Unemployment is humiliating. Parents fear their children missing out on jobs.
Unemployment and underemployment is humiliating in a consumer society. These were the wise words of Zigmunt Bauman.
Bauman wrote of our fear of losing a step on the ladder to middle-class, and it is fair to say that many parents are in real fear for their children because of Foundation for Young Australians statistics on young Australians, such as:
- 31.5% under, or unemployed
- Likely to carry 3 X more debt than their parents to buy a home
- Taking 4.7 years on average to gain full time meaningful employment after university graduation
- Only 56% are independent be age 24 years (FYA 2017).
So when I attended an event last week, hosted by the Vocational Education Development Centre (VDC), I was happy to hear that work is being done to make sure that school-age students are gaining work experience opportunities in the form of Structured Workplace Learning (SWL), and that this can make a big difference to their employability.
SWL can be done as part of a vocational course (VET), which in turn can be counted towards a year 11 and 12 students’ senior education certification. In Victoria, this is the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). Students who are able to do vocational training will learn some important transferable skills that mean they will gain employment quickly and remain employable in a changing job market.
To be unemployed or underemployed is to be outside of consumer society. It is humiliating to be in this vulnerable position and stressful to stay in this situation for long periods.
See our website and other blogs for related articles, as well as the Karen Your Career Coach Facebook posts and Instagram images. For more information on SWL at VET study options, contact Karen at [email protected]
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