Through its practical and applied approach, vocational education provides a direct and accessible pathway to many good jobs and gives people transferable skills and knowledge to help them progress in their career.
Jobs like ageing and disability carers, child carers/early childhood educators and electricians are in-demand in Victoria. These jobs also offer the possibility to move up into related roles that are higher skilled and often better paid.
Analysis of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data shows that many people who worked in the occupations listed below in 2016 and then changed jobs, had transitioned into higher-skilled roles by 2021 (Table 3).
Table 3: Occupation transitions from selected jobs in demand
| Original occupation in 2016 | Proportion of people who changed jobs between 2016-21 and moved into higher skilled roles | Examples of higher skilled roles they had moved into by 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Ageing and disability carers | 67% | Registered nurses Welfare support worker Nursing support and personal care workers |
| Child carers/early childhood educators | 60% | Primary school teachers Child care centre managers Early childhood (pre-primary school) teachers |
| Electricians | 53% | Chief executive and managing directors Electrical engineers Electrical engineering draftsperson and technicians |
Source: ATO (2024), Occupation transition 2020–11 to 2021–22 income years.
Through VET, Victorians can up-skill or re-skill to work in growing industries
Ongoing technological change, innovation, and the changing nature of the economy means that people need to keep their skills up to date throughout their working lives, whether it is through up-skilling in their current job or re-skilling for a new job. VET is a critical way to do so.
This also applies to people with a university qualification who need to up-skill in their current job or re-skill for a new job. More university-qualified people are seeing VET as a valuable skilling pathway (Figure 5).
Figure 5: More university-qualified people are seeing the value of VET
VET provides flexible learning options for skilled workers to transition into new jobs
In 2024: 14.9% of VET learners had a university qualification (up from 11.6% in 2019)
Source: NCVER, Total VET students and courses 2024, DataBuilder.
Popular areas for up-skilling and re-skilling include management and commerce, community services, and education. The Certificate IV in Training and Assessment was the most common VET qualification undertaken in 2024 by people with a bachelor's degree or higher.11
People use VET for different purposes. For example, enrolled nurses and nursing support and personal care workers are more likely to use their additional training to change jobs, while ageing and disability carers and child carers/early childhood educators are more likely to be VET graduates who are new labour market entrants (Table 4).12
Table 4: Examples of current occupations for different types of VET learners
| People entering the labour market | People broadening their skills | People changing jobs | People getting additional job-specific skills |
|---|---|---|---|
Ageing and disability carers Child carers/early childhood educators Electricians | Sales assistants (general) Building and plumbing labourers Fast food cooks | Enrolled nurses Nursing support and personal care workers Medical technicians | Plumbers Child carers/early childhood educators Fire and emergency workers |
Source: VSA analysis of ABS PLIDA, 2025.
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