Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / CDU’s Employability Programs Officer Caroline Thompson says they have launched a Women in Trades mentoring program and hope more will females will take up apprenticeships

Transcript

CDU’s Employability Programs Officer Caroline Thompson says they have launched a Women in Trades mentoring program and hope more will females will take up apprenticeships · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that a Women in Trade's mentoring program, Well,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: it was launched at CDU on International Women's Day yesterday.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The new program connects young women to other women already
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: working in the trade sector upon starting their apprenticeship. Now
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: joining us on the line to tell us more about
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the initiative is Charles Dale University's Employability Programs Officer Caroline Thompson.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Hi, Caroline, Hi, how you go?
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good, Great to have you on the show. How
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: did this program come about?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: So we realized that with a lot of new students
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: starting their apprenticeships through the strength government initiative to have
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: more TAFE enrollments, that we hope that there's going to
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: be a lot of new female students coming and starting
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: their apprenticeships with us. And we're focusing specifically in the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Women in Trades Mentoring program on those non traditional female trades,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: so things like automotive and transport, electro technology, plumbing, environmental studies,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: engineering and construction. So these might be disciplines where there
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: might only be one female in the classroom or one
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: female in the workplace. So we thought it was really
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: important that we offer these young women support and encouragement
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and give them a safe space that they can discuss
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: things that they might not feel confident enough to raise
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: in the classroom or the workplace.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon that's a really good idea. I mean,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we want more women
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: doing these types of trade apprenticeships.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Right absolutely. And you know, the feedback that I've got
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: from a lot of the lecturers here at CDUK is
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: that the girls can do it just as well as
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the boys and sometimes better.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Well that's it, you know, and that's a good thing.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Do we have many women in the Northern Territory opting
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: to do those trade based apprenticeships at this point.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: So in those fields that I just talked about before
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: than on traditional trades, we've got about one hundred female
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: apprentices enrolled currently in those trades and that represents about
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: ten percent of the student population in those trades. So
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: that one in ten is a female student.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: And how important do you reckon it is making sure
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: that there is mentoring from those who've come before them.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Well, as I said before, these female students might be
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the only one in their class, and they might not
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: see another female student the whole time that they're studying,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: and they may not have female role models in their
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: workplaces either. So it's really important for them to you know,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: you've got to see it to be it kind of thing,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: And so it's really important for us to connect them
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: not only with other students doing apprenticeships from different disciplines,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: but then connecting them in with a professional who has experience,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: who've walked that path before them, who knows what it
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: feels like and can help share some tips and strategies
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: and you know, help share their knowledge that they've gained
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: through their career.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: And Caroline, do you reckon or do you hope that
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: an initiative such as this will entice small women to
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: sort of decide to go down the trade apprenticeship path.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, we need as many people in our trades
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: as possible for me, in female or male, but hopefully
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: having more female students and these non traditional trades will
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: help open up young girls eyes to say, oh, I
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: didn't even know that that was. You know, I didn't
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: know what boiler making was. But now I've been able
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: to see somebody do it and someone who looks like me,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I might look into it. I might give it a go. Yeah,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I reckon.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: It's a really interesting thing because, like I know when
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I was a high school student, which is obviously a
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: long time ago, but you know, a lot of those
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: trades were not even sort of spoken about as something
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: that girls could do.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we have the VET in Schools program through
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: CDU as well. But unfortunately, you know, given the nature
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: of the workshops that these students can go into, there's
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: limited spaces and so with so many students interested in it,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: we just can't simply give every student the opportunity to
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: experience all the different trades. So there's definitely, you know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: some work to do in raising awareness of the different
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: trade industries available to young girls and to young boys,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: and like I said, putting those role models in place
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: that young female students can look up to and go,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: oh that's you know, that's actually Achieva bullets. It's breaking
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: down those perceptions and those stereotypes of certain industries being
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: for blokes only.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, spot on. Now, obviously, this mentoring program, it was
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: launched yesterday on International Women's Day, do you reckon you're
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: going to have many students that are keen to take part.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: We would love as many students as possible, So the
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: nature of how they do their apprenticeships is that they
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: only come on to campus for kind of two week
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: blocks at a time, and then they're back out in
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the industry with their workplace who's sponsoring their apprenticeships, So
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: we don't see them very often. So we try to
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: catch them when they are on campus. And some of
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: them come from as far away as Grout Island or
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Tennant Creek, so they're not based in Darwin, so there's
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: a lot going on for them when they are here
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: in Darwin on campus, So we're just trying to squeeze
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: in a one hour block, get them to come along
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: to a lunch when they are on campus, and hopefully
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: make these connections and keep those connections going when they
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: do move back into the workplace.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, I reckon it can only be a
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: good thing. Well, Caroline Thompson, I really appreciate your time
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: this morning. Thanks so much for coming on the show
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and telling us a little bit more about CDU's women's
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Trade initiative.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: No way, thanks for having me.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you.