TAFE NSW Start Your Future textiles program video

Kristie Hedley:

I'm Kristie Hedley. I'm the Head Teacher of Career Pathways, Aboriginal Languages and Employability Skills at Kingscliff and Wollongbar campuses on the North Coast. So the YES+ program. YES stands for Youth Engagement Strategy. And what we're looking at istargeting kids who aren't sure about their career pathway after high school. And the program is aimed at giving them a taste of TAFE and what VET has to offer. It's also really targeting industry areas where we know there's growth in that particular area.And there's actually going to be jobs at the end of it.

Kaitelyn:

My name is Kaitelyn, and today I'm doing textiles, and learning how to sew a bag. With this program we get a different experience with different courses. So you get a taste of what... some things you wouldn't really think about what you want to do. I've done... Before this one is makeup and beauty. So we did that last week. And then after this, we have child services and health.

Mya:

My name is Mya, and we are sewing a bag today. The idea ofhaving this program is to give us an advance of subjects you might want to choose as long term careers.

Kristie Hedley:

So we've got the personal services stream. There are kids in that group who are doing fashion, beauty and hair, child services, and some health, allied health. And then in the trade stream, we've got plumbing for the first time ever, which is great, construction and auto electric. And in the last stream we've got aviation, art and design, and animal studies.

Kaitelyn:

I didn't think I would be doing textiles, but I'm really enjoying it so far, learning different skills that I don't previously have. So I've picked up a lot of skills. I enjoy doing this a lot more because it's more practical and hands-on from your everyday classroom, where you're just writing notes

Mya:

I find it easier to do more hands-on, like more practical stuff than doing theory. Because, it just engages my attention more.

Kaitelyn:

So doing this course is like giving a real world idea and perspective.

Kristie Hedley:

So the students that attend the pilot school, they've been selected for the program. All they need to do is stay in touch with their careers adviser and let them know that they're keen and let their parents know and sign up. One of the great benefits of theYES program and the YES+ pilot has been watching the shift in attitudes of kids and parents in particular. So a lot of the time we've found that parents might see TAFE as a tier 2 option, but once they realise the variety of courses they've got, the qualifications of our staff, the connections to industry, the fact that we have diploma to degree options, you can see, from the beginning to the end, a real shift in attitude. And we get great feedback, and that's demonstrated in those kids coming back and signing up to study with us full time.

End of transcript.