The learning context within technical and further education colleges as perceived by apprentices and their workplace supervisors

Abstract Technical and Further Education Colleges are the main providers of formal vocational education in Australia. This article investigates the perceived contribution of these Colleges to the development of skilled trade-persons. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from apprentice trade-persons and their workplace supervisors. The study shows that these Colleges do provide an important context that promotes vocational learning for apprentice trades-persons. The major strength of TAFE is the opportunity to practice with teacher feedback, without the press of production. In this context their skills improved and they learnt aspects of their trade that were not learnt in the workplace. The significance of these results is that TAFE colleges are perceived to provide ‘workplace learning’ that is not available to apprentices in particular workplaces.