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Priority
Areas - Disability - Indigenous - Rural & Remote - Urban - Years 9&10 - Pushing the Boundaries | |
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Rural and Remote project
11-Dec-2000
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Rural Opportunities for Younger Australians
ECEF funded priority areas project by Laurelle Thomson |
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| Seventeen 'at risk' students were selected from local secondary schools and placed into the workplace for training in the rural industry. Two of these students had previously been involved with the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care. | |
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Students spent three days at the local Showgrounds assisting with the preparations for the annual three day Campdrafting event and two days on Trafalgar Station, a cattle property South of Charters Towers, gaining some of the basic skills of the industry. Whilst in the workplace on these occasions students were supervised by Mr Robert Windley who had previously worked with the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care and was qualified to supervise students whilst under a statutory order (similar to probation for adults). The next phase of the project was to place students into rural work situations. Students nominated three employer preferences for this workplace training and the majority of students chose to be placed on cattle properties in the Charters Towers area. One student was interested in becoming a Stock Inspector and now spends one day per week (when there is a cattle sale) with the Department of Primary Industries. Students spent a half day at a local cattle sale during December and were given a tour of the sale yards by the local Stock Inspector. Students were at ease identifying cattle breeds, different tail tags etc, and were not afraid to ask questions or discuss issues with the Stock Inspector. Details in brief: · All of the seventeen participants were males. · Three of the four year 10 students involved in the project will commence School Based Apprenticeships with RITE (a local RTO) in 2001, and a year 9 student will commence an apprenticeship as soon as he is old enough. · Students were selected on the basis that 1. They had expressed a genuine interest in the Rural Industry. 2. They were a student considered to be 'at risk'. 3. As students were to be placed onto properties with rural families, students must not have had a previous history of violent behavior. (The Department of Families, Youth and Community Care assisted with the selection of students to participate.) · Most students spent a total of eighteen days in the workplace with some missing out on a few days, as they could not get out to the properties due to heavy rain in the area. · Students went into the workplace with a Certificate I in Agriculture (General) RUA10198 Record Book. RUA10198 is the course studied in years 11 and 12 at the Charters Towers State High School and linked with the School Based Apprenticeship program being run by local RTO RITE (Rural Industry Traineeship and Extension) · The confidence level of the students involved has risen along with their skill level. · The final decision as to who was selected for the project rested with the School Principal, as the School maintained 'duty of care' for these students whilst in the workplace. · Employers were aware that some of the students involved in the project had a criminal history but were never aware which particular students these were. This information had to remain confidential as per Department of Families, Youth and Community Care guidelines. · Three of the students involved in the project were of Aboriginal Islander descent. One of these students transferred to another town, and another student who was very enthusiastic about the program transferred to a school outside of Charters Towers. The remaining student remained involved until the visit to Trafalgar Station and then his interest seemed to wane. · Marketing of the program was done largely through the local newspaper. Students and Employers involved in the project received T-Shirts with the ROYA emblem embroidered onto the pocket and these shirts proved to be a big hit with all involved. One of the students involved in the project was interviewed by ABC radio for their 'Rural Report' and he did very well for a novice. · Feedback from teachers has been varied with some students showing greater improvements in their classroom behavior than others. · The Alternative Education Co-ordinator involved with the students found it encouraging that students were looking for her, regarding dates of placement and employer names, rather than her having to spend hours looking for students. (some students had a high rate of truancy) · The ROYA Project was offered to all five schools involved with the CTSSWLP (three Private and two State) only the State High School chose to participate. · Thank you to Goondiwindi State High School as they served as mentors for the ROYA project and they saved us many hours of 'reinventing the wheel'. · We applied for a Youth Crime Prevention grant through the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care but the majority of this funding seems to have been allocated to Regional Centres, The Charters Towers community put forward two proposals for funding (one primary schooling, one secondary schooling) but neither were successful. · All of the year 9 students involved in 2000 are keen to continue in 2001 if we can secure funding. |
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Key contact: |
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Laurelle Thomson Charters Towers Secondary Schools' Workplace Learning Program Inc. P.O. Box 687 Charters Towers Qld 4820 Ph: 07 47877963 Fax: 07 47878974 email: ctss@charters.net.au |
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