One Victorian program is helping injured tradies share their skills with the next generation of workers as Vocational Education Trainers.
After working nearly 20 years as a boilermaker in heavy steel fabrication, tradie Nick Holloway was forced to give up his career when a tragic worksite accident severely injured his arm.
But thanks to the new VET Trainer Career Pathway Pilot Program recommended to him by his occupational therapist, Nick isn’t letting his decades of industry knowledge go to waste.
Since 2023, Holloway, along with scores of other injured tradies forced off the tools, have been hitting the books to reskill as Vocational Education Trainers and pass on their skills to the next generation of blue-collar workers.
The nine-month pilot program provides all the theoretical and hands-on training required to become a VET Trainer, enabling participants to teach their specialty VET course in schools, TAFEs or Registered Training Organisations.
Now fully qualified only a year later, Nick is gearing up to tackle the tools once again alongside the students at Ringwood Secondary College.
“It’s a very rewarding career, and that’s a big driver for me, I want to see these young people succeed,” he said.
“I was fortunate to have had some older blokes who took me under their wing and taught me a lot when I was younger, and I want to do the same for these young people.”
The program is just the latest attempt to tackle the recent spike in students enrolling in VET studies throughout Victoria as the government continues its campaign to entice younger Aussies into the severely undermanned construction industry.
In 2022, the Victorian Government also added a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment – the core qualification required to be a trainer to the Free TAFE list, and last year expanded the Free TAFE eligibility to get more Aussies studying for in-demand industry jobs.
Despite these efforts, Master Builders Australia warned earlier his year that the state was still in serious need of tradies, with the industry expected to fall short by half a million workers between April this year and 2026.
But there is some light at the end of the labour shortage tunnel as Victorian students continue to flock to VET subjects. Last year, the state recorded 53,820 secondary students who had taken VET courses in their studies – the third consecutive year of increased enrolments.
During his visit to Holloway’s classroom at Ringwood Secondary College earlier this week, Minister for Education Ben Carroll said that VET subjects are set to only get more popular going forward.
“VET is getting more popular every year and helping our schools achieve some of the highest secondary student retention rates of any state or territory,” said Carroll.
“This program is giving injured works the chance to retrain as educators and train the next generation of workers – while helping schools meet the growing demand for VET trainers.”
