Victoria Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney

Victorian School Leavers Making TAFE Their First Choice

Victor P Taffa

School leavers in Ballarat are taking advantage of the Andrews Government’s Free TAFE for priority courses initiative and making TAFE their first choice after receiving VCE and VCAL results.

Visiting Phoenix P-12 Community College’s Sebastopol campus today, Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney met with Ballarat Year 12 students who are set to be among the first enrolments under the Free TAFE initiative.

“It’s important for school leavers to know that university is not their only option there are so many great careers that start at TAFE.” Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney said.

“More than ever the jobs in demand across Victoria are taught at TAFE that’s why we’re making it better than ever and reducing the barrier to training by making 50 priority courses free.”

Starting on 1 January 2019 Victorian school leavers can now choose between 30 priority TAFE course and 20 pre-apprenticeship courses which are tuition free.

Phoenix P-12 Community College student Bianca is looking forward to pursuing a career in nursing and despite achieving an ATAR that would enable her to get into university she plans to enrol in a Diploma of Nursing at TAFE, which is a Free TAFE course.

Bianca is choosing TAFE for the added flexibility that will enable her to fulfil her responsibilities as a carer for a family member, and to get a great nationally recognised qualification leading to a high demand profession.

Skilled workers are in high demand across Victoria, which is why the Victorian Budget 2018/19 invested an additional $644 Million to strengthen TAFE, to ensure all Victorians can access the training they need to get a good job.

As part of the transformation of Victoria’s training sector, Andrews Government is creating more than 30,000 new training places, upgrading and rebuilding TAFE campuses and making TAFE free for 32 priority TAFE courses and 20 pre-apprenticeship courses.

“So many students across Ballarat are weighing up their options and deciding on the next step after school as a recent TAFE graduate, I know firsthand that TAFE delivers high quality, rewarding training and I encourage our local school leavers to seriously consider it as their next step.” Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle said.

Phoenix P-12 Community College along with other local schools Mount Clear College, Ballarat High School and Ballarat Secondary College will also offer its students Andrews Government new Head Start program, which from next year will deliver up to 1,700 new apprenticeships and traineeships at 100 secondary schools across Victoria.

TAFE institutes, including universities that offer TAFE courses, across Victoria are currently taking enrolments for Free TAFE courses that begin in 2019.

 

Abbreviations:

TAFE              Technical and Further Education

VCE                Victorian Certificate of Education

VCAL             Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning