Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recently held a local information evening in Beenleigh with business owners from the Forde electorate and the Australian Industry Trade College. The Australian Industry Trade College was established in 2008 on the Gold Coast at Robina by industry leaders in response to a need for an alternative style of senior education geared towards people who are focused on apprenticeships and traineeships. Over 650 apprenticeships have been created as a result, with over 98 per cent of the graduates achieving their senior school certificate. By 2012 more than 90 per cent of these graduates had finished school and were employed as apprentices. This is certainly a wonderful, positive outcome for these young people who may normally not have completed their senior schooling and left at year 10. It has provided them with an opportunity to follow a traineeship or apprenticeship in something that they are interested in.

At the AITC students attend college in four- to eight-week modules or blocks and are in a work placement for the remainder of the term, gaining up to 45 per cent of their trade qualifications by the end of their year 12 studies. When they are out on work experience they are being paid and this helps them pay their tuition costs in addition to giving them a sense of independence and responsibility. At the information evening CEO Mark Hands explained that often graduates leave the AITC and head into full-time employment in an apprenticeship or traineeship. As the students have already completed part of their formal training, it means they are able to enter into that workplace with a set of skills that makes them far more productive to the employer. The AITC focus on only a core curriculum of English, maths, business and information technology programs in addition to some physical education. I was impressed to hear how the students also learn how to be proactive in finding their own work experience and jobs through dedicated support people on staff.

I am working with the AITC to establish a campus in the Forde electorate in Beenleigh because we have a large manufacturing, construction and retail industry base and those industries need educated, enthusiastic young trainees. I would like to see the opportunity provided to the young people of Forde to finish their secondary schooling while at the same time have a foot in the door to employment, which we all know is getting more and more difficult. So this provides more choice for young people when it comes to planning for their future careers.