John Barilaro urges high school kids to take on a trade if they want and ignore uni-pushing parents
HIGH school students have been urged by the Deputy Premier to ignore their parents and follow their “gut feel” if they want to be a tradie. He implored thousands of high school student currently weighing up their future studies to not view TAFE as a “dumb” choice.
NSW
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HIGH school students have been urged by the Deputy Premier to ignore their parents and follow their “gut feel” if they want to be a tradie.
John Barilaro, who’s also NSW Skills Minister, implored the thousands of high school students currently weighing up their future studies to not view TAFE and vocational training as a “dumb” choice.
He said they should turn a deaf ear to parents and teachers pushing them into university.
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“Let’s be honest, for decades we’ve been telling kids university is the only pathway, that’s career advisers, mum and dads, politicians, it’s Prime Ministers, they’ve all said it ‘every kid should go to university’,” he said.
“And we’ve somehow short-changed the value of vocational training. We’ve used terms for TAFE like ‘second chance pathway’. When you say to someone or a student that if you don’t get into uni there’s a second chance and that’s called TAFE you’re really saying ‘sorry mate if you’re dumb go to TAFE’, we haven’t helped ourselves here.”
Mr Barilaro’s recruitment push for vocational training comes as new figures reveal over 2600 people snapped up free apprenticeships in the past two months. This is nearly 30 per cent above average for July and August and the government expects uptake will ramp up from November as school leavers choose their career.
The government committed $285 million in the Budget to fully funding 100,000 people to study at any TAFE and non-TAFE provider delivering apprenticeship studies.
“I just ask young people to keep their mind open, almost forget what mum and dad says, forget what the school counsellor tells you, go with your gut feel, have a look at where the jobs are, back yourself in,” Mr Barilaro said.
“Tradies today are earning the sort of money that once upon a time only accountants and lawyers used to earn.”
Sydney has had the most new apprentices with 1382 signing on while 332 apprentices have come on-board in the Hunter, Newcastle and Central Coast regions and 74 in Richmond Tweed. Carpentry, electrician, plumbing, hairdressing and commercial cookery are popular courses.
Mr Barilaro said if the scheme recruits more than 100,000 apprentices he would ask the government to fund more free spots.
“My hopes is that we surpass it,” he said.
“It means I can go back to Treasury and say can you top up the $285 million.”