Media Release: Minister celebrates 2000th student to explore local apprenticeship opportunities

by

Earlier today the Hon. Dan Tehan, Federal Minister for Education visited Baimbridge secondary college in Hamilton Victoria to help celebrate the 2000th participant milestone in the Multi Industry pilot program.

Westvic Staffing solutions has partnered with a number of local secondary schools over the past 2 years to support students to better understand local apprenticeship and traineeship career options.

The program is designed to allow students to experience multiple career pathways through, training, work experience and industry presentations which then assist the students to make a more informed choice when leaving secondary school.

To date the program has assisted over 2160 youth across Victoria, NSW and Tasmania and has achieved a 40%+ success rate for youth entering into an apprenticeship once they complete the program. Surprisingly almost 50% of the youth have changed their mind into a new career option from what they originally thought they wanted to do.

The programs cover a wide range of industry themes including Building and Construction, Engineering and Automotive, Business and community services, and land, food and fibre.

“This program has engaged the community where, youth, schools and local employers have the chance to trial a range of career options to find the best fit. We congratulate the commonwealth Government on their long term commitment to our industry, and to supporting youth into highly skilled careers” said Dean Luciani, AEN Chair and CEO of Westvic Staffing Solutions based in Warrnambool and Hamilton.

Gary Workman, Executive Director of AEN, also discussed the valuable work that group training organisations provide in their local communities.

“Australia is facing shortages of skilled workers in many areas and apprenticeships are a way of ensuring we have skilled workers for the future and that we do not leave a generation of young people permanently locked out of the workforce.”

“We congratulate the Commonwealth government on their support of this program over the past 2 years. It strongly demonstrates the government’s commitment to apprenticeships and traineeships and will ensure our youth receive real skills and training, and valuable career opportunities, which will provide a strong foundation for our economy into the future”.

Word count 359

For further details on the event.

Gary Workman, Executive Director
Apprenticeship Employment Network
0425 736 036 | gary@aen.org.au | www.aen.org.au

Dean Luciani, Chair 
Apprenticeship Employment Network
0418 516 908 | dluciani@westvic.org.au | www.aen.org.au


Event Details

Baimbridge College
59 Mt Baimbridge Rd
Hamilton VIC 3300

Friday 9th November 2018
10.30am – 11.30am

Background information

AEN & Multi Industry Pilots

AEN believe one of the main reasons that apprentice and trainee completion rates are low is that young people don’t have the opportunity to trial, experience and learn about a range of local vocational options before having to “sign up” to a long commitment.

The Multi Industry Pre-Apprentice project aims to provide participants with the opportunity to have a “hands on” trial of 3-4 different industries during a course. The project also supports host employers as they can engage with a number of young participants through the project to find the best possible” fit” for their business.

The project is for:

  • students from years 10 and/or 11
  • existing unemployed people under 25y.o.

who might be interested in pursuing a vocational pathway in the future.

Group Training Organisations (GTO’s) from Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania are encouraged to design courses providing participants with a range of experiences which can be funded through the MIP project.

Westvic Staffing Solutions

Westvic Staffing Solutions has accumulated more than 30 years’ experience supporting local people with employment and training opportunities. We began in 1984 as a community based group training organisation, building apprenticeship, employment and training offerings in south-west of Victoria.

Today, we are still committed to helping people.

Our staff provide support to businesses, students and job seekers with the aim of finding them staff, employment and training solutions. Working toward a positive impact in our communities, Westvic Staffing Solutions believes the more people we can get into employment and training, the better for the wellbeing of society.

We have three service divisions, Apprentice Employment Network (AEN), Registered Training Organisation (RTO) and Industry Mentoring Safety and Quality Services (IMSQS)

Documents