MTA Training and Employment has been awarded Large Training Provider of the Year at the 2025 South Australian Training Awards.
Recognising its unique connection to the automotive industry, and its innovative and industry integrated training model which has seen near 30 per cent growth in apprentice numbers, cementing MTA Training and Employment’s position as South Australia’s best Large Training Provider.
MTA SA/NT CEO Darrell Jacobs dedicated the win to the ongoing support of automotive industry members, customers and apprentices, “Every day our members provide us with insights and access to the latest trends and technology. Thanks to the support of our industry, the future of automotive is brighter than ever for our apprentices.”
Mr Jacobs continued, “This approach has delivered results. Apprentice numbers have grown by nearly 30 percent in recent years, with more than 1,100 apprentices currently in training, alongside hundreds of qualified technicians who continue to upskill with us across South Australia.”
MTA Training and Employment’s unique connection to the automotive industry has informed not only its training model, but also innovative and industry leading initiatives such as Australia’s first and currently only automotive dual trade apprenticeships, its pioneering school pathways and its nation leading apprentice mentoring program.
Emphasising the role that industry not-for-profit providers have, Mr Jacobs said, “Our training is guided by industry, and we reinvest back into industry, delivering the best outcome for apprentices and automotive businesses.”
Mr Jacobs said the award reinforced how much there is to celebrate, “MTA Training and Employment now has more than 100 dual trade apprentices in training. We are leading from the front, with the industry and apprentices alike supporting us.”
He added, “We are in the business of changing the lives of young South Australians. We support an industry worth over $2 billion to our state’s economy through 5,000 business who employ 27,000 South Australians.”
Acknowledging the challenging past twelve months after a fire cause significant disruption to the largest workshop at the MTA Training and Employment Centre in Royal Park, Mr Jacobs shared, “The fire could have devastated us, but instead MTA staff banded together and rose to the challenge. To the credit of the MTA team, no apprentice was delayed in their apprenticeship pathway.”
Mr Jacobs reflected on the effort of MTA staff and apprentices, “I am merely the conductor of a group of highly talented and super passionate people.”
“Every day I come to work I admire the way MTA staff go about their business and their can-do attitude” he concluded.
Background
MTA Training and Employment, the Motor Trade Association SA/NT’s (MTA) fully-accredited registered training organisation (RTO), delivers nationally-recognised, industry-leading automotive vocational education and training to more than 1,100 apprentices across nine automotive trades.
MTA Training and Employment has training locations at the MTA Royal Park Training and Employment Centre, MTA Cleve Automotive Skills Centre, as well as in industry at Bordertown.
On Monday 16 September 2024, a fire significantly damaged the largest training workshop at the MTA Training and Employment Centre in Royal Park. The extent of the fire required the whole workshop to be rebuilt, and the MTA is close to reopening the facility just over a year after the fire.
MTA Training and Employment is accountable to the MTA’s 1,200 members in South Australia and responsible for the training delivered to more than 450 apprentices employed by its group training organisation. Importantly, all parts of the MTA, including MTA Training and Employment, are industry not-for-profit. Every dollar MTA Training and Employment makes is reinvested into the industry.
Launching at the beginning of 2023, MTA Training and Employment’s innovative ‘blended’ model offers apprentices more time and flexibility to apply their learning in their workplace, providing additional benefits for them and their employers.
Informed by the MTA’s 1,200 members in South Australia, MTA Training and Employment ensures that apprentices are trained to the highest standards of the national curriculum and responsive to the latest industry needs and technologies. Furthermore, MTA Training and Employment services diverse customers not only across automotive, but beyond to industries such as mining and emergency services.
MTA Training and Employment is a leader in hybrid and battery electric vehicle training, launching South Australia’s first dedicated electric vehicle training centre in June 2023. Since then, MTA Training and Employment has deepened its commitment to hybrid and electric vehicle training by upgrading its Royal Park facility with a new Automotive Technology Vehicle Centre.
In an Australian first, MTA Training and Employment successfully applied to the South Australian Skills Commission for the first and second automotive dual trade apprenticeships Light Vehicle Mechanical Technology and Automotive Electrical Technology, and Heavy Commercial Vehicle Mechanical Technology and Automotive Electrical Technology. In July 2025 MTA Training and Employment launched a third automotive dual trade apprenticeship, Agricultural Mechanical and Automotive Electrical.
These dual trade apprenticeships reduce the time of undertaking two separate qualifications and importantly, provide apprentices with the skills they need to work in a rapidly evolving automotive industry with more zero and low emission vehicles.
The MTA Training and Employment’s pioneering School Pathways Program, combined with the extraordinarily successful Automotive Mentor Program, reinforce the MTA Training and Employment’s reputation as the South Australian leader in trade commencements and retention.
MTA Training and Employment is committed to training the next generation of South Australian automotive apprentices and enabling a bright future for the state’s automotive industry.
To view MTA Training and Employment’s biography on the SA Training Awards website, please click here.
ENDS
