Bellingen High School’s Careers Adviser, Frieda Gorman, passionately advocates for the importance of Vocational Education and Training (VET) within the high school setting, especially in rural and remote communities. Her recent recognition as the recipient of the NSW Premier’s Vocational Education in Schools scholarship, is testament is this and provided an opportunity for Frieda to explore innovative practices of VET.

Through the scholarship, Frieda travelled to Scotland for a 4-week study tour to delve into an education system at Scotland’s University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) that excels in VET delivery. With an impressive 60-70% of students in Scotland leaving school with a VET qualification, Frieda wanted to understand how these successful frameworks could be adapted to benefit students in NSW.

"In Scotland’s UHI their greatest strength is the diverse and flexible partnerships they have with industry and employers to deliver supported learning. I want to help build these links and partnerships within NSW communities to improve the quality of VET learning,” says Frieda.

Since returning, Frieda is focused on building these strong connections with Bellingen High School’s local community and ensuring that the career pathways and VET courses offered at the school align with the community needs and demand of the local job market.

Frieda did a lot of work in this space in 2024, with the launch of the IGNITE (Initiate Goals, Networks, Inspiration, Training and Employment) program. Supported by the Rural and Remote K-12 Career Education Initiative funding in 2024, IGNITE partnered Bellingen High School with their local primary schools to improve the transition from primary to secondary and help students in years 6-9 build skills and knowledge to make informed decisions about their education, training and career pathways. It included orientation days, careers activities, and the very popular STEM “Girls in Engineering” excursion to Sydney. Over 380 students participated in the IGNITE program in 2024.

“IGNITE was so successful we are continuing this year without funding as primary schools are happy to contribute to costs and community members are happy to donate their time,” says Frieda.

Not stopping there, Frieda has also implemented a mandatory 2-week work experience program for all Year 10 students. With a remarkable 100% participation rate, the program is already proving to be a great success.

“Work experience provides students with the opportunity to explore careers and industries, helping them discover what they enjoy, as well as what they don’t,” says Frieda.

Bellingen High School now has over 55% of Year 11 students enrolled in VET courses, with a high proportion of Stage 5 students enrolled in TAFE delivered VET courses in Automotive and Construction, while Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students are benefiting from programs like Opal Dreaming (Foundation Skills for Vocational Pathways).