The report provides the Western Australian Parliament and the community with an overview of our performance, alongside budget papers and other strategic documents. It offers transparency, accountability, and compliance with legislative and government policy requirements, while highlighting key achievements and outlining the Department’s functions, operations and performance over the period.
The Department delivered on its key priorities for 2025-26 through a variety of activities including progressing the development of a new WA Workforce Strategy through extensive consultation with industry and union leaders, training stakeholders and Aboriginal partners to address workforce challenges and opportunities across priority sectors. The WA Workforce Strategy is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2026.
The Career Taster Program continues to grow, and TAFE colleges are helping young people access senior secondary pathways in priority industry sectors. In 2025, training was delivered to around 123,483 students. TAFE colleges delivered 75 per cent of training to apprentices and around 83 per cent of publicly funded training in the regions. The Department continued support in accessing training is evident through record high enrolment of over 139,000 VET students across the State. There were 6,587 apprenticeship completions, the highest annual figure since 2010, and more than 25,500 apprentices in training.
The Department celebrates training excellence, with WA students, apprentices, trainees, trainers and training providers recognised at the Australian Training Awards and preparing nine competitors to represent Australia at the 2026 WorldSkills International Competition.
Inaugural Closing the Gap partnership agreements with Aboriginal peak organisations were established to strengthen collaboration with Aboriginal training providers to improve training and workforce outcomes for Aboriginal people.
The Department continues to build organisational capability through implementation of recommendations from the Department's Agency Capability Review to strengthen its leadership role as steward of the skills sector and TAFE system manager.
These initiatives supported record numbers of Western Australians to gain the skills needed in high-demand industries and contributed to a thriving, future-ready workforce.
Feedback, queries, and previous years' reports
If you have any queries or feedback for the current annual report, please contact us via info@dtwd.wa.gov.au.
An archive of the Department's annual reports from previous years is available in the 'Tabled Papers' section of the WA Parliament website.
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