Victorian School Leavers Making TAFE Their First Choice

12:36' 17-12-2018

School leavers in Ballarat are taking advantage of the Andrews Labor Government’s Free TAFE for priority courses initiative and making TAFE their first choice after receiving VCE and VCAL results.

Photo: The Courier

Visiting Phoenix P-12 Community College’s Sebastopol campus today, Minister for Training and Skills Gayle Tierney met with Ballarat Year 12 students who are set to be among the first enrolments under the Free TAFE initiative.

Starting on 1 January 2019 Victorian school leavers can now choose between 30 priority TAFE course and 20 pre-apprenticeship courses which are tuition free.

Phoenix P-12 Community College student Bianca is looking forward to pursuing a career in nursing and despite achieving an ATAR that would enable her to get into university she plans to enrol in a Diploma of Nursing at TAFE, which is a Free TAFE course.

Bianca is choosing TAFE for the added flexibility that will enable her to fulfil her responsibilities as a carer for a family member, and to get a great nationally recognised qualification leading to a high demand profession.

Skilled workers are in high demand across Victoria, which is why the Victorian Budget 2018/19 invested an additional $644 million to strengthen TAFE, to ensure all Victorians can access the training they need to get a good job.

As part of the transformation of Victoria’s training sector, Labor is creating more than 30,000 new training places, upgrading and rebuilding TAFE campuses and making TAFE free for 32 priority TAFE courses and 20 pre-apprenticeship courses.

Phoenix P-12 Community College – along with other local schools Mount Clear College, Ballarat High School and Ballarat Secondary College – will also offer its students Labor’s new Head Start program, which from next year will deliver up to 1,700 new apprenticeships and traineeships at 100 secondary schools across Victoria.

TAFE institutes, including universities that offer TAFE courses, across Victoria are currently taking enrolments for Free TAFE courses that begin in 2019. For the full list of Free TAFE courses visit freetafe.vic.gov.au.