12 minute read
NT Automotive Course Eyes Expansion
by Boylen
There is a sense of confidence that a certificate course preparing young Territorians for a career in automotive could soon expand to help satisfy growing demand for skilled staff.
Palmerston Youth Skills Centre, on the outskirts of Darwin, runs courses in Automotive Vocational Preparation, as well as Construction, Cookery, ElectroComms, Hospitality and Engineering.
It offers qualifications to students as young as 14, early school leavers and youths from the Back on Track program.
Covering retail, service and repairs, the automotive course is currently limited to 45 places per year. Class sizes are capped at 15 to allow for more individualised learning.
“I’d like to see it expand,” said Leanne Thackeray, the centre’s senior manager.
“I’m not sure we can at this facility because we don’t have the space for it but I know that based on this model, there is a lot of interest in expanding.”
The course currently offers Certificate l, comprising eight units of work, with students engaged one day a week for six-and-a-half hours, over 20 weeks.
But a more detailed Certificate 2 course that would run for the entire year has been floated.
“It all depends on student demand because really we want to help the students. If we get enough students wanting it, it could become a possibility because we are very student focussed,” said the automotive course trainer, Eddie Nesbitt.
Genuine Desire
The NT government initiative was launched in 2020 and comes at no cost to parents. Students are recommended for inclusion by their schools or via community care organisations.
They then go through an interview process designed chiefly to identify those who genuinely want to work in the industry.
“There’s not anything else like this in the Territory and they want to expand it because we are getting such good results,” Leanne said.
It also addresses challenges in the labour market with many businesses unable to afford the skyrocketing costs of employing qualified, accomplished mechanics.
“At the moment there’s a lot of tradespeople jobs neededespecially heavy diesel,” Eddie said. “They are advertising for a lot of qualified staff but employers are seeing that they can’t get that and they are starting to train them internally and taking on a lot more apprenticeships.
“Knowing a lot of the local businesses, we get phone calls every now and again asking, ‘Have you got any decent ones there?’”
The course operates without the disruptive or anti-social conduct associated with some schools or unemployed youths in the region.
“Our service is opt in. Young people opt in so we don’t have any behavioural problems here because they want to be here,” Leanne said.
“It’s a different environment when kids actually want to come and learn.”
Re-engaging Youth
Nesbitt said the course’s success also has an unexpected ripple effect.
“For us, it’s mainly seeing the ones that came to us that weren’t in school, the majority of them actually re-engage back into school after coming here,” he said.
“We show them how important it is to have English and Maths.
“I’ve found sometimes the school hasn’t really put it across to them and said, ‘you are going to struggle in life if you do not understand this basic English and Maths’.
“And I tell them straight, this is how it is, and they get a bit of a fright. They want to educate themselves and they see the reasoning for why you should be at school.”
Try A Trade
For apprehensive or anxious students unsure whether the course is the right fit for them, the centre offers a ‘Try a Trade’ program.
“There’s no theory. They can just come and get to know us and automotive is very popular for Try a Trade,” Leanne said.
Students work in groups of four and are given a taste of what to expect, disassembling and reassembling engines without any demand for a particular level of reading or writing skills.
“We take them apart, take the heads off, pistons out, crank out and we go through what the parts are and their names and then put them back together,” Eddie said.
“It’s just hands-on practical for three hours.”
It leads to much bigger tasks for those enrolled in the course, according to Leanne.
“Eddie does a lot of real life stuff in the workshop,” she said.
“Sometimes the kids will work on their cars, so Eddie will go through and work out the parts they need. Then the kids will bring their car in and they can work on their own cars.
“That really works for engagement and it also works for variety. They get plenty of experience with different cars.”
Accomplishment
But cars are barely the half of it.
“I do offer the younger students to bring in, for example, Nanna’s mower or whipper snipper or whatever is broken at home. They can do a project on that as part of the training, work it into the course, and they can go back with a real sense of achievement,” Eddie said.
“And for the student, it’s probably the first time they’ve ever achieved anything from start to finish.”
Nesbitt grew up in Dublin, destined to work with cars since his first job as a tyre fitter, aged 15.
“I did an apprenticeship in Dublin in a dealership that was full of headaches - everything breaks,” he laughed.
He soon decided training was his calling and began building his resume after being told he first needed multiple years of experience in the industry.
“I worked on cars, bikes, boats, you name it. And then over to Australia where I worked for Darwin Honda.
“The first time I stopped was to start training.”
It’s a decision he has never regretted.
“It’s not as heavy on the back as it used to be,” he quipped.
“But, it’s more like when you see the students achieve and it starts to click with them.
“We love it when the student comes back to us and says, ‘thanks, it’s been great and I want to do something with my life now’.
“And they teach me all the latest stuff too - like Tik Tok!”
For some students, the automotive course is merely the beginning of their journey, for others, it’s a onestop shop.
“Some engage in more courses, trying to figure out if they want to be a mechanic or boilermaker or sparky,” Eddie said.
“And you get the others and you just know, they’re going to be a mechanic.”
The skills centre is filling a sizeable gap in the education sphere, while also mentoring, refocussing and preparing young people from so many backgrounds for the workforce.
“I think education is done really well in this space because we’ve been allowed to build new models,” said Leanne, who draws tremendous satisfaction and pride from her role.
“Watching how young people can learn the love of learning from a space they haven’t experienced before and watching their whole mentality change from that.
“I wouldn’t do anything else.”
