggest these differences between AAC apprenticeship categories may be

significant only for the Disability and Australian School-based Apprentices cohorts. For all groups,

the attrition rate appears to be least in those AACs with the smallest number of Apprentices, that is,

in the 1 to 150 category.

There is merit, therefore, in limiting the number of Australian Apprentices per Mentor to less than

150. This is supported by the statistical evidence as stated above as well as the qualitative feedback

given by both Australian Apprentices and Mentors. Limiting the Apprentice per Mentor ratio would

allow the Mentor to better divide their time between those Australian Apprentices who needed

more attention and those who are less likely to need increased support. This approach would also

lend itself well to the risk-based approach discussed above

For the purposes of clarifying the details of the last three of the above key attributes in practice, the

following is a summary of the methodologies put in place by the AACs with the top 5 highest

retention rates.

A flexible, risk management-based approach in the implementation of a communication

/interaction protocol

This review recognises based on the survey responses, statistical analysis and qualitative feedback

from stakeholders, that there is a need to keep communication protocols flexible. This allows for

the communications with Australian Apprentices to remain suitably tailored to their needs, as they

may change throughout the course of their Apprenticeship. This also complements a risk

management approach, wherein should an Apprentices’ level of risk change, the protocol for

contacting that Apprentice would also change, in order to intervene at the earliest stage possible

with any issues or problems that might arise. The following are examples from AACs with high

retention rates of how such a protocol might look in practice.

Australian Apprentice Centre # 1

A specified contact schedule in addition to AASS contractual requirements that targeted key

milestones in the first twelve months of an Apprenticeship was delivered. The contact schedule was

comprised of a minimum of 5 extra contacts with Australian Apprentices, at key points in the first 12

months of the Apprenticeship (e.g. the 4 week mark after sign up, 8 weeks, 11 weeks, 18 weeks and

9 month mark). These key points were altered subject to the Australian Apprentice’s particular

situation and needs. The contacts provided the mentors with an opportunity to mentor Australian

Apprentices through any issues concerning them that could potentially impact on the successful

completion of their apprenticeship.



Direct letters were sent to all identified Apprentices, along with copies to their employers. For those

that signed up from 1 July 2010 the sign up contact would continue to be attended by staff to ensure

that information was conveyed as required but under the Mentoring project, Kickstart Extension

eligible apprentices would also be introduced to the mentoring service with follow up to be

undertaken through correspondence to the apprentice (copied to the employer) of the details of the

service as it relates to each individual.

Each apprentice was to be visited at least 4 times during the project period of 1 July 2010 to 30 June

2011.


Kickstart apprentices that signed up prior to 1 July were identified and referred by the

administration team within the first month of the program. They were sent a printed brochure and

letter outlining the additional support available and were advised that a mentor would contact them

within 10 days.

Kickstart Apprentices signed up after 1 July were automatically referred to the project by the Field

Officers during normal sign up activities. The Field Officers provided a printed brochure, briefly

explained the additional support available and collected a signed 1295 form to ensure the Mentor

could talk to all stakeholders to the apprenticeship including the employer (or GTO), RTO, school and

parents, guardian or partner or other service providers.

Referral was made via electronic notification to our mentors using our internal systems. At any time

a request for referral could also be lodged by a concerned stakeholder or eligible Kickstart

Apprentice not currently enrolled in the program.

Within 2 days of referral, the mentor would contact the Apprentice via telephone to introduce

themselves and arrange and assessment interview. Mentors conducted the assessment face to face

where ever possible, or at a minimum via the telephone. The assessment would be completed by

the Mentor within 10 days of sign up. This is a critical first step in building rapport with the

apprentice and establishing a trusting relationship.

The risk rating from the risk assessment dictated the frequency and intensity of mentoring support.

A mentoring plan for each apprentice was developed using information gathered during the

assessment.



Immediate Engagement- the Apprentice was advised of the service at the sign up by the Field

Officer. The Mentor then contacted the Apprentice within 10 days of the sign up. This ensured that

the Apprentice was engaged from the outset.

Initial contact was made as follows for Existing Kickstart Initiative Apprentices:

1. Telephone contact made

2. Introduction of the Mentoring program

3. Provision of information about the program

4. Negotiation of an individual Mentoring plan

For Extension Apprentices:

1. A Field Officer discussed the program at sign up

2. Provision of information brochures about the program

3. Advise that a Mentor would contact them within 10 working days

Part of the project is that the apprentice and the mentor created a customised plan to suit the needs

of the apprentice, including communication frequency and methods. The service used a range of

communication methods such as face to face meetings, interactive social media, email, SMS and

telephone to enable easy access to Mentors. The mentoring plan was reviewed on an ongoing basis

to ensure that services are always needs based.


The strategy was to initially make contact by phone to the Kickstart Apprentices and employers

making them aware of the program and possibly what support services could be available under the

mentoring model.

Phone interviews would then be conducted to ask a series of questions from the Risk Assessment

Tool that enabled the mentor to best determine a contact schedule over the following months, and

also assess the risk factor that may impact the retention of the Australian Apprentice. Following this

interview a visit schedule was developed based on their risk category, these visits would be

preferably face to face or phone visits if not suitable. Through the questions which were asked at

the initial face to face visit it was easy to establish what type of possible intervention strategies were

needed from other parties.

Australian Apprentices and employers were also visited at the 12 week mark to remind them about

their entitlements and to assist to complete the documentation required for the payments.

Specific solutions included additional contact visits at key points in apprenticeships. This was to be

at the three month point for all apprentices and on a needs basis for Australian Apprentices

considered to be unhappy or otherwise at risk of dropping out.

The proposal also included SMS to keep in touch with apprentices.


The appointment of mentors that have highly developed engagement attributes and problem

solving abilities

Example # 1

Kickstart mentors were recruited from the existing AAC team but required additional specialised

training appropriate to the Kickstart program and the target market. To this end, experienced

Apprenticeship Consultants from the current team received additional training in areas such as

communications with, and management of, younger workers, cultural awareness and working with

people with a disability. Three “younger” members of the current team to fulfil the roles as Kickstart

Mentors were also selected. These three staff members had already demonstrated an ability to

relate to, communicate with and mentor the younger Australian Apprentice client base. One mentor

was to operate in each of the three regional areas.

Example # 2The use of industry credible mentors was underpinned by detailed program knowledge

being available to them through existing staff. In cases where the apprentice was from a key target

group, the key stakeholder group would include points of reference for guidance and if needed,

intervention to achieve the overarching goal of increased awareness in decision making points for

the apprentice and improved retention.

Example # 3

Does not provide information on the background or attributes of their mentors, the mentors have a

large amount of involvement with all aspects of the program.

Example # 4

The mentoring staff consisted of 1 Program Coordinator, 6 Apprenticeship Mentors and 3 Mentor

Support Officers. Mentors were trained in the Australian Apprenticeship Support Services program

to enable them to identify when changes or issues need to be reported. 3 Indigenous Mentors who

provide mentoring services to Indigenous Employment Program (IEP) projects in 3 regions. Where

appropriate their services were utilised as part of the Kickstart Mentoring program.

Suitably qualified Mentors with the skill sets to identify issues and provide suitable solutions. This

enables them to determine whether to deal with issues ‘in house’ or to refer to specialist external

organisations.

Example # 5

Did not provide information on the background or attributes of their mentors, however their hotline

was staffed with consultants with an understanding of apprenticeships and the vocational education

sector and they employ a full time Indigenous advisor whose role is to ensure all services and

strategies are culturally appropriate for Indigenous Australians.


A network of resources and agencies to provide “wrap around” support to the apprentice

Example # 1

High risk Australian Apprentices may be referred by other services to us or referred by us to

specialised support services that support young people to build better lives for themselves and helps

make our community a more inclusive and safer place, and will be additionally supported though a

team approach of the involved providers. Where possible and with appropriate permissions

Kickstart Mentors will attend meetings between their apprentices and referral support services.

