TAFE Guide to Advanced Standing for Secondary Students

10/5/95

Education, Employment and Training Minister Norman Moore today launched a program that allows students to earn credits towards a TAFE career while still at high school.

"The TAFE Guide to Advanced Standing for Secondary Students is an Australian first and offers unprecedented recognition by TAFE of secondary school study," Mr Moore said.

"Not only does it allow high school students to earn credits towards TAFE studies, but it also gives them exemptions from TAFE courses on completion of certain secondary school subjects.

"This initiative is a milestone in education and opens a new partnership between secondary and TAFE."

Mr Moore said previously TAFE recognised secondary school achievements on a restricted basis which meant that sometimes students had to repeat material they had already covered.

"This guide sets out a clear reckoning of secondary school courses and their applicability to TAFE programs allowing students to plan their route into further education from as early as Year 10," he said.

"This closer relationship between schools and TAFE will give students career direction early and enhances their educational opportunities."

Mr Moore said it was no accident that this State had repeatedly recorded Australia's lowest youth unemployment figures and that initiatives such as this would assist in keeping Western Australian statistics low.

"Previously, many students were caught in a limbo between high school and further education - this program will allow for a smooth transition.  It will also help students achieve career goals sooner and contribute to keeping them out of the unemployment queues," he said.

By 1996 almost 80 per cent of high schools will be running either vocational courses or programs.

The guide is the product of two years of negotiation between the WA Department of Training, the Secondary Education Authority, TAFE Colleges, the Education Department, the Catholic Education Commission and the Association of Independent Schools.   

Media contact:  Anabel Gomez 321 1444