We’ve compared the 2026–27 Plan with last year’s priorities to unpack what’s changed, what hasn’t and what Queensland providers should have on their radar.
The Queensland Training Priorities Plan 2026–27 is out and there’s more in it than a funding update.
The annual Plan sets out how the Queensland Government will progress the longer-term objectives of the Right Skills Strategy 2025–2028, including how investment will respond to workforce needs, industry priorities and critical skills shortages.
The headline this year is more than $1.6 billion in investment in training, skills and employment pathways.
But the more useful question for providers is:
What has actually changed from last year and what does it mean for RTOs?
We’ve done the comparison. Here’s what stood out.
First, a quick look at the investment
The 2025–26 Plan identified over $1 billion in investment in subsidised and supported training pathways, while the 2026–27 Plan identifies more than $1.6 billion in training, skills and employment pathways.
Some of the headline investment figures across the two Plans are:
| Investment area | 2025–26 | 2026–27 |
| Apprenticeships and traineeships | $286m | $338m |
| Career Start / first qualification | $305m | $296m |
| Career Boost / higher-level qualifications | $112m | $164m |
| Skilling Queenslanders for Work | $93m | $80m |
| Public training providers | $302m | $301m |
| Industry-led skills solutions/projects | $13m | $10m |
Two movements stand out: investment in apprenticeships and traineeships increases from $286 million to $338 million, while Career Boost/higher-level qualifications moves from $112 million to $164 million.
The new Plan also identifies an additional $51.7 million for apprenticeships supporting housing, construction and health, and $52.6 million for upskilling through skill sets and higher-level qualifications.
A quick caution on the numbers: the investment categories and descriptions aren’t identical across the two Plans, so this is best viewed as a year-on-year snapshot rather than a direct like-for-like comparison of individual programs.
The more interesting story, though, is what sits behind the investment.
1. Student support and completion move up the agenda
This is probably the most interesting shift.
The 2025–26 Plan included a range of initiatives aimed at improving access to training and supporting particular cohorts, including free and low-cost training, digital foundation skills, support for out-of-trade apprentices, Career Tasters and pathways for young people disengaged from education.
When we compare the two Plans, we see a stronger emphasis in 2026–27 on retention, re-engagement and completion.
The new Plan includes:
- a pilot Student Support Network;
- another round of Set for Success grants to trial innovative approaches to helping students succeed;
- expansion of Reboot Your Trade Training to help more out-of-trade apprentices resume training and employment; and
- support for students who have partially completed training to re-engage with their pathway.
One we’ve been watching: the Student Support Network
The Student Support Network didn’t suddenly appear with the release of the new Plan.
Earlier this year, the Department went to market seeking an experienced provider, or providers, to deliver the Network as a statewide pilot.
The Expression of Interest describes a case-managed model intended to address academic, personal, practical and emotional wellbeing barriers that may affect a learner’s ability to complete their training.
The EOI indicates the Network could support approximately 110,000 government-funded learners across the Skills Assure Supplier network who aren’t already receiving support through specified programs.
It’s good to see the initiative now formally reflected in the Training Priorities Plan.
More broadly, we think it points to an important shift:
The conversation isn’t only about getting Queenslanders into training. It’s increasingly about what helps them stay, progress and successfully complete.
That direction is consistent with the broader Right Skills Strategy, which puts students at the centre of the system and identifies greater support to access and complete the right training as an objective.
For providers, that means looking beyond whether a student support policy exists.
Do you understand why learners disengage? Can you identify students who may be at risk early? Are you using your data to identify patterns? And do your support arrangements actually respond to the barriers experienced by your learner cohort?
For Skills Assure Suppliers, this direction should also feel familiar. The Department’s six-monthly KPI reporting already asks providers about student satisfaction, withdrawals and not-yet-competent outcomes, trends affecting outcomes, student support and transition support.
The Department’s Student Voice initiative adds another layer, with student feedback used to monitor funded-provider performance, enhance student support and inform annual investment through the Training Priorities Plan.
Taken together, there is a pretty clear message: learner outcomes and the support that contributes to them are firmly on the agenda.
2. RPL becomes part of the workforce response
This is a subtle change, but one we think providers should pay attention to.