We work very closely with Indigenous and Disability support services to grow commencements and

maximise retention rates and successful completions of Australian Apprentice’s in these key priority

groups. The Program further enhanced service support to these Australian Apprentices. Service

support providers assisting with these cohorts of Australian Apprentices had input into the

development and design of this Kickstart Mentoring Program and saw the program as an

opportunity to increase the participation rates of these key priority groups.

Kickstart Mentors received access to a wide range of relevant internal and external support services

for Australian Apprentices and could facilitate referral to these on an as needed basis. These

support services ranged from Indigenous support services to assistance with personal budgeting.

Example # 2

As member of a group of companies and consequently has the benefit of access to other specialised

services with the group for potential benefit to Apprentices. These include group employment

services, Job Services Australia (JSA), DES services and training services (both accredited and non-

accredited). Kickstart Mentors have a good knowledge of group services which enabled them to

provide effective and relevant solutions for both Apprentices and their employers.

Example # 3

The steering committee consisting of members from industry advised on directions for specific

difficulties when required.

Access to the information dissemination mechanisms will be pursued.

The conduct of the project was to involve one group member which has responsibility for revitalising

urban renewal including addressing Aboriginal community needs. It was also intended to include the

participation of an ‘open employment’ program that finds jobseekers work in the general

community, with the same working conditions as people who do not have a disability. Finally, AAC

has an extensive relationship with schools across the region which provides the opportunity to build

on established arrangements to publicise and provide mentoring to School Based Australian

Apprentices in the project cohort.

In cases where the Apprentice was from a key target group, the key stakeholder group included

points of reference for guidance and if needed, intervention to achieve the overarching goal of

increased awareness in decision making points for the apprentice and improved retention.


Kickstart mentors met regularly to determine the continuity of contact on specific cases.

Effective use of the employment services to pick up the cancelled apprentices to help them to

recommence, particularly and as an example, when there is irrevocable breakdown in the

employment relationship between the employer and the Australian Apprentice.

Example # 4

To help increase retention of apprentices with Disability mentors have worked closely with other

stakeholders including Disability Employment Services to help ensure that appropriate support is in

place and where possible, that apprentices are placed into employment suitable to their abilities.

The Mentors also worked in partnership with TAFE to ensure state funding under ‘equity assistance’

is accessed in cases where DAAWS eligibility isn’t met to assist those with LLN issues.

Strategies to support high and medium risk Kickstart apprentices include building linkages and

networks with relevant community/support and specialist service providers Mentors facilitated

referral to external services, and actively followed up to ensure the service was provided and

continued to address any other risks that may be affecting the Apprentice.

Our mentors also made directories of relevant service providers available to all apprentices online so

they can access support independently if required. They also used social media tools appropriate the

cohort to facilitate group based support activities. These included blogs, forums.

Liaising with RTOs/schools to ensure additional learning supports are provided and continue as

needed for Apprentices with learning difficulties to assist them to complete their vocational training.

Specific strategies to support Indigenous and apprentices with disability will include linking to

existing programs to access specialist expertise.

Mentors communicated with stakeholders to the apprenticeship, i.e. employer, RTO or school and

parents/guardian or partner, to raise their awareness of the Mentoring Initiative, the common risks

to retention, and strategies they could use in their capacity to support the Apprentices. They also

were encouraged to refer non-participating apprentices to our program if needed.

Example # 5

The AAC has a broad network of existing relationships, all of which were utilised to provide a holistic

support environment for the apprentice.

A team approach was used whereby should a Mentor be on leave, another Mentor or Telephone

Mentor is available. A thorough handover process was put in place to deal with this eventuality.

The apprentice was advised in advance wherever possible.

Example # 6

Apprentices were advised (where applicable) that they could be eligible for financial

assistance/rental assistance through Centrelink. This was greatly appreciated as the wages earned


by the Apprentice was sometimes not enough to manage the weekly costs, and quite often was a

concern that they raised. The AAC also worked with them to ensure that they claimed their

entitlements and provided information on Commonwealth and State government incentives.

The AAC was able to tap into some of the other divisions within their organisation, for example a

division that was able to provide a number of Apprentices with services such as support with

counselling, and organising accommodation and also providing the link for extra financial assistance

through the Wyatt program.

If an Apprenticeship was cancelled or withdrawn, Apprentices were given the opportunity to utilise

the facilities and resources JSA sites to continue looking for opportunities.

The AAC utilised the services of their Psychological Service Specialists for counselling free of charge

to the Apprentice or Employer and this would be offered both over the phone and face to face.

In addition the AAC also arranged transportation to ensure that the Apprentice received the service

they required.

Where MA did not have vocational services in the area, they investigated and found services offered

by other providers who could assist the Apprentice depending on the issue, an example of this was

arranging Life Line to visit an Apprentice and the Employer to work through issues and maintain the

Apprenticeship.


9. Case Studies and Success Stories The following are detailed case studies and success stories provided by various AACs and Mentors

designed to provide a snapshot of issues Australian Apprentices face and how the Mentoring

Initiative has helped to address them.9 Of note is that where the information has been provided, it

appears that the majority of these issues were presented 6 to 12 months into the Apprenticeship.

Apprentice Information

How old was the apprentice? 18

Was the apprentice from one of the four

targeted cohorts?

Aboriginal or Strait Torres Islander

Person with a Disability

Australian School-Based Apprenticeship

Priority Employment Area

None of the above

Male Female

At what point in the apprenticeship did the issue

arise? (e.g. 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, etc)

6-12 months

Please describe the issue encountered:

Apprentice was having anger management issues that ultimately resulted in termination from the

apprenticeship on the grounds of safety more than anything else. The employer really wanted to

help but felt, for the apprentice’s own safety he had to be let go.

What actions were taken by those involved to solve the problem? (i.e. by the mentor, the AAC, the

apprentice, and the employer where applicable)

As the underlying cause of the issue was health related there was little we could do on that front,

other than provide as much support to the apprentice and his parents as possible. The issue was

initially raised by the apprentice’s parent who was actually very supportive of the employer and

confirmed that he really had no alternative.

What was the result?

Apprentice was terminated but it was for the right reasons. I understand he has subsequently been

re-engaged in another training program.

9 Further success stories provided by the Mentors for the Kickstart Mentor Survey are located in Appendix A of

this Report.


What resources, if any, were applied by the AAC to facilitate addressing the issue (i.e. consulting a

psychologist, etc.)

Our support was in the area of providing guidance and advice on the variety of services available to

assist in re-engagement. This included the State Training Service out of trade register, discussing

options around Group Training and other possible pathways for him to continue training.

How could the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative be amended to enhance the way problems are dealt

with?

We have a psychologist engaged as part of our program so it was beneficial having that resource on

hand to discuss possible options for this situation. From my perspective therefore I felt the program

worked well in this case, however earlier intervention probably would not have resulted in a

different outcome. It’s a broader issue, but possibly some form of aptitude testing as part of the

recruitment process may have identified the issue earlier. I believe there’s scope to cost effectively

incorporate this in the future Australian Apprenticeship Support Service model.




targeted cohorts?





None of the above

Male Female



6 months


We received a call from the Apprentice’s parent outlining the situation. The Apprentice was

undergoing a school based apprenticeship and while the work side was going well, he was not

performing well at school. The parent wanted to speak to a mentor about some possible solutions.




We put one of our mentors in touch with the parent and they had a lengthy discussion about the

options. The mentor advised that the crux of the problem was his at school behaviour and not the

job performance, so it was a bit ‘outside the square’. Our mentor advised the parent that it may be

necessary to look at alternative schools and try to become a Pathways student as he was on the

verge of being expelled from his current school. The mentor also gave his details to the parent and

offered to have the apprentice touch base with him personally to validate the discussion if he

wanted to.


Apprentice changed schools and is continuing the apprenticeship.


psychologist, etc.)

We used our telephone support person and face to face mentoring which was exactly how our

model was set up.


with?

