Course helps break cycle

TAFE farmhand program offers youths real-life skills

BREAKING the cycle of youth crime by providing young offenders with practical work skills such as how to use farm machinery is at the heart of the Transition to Success (T2S) program in Cairns.

Senior Transition officer Jonas Bosch said there were nine youths enrolled in the 10week program at present and a total of 50 would come through the course this year.

The program has been operating in Cairns for about five years but has recently partnered with TAFE to offer a farmhand course where students learn how to safely operate tractors, front-end loaders and other machinery, how to safely use chemicals to manage pest and weeds, and how to revegetate land. Skills can be used in industries including agriculture, horticulture, or land management.

Mr Bosch said there were broad job opportunities for graduates.

“We’ve had people go into traineeships, apprenticeships, work experience and further training, and from a youth justice perspective of community safety, there’s a decrease in offending by young people engaged in the program,” Mr Bosch said.

“It is a program designed to engage with people either in the youth justice system or at risk of entering the system.

“A lot have been disengaged from mainstream school for a number of years, and this is a positive way for them to become productive members of society with real life skills to engage in employment,” he said. “It’s a wonderful thing to see their self-esteem improve as they achieve but programs like this can only work in partnership with the community.”

As well as studying TAFE modules, the program encompasses life skills.

A statewide evaluation of the program in 2018 found more than two-thirds of graduates did not offend within 12 months of completion.