Page 1337 - Week 04 - Thursday, 30 March 2017
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Government funding for VET support services is provided through CIT and private registered training organisations, or RTOs, which have demonstrated that they meet the robust quality standards expected by the ACT government and the Canberra community. Both the skilled capital and the Australian apprenticeships programs provide additional funding support to enable the provision of appropriate support services for students with identified needs and fee concessions to address barriers to participation and assist RTOs to support their students.
Both the skilled capital and the user choice funding models provide additional funding automatically to RTOs for students with a disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, youth at risk and the long-term unemployed. Additional support payments of up to $1,000 for skilled capital students and trainees and up to $3,000 for apprentices is also available to RTOs to assist students experiencing barriers to learning to complete their qualification.
The ACT government’s standards for the delivery of training expect RTOs to complete pre-training assessments of apprentices and trainees and arrange for additional support to be provided. In addition, Skills Canberra’s field officers conduct monitoring visits to trainees and apprentices to provide advice and support. Further, students holding a healthcare or pension card or demonstrating genuine financial hardship are eligible for a fee concession under skilled capital and the Australian apprenticeships programs. CIT are providing support for a range of students. Last year they delivered 600,000 teaching hours to more than 2,000 apprentices.
Many members will be aware of the good work of CIT Yurauna Centre in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Yurauna’s approach is holistic and culturally appropriate. Their general education program seeks to reach out to disengaged Indigenous youth with an initial VET experience. Their foundation studies programs seek to improve reading, writing and comprehension skills and build confidence and pride, and their wraparound support services and pastoral care increase resilience and completion rates.
An extensive range of services is also provided by CIT student support to all students, include counselling, careers advice, disability support, financial assistance, international student support, migrant and refugee support and youth support. CIT caters to over 1,000 students per semester who self-identify as having one or more disabilities as well.
In 2016 two-thirds of students with disability identified with more than one disability, with a notable increase in students with complex disabilities. Catering to the diverse needs of this cohort of students is managed through CIT’s dedicated disability support team. Early intervention has proven to provide the best outcomes and increase the likelihood of an enjoyable and successful experience at CIT. In 2016 19 per cent of CIT’s 18,000 students were also mature age students aged 45 years or over, demonstrating the importance of CIT’s focus on upskilling and reskilling mature age workers, and ensuring that the training needs of Canberrans at all stages of life are met.
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