(unanswered)


How old was the apprentice?

Was the apprentice from one of the four targeted cohorts?





None of the above

Male Female

At what point in the apprenticeship did the issue arise? (e.g. 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, etc)


The Employer believes that the Apprentice may have learning difficulties and cannot follow instructions/directions very well. The Employer did not wish for the Mentor to approach the Apprentice in case the Apprentice felt embarrassed.




The Mentor advised the Employer that they need to talk to the Mentor explained ways of wording difficult conversations. The Employer was advised by the Apprentice to contact one of his parents. Employer contacted the Apprentices parent who advised that yes theApprentice does have some learning difficulties. Mentor then advised the Employer to talk to the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) teacher once the Apprentice commences their training and advise the teacher on the issues and ask for the teacher to report back to the employer on a regular basis.


Employer is very happy with this outcome and will keep in contact with the Mentor on the progress of the Apprentice. Apprentice is still employed with this employer.

What resources, if any, were applied by the AAC to facilitate addressing the issue (i.e. consulting a psychologist, etc.)

Linking in with the TAFE to provide LL&N targeted assistance. Mentor also explained to Employer ‘WELL’ funding opportunities.

How could the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative be amended to enhance the way problems are dealt with?

Easier access to specific programs that assist Apprentices improve their literacy and numeracy.








None of the above

Male Female



The Apprentice contacted the Mentor to advise that they are being bullied by their Supervisor. The Mentor contacted the relevant Business Consultant who was also advised of this issue by the


Apprentice. At that point, the Apprentice did not want the Business Consultant to call in a Field Officer (FO).

What actions were taken by those involved to solve the problem? (i.e. by the mentor, the AAC, the apprentice, and the employer where applicable)

The Mentor contacted the Employer to discuss the issue above. The Employer advised that there were issues around the apprentice work relationship skills. The Mentor then contacted the Operations Manager who suggested that the Mentor try and sort out the issue and if unable to resolve it to contact anFO. A meeting between Mentor, Employer and the Apprentice went very well, explaining to the Apprentice that he needed to work on his relationship skills withother workers as they are finding it difficult to work with the Apprentice. Many other issues were discussed


The Apprentice has tried to curb his behaviour and the Manager has spoken to the Supervisor about his behaviour. The Mentor has ongoing contact with the Apprentice and Employer to see how things are going. The Apprentice is still with the Employer and everything is going well.


Access the management due to the nature of the complaint


The mentor has resources and referral agents to revert to in these instances








None of the above

Male Female



The Employer consulted theMentor requesting advice on how they can stop their Apprentice from leaving the company as another Apprentice had left not long ago and the Kickstart Apprentice wants


to leave to go and work for a similar larger company.


Mentor spoke to the Apprentice and explained that the larger company may not be as good to him as his current Employer and he may not learn as much with the larger Employer. The Mentor is very impressed with the current Employer and this Employer did not want to lose another Apprentice. Mentor suggested the Employer Field Officer (FO) and see if they can talk with the Apprentice.


Mentor contacted the FO, advising that the employer will be contacting them. FO got in contact with the Employer and the Apprentice. The Apprentice is still with the Employer and everyone/everything is travelling smoothly.


Liaised with the FO


Given that FO are very aware of ‘Kickstart Mentor’ all communications where well received.








None of the above

Male Female



The Employer was concerned that the Apprentice was not grasping the work explained to him and not able to take instructions given to him. The Apprentice looked very tired and lethargic. The Apprentice stated that he had a bad night’s sleep and that he was just tired also may not be eating correctly and or may be ill.


The Apprentice did not think that he would need a referral to help get organised.


The Mentor discussed trying to have a different attitude and get more sleep. The Mentor advised the Apprentice that if he needs anything to call. Mentor also suggested to the employer (in front of Apprentice) that they should catch up with the Apprentice and have another talk in two weeks’ time. Mentor suggested that the Apprentice should visit a doctor and start eating correctly. Mentor also suggested Apprentice take notes when given instructions from Employer so he can work through his work according to his notes.


The Employer advised that the Apprentice has picked up his attitude and he is performing much better. The Employer will reassess the Apprentices’ attitude and performance down the track and keep in contact with the Mentor. Eating and sleeping pattern has also improved dramatically Apprentice is still employed.


If required ‘ Kickstart Mentor’ has details of several local General Practitioners (Doctors) in the local area.


None









None of the above

Male Female



The Apprentice’s parent was concerned that no one was able to assist her and her son very well. The Registered Training Organisation (RTO) was not releasing the training plan to the AAC and would not start the Apprentice in class for school based until it is full. The parent was very concerned that the Apprentice was going to fail school as it is a replacement subject.


Mentor investigated the situation and advised administration team to contact the State Training Authority (STA) to advise that the RTO was not starting the Apprentice in the School Based Program and only offer block release. Mentor suggested that make the Apprentice part time as an interim measure reverting to School Based once the RTO commenced training.


The Apprentice’s secondary school was happy to release the Apprentice to a block release model. All parties were satisfied of the outcome. Eventually the RTO commenced training and all going well. The Apprentice completed his School Based Apprenticeship and is now working full time with the employer.


Consulting with RTO, AAC Manager and STA to find a solution.


Better understanding of the role of Kickstart Mentor









None of the above

Male Female



The Employer and the Apprentice are not happy with the modules the Apprentice is studying/learning and think they may be in the wrong Apprenticeship.


The Mentor suggested to the Employer that they contact the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and speak directly to the teacher to discuss their issues. The Employer contacted the RTO and resolved the training issue and is waiting for the training plan to be delivered and a variation of the course. Mentor believed that there was some confusion between the Employer and the RTO and therefore called the RTO. Mentor found out that the modules had been adjusted and there was no need to vary the Apprenticeship. The RTO advised Mentor that they had sent the training plan to the Employer and were waiting its return. Mentor contacted the Employer who advised that they had not received the training plan. Mentor then contacted the RTO and requested they forward another training plan, the RTO advised that they will email a training plan ‘today’.


The Employer was very happy with Mentor service and recommends the continuation of the program.


Consulting with the RTO


A better understanding with all Key Stakeholders regarding the purpose of the ‘Kickstart Mentoring Program’. This would assist in improving communication flow and expediting the outcome.



How old was the apprentice? 18 years old

Was the apprentice from one of the four targeted

cohorts?





None of the above

Male Female



Approx 12 month point


Due to a down turn in the industry the apprentice was getting frustrated with the lack of work

coming into the business and therefore lack of training available. He was also worried about his

apprenticeship and the thought of not getting through the 4 years to a successful outcome.



We had many discussions with the apprentice advising to ‘hang in there’ and hopefully business will

pick up. Numerous discussions were also held with the employer in regards to the declining level of

business and the potential future of this apprenticeship. We also kept the parent in the loop as a

part of the apprentices ‘safety net’ team and liaised with the RTO to reorganise the training to suit

both the apprentice and employer during slow work times.


Unfortunately the apprenticeship was cancelled in March 2011 – due to a down turn in business but

through utilisation of our Out of Trade register and close liaison with the apprentice, his family and

an indigenous in April 2011 he was signed back in to an apprenticeship and is currently continuing

his trade qualification.


psychologist, etc.)


Close liaison was held particularly with apprentice support services and our AAC mentor who guided

and supported the apprentice to seek other opportunities to ensure he achieved his career

objective.


with?

We were very pleased with this outcome and the opportunity that we had to provide additional

support through Kickstart Mentoring thus being able to spend time to support and guide the

apprentice to a successful outcome.




targeted cohorts?





None of the above

Male Female



6 month point



We were advised by the employer during a Kickstart Mentoring contact that the apprentice was

having some issues in his personal life which were interfering in his work and job performance. A

meeting was arranged and held with the employer to develop an action plan to help the apprentice

through his troubled time. The employer also informed us that the apprentice was medical

conditions and he had also stopped taking his medication for it, meaning the apprentice’s work was

being dramatically affected and the employer stressed that the apprentice’s job was on the line if

things did not improve as soon as possible.

