College Information

Why choose VET?

Studying a VET course has great and varied benefits. Intrinsic to all VET courses, regardless of the area of study, is the development of ‘employability skills’ including: communication, teamwork, problem-solving, planning and organising, self-management, learning, technology and initiative and enterprise. These are essential to successful and sustained employment. In addition to this, there are a number of core units that give students an understanding of employment law, safety legislation, the intricacies or working with colleagues and customers, environmental sustainability and working in socially diverse environments. VET, therefore; equips the students with a sound awareness of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace, across all sectors of employment.

What role does it play in the HSC?

In addition to gaining a nationally recognised qualification (in this case, a Cert II), a VET subject can count as 2 of the 10 units required by the New South Wales Education Standards Authority for the HSC qualification.

Why do they have to complete Workplacement?

A standard feature of VET courses is that students are required to complete 70 hrs of workplacement over the duration of the course. This gives them an opportunity, not only to apply their skills in a realistic enterprise setting, but also, to develop confidence and make connections with employers for potential employment opportunities. Our local employers have been tremendously generous in taking students on in their business and we are very grateful for their contributions to this and other VET courses.

I already work on the weekend, can I use that as proof?

Recognition of Prior Learning, or RPL is an important aspect of VET courses. If a student has developed a skillset outside of the course, for example in their part time job, they are given an opportunity to have their competencies assessed, within the course or at their part time employment. This can fast track the attainment of the Certificate II and allow them more time to attend to other studies.

What do assessments look like?

Competency based assessment essentially means that a student is entitled to more than one attempt at demonstrating a competency. This enables a student to keep working on a skill throughout the course and to be reassessed once mastery is attained. The Wholly Bean coffee shop is a great example of this. Students are rostered onto one coffee shop session per fortnight. In the early sessions, they set the machine up, take turns at preparing milk or extracting espresso and clean the machine down at the end of the session. Towards the end of the semester, these baristas-in-training will take customer orders, prepare the beverage independently and be responsible for attending to any issues that arise during the service period. Not only do the staff love their Wholly Bean coffee, the students develop a great sense of pride in delivering a quality beverage to satisfied customers.

Why choose VET?

Instead of asking what VET can do for you, the better question to ask is what can’t VET do for me? The options are truly endless!