Trade training is back in the schools of Melbourne’s north after almost a decade in the doldrums.
The past week brought a flurry of announcements from federal Labor
MPs on the election campaign trail. Yesterday was the official opening
of the $5.2-million Central Ranges trade training centre at Whittlesea
Secondary College. And, last week, four Hume schools – Roxburgh College,
Gladstone Park Secondary College, Craigieburn Secondary College and
Mount Ridley P-12 College – were announced as hosts for a new
Craigieburn trade training centre, with a grant of $4.5 million.
The funding will be used to build a new engineering workshop and
extensions to existing buildings at Roxburgh College, including
automotive, furnishing and electro-technology workshops, plus refurbish a
food technology space and transform it into a modern commercial
kitchen.
“It will deliver qualifications in automotive, electro-technology,
engineering, furnishing and hospitality to address skills shortages in
cabinetmaking, cooking, motor mechanics, sheetmetal trades and
telecommunications,” Calwell MP Maria Vamvakinou said.
McEwen MP Rob Mitchell said the first phase of the trade training
funding to Victoria amounted to $45.2 million for 24 centres involving
47 schools, among the first instalments of Labor’s $2.5-billion, 10-year
schools-based trade training program.
Eligible low socio-economic secondary schools have been
prioritised in funding allocations and all new funding announcements are
already included in the federal budget. Ms Vamvakinou said a further
$1.26-million stand-alone trade training centre would be constructed at
Penola Catholic College at Broadmeadows, providing a new purpose-built
building for engineering, electro-technology and hairdressing students.
“Currently, engineering courses are taught in a workshop, which
has been converted from the laundries of a home for children that
existed on the site,” she said.