We acted immediately arranging a meeting with the apprentice where he expressed to us how much

he wanted to pursue his apprenticeship with his employer but that he had many issues in his

personal life including relationship and health problems. Given the apprentices issues we

immediately referred him to a student support service to gain some extra support both in the

workplace and in his personal life. We then contacted the RTO to ensure they were ‘on board’ to

provide additional support. The employer also allowed the apprentice to take a week off to sort

through his issues.

We continue to regularly contact the apprentice, the employer and the RTO to ensure all is still on

the right track.



The problem was identified at one of our additional Kickstart Mentoring contacts and acted on

immediately. A series of meetings were put in place to identify what the issues were for the

apprentice and how we could support a positive outcome in our role as mentors. In this particular

instance early intervention, the strong relationship between the apprentice and the mentor and the

support of the employer have provided the essential components ensuring this apprenticeship is still

active.




targeted cohorts?






None of the above

Male Female

At what point in the apprenticeship did the

issue arise? (E.g. 1 week, 1 month, 6 months,

etc.)

At the 10th month


In December 2010 an apprentice contacted the AAC to let us know that he was about to submit his

resignation to his employer that day. The reason for this was that his employer had refused to give

him time off over Christmas for a family trip.. It was his family’s traditional practice to have an annual

holiday such as this together.

The apprentice was advised by the AAC to discuss the matter with the company’s HR manager. He did

this and was granted leave for his overseas trip. Once he returned to work all went well and in

February 2011,received the Employee of the Year Award.



The mentor wrote a special report on the issue and advised the apprentice how to approach the

employer and develop a good argument to support the request for holiday leave.


The apprentice remains employed and is continuing his apprenticeship. He is doing well at TAFE and

his employer is happy with his performance.


psychologist, etc.)

a) The AAC maintains open consultation with the Steering Committee for advice in these

matters b) The AAC has a Mentoring Services working party to help address processes and Guideline

application c) Consultation with Fairwork Australia with regards to Employment National Standards



with?

a) Building a pathway or transition from school to work and give additional legal information to

apprentices before and after securing the employment and training arrangement b) Mentoring Services should continue for the whole nominal term of the apprenticeship c) The initiative should be able to give employers and apprentices access services (e.g. every six

months on-the-job) as to how to deal with conflict, communication and workplace behaviour




targeted cohorts?





None of the above

Male Female


arise? (E.g. 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, etc.)

At signup point


a. The apprentice identified as being a person with disabilities. b. The employers’ key areas of concern are:

The apprentice is unable to retain sequencing of simple repetitive tasks

The apprentice is unable to identify and remember names of plants

He is unable to be left unsupervised

The Australian Apprentice seems to have forgotten much of what he has learnt due to his retention difficulties

The Australian Apprentice responds well to routine, however with a lot of variance of tasks this can slow down work sometimes

The employer is in need of some effective strategies to help the apprentice




a) The apprentice and the employer have been assisted with the Disabled Australian Apprentices Wage Subsidy combined with the Tutorial and Mentor Assistance at TAFE

b) The mentor, with permission of the apprentice’s parent and the apprentice, contacted the apprentice’s doctor to find out more medical information to assist in developing strategies to help with memory and retention difficulties.

c) The mentor suggested that it’s important that the apprentice has an updated assessment. d) The mentor discussed a number of strategies to use in order to help the apprentice

remember; for example, create a calendar with photographs of repetitive work to trigger awareness of schedules at work and at TAFE, the use of a note book to keep track of the day to day tasks etc.

e) The employer, the mentor and the AAC are in constant contact to ensure the apprentice is doing well and is receiving the assistance as required


The apprentice has no issues at TAFE due to the DAAWS support with mentoring and tutorial assistance as well.

The employer is very understanding and he is willing to help the Apprentice as much as he can; this is aided by the fact that the mentor and the AAC are always in contact to help

The employer has someone working with the apprentice at all times to avoid OH & S issues

The apprentice is still employed and is happy and doing well in the trade


psychologist, etc.)

a) The mentor attempted several avenues to find appropriate professional help with other

strategies : b) The mentor consulted the apprentice’s doctor c) The mentor consulted disability networks to find new strategies to help apprentice with

retention of work-related information d) Disability coordinator at TAFE to seek further advice or assistance on referral processes e) Contacting the parents of the apprentice has proven effective to help with steps to be taken f) More face-to-face contact has been necessary to maintain assistance going


with?

a) The face-to-face model of the Kickstart Mentoring Services should be provided for the whole

nominal term, especially for the cohorts in the Equity Groups b) Mentoring services for apprentices in the Equity Groups should be commenced at the front

end just before the sign up is committed to by the parties, the initiative at this point will allow the mentoring approach to strengthen and support those vulnerable apprentices at risk of becoming disengaged from services

c) The initiative should be enhanced to allow or permit access of the mentor to liaise with TAFE when needed.





targeted cohorts?





None of the above

Male Female



9th Month point


Employer was very unhappy with the young apprentice as she was taking too many days off. As the

mentor developed a good rapport with the apprentice it became evident that the apprentice was not fully

aware of her responsibilities, did not have a well developed work ethic and the transition from school to

work was going to be a real challenge for her.



The mentor had a counselling session with the employer, the parent of the apprentice and the apprentice,

before referring the matter to the State Training Services. The session was very informative and the parties

were able to set some priorities and conditions. The employer was of the view that the parent of an

underage apprentice proved to be an effective advocate to help with the issue at hand.


Due to ongoing contact the young apprentice has improved work attendance significantly. The employer

is quite happy with the school-based apprentice to date. The apprenticeship is going well



psychologist, etc.)

a. Consultation with the steering committee for further advice

b. External consultative arrangements and/or regulatory bodies

c. Internal AAC working party to address the referral process and guideline application

d. Student Coordinator at TAFE to seek further advice or assistance on referral process

e. Contacting the parents of the apprentice has proven effective to help with steps to be taken

f. More face to face contact (outside the employment environment) has been necessary


a. General consensus amongst the mentors is that pre-vocational or pre-apprenticeships are ideal

b. The Award system should be looked at or amended to enhance the outcomes expected

c. The Kickstart mentoring initiative most definitively should be a face-to-face exercise and should be

provided for the whole nominal term of the trade (this is ideal if retention is paramount to an

outcome)

d. The mentors and most employers are of the view that mentoring services should be commenced

at the front-end perhaps just before the sign up is committed to by the parties; the initiative at this

point will allow the mentoring approach to strengthen and support those vulnerable apprentices

at risk of becoming disengaged from services

e. There should be a pathway or transition from school to work –structured support services to help

with that transition- e.g. helping develop skills knowledge and work ethics and responsibilities

f. The initiative should be enhanced to permit access of the servicing mentor to liaise with TAFE

when needed



Was the apprentice from one of the four targeted

cohorts?





None of the above

Male Female

At what point in the apprenticeship did the issue Six month into the apprenticeship




1. Employer contacted the AAC to advise that his apprentice’s TAFE teacher had advised that the

apprentice had left home.

2. The employer let us know that the apprentice was leaving in a car.

3. The AAC contacted the apprentice and he confirmed that he was no longer living with his

parent.

4. His father lives interstate much too far for him to travel to work.

5. We have advised apprentice of Living Away from Home Allowance (LAFHA). We have spoken to

the employer and he wanted the apprentice to have any assistance that we can arrange as he is

a good apprentice and a good person.

6. Employer advised us that the apprentice was sleeping in a dangerous area

7. Employer advised that he would allow the apprentice to stay onsite till he found somewhere

more suitable to live.



1. The AAC assisted the apprentice and employer in completing the LAFHA application under

homelessness grounds; this benefit will help the apprentice to find suitable accommodation.

2. The mentor continued monitoring the apprentice’s progress at TAFE and at work.

3. The employer provided temporary accommodation for his apprentice.

4. The apprentice was helped to resolve the situation by contacting his parent and now he is back

at home. He has continued working and going to TAFE, having taken advantage of LAFHA only

for a short period of time.


