Incorporating industry-specific training into senior secondary education has not always succeeded in attaining status alongside general education courses. This paper reports enrolment and student performance trends from 2001-2008 in industry-specific training courses developed in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) where around one in five students take such a course as part of their Year 12 Senior Secondary Certificate. Data presented here show that this proportion has been relatively stable over time. Trends show that the later cohorts of students perform better in these subjects than in their other subjects despite there being no overall change in the general ability profile of the cohorts. It is suggested that feedback from the earlier cohort performance may have led to improvement in examination preparation and more focus on developing underpinning knowledge. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)