The aim of this research was to gain a better understanding of the role and function of small providers in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system in meeting the needs of learners. Small providers -- those with low numbers of students -- account for almost one-third of the total, thus justifying a closer look at this segment. In 2017 there were 1130 registered training organisations (RTOs) from a total of 3573 non-school RTOs with fewer than 100 students. RTOs were categorised into three sizes: (1) small providers (those with fewer than 100 students enrolled in VET); (2) medium providers (with between 100 and 999 students); and (3) large providers (with 1000 or more students). The authors selected providers that were in the same size category in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Schools were excluded from the analysis as they are RTOs in only some jurisdictions. Accordingly, the findings reflect VET delivered by non-school RTOs with a stable number of students in terms of their size category between 2015 and 2017. These stable small providers made up 24% of providers in the scope of this research but had fewer than 1% of all students in 2017.