Vocational Education and Training

MIKE HALPIN

VET Coordinator

Vocational Education and Training (VET) is a national extension program to normal timetabled lessons at school. The intention is for students with a particular interest or skill set to further develop their areas of expertise, or to explore possible career paths to enable informed decisions to be made in the future.

VET provides an opportunity for students to enter the workplace and experience what it is like to be a normal employee in a particular industry or occupation. The students must meet the expectations of the employer with regard to punctuality, appearance, interest, enthusiasm, reliability, trustworthiness, initiative and operating as a member of a team. For many students, this may well be the first time that they have ventured into the world of work, away from the sheltered environment of school.

VET at TSS includes the work experience program and the schoolbased traineeship/apprenticeship scheme. Work experience is shortterm placement within a business or enterprise, whereby the student is placed within the different sections of the operation to experience how the business/enterprise actually works. It is intended that the student would come away from the four or five sessions in the workplace with some questions answered and his eyes open to the opportunities that lie before him, should he choose this career path after school.

The school-based traineeship/ apprenticeship scheme provides students with paid employment over the course of their traineeship or apprenticeship. There are two aspects to both schemes, which are equally important: the on-thejob training done in the workplace and the off-job theory, which mirrors the experiences gained at work, delivered by a Registered Training Organisation.

When the trainee reaches set competency standards in both areas of endeavour he is signed off and is awarded a nationally recognised qualification issued under the Australian Qualifications Framework. This may well provide a springboard into further qualifications in that field, or direct employment. An added bonus of the school-based traineeship scheme to a Rank score student is that completion of a Certificate III traineeship guarantees a minimum rank score of 68, which is equivalent to an OP 15 for tertiary entrance. This is a handy safety net for students who may be struggling with their academic subjects at school. In addition, valuable contacts are made at work and the extra knowledge and skills transfer to life after school and makes these students more employable.

School-based apprentices are those few students who have already made the decisions about their careers… they have committed to an industry, such as automotive or construction, and to an employer, who signs on to train the apprentice through to completion of the trade qualification. Effectively, after two years of working one day per week, the student begins his full-time apprenticeship after Year 12 on second-year wages and with greater responsibilities.

Many of our country boarders come from rural properties and many work as part of their normal ‘holiday’ activities, helping out on the family farm. So, it makes perfectly good sense for these boys to complete the Cert III Agriculture qualification as they progress through Years 10 to 12. Completing the required 50 days of on-the-job training is never a problem for these hard-working lads, and because the theory is so familiar, relevant and interesting, they have no trouble completing the theoretical modules. In 2015, for the first time at TSS, a number of boys in Years 11 and 12 enrolled in Cert II/III Rural Operations delivered through UQ (Gatton).This two-year program takes the students through Cert II in the first year, then Cert III in the second year, which allows the boys to graduate with that guaranteed minimum rank score of 68. As this course is not an Authority (QCAA) subject nor a traineeship, requiring 50 days on-the-job, it is more accessible to a wider range of students with an interest in Agriculture, but without the rigours of tertiary entrance standards.

This year we have had one boy take on a school-based apprenticeship and approximately 40 boys undertook school-based traineeships in fields as diverse as: agriculture, automotive, business, child care, hospitality, engineering, fitness, sports coaching. The Year 12 boys have completed and the rest will do so in the year ahead… time and energy well spent!

Well done to all trainees and our apprentices for going the extra mile to gain an upper hand in the race for employment.