Ms SPENCE (Yuroke) (17:09:00) — (14 452) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide me with an update on when more information will be available regarding which schools will participate in the Head Start apprenticeships and traineeships program. Thousands of Yuroke residents have built careers through apprenticeships and traineeships, and I am delighted that we are supporting the next generation of skilled tradespeople. This initiative presents a fantastic opportunity for students in my community to develop real-world qualifications that will allow them to get ahead and finish school qualified and ready to work. I know that Yuroke residents will welcome the opportunity to hear more about the Head Start program, in particular members of the Yuroke Youth Advisory Council, which I chair. This year advisory council members have chosen to focus on youth employment, and through their work we have heard from young people about the strong local demand for improved access to career pathways. I look forward to hearing from the minister and sharing his response with my community, including members of my youth advisory council.

Response:

The Minister for Education: I am informed as follows:

The Head Start initiative will commence in 2019 and involve 100 government schools across Victoria delivering an additional 1700 apprenticeships and traineeships over the next four years. Three sites, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo involving 28 schools have already been announced.

Site selection is taking into account a number of factors including identifying where there are existing vocational education cluster arrangements and whether schools in the area had strong vocational programs. Other criteria include assessment of local industry demand for school based apprentices and trainees as well as the availability of high quality training providers.

Assessment of additional sites and schools to participate in the roll out of the Head Start initiative is currently being finalised, with all final sites and schools to be announced in the coming weeks.

The Hon James Merlino MP
Deputy Premier
Minister for Education
Minister for Emergency Services