In the 2025–26 Plan, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) appeared as an available pathway for jobseekers and existing workers.
The 2026–27 Plan goes further, specifically committing to improved RPL as a way of delivering a skilled workforce faster, starting with construction workers.
RPL is moving from simply being identified as an available pathway to being positioned as part of Queensland’s workforce response.
And the logic makes sense. If someone already possesses the required skills and knowledge, unnecessarily repeating training doesn’t benefit the individual, their employer or Queensland’s need for skilled workers.
But there’s another side to this that providers need to keep front of mind:
Faster recognition must not mean easier assessment.
If RPL demand increases, could your current systems handle it while still producing valid and defensible assessment decisions?
We’d be checking:
- candidate information and guidance;
- RPL assessment tools and processes;
- evidence requirements;
- authenticity and currency checks;
- assessor judgement and decision-making;
- gap training arrangements; and
- assessment records.
The aim should be straightforward: make RPL accessible and efficient for genuinely competent candidates without compromising assessment integrity.
3. The focus shifts from recruiting trainers to building the VET workforce
Trainer shortages were already on the radar last year.
The 2025–26 Plan committed $2 million to recruiting the next generation of trainers, with a focus on trade professionals, ex-defence personnel and parents returning to the workforce.
The 2026–27 Plan broadens the approach.
It includes:
- $8.4 million through to 2028 to help aspiring VET teachers become qualified and support RTOs to take on trainees;
- funding for industry ideas to attract, develop and retain VET teachers; and
- $5.4 million over three years for projects supporting VET teacher supply in clean energy, manufacturing and construction.
The change in language is worth noticing.
We’re moving beyond recruitment towards attraction, qualification, development and retention.
Trainer and assessor capability isn’t just a compliance consideration; it’s a workforce planning and business continuity issue.
Which training products rely heavily on one or two people?
What happens if a key trainer or assessor leaves?
Where are your future trainers coming from?
Are you developing capability internally?
And if demand increases, could your workforce actually support the growth?
For providers, the opportunity is to think about trainer capability as a workforce pipeline, not just a point-in-time compliance requirement.
4. Industry influence remains strong
Industry continues to shape where government investment is directed.
The 2025–26 Plan included strategic dialogue with industry, Local Skills Solutions, industry-led micro-credentials and Industry Skills Solutions.
Those mechanisms continue in 2026–27, including:
- $3 million to expand Industry Skills Solutions into areas including tourism and advanced manufacturing;
- $5 million through Local Skills Solutions;
- $3 million for industry-led micro-credentials; and
- industry-led initiatives targeting employment in sectors experiencing high skills demand.
For providers, the takeaway is simple:
Industry engagement should produce intelligence, not just evidence.
What is industry telling you about changing job roles, technology, workforce shortages, emerging skills and employer expectations?
More importantly:
What changed because of what industry told you?
Did you update training or assessment? Change resources or equipment? Identify professional development needs? Reconsider workforce planning? Identify a new opportunity or risk?
If industry feedback isn’t influencing training and assessment, workforce planning, professional development or strategic decisions, there may be an opportunity to get considerably more value from your engagement.
Other changes worth noting
There are a few other developments worth having on your radar.
Apprenticeships: the 2026–27 Plan introduces Tradie Start to support employers to engage or re-engage 2,500 construction apprentices, alongside the Small Business Apprenticeship Program.
Regional access: the new Plan includes mobile training in construction, health care and battery technologies, together with additional travel and accommodation support for apprentices in North and Far North Queensland.
Digital and alternative pathways: the Government will champion the 20% Alternative Pathways Pledge for entry-level digital roles and explore stronger pathways between VET and university, particularly in ICT and engineering.
Not all of these initiatives will be relevant to every RTO, but they provide useful indicators of where future workforce demand, investment and opportunities may emerge.
New initiatives. Same definition of success.
One thing that stood out when we compared the Plans is that the Government’s seven measures of impact haven’t changed.
