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VET & TAFE comfortable enough to work with me on getting them through .
Working at a dual sector university is probably not where you thought you would end up say , 12 or 15 years ago . What was school like for you ? School was not my happy place at all . I was a good learner at school , but the atmosphere , the social aspect , I just didn ’ t gel with that at all . I ended up leaving school early and I never thought I ’ d end up basically a trainer and teaching school kids .
The kids these days are really lucky that they have the option of VET as a different pathway to school . Obviously , they ’ ve got it as a different pathway if school ’ s not right for them , but also VET helps with them getting those points for their year 11 and year 12 certificates too .
When I was at school I had typing , legal studies and biology . I didn ’ t have anything really that I could see that was going to do me any favours other than getting into higher education . And that wasn ’ t a pathway I wanted to take .
Why would you recommend year 12 graduates , younger students and mature age students try a VET course ? What kinds of skills and attributes do you think they pick up compared to say , starting a university degree straight away ? There ’ s nothing wrong with starting a university degree straight away – each to their own , whatever people decide is best for them – but VET really does give you the skills and attributes to move into the workforce a lot quicker . It gives people the work skills and the knowledge for a whole heap of different industries . It ’ s a beautiful way to learn competencybased skills , and there ’ s no reason why you can ’ t use VET as a pathway to higher education .
When you get into your certificates and diplomas , it ’ s not a standalone . VET
VET really does give you the skills and attributes to move into the workforce a lot quicker .
works very well with higher education as a pathway . But I think what ’ s quite important to people these days is getting into the workforce and having the skills and knowledge that they need to be able to do that .
Especially for people who maybe haven ’ t studied for a long time , who might have studied a while back , it ’ s not as overwhelming as going straight into a degree , but starting off a little bit easier with a bit more flexibility , and they can gradually work their way to that . Maybe they can get what they need from VET and go out and get themselves an awesome job . ■
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