NSW budget plan sees women and mature workers encouraged to study trades
A new plan will see women and mature workers encouraged to become tradespeople, overhauling how they can obtain qualifications.
Education
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The state government will pump $57.4 million into a new organisation in next week’s budget which will get more women and mature workers in trades.
The new Trades Skills Pathways Centre will overhaul how apprentices obtain vocational qualifications will see women and mature workers given more flexible training options in a bid to plug the state’s skills shortage.
Skills Minister Geoff Lee said it would radically change how apprentices and trainees gain their qualifications, with the new scheme tasks with developing fast track options to help get their qualifications faster.
“This will be a groundbreaking NSW innovation that will go beyond traditional apprenticeships and traineeships to capture workers who may have missed the opportunity to obtain formal skills,” he said.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said workers who had the practical skills from years of experience but did not have an official qualification would be aided so they could attain a formal qualification more easily.
“The traditional apprenticeship model is not for everyone. Many workers acquire these same skills on the job, without formal training,” he said.
“This Centre will assist these workers to fill knowledge gaps and earn a nationally recognised qualification.”
Spray painting apprentice Danyelle Burhner, 19, welcomed the move to get more females into trades, saying there was only one other woman in her Automotive Refinishing Technology course at TAFE.
“I have a couple of women who have families in my class, it is really hard for them to work, go to TAFE and have a family as well,” she said.
While she said her workplace Wales Truck Repairs in Smithfield was welcoming and not particularly “blokey”, she said she would like to see more women in the car spray painting industry.
“I have heard that women can actually see colours better than men, they are probably better at colour matching.”