9 Colliers Avenue (PO Box 8153), ORANGE NSW 2800

Ph: 02 63619511, Fax: 02 63601251
ACN 106 904 545, ABN 39 106 904 545

 

Birrang: stepping stone to employment for our people

The Way Ahead - Apprenticeship and Traineeship Program for Aboriginal People

 

Aboriginal apprentices and trainees often cope with greater personal, cultural and social pressures than most of their peers. This can place them at risk of failing to complete their accredited training program.

The Way Ahead: Apprenticeships and Traineeships for Aboriginal People was  initiated in 2004 to improve the commencement and retention outcomes of Aboriginal apprentices and trainees in NSW.

The program managed by DETNAC involved promotion of the opportunities of Apprenticeships and Traineeships to Aboriginal People, mentoring support for Aboriginal apprentices and trainees, pre-employment training where necessary and facilitation of connection with Australian Apprenticeship Centres, Employers and RTO's.

BVET  www.bvet.nsw.gov.au/   has supported The Way Ahead program since June 2006 following the closure of DETNAC, to ensure its initial impressive results are well established.

With the BVET support, The Way Ahead for Aboriginal People project has moved to full operational implementation. Twenty seven Aboriginal mentors are supporting Aboriginal trainees and apprentices throughout NSW. 

The structured mentoring support is designed to ensure that Aboriginal apprentices and trainees are able to cope with the personal, social and cultural pressures that so often occur for Aboriginal Australians commencing and remaining in employment. Aboriginal apprentice and trainee numbers are continuing to grow strongly.

 

The mentors role ensures that the participants are satisfied within their jobs and support them in areas where they are unhappy with the job arrangements and/or bring about a relationship between the participant and the Host Employment.

The mentor is someone that the participant can relate to, talk to and become comfortable with. This will help to prevent the participant from losing faith in the program and to ensure that they reach their goals of full time employment.

The mentor may just drop in to participants whilst they are working or talk to them via telephone to assess where they are at with their new job, and how comfortable they are within the particular business they are involved in. 

A mentor should be someone who is a leader, who openly cares for others, is an honest, reliable and trustworthy person with the interests of the participant at heart.