Inside Brisbane Trade College’s Bold Transformation

Australian Trade College North Brisbane, part of the IntoWork Group, is building something Queensland’s never seen before—and future students in the next cohort will be the first to experience it.

Under newly appointed Assistant Principal Steven Smythe, the college is upgrading facilities and establishing partnerships with major Electric Vehicle manufacturers to create direct pathways from classroom to career. “By the time students come out the other side of Year 11, they’ll be out working,” Smythe said.

The college is adding Computer Numerical Control machines that allow students to design parts on computers and watch machines cut them with precision—current industry standard that barely exists in Australian education. “The jobs in this area are amazing. We’ve got apprenticeships lined up sitting there—we just need to give students the skills to place them,” Smythe said.

Collaborative robots, already transforming manufacturing worldwide, will also feature in student training. “In a very short amount of time, they will be everywhere,” Smythe said. “We’re looking at robot welders where you go in as a welder, tack weld the bits together, then set the robot arm to do the weld because it’s much quicker than a human.”

The focus on electric vehicle systems addresses acute industry shortages. “BYD are literally importing people over because they can’t find anyone that can actually service their cars,” Smythe said. “So why don’t we do that? We’re setting ourselves up as pipelines for industry.”

Being part of the IntoWork Group gives the college access to industry partnerships traditional schools can’t secure. “The network of partnerships we can get through the IntoWork Group is what gets me most excited,” Smythe said. “‘We’ve got some connections at Tesla and we can place students there. It’s not something you can do at a normal school.”

Smythe is also creating a position never before seen in Queensland trade education: on-site industry technicians. “I’m looking for those unicorn people who’ve worked on machines for years and have that ridiculous wealth of knowledge you just can’t get online,” he said.

The competency-based approach means students demonstrate real-world skills rather than passing tests. “It’s not about grades, it’s about, can you do the job? You’re not passing until you can actually do the job,” Smythe said. “Being a tradie is a real career here but schools still treat it a bit like the second-class pathway. I think that’s changing, and we’re leading that change.”

Students joining the college in the coming months will be the first to access the upgraded facilities and industry partnerships, gaining skills that Smythe says won’t be widely available in Queensland for years, “We’re not just training students,” Steven said. “We’re creating a pipeline for the next generation of industry leaders and tradespeople, and I’m really excited about where this is heading.”