1. The apprentice is happy at work and with his apprenticeship.

2. The apprentice is back at home with a parent.

3. The apprentice has a car to travel to work.


psychologist, etc.)

1. Internal consultation with management and the mentoring working party

2. Consultation with other external support services providers within the region

3. Continued consultation and review of apprentice with steering committee



with?

a. Mentoring Services should continue for the whole nominal term of the apprenticeship

b. There should be a permitted liaison between TAFE and the servicing mentor

c. The mentors and most employers are of the view that mentoring services should be

commenced at the front-end, perhaps just before the training and employment arrangement is

committed to by the parties; the initiative at this point will allow the mentoring approach to

strengthen and support those vulnerable apprentices at risk of becoming disengaged from

services.


10. Key Findings and Recommendations

Key Findings

This section provides a concluding summary on the key findings of the Review and examines

options/recommendations on enhancing the effectiveness of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative. For

the purposes of this Review, the Key Findings have been grouped into three categories:

Communication strategies

Methods and models used by AACs

Retention rates, and

Impact of strategies and models on retention rates.

Communication Strategies

Face to face, telephone and SMS were the most frequently used methods of communication

as reported by both mentors and apprentices and were also viewed as the most effective

The communication modes rated least effective were Newsletter, Internet/blog and Twitter,

and these were also the least used

While regularly used by most AACs, Facebook and Twitter received mixed views on their

effectiveness from Mentors and were not considered to be as effective as traditional

methods of communication

SMS is a quick and easy form of communication that Apprentices are likely to respond to and

can provide an alternative communication method if they are not comfortable discussing a

matter face to face or over the telephone

Increased frequency of use of SMS and face-to-face appears to be associated with a more

positive attitude to the Mentoring Initiative.

In summary, the modes and frequency of contact between apprentices and mentors

regarded as most effective or beneficial are SMS, face-to-face and telephone contact on at a

minimum basis of once a month. This was true as well for the four target cohorts

Approximately 22% of Kickstart Australian Apprentices that responded to the survey

reported not being aware of the Kickstart mentoring and support services. This indicates

that opportunities exist to enhance the manner in which AACs communicate with Kickstart

Australian Apprentices regarding the availability and nature of mentoring and support

services.


Mentoring Methods/Models

Kickstart Australian Apprentices generally agreed that mentoring assisted them with

understanding training requirements and that mentoring was accessible when they needed

it.

The quality of the signup documentation differed at each AAC and data collection was not

consistent between AACs.

In both the first and second rounds of surveying, only half of Australian Apprentice

respondents indicated that they were currently “accessing” the mentoring or support

services.

A majority (82%) of surveyed apprentices agreed that mentoring would help them to

complete their apprenticeship

Apprentices from the AACs with up to 150 Australian Apprentices per mentor have a

significantly higher positive perception towards the mentoring Initiative than those from

AACs with more than 300 apprentices. In general, the level of positive perception tends to

diminish with increasing ratios of apprentices to mentors


who had a planned formal risk assessment mechanism


who had planned employer engagement strategies

In relation to Group Training Organisations (GTOs), feedback indicates that in a number of

instances, the provision of mentoring services via the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative was

perceived as a “double up” given GTOs generally had in place staff that provided support

services to Apprentices.

The services that were endorsed the most by apprentices were having mentors accessible,

helping with resolving issues/conflicts at work, and helping to understand training

requirements

Mentors indicated that more mentors were needed in order to better allocate time to those

apprentices who needed more help

The overall structure of the mentoring service developed by AACs did not materially change

when applied to the target cohort groups. In this regard, the model was generally consistent

regardless of the target cohorts. What did differ were approaches regarding frequency of

contact, the undertaking of cultural awareness training by Mentors, transitional support for


Australian School-based Apprentices and the referral to outside agencies for persons with

disability.

The application of a flexible and ongoing risk assessment strategy was identified by Mentors

as a key success factor in ensuring mentoring services were directed to those individuals

who would benefit most from such a service.

Retention Rates

The impact of the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative has been positive and in some AACs,

significant. Compared with previous years’ retention rates for non-mentored apprentices,

there was an average retention rate improvement of 14.6% across all AACs. The reported

rates of improvement for individual AACs ranged from 1.9% to 60.0%.

Members of the target cohorts are more at risk of exiting than other Australian Apprentices.

In particular, Apprentices in the Indigenous Australians cohort exit their apprenticeships at

twice the rate of those that are not a member of one of the target cohorts.

Approximately twice the proportion of females (11.2%) exited their apprenticeships than

males (5.2%)

Of interest, the attrition rate increased during the second six months for both

commencement periods (approximately 10% and 13%, respectively) compared with the first

three months (approximately 2% and 6% respectively) and the first six months

(approximately 5% and 6% respectively). This suggests that although apprentices may decide

to exit at any time, it appears that the six to twelve month period has the same, if not more,

apprentices exit than that in the first six months of an apprenticeship.

Of 105 Exited Australian Apprentices 53 (50.5%) said they had accessed mentoring services

and 43 (41%) said they had not. (Nine did not respond to the question).

Greater proportions of the Indigenous Australians and Priority Employment Area group

apprentices had accessed mentoring services, compared with the other target groups.

The main reasons that Australian Apprentices chose to exit the apprenticeships were

because they decided to change to other work or study, or because of wages or employment

conditions.

Impact of Models on Retention Rates

The greatest attrition rate occurred in AACs with more than 300 apprentices per mentor.


Mentors did not regard the initiative very positively in regard to their evaluation of the

Mentoring Initiative for Australian School Based Apprentices and, to a lesser extent, for

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander apprentices.

Target cohorts had more positive opinions about the Mentoring Initiative when they were

from AACs with formal risk assessment strategies.

Statistically, there was no difference in retention rates between AACs who advocated

employer engagement, however target cohort apprentices from those AACs who did, held

more positive attitudes towards the Mentoring Initiative (qualitatively).

After consideration of the thematic analysis and survey responses (compared to the

retention rates for AACs of various levels) the following six key attributes have been

identified in regards to AAC models with the highest retention rates:



A relatively low apprentice to mentor ratio





A network of resources and agencies to provide “wrap around” support to the

apprentice

Further particulars on the above attributes are detailed in Section 7 of this Report.


Recommendations

The following recommendations have been framed to provide guidance to DEEWR should a

mentoring service such as the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative be continued into the future.

Recommendation 1: That as a general rule, the ratio of apprentices per mentor should not

exceed 150.

Statistical analysis indicates that for all Kickstart Australian Apprentices, including the four target

cohorts, as well as mentors, that positive perceptions were greatest where the ratio of

apprentices per mentor did not exceed 150. Qualitative feedback also indicated a need for a

lower apprentice per mentor ratio in order to appropriately distribute time and effort amongst

those apprentices who may need a more intense level of support services (e.g. the retention

rate for apprentices with disabilities was highest in those AACs with less than 100 apprentices

per mentor).

Recommendation 2: That greater differentiation/specialisation occurs in the mentoring model

applied to the target cohort groups.

The Review identified that the mentoring models developed by the AACs for the target cohort

groups was not materially different from that applied to all apprentices. Consideration should be

given to further tailoring the mentoring models in order to better address the requirements of

the target cohort groups so as to achieve improved retention rates.

Recommendation 3: That the Initiative adopts a ‘risk management approach’ wherein a

formalised, evidence-based risk assessment tool is applied to assess the risk level of each

apprentice and assign a category (high, medium, low), which would decide the level of support

allocated to each apprentice.

Whilst the majority of AACs applied some form of risk assessment, the efficacy of the tool

differed significantly between AACs.


Recommendation 4: That DEEWR develop a customised pro-forma document that will

facilitate all AACs to collect consistent information/data at signup and during the course of the

Mentoring Initiative.

