Vocational Education & Training (VET) – Brimbank

 

Young people in the West have just been granted an astounding coup.  The funding provided by the Commonwealth Government to support the delivery of vocational education through the building of Trade Training Centres in the West will go a long way to helping young people achieve independence.

These Trade Training Centres will provide an enormous boost to young people to gain the skills they need to enter the workforce.  Employers often say that employing young people can sometimes be touch and go because young people don’t have the required skills.  Young people who study a vocational education and training (VET) course are so much better prepared for work, not just in the specific trade skill area, but by also gaining ‘employability skills’.  These skills are those that many of us take for granted, but for a young person who has never been to work and, who sometimes doesn’t have a role model at home, they don’t necessarily come naturally.

Young people who have a chance to experience the world of work in a supportive environment will soon understand the importance of getting to work on time, wearing the ‘right gear’, taking initiative while bouncing ideas off work mates and communicating individually and in a team.  There is no doubt that VET provides this experience and much more.  Vocational education is geared to a different learning style – it is applied learning that provides students with increased motivation, improved organisational skills, opportunities to explore a wider range of career pathways and links literacy and numeracy to practical applications, validating why they need to learn these skills.

It also opens networks for many young people; they understand the relevance of contacts in various workplaces and often gain a part time job from their exchanges with people they meet through their VET course.  It helps them earn a wage while studying and will eventually provide a steady income when fully qualified in trade areas.

VET offers a practical way to learn (and earn!) and our young people will now have access to dozens more VET options, giving them more reasons to stay at school and more options when they leave.

Brimbank VET Cluster

For over a decade schools in the Brimbank area have shared a level of cooperation which is a model for aspring VET Clusters.  Schools across Government, Catholic, the Independent sectors have historically participated in a VET delivery model which demonstrates sound governance, equity and access, financial and accountability practices.

Over the decade the Brimbank VET Cluster has grown to 14 member schools offering 25 different VET subjects with a total of 71 classes, catering for nearly 1,200 students.  These statistics only relate to cluster provision of VET and does not take into account the additional subjects run within each school.

Courses run in areas such as business, community, information technology, media, music and fashion.

The recent success of the BMLLEN led “Trade Training in Schools” applications in the Brimbank area has resulted in new trade facilities in the following areas:

 

New Trade Facilities	Brimbank areas
Caroline Chisholm Catholic College	Electrotechnology
Footscray City Secondary College	Avionics Horticulture
St Albans Secondary College	Hospitality
Sunshine College (North Campus)	Carpentry Bricklaying Engineering Hairdressing
Victoria University Secondary College	Telecommunications
Victoria University Secondary College (Cairnlea Campus)	Plastering Painting & Decorating Refrigeration & Airconditioning
Copperfield College (Delahey Campus)	Automotive Electrotechnology
Keilor Downs College	Building & Construction
Marian College	Hospitality Hairdressing
Sydenham Catholic Regional College	Hospitality Pastry Baking Picture Framing Printing/Signage