Strong student enrolments in carpentry, agriculture and hospitality are a sign of the growing popularity of vocational training in Goulburn.

This was the message to Assistant Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham and Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor on a tour today (Friday) of Goulburn TAFE and Trinity Catholic College.

Senator Birmingham and Mr Taylor met with TAFE students completing Certificate III Agriculture studies, as well as carpentry apprentices.

TAFE Illawarra (Goulburn) Faculty Director for Trades and Technology, Marty Burgess, said a number of courses were in high demand. “For Carpentry Certificate III, we are experiencing the highest enrolments in several years. There are also strong numbers in Ag Cert III, Animal Studies Cert III and Vet Nursing Cert IV.”

Trinity Catholic College Assistant Principal Mark Burke said enrolments in VET (Vocational Education Training) primary industries and hospitality, were on the increase. “Hospitality regularly maintains its numbers and we’re particularly impressed with the employment positions our VET graduates are achieving once they’ve finished studies. Our numbers in Year 10 primary industries (agriculture) continue to grow - we have around 20 students this year.”

Straight from her HSC trial exams, Year 12 Trinity student Jessica Waddell had a chance to meet Senator Birmingham today after he recently announced that Jessica was one of two Trinity students to be awarded a 2014 Australian Vocational Student Prize. Jessica received the award for her studies in Children’s Services and graduate Peter Coles (class of 2014) received his award in Primary Industries.

After a tour of the school’s Ag Farm, and hospitality kitchens Senator Birmingham congratulated the school on its skills focus. “I’m delighted to see that graduates are landing great jobs and the new framework we are implementing for VET is working to bring schools and employers together.”

Mr Taylor said school leavers qualified in a trade should feel confident heading into the workforce. “There’s no shortage of work for tradies at the moment and that should be a great feeling for graduates looking for employment next year.”

Captions: Various - Assistant Minister for Education and Training Senator Simon Birmingham and Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor meeting students at Goulburn TAFE and Trinity College.