Up to 200 Central Australian teenagers will gather at Charles Darwin University’s Alice Springs campus for Try-a-Trade next week, where they will try their hands at a range of trade skills.
Students from as far afield as Yuendumu, Tennant Creek and Ampilatwatja will meet and talk with trade professionals from Cookery, Butchery, Hairdressing, Child Care, Automotive Welding and Electrical.
CDU’s Senior Vocational Education and Training (VET) Advisor Lyle Mellors said the two-day event, which starts on Wednesday 14 September, is designed to provide young students with an insight to career opportunities that enable informed subject selections in senior secondary education.
“It is literally a hands-on event where students will have the opportunity to have a go at a number of basic trade skills in real training facilities,” he said.
Mr Mellors said Try-a-Trade is an entertaining and engaging strategy for informing students that there are many pathways to a career and that a VET pathway does not preclude an individual from progressing into Higher Education or vice versa.
“The program reflects the real employment opportunities in the Central and Barkly regions of the Territory and the reality of our modern world in which today’s students can expect to have multiple careers throughout their working lives.”
Try-a-Trade is an initiative of World Skills Australia and is jointly managed in Alice Springs by Charles Darwin University, the Department of Education and Training, and Group Training NT.