This will facilitate the collection of standardised data by each AAC for reporting purposes.

Consideration should also be given to the use of a Consent Form which has the benefit of

formally committing the Employer and the Kickstart Australian Apprentice to active engagement

in the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative.

Recommendation 5: That a communication protocol be developed and linked with the risk

assessment model with high risk apprentices being contacted more frequently and face-to-

face rather than SMS. The minimum contact for all mentored apprentices should be SMS or

telephone once a month.

This will ensure that apprentices are regularly receiving the appropriate level of interaction

necessary to help them complete their apprenticeship. This would be tailored in light of the

ongoing risk assessment.

Recommendation 6: That a mentoring service actively engage the employer of the apprentice

during the establishment of the service.

This helps to reduce confusion as to the role of the mentor and the services being offered, as

well as encourages “buy in” from the employer as a key stakeholder in the apprenticeship.

Recommendation 7: A more thorough marketing/awareness strategy be put in place in order

to increase awareness of the Mentoring Initiative to apprentices and employers as well as to

increase knowledge of services available and how to access them.

Survey responses indicated, in a number of instances, a general lack of awareness on the part of

Kickstart Australian Apprentices of the availability of mentoring and support services as well as

some confusion as to the role of mentors. Having a strategy for marketing/awareness could

help to increase knowledge and therefore encourage more active participation in the Mentoring

Initiative.


Recommendation 8: In considering the model of any future mentoring service, that the

following key attributes be embedded within the provision of the service:








A network of resources and agencies to provide “wrap around” support to the apprentice.


112

Appendix A- Further Success Stories Provided by Mentors and AACs

The Project Team have identified a number of qualitative examples of how the Kickstart Mentoring Initiative has helped to improve retention rates on an individual apprentice basis. Below are brief examples of success stories provided by Mentors and AACs that they deemed to be noteworthy.

Mentors were asked as part of the surveys to a personal success story where mentoring has had a positive impact on the retention of an Australian Apprentice in the training system (who had a high likelihood of attrition). The following are the stories that they provided along with some further case studies and success stories from Australian Apprentice Centres.

The success story relates to an apprentice who found himself in a position where he was considering leaving the trade because he was unable to attend trade School due to past negative experiences within his Schooling. Through the Mentoring Initiative I was able to involve the employer and apprentice and establish a training solution allowing the apprentice to carry out On the Job training through TAFE.

After having an extensive talk with the Australian Apprentice I found that her Parent has

depression and the Australian Apprentice has health issues. I then found that having all of this hanging over her head it was causing her to lose focus at work therefore her employer was having 2nd thoughts about keeping the Australian Apprentice on. This information was only able to be gained with time and trust from the Australian Apprentice. I was then able to refer the Australian Apprentice on to an external support service to get her specialist help.

Young indigenous man whose girlfriend is pregnant was going to leave his apprenticeship

when his girlfriend had the baby so that he could spend more time at home assisting with baby. We discussed where he could source assistance for his girlfriend in the early months, the pros and cons of completing his apprenticeship, the example he wanted to set for baby, set financial goals and focused him on the long term advantages of his apprenticeship. Australian Apprentice is still employed and is committed to completing.

Australian Apprentice was concerned about the change of management that was due to

take place in August. Australian Apprentice was worried what was going to happen with her and whether she was going to have her apprenticeship cancelled with the new owners. Frequent contact was made with the Australian Apprentice and when the change of management was made official the Australian Apprentice was kept employed and continues to undertake her apprenticeship with the new owners. Australian Apprentice was happy with the continual follow-ups and encouraging words of support provided to her.

Again I refer to the Australian Apprentice's that I help find somewhere to live and to gain

access to a course he needed, he was talking about leaving his apprenticeship as he couldn’t see a way to complete this with all his other issues in his life. With Mentor support he is now on his way to resolving these problems & still in his apprenticeship & enjoying it.


I have phone call and text messages every day with questions and advice needed from Australian Apprentice's & they know they have a mentor to call on to help them with these.

Had an Australian Apprentice who was very concerned with hours she worked. Both that she

thought she was working too many and the times (that she needed to catch 2 buses to get to work on time). I worked with the Australian Apprentice over the phone and 2 visits. We workshopped how to negotiate with the employer, and role-played scenarios in how to ask to change hours so that she was not as stressed and tired. Saw Australian Apprentice this week and is very happy with work and has organised a meeting with boss and hours to be changes to better suit.

I have been able to save several Australian Apprentice's employment by working closely &

monitoring the situation.

I received a phone call from an Employer wishing to cancel the Australian Apprentice due to poor attitude towards work. As the mentor, I visited the employer and Australian Apprentice on site where we were able to sit down and discuss the issues that had arisen over the past weeks. It was through this discussion that we discovered that the Australian Apprentice was having personal issues which was affecting his attitude at work. Knowing this changed the dynamics of the situation. The Australian Apprentice was granted 1 week’s holiday to sort out the issue.

Australian Apprentice was thinking of dropping out of apprenticeship due to lack of funding

in regards to his travel to TAFE, which was over 150 kilometres one way. Due to the advice given to him by me as a mentor he persisted with apprenticeship and found a way to a positive outcome and received reimbursement for his payment.

I had an apprentice that was having a little trouble in the work place because his personal

life was interacting with his work ethic, had a meeting with them and the employer to sit down and explain that they aren’t alone and that they have someone to speak to or if I couldn’t help can find the help that they may be needing if I couldn’t provide the assistance

I have assisted an Australian School-based Apprentice to better negotiate her experiences

and schedules at Secondary school by acting as a third party in negotiating the needs of the Australian School-based Apprentice, if not rectified the Australian School-based Apprentice was considering becoming an assistant and dropping the apprenticeship aspect of her role, she has now had a commitment from her employer to progress her to Full Time Australian Apprentice in December 2010.

Whilst mentoring 3 first yr apprentices an employer requested I speak to a 3rd yr apprentice

who was having some difficulties with and was considering terminating. Due to our conversation, we were able to work out the issues and facilitate solutions to enable him to remain in employment.

An Indigenous apprentice commenced in July 2010, suffers from bipolar and was assessed as high risk. This apprentice requested not to be monitored monthly as he felt he did not need it, as adjustment was made to monitor him every 3 months. In consultation with his


employer, it was agreed that between us, employer, parents & a mental health worker we would all support/monitor him. This has been successful - he works well with his peers, has a good relationship with his employer & is enjoys trade school.

I had a female apprentice & she wasn't turning up for work. The boss was on the phone to

me nearly every day saying he wants to get rid of her; he was fed up so I told him I would go & see her. I went to see her to have a chat & it turns out she was having a lot of personal issues& she was feeling like she wanted to give up. To encourage her along I paid for her learners permit & let her know I was here to support her. She is still employed!

One to one weekly then fortnightly meetings where I acted as a sounding board for an

apprentice who was considered at risk by his employee. Apprentice is still employed.

Spoke to apprentice and advised her and her parent of strategies in dealing with a difficult employer. The result was that the issues were resolved and both apprentice and employer were happy.

School Based Apprentice completing a Cert III, was struggling a bit in trade school and had

taken time off with a broken collar bone. A lack of communication between the Australian Apprentice, employer and RTO meant that the Australian Apprentice's position was in jeopardy. The mentor was able to act as a mediator in the communication and organise catch up days at trade school to get the Australian Apprentice back on track. The mentor met with the school, the employer, the parent and the Australian Apprentice.

Assisted parent and apprentice with options on part time employment after school finished

to transition a young apprentice who needed further adjustment into the work environment. Discussed this option with the employer who was going to request cancellation and everyone is happy with the result, apprentice has a goal of full time employment by mid next year.

A young Indigenous apprentice who is doing a school based apprentice and is happy to go

back to school next year but continue with his apprenticeship.

Australian Apprentice presented as suicidal, after series of contact and referrals to professional agencies, apprentice is getting required assistance and is still continuing with his apprenticeship.

