Students become tradie for a day
More than 300 local primary school students were exposed to a career pathway in trades through the Tradie for a Day program at Baw Baw Skills Centre.
Students rotated through activities in agriculture/horticulture, carpentry, plumbing, automotive and 3D printing to expose them to different trade career options before embarking on their Secondary education.
Baw Baw Skills Centre manager Rod Dunlop said the centre offered the program upon completion of VET subjects for year 10 and 11 students.
“We have had 17 schools over three weeks with about 100 students each day,” he said.
“These year six students are off to our partner schools who own the site.
It’s something to consider for as a trade and they get a brochure to take home to talk to their family about what they have experienced.”
Mr Dunlop said the program had been receiving positive feedback.
“It gives ideas for careers and the numbers have been growing,” he said.
“FGM, Go TAFE, AGA and Federation Training run courses from here, and they have had more take up. “Part of it is this early exposure. “We’ve had feedback from some of our year nine students that they remember doing this program a few years ago.”
Mr Dunlop said the Centre was excited to add robotics and 3D printing to its course offering for year 10 students next year.