Five new training institutes will be established in Western Australia next year as part of an innovative plan to boost the skills of the Western Australian workforce.
Premier Carmen Lawrence said the $1 million program was aimed at training 16 and 17-year-olds who had completed Year 10 schooling and did not want to continue in upper secondary school.
It would match their training to the skilled labour requirements of Western Australian industry.
Dr Lawrence said the Federal-State program represented a radical departure from traditional forms of school and training.
The institutes would be tied closely to local industry and would provide young people with on and off-the-job training for up to two years.
Students would work at their own pace and acquire a general education as well as intensive work experience.
Institutes would be established next year to service areas including Joondalup-Stirling, Cannington-Westfield, the Kimberley and two other country centres.
By 1995, a total of 25 institutes would be operational providing places for more than 5,000 young people.
They would operate 50 weeks a year with flexible opening hours to accommodate students working part-time.
Local businesses also would use the institutes to upgrade the skills of their employees.
The institutes would conduct courses appropriate to the retail sector, manufacturing, furniture design and fabrication, hospitality and tourism studies, horticulture, farm management, fashion design and food processing.
"Federal and State Governments have set the target of 2001 to have 95 per cent of young people completing education or training to the equivalent of Year 12," Dr Lawrence said.
"To achieve this aim, a range of different education and training choices must be provided for young people who have completed Year 10.
"This is due in part to the fact that the final years of secondary school are not always relevant to those who do not aspire to achieve tertiary qualifications."
Dr Lawrence said the institutes were not an alternative to TAFE but would provide young people with sound preparation for further education, training through TAFE or the workforce.
The institutes were based on the principles of the landmark Carmichael report on post-compulsory education and training released earlier this year.
