Vocational
Education is really growing. Because we're an independent
school it was slow to develop because of lack of funding
but we've been able to increase our resources in that area
ourselves because of a deal of success.
But
there have been failures as well, particularly with our
Indigenous kids going off campus to other VET programs.
You'd start off with 17 kids and you'd end up with two.
They were going to TAFE providers, to other high schools
and so on but a lot of the people working there weren't
geared up for working with our kids. They just didn't understand.
And
then, interestingly, we recently started to offer more on
campus courses and the statistics just speak for themselves.
We've still got the off campus programs with that kind of
drop out but our on campus programs maintain student numbers
throughout the whole semester. So it was clear that something
was happening here at school that was supporting the kids
and something was not happening when they were going off
campus.
So
we've started to observe some patterns and what was working
for us and not working for those outside providers was the
same as the whole basic premise of what works in education.
And even more so with Aboriginal kids. And that's the fact
that it's built on meaningful relationships. And in that,
the students can see purpose and meaning in what they're
doing. Going off campus, with no relationship with anybody,
they don't see that.
Now
we're working on a partnership with NTU [Northern Territory
University, soon to be Charles Darwin University] which
is also a TAFE provider. We've tried to say 'we know what's
likely to work with Aboriginal students but we need a range
of programs and we need staff involved who understand the
needs of Indigenous ESL learners'. And we want to be able
to support the kids in the process, so that the relationships
are right.
In
this model, outside staff will come to Kormilda for some
things and our kids will go to NTU for others, but whatever
happens our staff will be there supporting them.
Another
new thing is that we're going to be starting with a 'taster'
program. Most kids don't have any idea what's available,
or even what a particular trade does. After a good taste
of a few things they'll get a better idea of what might
suit them.
Right
now we have funding for a trial program from DEST. I think
it'll work, I'm very confident, because we're putting in
place the basic requirements. And it'll be a good demonstration
because where else in Australia have you got a school like
us? Nowhere. We've got traditional Aboriginal kids from
40 different communities and if we get the package right
they can do enormous things.
