A parent's perspective on VET video

- [Bella] I'm Bella, and this is my mum, Tracy.

- [Tracy] I'm Tracy, Bella's mum.

- [Ruby] I'm Ruby.

- [Monique] And my name is Monique, and I'm Ruby's mum.

- [Brad] I'm Brad Paige. I’m 18.

- [Greg] And I’m his dad, Greg Paige.

- [Krishna] My name is Krishna Kardhita. I’m a year 12 student.

- [Putu] Hi, I'm Putu.I'm Krishna's mum.

- [Bella] Did you have any expectations for my career?

- [Tracy] I did have expectations for your career. You always had a caring and nurturing, empathetic kind of disposure. I thought that you would be very suited to a health professional career pathway.

- [Greg] I actually would love to see you go to university and use the brains that you got. Though, my expectations were not to follow in my footsteps, but you have and I think you've done the right thing here.

- [Putu] For me, as a mum, I just want my child to be happy, have a great career, and have a happy life.

- [Monique] I've always dreamed big for you. It was just really hard because of your anxiety. So I wasn't really sure which way you'd go. But I knew you wanted to be a nurse.

- [Greg] I didn't know anything about VET at all. I didn't know what it was.

- [Krishna] I didn't know a lot about VET courses in general and found it really interesting that I could study like vocational training while in school at the same time. I found that really appealing.

- [Monique] To be honest, I didn't really know that much at all because I was really worried about which way Ruby was going to go career wise, it was like the golden ticket.

- [Greg] I was a little bit reserved, at the fact that it was only a two day a week thing and how we were going to juggle school and work.

- [Brad] I didn't know how I'd go with school and work at the same time, but after I've done it for a little bit now, it's really good and it's not a challenge at all.

- [Bella] My concerns were probably more so to do with the stress it would put on my parents. My training provider is at Singleton TAFE, so that is like kind of an hour drive from my house and both my parents do work full time, but obviously they made it work for me and I couldn't thank them enough.

- [Tracy] Yeah, I think because she was so passionate about it, my husband and I both spoke and it was like, if we can give her some kind of little push along the way and help along the way, you do what you can for children.

- [Monique] My biggest concern was you didn't really attend school a lot.

- [Ruby] I never put the hours in at school until I got to year 11. I had the hope of, you know, I'm going to make it now. I've got this School Based Traineeship.

- [Monique] And at the end of the HSC, she went from last in the class to first.

- [Ruby] Yeah, first in all my subjects, which never had happened.

- [Monique] I’m gonna cry.

- [Ruby] Don't cry. Oh, God.

- [Krishna] I didn't really know much about it all. All I knew was tradies so very stereotypical with me. But now I know it's so much more. And you can achieve so much more with VET courses it's amazing.

- [Ruby] When I first started, I felt that it was very strict and you got to do this, this, this and this and if you don't, you're not going to pass, which isn't true. They're very relaxed. And if you put the effort in, they're going to help you succeed.

- [Monique] Yeah, the support’s there, you just got to do the work.

- [Greg] Bradley wanted to work five days a week too. He didn't want to just be doing two days a week. But I think he realised how quick it's gone and, you know, you’re still achieving you’re HSC, which is what we've said all along myself, mum and work, you know it's a good thing to have in your resumé.

- [Brad] Yeah. It's definitely changed my perspective on the HSC. You don't really realise how important the HSC is until you actually in year 11 and 12 and studying it and actually doing it. It's pretty important in life just to have it like down the track.

- [Bella] You don't lose anything by just having a go at it and seeing if you do like it. Just do it and stick with it, and you'll find that it is very rewarding.

- [Greg] I can remember being 15 years old and didn't really know what I wanted to do and I think giving the kids an extra eighteen months to get a feel for what their chosen industry is about, is priceless.

- [Ruby] It was very stressful, but it's really rewarding. I like it.

- [Monique] Just to watch her grow and just change and become more confident. Yeah that was pretty much the best thing for me to watch.

- [Tracy] For parents, I think it's great. Every child is different. They have different needs and different wants. So this just might be what your child needs.

- [Greg] I've seen him come out of his shell with people. His confidence has just grown so much. I'm proud of you.

- [Putu] Dear mums, parents, ladies and gentlemen, give our children a chance to study, and give them a chance to explore the things they like for the sake of their happiness.