Career & Vocational

The Career and Vocational support area at John Tonkin College is an excellent and well used programme. We can tailor alternate pathways for students, which provide for a year 11 and 12 completion.

 

It is essential to have a career development process which makes choices clear for a student choosing a vocational pathway. Skill development leads students towards employment and positive educational outcomes. It provides motivation and purpose for students because it gives them a sense of direction and relevance for their studies. JTC supports students to uncover their career direction and then help them to achieve real progress towards it.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) allows our students to achieve national qualifications at school, where it may count towards WACE. We have a number of partnerships with Registered Training Organisations (RTO’s) to deliver courses. We can also support our students to apply for external RTO positions which may lead to qualifications and apprenticeships. School Based Traineeships (SBT’s) enable students to start their traineeship while completing secondary school. Students are also paid for their work while undergoing this kind of training.

John Tonkin also runs a Workplace Learning Programme which gives our students vocational skills which they can then use in other workplaces. The students can gain up to a total of four units across years 10, 11 and 12.

Careers Program

Unique to JTC Year 10 students is access to a comprehensive careers programme through AVID. In Year 11 a student can then access the VET pathway which takes them to TAFE one day per week, in the workplace for one day and attending college for the other 3 days a week. General

Year 11/12 students can access careers programmes such as

  • Career and Enterprise
  • Cert 11 courses delivered at JTC
  • Maths (General)
  • English (General

‘Finding alternative pathways gives me a thrill. I’m constantly looking for new school based traineeships and opportunities for our students, in profile (TAFE) courses or elsewhere. It’s amazing how a career course can sometimes just make things come together for a student. Cert 11s can lead to apprenticeships and other vocational opportunities but sometimes students just need a little guidance and practical advice about how to tackle their future. The relevance of this learning area to our students is huge. Employers want transferable skills with the 7 key competencies and our students can provide that with assistance.

Stephen Waylen, VET Co-ordinator