All my cases are in process at present. However, there was one case of Indigenous

apprentice failing TAFE, at risk of losing apprenticeship. Initiated a supervised study day on-site, additional tuition, copies of workbooks from TAFE, possibly cognitive assessment, engaged with parent, negotiating reward system and support from indigenous mentors. The result is looking quite positive at this stage.

A school based apprentice who has suffered massive emotional trauma was flagged as

having poor literacy and numeracy, and major behavioural and truancy issues. He was about to lose his apprenticeship in the trade that he really enjoys. On-going mentoring together with meetings with his guardians, school and RTO have helped him get on track. His job is now safe and he has agreed to go back to school next year. He is also making an effort to improve his literacy and numeracy.


The apprentice had an accident outside of work, with encouragement and some financial relief from local agencies allowed him time to heal to recommence apprenticeship.

The employer requested another face-to-face visit as the Australian Apprentice was not

grasping the work and was not able to take instructions. The employer was contemplating dismissing the Australian Apprentice. I met with the Australian Apprentice who looked very tired and lethargic. He was not abusing any substances but was not eating well and felt ill. Referred to his GP and advised a healthier diet as he needs to be alert. Suggested he take notes. The employer subsequently rang and was happy the Australian Apprentice's attitude and diligence had greatly improved.

One young apprentice who suffered the loss of a close relative and was feeling suicidal. After

many phone calls and visits he agreed to attend sessions with Beyond Blue Youth services. He is now well on the way to recovery and his enjoying his job and life once again.

I had an Apprentice who approached me after receiving an official written warning about

work performance. We spent over an hour going through the written warning points as well as other issues he was having in the workplace. I was able to open the Apprentice to the employer’s perspective and expectations. Since then the Australian Apprentice has been enjoying his apprenticeship and his performance has really improved. I have spoken to the employer and they are really happy with the Australian Apprentice also.

A mentee with complex needs inc. depression, disadvantage & LLN was habitually absent

from work &TAFE. The Employer and parents were concerned for his welfare & for the retention of his apprenticeship. I visited the mentee & provided follow up support to help boost his self esteem & confidence. I also partnered with STS to address issues within the training contract. I organised additional support from TAFE to address LLN issues. He is now turning up to work regularly and is enjoying his trade.

Many simple issues addressed, but have worked with one particular apprentice long term

and used a coaching chart and able to identify problems of home impacting on work, lack of life skills, communication breakdown between employer and employee and set up strategies to work through these. Ongoing sessions still occurring and apprentice still has a way to go, but employer and apprentice both engaged in the process.

Liaising with TAFE teacher to assist student with literacy/ numeracy issues. Student was

excellent at work but falling behind at TAFE. This appears to have been turned around with a co-ordinated approach from work, school, and mentor.

Called an employer to get permission to visit workplace & discuss Mentoring Initiative with

Apprentice. Employer said he was going to sack him at the end of the week. I called in the next day. Employer said he didn't want to learn. Apprentice said they wouldn't teach him & he was going to leave. Apprentice had a learning disability which impact was not being considered by both parties. We discussed trying different communication styles/methods. That was 3 months ago & Apprentice is still there.

An apprentice who was 6 months in had some anxiety issues, especially with in the

classroom at TAFE, we had a big long chat with the blessing of the Employer and through the rapport we had built he trusted me to share his problems which we have mostly resolved and have put him onto additional assistance for his anxiety.


Young Apprentice in a fairly remote town was thinking of leaving his apprenticeship due to feeling picked on. I was able to talk to him or meet him a couple of times a week and give him advice on how to speak up to his supervisor, and offered to talk to him myself to sort the issue. Australian Apprentice took my advice and his confidence grew to the point where he was able to discuss his worries with his supervisor and was able to have the matter sorted.

The Apprentice was at risk of cancellation due to attitude and progress issues. He

participated in an action plan which addressed clearly major issues and also dictated exactly what the employer wanted him to do to address these issues with a period of 4 weeks to show significant improvement or he would be cancelled. I worked with the apprentice and he successfully met all the outcomes required of him and therefore kept his apprenticeship.

Australian Apprentice was being mentored by me by phone/SMS when the Employer called

me to advise of certain issues. I then organise the Field Mentor to visit the workplace & assist both the Australian Apprentice & Employer with the issues & saved the apprenticeship. Both the Field Mentor and I continue to work with the Australian Apprentice as an ongoing process.

Organised meeting with Australian Apprentice and employer to assist the employer in

talking over rules, boundaries and expectation in the workplace. Once this was put in place and understood I could support the Australian Apprentice in adhering to these rules and boundaries.

An employer was advised that a training partner didn't have the scope to train in selected

apprentice and advise the employer and apprentice to cancel, Australian Apprentice called upset with this decision and employer not happy about it either, so we met and spoke of hosting and other training options, (such as hosting apprentice to other employers for modules that they didn't cover) which we got approval for and the Australian Apprentice is still doing her apprenticeship.

I provided intervention, advice, mentoring and referral to an apprentice, his employer and

parents in resolving a dispute regarding TAFE and each party’s rights and responsibilities. The issues were mainly as a result of a misunderstanding regarding each party’s roles.

A school-based Australian Apprentice called to cancel her apprenticeship. When

questioned, the Australian Apprentice advised that she no longer wanted to do her apprenticeship as she was speaking to other Australian Apprentice's at TAFE & they seemed to be moving faster with their employers .. When I spoke with the apprentice, I asked her to have a brief chat with her employer about her concerns. The employer then contacted me after their discussions and an agreement had been made for the Australian Apprentice to take on extra duties and continue with her apprenticeship.

I have had an Australian Apprentice whose employer contacted me as he was worried about

the apprentice, who was slacking off at work and had a negative attitude. The employer wanted a cancellation form however I calmed the employer down and after talking with Australian Apprentice, who had some private issues outside of work, I was able to organise more in depth mentoring with one of our field mentors. Through our field mentor talking with both employer and apprentice and mediating discussions the apprenticeship was saved.


Due to issues and lack of communication between Australian Apprentice and employer, I received phone calls from both and Australian Apprentice was going to cancel her apprenticeship. I made daily phone calls/visits to her and worked out ways of dealing with the issues. I planned a meeting with Australian Apprentice, Employer, DET and myself. Australian Apprentice, with support and encouragement was able to talk about concerns and same with the employer. 3 months later Australian Apprentice is still in her apprenticeship and both her and her employer are very happy with the results.

If apprentices have a bad experience with an employer or workplace, it tends to taint them against the whole industry, so I believe having a mentor keeps the apprentices in the industry, if not with a particular employer in all cases.

Organised mediation between myself, employer and Australian Apprentice who was reprimanded for bad attitude and lack of motivation. Encouraged Australian Apprentice to speak up during this meeting, at times (with Australian Apprentice's permission) even spoke on Australian Apprentice's behalf. Helped employer understand what was going on in Australian Apprentice's personal life. Australian Apprentice is trying harder; employer has offered him a second chance. I think Australian Apprentice will go through to completion.

Indigenous Australian Apprentice - Employer approached me & asked to work closely with Australian Apprentice as he is about to let him go. After a couple of visits the employer advised the Australian Apprentice had done a complete turnaround & he is extremely happy with the support I had given. Several months on & Australian Apprentice is still improving much to the employers delight. I am certain this Australian Apprentice will complete his apprenticeship.

Mentoring a young female apprentice to the completion of her first year. Sometimes the phone calls were daily and visits were 2 or 3 times a week, but she has stuck with it and her employer is over the moon with her performance. She will still need ongoing support and this is where I feel the Mentoring Initiative should still be made to help.

Apprentice with poor literacy/numeracy skills, going well at work, but struggling at TAFE. Met with apprentice, employer and TAFE to negotiate more verbal and practical based assessment for a very positive outcome. (Apprentice successfully completed 1st year of TAFE, and has more confidence in TAFE environment).