They remain:
- 70% of Queenslanders with higher qualifications;
- 85% of employers satisfied with graduates of nationally accredited training;
- 83% of employers satisfied with apprenticeship and traineeship graduates;
- 89% of graduates satisfied with the overall quality of their training;
- 87% of VET graduates in employment or further study;
- 93% of attempted competencies successfully completed; and
- 35% participation by working-age Queenslanders in VET programs.
The same measures were used in 2025–26.
Despite the changing initiatives and investment, the fundamentals remain consistent: participation, successful completion, training quality, employer confidence and positive post-training outcomes.
For providers, those are useful outcomes to keep in mind when reviewing your own performance.
For SAS providers, the KPI connection is worth watching
The Training Priorities Plan itself doesn’t create new SAS obligations.
But it shouldn’t be viewed as separate from funded-provider performance either.
The Department expressly explains that each annual Training Priorities Plan shapes the SAS framework by informing investment decisions, training subsidies, programs and initiatives. It also describes SAS quality assurance and monitoring as continuous, with an enhanced focus on equity, access and student outcomes.
The six-monthly SAS KPI reporting adds another interesting layer.
The Plan sets the broader system direction.
The SAS Agreement and relevant Program Schedule establish supplier-level performance expectations.
And KPI reporting collects information about what suppliers are actually doing and achieving.
Take employment and further study as an example.
The Training Priorities Plan sets a system-level benchmark of 87% of VET graduates being in employment or further study.
At supplier level, the General Training KPI reporting asks providers to support 75% of Career Start and Career Boost students who complete their qualification to connect with employers, explore career opportunities or identify pathways to further study.
They are not the same measure.
But there is a clear line of sight between them: the system-level outcome is employment or further study, while the supplier-level KPI focuses on something the provider can directly influence, transition support.
We can see a similar relationship across student satisfaction, early intervention, support, withdrawal patterns and progress monitoring.
For SAS providers, the practical message is simple:
Don’t wait until the next KPI report opens to work backwards and decide what evidence sits behind your answers.
If you report that a strategy is in place, you should be able to demonstrate what it looks like in practice, how it is being implemented and, importantly, whether it is working.
There’s also a strategic opportunity here. The Department has confirmed that standard SAS contracting openings align with the annual Training Priorities Plan, with future opportunities targeted towards gaps in qualifications and locations, regional and emerging workforce needs, and changes to the Queensland Subsidised Training List.
So, understanding the Plan isn’t only about current SAS performance. It may also help providers identify where future scope, delivery and growth opportunities could emerge.
Want to explore the Plan further?
The Department is also hosting a webinar to discover the Training Priorities Plan 2026–2027.
The session will explore Queensland’s training priorities for 2026 and 2027 and how they will guide and influence program delivery across the financial year.
For RTO leaders, and particularly Skills Assure Suppliers, it’s a useful opportunity to hear directly from the Department about the priorities sitting behind this year’s investment and consider what they may mean for your organisation.
The value isn’t simply knowing what the Government’s priorities are. It’s identifying where they intersect with your delivery, your learners, your workforce and your future opportunities.
Join us to discover the Training Priorities Plan 2026–2027
Our final take
The Training Priorities Plan 2026–27 provides a useful window into where Queensland’s VET system is heading.
For providers, the value comes from doing something with that intelligence.
Put the Plan alongside your student outcomes, KPI results, industry feedback, workforce risks and strategic plan and ask:
What is changing? What is our own data telling us? And what do we need to do next?
That’s where government direction becomes useful intelligence for your RTO and hopefully helps you stress less about compliance.
Further reading and resources
- Training Priorities Plan 2026–2027 — Queensland Government’s current annual training priorities and investment direction. View the Training Priorities Plan 2026–2027
- Right Skills Strategy 2025–2028 — the longer-term strategy the annual Plans help deliver. Explore the Right Skills Strategy
- Skills Assure Supplier framework — how the Training Priorities Plan informs funded training investment, programs and performance monitoring. Explore the SAS framework
- SAS contracting opportunities — how future contracting aligns with the annual Training Priorities Plan and identified training and workforce gaps. View SAS contracting information
- Student Voice surveys — how learner feedback informs provider performance, student support and future training investment. Learn about Student Voice
- Student Support Network EOI — background to the statewide student support initiative discussed above. View the Student Support Network EOI