Trade shop pays

by Jasmin Rule

April 17, 2008

TEACHER representatives and the education department say school students are choosing vocational programs, rather than TEE courses , to cash in on WA’s economic boom.

Margery Evans, deputy director general of the WA education department, said schools factored job prospects into their curriculum planning.

“Schools have a responsibility to maximise every student’s opportunity for success beyond the classroom,” Ms Evans said in a release. “This is why some schools choose to offer a predominantly vocational program of education which better suits the needs and aspirations of their students.”

Vocational programs are appealing to more students as tradies in the currently overheated job market are frequently paid more than uni grads.

Barbara Wright, head of English at Aranmore Catholic College in Leederville, said Literature was an essential subject. However, more and more students were focusing on practical English.

“It’s the matter of kids being encouraged to choose courses that suit them,” Ms Wright told eMU News.  “The work place at the moment is [dominant] in trades and more technical areas....

“Trades and apprenticeships give you a lot more employable options.”

The principal of Kelmscott Senior High School agreed.

“There is a belief in the community that uni is the only track, where, as we well know,  financial reward may be better on another path,” Tony Terry said.

Noemi Reynolds, vice president of the Maths Association of WA said vocational subjects suited some students, but once they tried to advance in their trade they’d need some mathematics.

“No doubt trades are a better answer for a lot of kids, but you can wind up needing calculus,” she warned.