A mentee called and advised of mistreatment by the employer, they asked if the mentor could come out and talk to the employer as the apprentice was ready to cancel his apprenticeship. The mentor attended and discussed issues with both the employer and mentee and was able to leave with both the employer and apprentice agreeing on a positive outcome. The apprentice is still employed and going well one year down the track, with ongoing contact and support from the mentor.

Assisted in many cases to ensure Australian Apprentice's remained in Apprenticeship, but assisting with advising of vacancies for out of trade Australian Apprentice's to recommence was most effective.

We support and encourage all our apprentices throughout their apprenticeships. More often than not each apprentice gets disheartened with their job and we guide and encourage each one through their concerns.


I was making an onsite visit to one Australian Apprentice, when I arrived the Employer asked if they could have a word. The Employer explained they are looking at letting the Australian Apprentice go because of poor attitude and constant tardiness. I used the opportunity to discuss the situation with the Australian Apprentice and Employer together and finally with the Australian Apprentice alone. After going over the issues the Employer was facing and giving the Australian Apprentice some strategies to improve the situation, which he used to great effect, 5 months later, still going well.

Working with an apprentice in a remote area to assist with misunderstandings between herself and her employer. Worked with parent as well to align expectations. In this particular case, Australian Apprentice cancelled with employer, but I was able to assist her into the same apprenticeship with a different employer. Happy outcome anyway, even if not measurable by DEEWR!

An Indigenous female apprentice in a non traditional trade who lives away from home. Mentoring assistance and guidance has provided help to link her in with other services to help her overcome obstacles including 'the way ahead program' , TAFE scholarships as well as nominating her scholarships. She is excelling in the workplace and at TAFE and responds positively to the support, guidance and regular contact the Mentoring Initiative has provided.

Continuous communication strategy with an School based apprentice whose parent and TAFE I had to involve as the apprentice was not attending fully to her studies and/or work. In short I have managed to really be part of the assistance and education process to arrive to her commitment to stay focussed at least for her first two years on the trade. To me has been good news!

You see them come out of their apprenticeship knowing I have trained them well, and they are better than most as when they go to training schools they are the best in the class with their knowledge and skills.

It is vitally important to keep reviewing the apprentices’ achievements. This keeps them motivated and 'on track'. We speak to the apprentices immediately if there are any problems to solve or overcome. Communication is the key.

We had a mentee who was struggling to keep up with day to day expenses when he moved interstate to do an Apprenticeship. He had been refused LAFHA as he had completed a previous traineeship. He was living with his parents during his traineeship and moved to interstate for his Apprenticeship. We applied for a waiver of the guidelines which was approved and allowed the mentee to continue on with his Apprenticeship by getting the additional financial support he needed.

On my first visit with an Apprentice her training and employment was going very well. After a long chat I found that her personal life was starting to show some cracks. On a second visit I found that both her and her parent had medical conditions. All of this was causing her to lose focus at work and the employer was thinking of letting her go. That information only came after gaining the trust of the Apprentice. I could then refer her to a specialist to assist with all her issues


I have come along some Australian Apprentice's struggling with their training and at the workplace. They have felt that they can speak up about what they need to help them complete their Apprenticeship. I can always get support from State training as well, which is something that both Australian Apprentice and Employer did not know about. Both Employer and Australian Apprentice like the support and seeing someone face to face and knowing that they can contact me about any issues they have regarding the Apprenticeship.

With the tragic death of an employer, this really affected the apprentice but with the Mentoring Initiative this certainly assisted the apprentice get through these difficult times as his work and off-the-job training did fall away.

We encouraged a young apprentice to stay with his training when he was ready to give up, by talking to him and reasoning with him. He has now completed the manual side of the apprenticeship.

An Apprentice was in danger of losing his apprenticeship due to lack of enthusiasm and communication in the workplace. After numerous mentoring visits this has now been rectified and the employer is very happy with the Apprentices progress.

One apprentice experienced the separation of his parents. He was highly affected by this. He was supported throughout this time and advice given. This helped him stay motivated.

I received a call in December 2010 an apprentice was going to leave his employment that day because his application for leave during the Christmas festivities was refused by his direct supervisor. We talk and give him guidance to discuss the issue direct with the HR officer. He did, went on his holidays and this year he has won the awards within his company.

An apprentice was at risk. His employer stated that the apprentice had issues with working relationships. I brought this to the apprentice’s attention and pointed out not all skills are learnt at TAFE. Many skills are developed on site. On the following visit his employer stated there was a vast improvement in his attitude and he would gladly keep him on as an apprentice. The tradesmen also shared this view.

I have experienced a few examples where the mentoring system has enabled both the necessary support and information for mentees and employers to resolve differences and conflicts that would have led to retention.

The employer was at the point where whatever he told the Australian Apprentice he did the opposite and didn't listen. Australian Apprentice thought he knew best. Employer contacted me and asked if anything I can do. I spoke with the Australian Apprentice and advised of behaviour expected and the expectations toward the Employer. Australian Apprentice had a few issues with the employer as well. Went back to the employer and explained the issues then sat with both parties and discussed. Outcome was both parties gave it another go and Australian Apprentice still employed today.

I had an apprentice that worked a small shop. The employer and apprentice worked one on one and often bickered. I helped them to understand how to communicate with each other in a more productive fashion and got them both to think about the needs of the other person and work together for the benefit of the shop rather than against each other. The


next time I visited them they were both happier, working better together and a lot less stressed out.

I had an apprentice whose employer was always 'coming down hard on him' and not praising or acknowledging him in 'doing a good job'; this was certainly disturbing for the young apprentice. The apprentice wanted to leave his apprenticeship altogether, so I suggested another employer 'out there' would be more caring and supportive of him. I provided the apprentice with the necessary strategies to talk to his employer. After a week, the apprentice left and found a more supportive, local employer.

Australian Apprentice, experiencing difficulties In their personal life. Parent not happy with employment arrangement, thought?? Australian Apprentice was not getting everything he was entitled to, resulting in conflict at work. Employer had a flexible working arrangement but had Australian Apprentice best interest at heart (Australian Apprentice also enjoyed his work). Meetings between STS, Australian Apprentice, employer, parent & mentor resulted in a workable solution & Australian Apprentice still there today.

A combination of regular meetings with an Apprentice supplemented with meetings with Employer and co-workers and designing and implementing an easy, quick and effective review method.

Australian Apprentice rang and said employer requested licence as a work requirement, The Australian Apprentice was distressed as he and his family were not financially able to meet this requirement. Australian Apprentice was not comfortable to speak to employer due to his shyness so Mentor rang employer and explained situation. Employer offered to pay for licence.

One particular apprentice was shy & quiet to the point of it affecting his relationship with co-workers & having an impact on his enjoyment of the apprenticeship. After several face to face visits & mentoring the apprentice has been able to feel comfortable and interact with co-workers.

Acted as an intermediary between employer, apprentice and AAC in a complaint/allegation/suspicion by employer of drug taking by apprentices. Referred to specialised office staff that followed up this sensitive matter, which resulted in maintaining the relationship.

Two apprentices at the same business had both moved to take up their apprenticeships from a long way away. Neither of them had submitted a Living Away From Home Allowance application, nor did they know we even offered Living Away From Home Allowance. Both are now living comfortably away from their parents and doing well in their apprenticeship.

Yes - an apprentice who had issues in workplace & things have been worked through to a contented apprentice/employer relationship.

Organising a meeting between the employer, a co-worker, the Apprentice and myself to identify work issues, formulate an action plan and implement an easy and effective review system.


An Australian Apprentice was thinking of leaving her apprentice due to homelessness & low income, and was in risk of cancelling her Apprenticeship. Nonetheless, Australian Apprentice status in the workplace & trade were positive. LAFHA was introduced by Mentor. Australian Apprentice was eligible; this helped her in many aspects and is now working happily.

kickstartmentoringfinalreport

Documents

enhanced mentoring

workplace relations

support methods

key findings

support services

australian apprenticeship

australian government

success stories