Pathways to success
FATHER and son Karl and Brandon King have taken their shared love of working with metal to the next level, enrolling together in a TasTAFE metal fabrication course.
After an injury in his former job as a gardener, Brandon decided to enrol in the Certificate II in Engineering Pathways course at TasTAFE’s Bender Drive campus at Derwent Park.
His father Karl had recently taken a redundancy from a career as a support worker and decided to follow his son into the course.
“I’ve always been interested in fabrication, and I wanted to do something that would further my skills,” Karl said.
“I wouldn’t mind a career in engineering — maybe the machining side of things — and I thought this course was a great place to start.”
The Certificate II in Engineering Pathways course is intended for people interested in gaining employment in an engineering or related working environment, such as boilermaking, welding, fitting, machining, sheet metal and engineering.
It gives participants broad underpinning skills and knowledge in a range of engineering and manufacturing tasks to enhance theirr employment prospects for apprenticeships, traineeships or generall employment.
Karl said the course had been challenging att times but also a lot of fun.
“We’ve been able to use a lot of the machines and find out more about how everything works,’’ he said.
“The social aspect of the course has also been nice. The guys doing the course all come from different backgrounds, which makes it interesting.”
Karl said he had been impressed by the teachers at TasTAFE.
“The teachers are very knowledgeable,’’ he said.
“Everyone has their own teaching style and they do
take the time to show you things, but also give you the freedom to have a go and work things out for yourself.”
Research backs up Karl and Brandon’s view that vocational education and training is a great option.
The Skilling Australian report, Perceptions Are Not Reality: myths, realities and the critical role of vocational
education and training in Australia, found that vocationally trained graduates have a higher employment rate than university undergraduates, with more than 78 per cent of VET graduates being employed after training, compared with 69 per cent of bachelor degree graduates.
It also found they earn wages comparable to, if not exceeding, university graduates, with the median full-time income for a VET graduate at $56,000 compared with $54,000 for a university bachelor’s degree graduate. TasTAFE offers about 250 nationally recognised, industry-endorsed qualifications across a range of areas, including automotive, construction, nursing, tourism and hospitality, and primary industries. Tasmanians interested in studying at TasTAFE in 2019 can learn more at TasTAFE’s Info Week from January 21-25. Visit https:// www.tastafe.tas.edu.au/ infoweek/ for details of Info Week sessions and to register. For more information about TasTAFE courses visit www.tastafe.tas.edu.au or phone 1300 655 307.