Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to tell Senator McKenzie that this is not a direct cut-and-paste of the US model but that we are seeking to take the best bits of that and adapt them to complement the Australian education and schooling context. The education department has contracted the Skilling Australia Foundation to ensure that we can work in close collaboration with the principals and teachers in these schools, as well as with the local employer partners. I do acknowledge that Nick Wyman of the Skilling Australia Foundation has been chosen as one of the 2016 recipients of the Fulbright scholarship for his work in this particular space.

The two schools involved have each taken different approaches already, with one starting in year 9 and the other starting in year 10. Some are doing compulsory units; others are choosing elective units. These types of variances will help us to best structure the model in a way that, in future, can hopefully be rolled out across many more schools around Australia, to provide that type of very practical link between local employers and local schools to further the opportunities for students in the future.